Slashdot Mirror
A Site that Lists Systems w/o DRM?
timdaly asks: "I'm about to purchase new hardware. I understand that DRM has been added to the BIOS of some systems. Is anyone aware of a site that lists which systems are DRM-disabled? I don't want to purchase hardware that has any DRM. Like unique keys on CPUs the DRM technology seems to be more of a threat than a useful tool."
Apple.com
I'd also like to know if we can keep track of the DRM "infection". I don't see DRM as being good at all for the consumer. Perhaps in some very small ways, like having control over a hateful email sent to someone else, but no one should be doing such things anyway.
If there are any non-DRM BIOSes out there it's just because they haven't been updated yet. Don't buy them now, or you'll have no choice but to buy them for your next computer. AMI is gone, Phoenix is gone and Award no longer exists except as a sub-brand of Phoenix. Yes, this is a scary phenomenon. Vote with dollars. Apple's OpenFirmware doesn't contain any DRM (who knows for how long), Sun also uses OpenFirmware I believe?
If you absolutely insist on sticking to PC/Windows, consider supporting the OpenBIOS project, but it's not available as a hardware BIOS, nor in any motherboards that I know of, it's an after-the-purchase flash update (plus god only knows if it works properly). And since you're trying to flash away the DRM in the BIOS, you never know, it may not be allowed in the future. After all, we have to keep "viruses" from flashing our BIOSes now don't we? So lets make sure those flashes are cryptographically signed by Award/Phoenix/AMI...
Random and weird software I've written.
- nondrm.slashdot.org
hey, I don't recall another site that dislikes DRM as much as the slashdot crowd... so why don't we make an effort and do a 'nondrm' zone, a zone that is stuffed with 'how to circumvent' DRM'd-anythingI don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
Just wait util Linux Bios comes out in full force... http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/0 3/24/2327229&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=137&tid=185&t id=190
Roughly:
:(
$2000CAD for an Athlon 64.
$4000CAD for a comparable G5.
Not to mention the Apple is lagging a little behind on software and community at the moment (because of the sheer numbers difference between x86 users and Apple users). Hmmm, no thanks.
Whoops that's the price for the dual G5. Can probably knock of $1000.
Hmm.. Thats strange. I can't enter the URL for [REDACTED].
Oh, [REDACTED]! This new machine from [REDACTED] must have one of those damn [REDACTED] enabled BIOSes. No more [REDACTED] for me. [REDACTED]!
Step 6)
NOTE: BE ADVISED THAT THIS STEP CAN HURT OR KILL YOU! YOU ARE WORKING WITH A POWERED-ON COMPUTER AT THIS POINT. THE COMPUTER NEEDS TO BE OPENED UP, AND YOU NEED TO REMOVE A CHIP WHILE THE COMPUTER IS ON. IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE THIS TYPE OF WORK, DO NOT DO IT! WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS AT THIS STEP. BEFORE DOING THIS STEP WITH POWER ON, YOU SHOULD TRY IT WITH POWER OFF.
Figure out if you're going to burn the DoC on the build or LinuxBIOS machine. It has to be the machine with MTD modules.
Open the machine (LEAVE THE POWER ON), yank the flash, and plug in the DoC. We recommend you practice this first with the power off. Make sure that whatever you do, you are not shorting things out. Avoid using a metal tool!
NOTE: YOU CAN HURT YOURSELF AT THIS STEP. We can't take any responsibility for what happens to you here. If you haven't done this, or are not trained, or have a history of getting hurt by hardware, DON'T DO IT.
While I don't think 12 volts will electrocute me, I'm a little reluctant to swap a chip in a running machine. Until this project is at the point where I can just flash the BIOS with a DOS floppy or similar, I'll stick with what works.
As an owner of a Dual AthlonMP 2800+ rig, I can tell you that the extra $1000 for the SMP would be worth it...once you go SMP you can never go back. And SMP should be an extra $1000 (unless you can only get SMP on the highest end G5 and compare that price against a slightly lower end model). All in all it only cost me about $300 more for the SMP system ($70 more for the board + $100 for the extra proc + $30 for the extra HSF + $100 more for the RAM since the board only takes Registered ECC).
Having two oggencs running at once both chugging along at 14x realtime while the system remains responsive (because, at that speed, it is the speed of my hard disk that is limiting things...14x = ~14 MB/s being processed, * 2 = ~28M per second being pulled from the hard drive after being pulled off of a CD) so I still have enough CPU time left for everything else.
Being able to rip a DVD to XViD + Vorbis and watching that rip while it is being encoded is also really nice. Or playing Quake 2 while running a three pass encode. Ardour and The GIMP love me more too. SMP is just plain cool. I need more RAM though...GCC 3.x eats RAM while compiling C++ so having two copies of GCC both using 700M stresses my system a bit (since I only have 1G of RAM). Otherwise everything is really responsive.
