Hi Paul,
Am 22.08.2016 um 19:10 schrieb Paul Boddie:
Hello,
I last mentioned EOMA68 on this list in early July, noting that I would have
blogged about it, too, but couldn't at the time. Unfortunately, real life got
in the way of either following up with the blog volunteers about the blogging
service (which I greatly appreciate as a service of the FSFE Fellowship) or
actually writing anything about this topic on my blog. In fact, I only wrote
about it there recently:
https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=1314
...
On this list, there was a discussion about how bad modern x86 derivatives are
by enabling surveillance at the hardware level...
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2016-April/010912.html
...but either people feel completely powerless about it or they like to talk
about the situation more than how to alleviate or resolve the situation.
Amusingly, all sorts of observations came up about that discussion and I even
mentioned one of them here:
https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=1305
(Yes, SPARC might even be a candidate for an alternative hardware platform,
but its supporters need to bring finance and people to the effort instead of
reminiscing about Sun's glory days. The referenced discussion is, however,
rather interesting to read in parts.)
...
There's an interesting summary of processor suitability done for the criteria
of EOMA68 that some might find interesting:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/picking-a-processor
"It should also be pretty clear that there is literally not a single processor
that checks every single box! As in, there is not a single processor in the
world that is eco-conscious, respects software freedom, is ethical and
accessible. This is a pretty insane situation to be in, in the year 2016."
There needs to be a constructive debate about incrementally improving this
situation. Instead of "I hate that processor" or "wait for my radical SoC I've
just started designing", people need to help find products that uphold
software freedom and privacy while also being usable (obtainable, for the most
part) for small libre hardware projects. And there needs to be an appreciation
that this work is not meant to create the "toy of the month" - a gadget that
is fun for a while and then stashed away somewhere - but instead to build an
environment where we shouldn't be constantly needing to urgently figure out
what kind of hardware we can use that uphold our values.
So, does anyone have any opinion about the kinds of projects (most likely
being undertaken already) that need our attention or support? How do you
envisage a sustainable computing platform? And since all discussions
inevitably lament how much memory Firefox uses these days, how do you envisage
a less demanding form of computing being extended to online services?
Sorry for the long message!
In contrary, I thank you for writing that excellent summary!
Michael
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