zlacker

>>doener+(OP)
If I read that right, they're allowing Intel ME, which sounds like a sad compromise to me. Given that it's a pretty big complex black box that one can't easily disable, would you agree that x86 is doomed when it comes to security? If that's the case, is there any hope we could have a CPU with competitive capabilities? (For example, is there an i7 alternative for ARM?)

What could one do to make it possible to have ME-less x86 in the future?

>>d33+y5
OpenPOWER[1] would be a great option. There was a recent crowd-funding effort to try to make an OpenPOWER desktop a reality[2] but unfortunately it didn't get nearly enough funding (though apparently they are still developing it[3]).

[1]: https://openpowerfoundation.org/ [2]: https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/talos-s... [3]: https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/prerelease.php

>>cyphar+dc
That would have been a cool machine, but unfortunately, the price was way outside my budget.

If such a machine with reasonable specs (I do not expect a 64-core 256-GB-RAM-monster) could be brought down to the 1000 $/€ price range, I would seriously look into it.

(I am not sure how realistic that price range is, though.)

What about Loongson? IIRC, Richard Stallmann uses a Notebook based on it, because it has free firmware. Performance is probably not breathtaking, but it exists. Does somebody know if there are Desktop machines built around that chip?