On Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 11:18:06 PM UTC+4, [email protected] wrote: > вторник, 17 января 2017 г., 10:16:18 UTC-5 пользователь [email protected] > написал: > > On Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 3:26:04 PM UTC+4, [email protected] wrote: > > > 26 December 2016 г., 18:00:43 UTC-5 [email protected] написал: > > > > Lenovo is a shitty company if you care about security, they have stuck > > > > irremovable rootkits their BIOS 4 separate times and they are partially > > > > owned by the PRC government > > > > > > Having a PRC backdoor is better than NSA one! (most laptop companies are > > > American, so...) By the way, why not to get a Lenovo G505S laptop? > > > 1) It is the latest AMD-based laptop which is supported by coreboot open > > > source BIOS (so no closed source BIOS backdoors), and it does not have > > > Intel ME backdoor. G505S's APUs are Richland - the last generation before > > > AMD started to embed their own version of Intel ME, "AMD Security > > > Processor" or PSP ( > > > http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/AMDRoadmap-Mobility.png > > > ) Although a closed source vga blob is still required for working > > > graphics, luckily a coreboot's YABEL prevents the possible undocumented > > > accesses of vga blob to other PCI devices > > > 2) Supported by Qubes 3.2 - see HCL, > > > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/qubes-users/TS1zfKZ7q8w/JQFkVF4xBgAJ . > > > Most likely to be supported by Qubes 4.0 ( HVM=y, IOMMU=y, SLAT=y) and > > > seems to meet its certification criteria so far - > > > https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2016/07/21/new-hw-certification-for-q4/ <-- > > > webcam could be covered, speakers and wireless card are not soldered and > > > could be removed, and just checked the last concerning thing - embedded > > > microphone is a PCI device, not USB connected ;) > > > 3) High end version of G505S has a top of the Richland generation > > > A10-5750M APU, 3352 score at Passmark cpu-benchmark. If to compare with > > > i5-6200U of Lenovo T460s, 3933 score - 17% faster. But i5-6200U is dual > > > core, while A10-5750M is quad core. Also, despite being three years > > > older, A10-5750M integrated graphics is faster than of i5-6200U. > > > According to Passmark: Intel HD 520 - 844 G3D score, AMD HD 8650G - 950 > > > G3D score, 13% faster. > > > 3) In contrast with many modern laptops, G505S has two slots for RAM > > > (instead of one) and its RAM is not soldered. That means: when your RAM > > > fails a memtest after some years, instead of paying a fortune for the RAM > > > chips replacement you could just remove RAM and install a new one. Also > > > you could easily upgrade to 16 GB RAM (2x8GB), which helps not to think > > > of RAM usage while using Qubes (currently running 14 VMs at the same > > > time, with a lot of applications started, and they eat just 13 GB out of > > > 16 GB) > > > 4) G505S has either integrated or both integrated and discrete graphics > > > (depends on G505S version). In any case, it is AMD only - which has great > > > open source drivers for Linux. No need for NVIDIA closed source > > > proprietary drivers with telemetry... > > > 5) Almost all the components could be replaced by user, even a CPU is not > > > soldered. Easy to tear down a laptop and assemble it back. Thanks to open > > > source BIOS, no WiFi card whitelist, so possible to install any wireless > > > card which has open source drivers for Linux (such as AR9462) > > > Currently it is almost impossible to buy a new G505S, but the used ones > > > are selling for cheap (e.g. 3 auctions currently at eBay for G505S > > > version with A10-5750M APU, 1 UK and 2 US-based, one of them with buy it > > > now price $250 - half of the original $500) > > > > I have an old G505 kicking around somewhere, will give it a go with Qubes > > 3.2 and then try Coreboot. Thanks for the reminder ! Wonder if this means I > > can get the KDE Desktop Cube animation to work. > > Steve, do you have G505 or G505S ? This "S" letter is important: while Lenovo > G505S is supported by coreboot, tested and works OK, - there is no > information if G505 is supported. Luckily G505 and G505S hardware seems to be > quite similar, but there are some differences which could result in that > G505S coreboot build does not work for G505. Some additional coreboot coding > could be required - or maybe not required, please read till the end... > > G505 and G505S have different motherboard model: G505S has either Compal > LA-A091P (with discrete graphics) or LA-A092P (without discrete), while G505 > has either LA-9911P (with discrete) or LA-9912P (without discrete). If you > make the google requests like "motherboard-model pdf" you will find their > datasheets > > There are similarities in these motherboards (the same hardware could be > found in both of them, such as ENE KB9012 Embedded Controller) as well as > differences: > > G505S has a fusion controller hub FCH A76M Bolton-M3, while G505 has FCH A70M > Hudson-M3 . https://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2014-May/078000.html > tells that A76M is upgraded A70M, means their FCH are different but probably > not by much. Go to coreboot github mirror > (https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot), at right upper corner you could > search their repository and see - it mentions both Hudson and Bolton. Also, > if you go to Kolibri forum thread mentioned in my HCL message here ( > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/qubes-users/TS1zfKZ7q8w/JQFkVF4xBgAJ ), > download coreboot.zip with G505S config, you could see - despite G505S has > Bolton, that config mentions CONFIG_SOUTHBRIDGE_AMD_AGESA_HUDSON=y and no > mention of Bolton, which could mean that this build is compatible with both > Hudson and Bolton (but needs to be tested!) > > Physical differences: G505 has a more convenient board shape, but it has a > soldered CPU (which sucks a bit - couldnt upgrade or replace, and results in > more expensive replacement motherboards), while G505S CPU is socketed CPU ; > also, in case of motherboards with discrete graphics, G505S has a better > heatsink - two heatpipes (one heatpipe is shared between CPU and discrete > GPU, but GPU rarely gets hot if you dont play games, means two heatpipes for > CPU), while Lenovo was greedy while making G505 and there is only one > heatpipe which is shared between CPU and discrete graphics - higher > temperatures, must use good thermal paste! > > It will be interesting if you could test my coreboot build - will be great if > it works not just on Lenovo G505S but on G505 as well ;)
I dug out the laptop and its a G505S , I would like to install a Coreboot (haven't done this before), do you have a link, thx -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "qubes-users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qubes-users/8ebc7e76-0a51-40dc-b628-cd8109e049cf%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
