rygD
Nihilistic Mystic
Linux.
But muh raspberry piLinux.
Aaaaand it's time for a newspost - it will be a short one (as I'm even more flooded with work than usual), but I hope you'll like it
Can you believe it? I can't. But let's not do the happy dance yet - let's wait for the prototypes to be finalized. As soon as I place the mass production order, we can do the happy dance!
We really need a term to describe the openness of devices like to Pyra or almost any x86 box with an nvidia video card. At least the primary computation path is all using open source code, it's just the final picture you draw depends on a binary blob (although if your writing to a framebuffer provided from that blob I reckon that would be relatively easy to test out)
I'm not sure RISC-V is strictly relevant to this discussion. The ARM ISA is fully documented, even if the internal layout isn't, so it's all deterministically specified (apart possible from some TrustCore weirdness I don't fully understand yet). Of couse, RISC-V giving us an open source layout which is neat to have, but it doesn't give us particularly more power to run open source code, which I care about more personally.
on a slightly related note, last bios update for the GPD Pocket is from August last year and they do not seem to plan an update to fix Spectre ... so I personally would not trust them with that kind of money again
There was The kids TV show based on young-adult novels called 'The Tripods'. That may not have shown where you are though. I don't particularly remember much about it though, but I think they came from space.
With a glossy screen.
To be fair, that isn't by choice - there are no open-source options for it, and ED has stated he would prefer that if it were at all possible... but it isn't.
So if you feel like disassembling the binary and reimplementing it in an open-source way, go for it, or find some hardware of comparable power that has open source drivers.
In lieu of those... This is the best that can be done.
Do you know the date of last old OMAP5 binary driver/blob and if that 'update' solves ACTUAL Spectre bugs?
You don't even HAVE to have the GPU driver at all to use it. You won't have accelerated graphics then, but there's an awful lot it can do without those.
Can you boot and run Pyra WITHOUT any closed soft or binary blob or firmware? I don't think so, but I would like it we can.
Do I have real control over that hardware from Cortex cores (the ones I acces as user/programmer) or there are hard items with control over them inside SOC?
there is a difference between may not be available / gets added quickly if available and it's available but no update planned at all
Microsoft got fed up btw. and will include microcode loaders and distribute updates into Windows now and I am not surehow to feel about that
modern CPUs are very complex and bugs happen all the time, this may be a bigger one and quite persistant for now (one form or another) but BIOS Updates / Microcode Updates have always been important ... also anyone else remember that one : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug ?
Is this an issue that could cause problems in the future, as in: Could the situation arise that an update to Debian breaks compatibility, without being able to fix it as it is proprietary?
¿A term to describe openness (open, openness level)? The same than a term to describe heat levels![]()
«At least the primary computation path is all using open source code»: sorry but binary blob is at kernel level, so you have soft in a very inner circle that you don't know what it is doing or what it can do.
The same if you include cell phone modem: this is even worse, as they can introduce code from cell network! For example Librem 5 phone will have a separate hard for baseband, so main CPU/SO will be separate from them (baseband will have it's CPU-SO).
My complain is that some people think that ARM SOC is free/Linux while Intel isn't, while Intel has Linux too, Intel support Linux, even Intel GPUs are the few with open driver, while near most GPUs used in Intel aren't.
About a 100% RISC-V with less power: I would love to have one, even with less power. Because freedom and being real owner of my computer (I can control it) has no price: even I prefer half power and being real owner.
I'm currently happy with a Blackberry Q10 as of now (even if it's dated), I can't go back to a touchscreen only phone
If it's too much of a pain to use the Pyra as a phone, then I'll likely stick with the Q10. But then I'm not too sure what I would use the Pyra for
If you use BB Q10 as a modem for Pyra you will have no problem. I think it is even better, because the problem is to run cell modem soft in Pyra (that modem can update code over cell network and it is at very low level in your machine).
You should take a look at modern technology instead of relying on your experience with decades old bricks. Just because hardly anyone uses them anymore doesn't mean that they haven't advanced.but I hate even more resistive layer in front of screen: I have had a few pocket computers with resistive screen (Casio PB-1000, 68k PDA similar to Palm, HP Jornada, 2 Shap Zaurus) and that resistive layer is really horrible... and reflective.
Can you specify what blob do you mean ?
I've been assuming (I usually try to make sure about this things before I pay, but it's been so long I'm not sure my memory is right) that you could run
a Pyra without blobs (deblobing hms linux or patching the litlle delta on linux-libre).
Then you didn't get wifi or BT (you can use an USB dongle) and you have unaccelerated graphics (just display), but the rest works. Maybe the modem does
not work if you don't load the blob to the modem.
But you sound like if the only way to boot a pyra is with some blob inside the kernel ?
But the Pyra will also have separate hardware for baseband, even if only to let people order versions with ot without it, right ?
I'm not sure of the particular design but I thought in the Pyra the modem does not have access to main memory, so it's similar to Librem in that regard.
But I'm not very sure right now about both designs.
I don't think all ARM SOCs are similar enough to say much of all of them .
For me the real problem is Intel ME. With Intel and some ARM the system is under the control of the manufacturer, or parties that can control the manufacturer or their keys.
For some ARM SOCs this does not happen. I think it does not happen with OMAP5, and iMX, which says nothing of other SOCs
You should take a look at modern technology instead of relying on your experience with decades old bricks. Just because hardly anyone uses them anymore doesn't mean that they haven't advanced.
I believe you can, I'm almost positive the prototypes are still booting without the GPU driver right now. I was also under the impression that the bluetooth and wifi didn't need blobs.Can you boot and run Pyra WITHOUT any closed soft or binary blob or firmware? I don't think so, but I would like it we can.
You can without too much issues. You may need to switch up some things for xorg and screen rotation.It will be interesting if it can boot without a blob (obviously losing internal BT/wifi/GPU functions).
You should take a look at modern technology instead of relying on your experience with decades old bricks. Just because hardly anyone uses them anymore doesn't mean that they haven't advanced.