Dear Moderators: Please don't moderate this comment. I turned off the karma bonus because I know it is off topic and wish for it to be ignored by most people.
HAL 7000, fewer features than the HAL 9000, but just as homicidal!
Hardware with DRM: One IBM ThinkPad model with TCPA (no software included to use it)
Hardware without DRM: Everything else.
Like unique keys on CPUs the DRM technology seems to be more of a threat than a useful tool
Can anyone give a specific example of how this is so?
see for example, this link at intel for the faq or this link where intel started defending it or this link, last updated 4/28/2000 talking about the fact that psn's (pentium serial numbers) will not be in the next generation of pentiums that last link has many bits about why the PSN was a headache.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
If there are any non-DRM BIOSes out there it's just because they haven't been updated yet.
Oh, for *Christ's sake*. Look, you silly ninny. Part of the TCPA spec is that it be *user-disablable*. A user *must* be able to flip off TCPA on a system that uses it.
Now, to this I've heard two counterarguments:
a) Compatibility. "Yes, but the vendors will just make their software not *run* without TCPA because they insist on having TCPA-based protection for their product." Fine. Buying a PPC or a SPARC or some oddball x86 box isn't going to do a damned thing to help you here. If a vendor isn't willing to make a product that works without TCPA, they aren't going to make that product that works without TCPA. It means people that have x86 boxes with TCPA off *and* Mac/Solaris/etc users are simply excluded from using that product. You gain nothing by switching platforms.
b) Slippery Slope. "Oh, but they don't have it on *today*, but I've seen someone speculate that the TCPA spec will be changed someday to *prevent* people from disabling TCPA!" Okay. For starters, this is astoundingly unlikely. There is *zero* reason for any BIOS vendor, OEM, or software publisher to want to prevent you from disabling TCPA. They simply have no incentive. It doesn't help them an iota. If they want their software not to run on a TCPA-less system, they won't let it run on a TCPA-less system. It doesn't help prevent piracy or let anyone charge higher prices, or do a single thing for anyone, and a few people will complain bitterly about it. Why bother? In the second place, no barriers are being erected that will make it harder to switch if such an unlikely event did take place. If the whole world suddenly says "no TCPA disabling for you!"...fine. You can switch.
The main group of people that I've seen ranting about TCPA have been overzealous Apple fans, who are apparently trying to confuse and worry people into switching to the Mac.
Oh, yes. This doesn't affect Linux users in the least, either. The only possible people who would be affected would be Windows users.
Finally, I just don't see the fuss over TCPA. It's useless for securing media (far too many ways to break it in any kind of a real-world implementation, it only takes one break to let media be spread across the Internet, etc). It may have minimal use (extremely minimal, since it is interfaced with in a standard manner) in securing software, but people already happily crack things using SafeCD and similar pieces of software -- players pirating software already frequently use cracked or modified copies. All they need to do is crack and distribute a copy that doesn't require TCPA (just like copies of software that check validity over the network or copies of software that use CD protection or whatnot.
TCPA is the most overblown fear that people here have had for *ages*. It's really amazing. If you want to get LinuxBIOS or something, great -- but be realistic, and do it for the fast-boot benefits and other nice things in LinuxBIOS, not because of some phantom fears that people have managed to raise about an Orwellian computing environment. It's just not going to happen.
May we never see th
http://www.againsttcpa.com/ has a list of some TCPA-enabled hardware, at least.
This happened to a friend of mine (while I was watching) - he made the mistake of looking at the sticker on the top of the chip when he was checking the proper orientation. Needless to say, the sticker was applied 'backwards' relative to the bios chip that was being switched out... nice fast 'pop' and a little smoke coming out of the window that was once covered by the sticker! Obviously a dumb mistake, but one that none of us who observed it are likely to repeat!
Every computer with a network card in it already has a globally unique id (GUID) in its hardware - the MAC address in the network card.
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
I just registered it. Email me with links to add. drmfree@techstarweb.com
If it runs through your heart. Running through your heart also means in one hand, up your arm, across your chest, down the other arm and out your hand.
The "problem" is getting the current to flow through your relatively nonconductive or highly resistive skin. This is why the famous CPR/defib paddles are energized with relatively higher voltages, so that the current can penetrate the skin. The low voltage "solution" is sweaty palms and sharp contact points. Can you say nervous? Can you say stamped metal case edges or PCB component pins?
Creative geek suicide: cut the tip of each index finger so that each bleeds well. Open the hood of your car. Press the cut on one finger to the ground terminal of the car battery. Take a nice, deep, *last* breath and do the same with the other finger and the positive terminal. I'm sure it will be an interesting experience. Not many have ever been conscious while having no heartbeat, even for a short time.
Besides the threat of death, there is also a completely different one, that of injury. Someday, you will short something. The power supply will be strong enough to keep pumping. Something will get hot. You will get burned and flinch. Your elbow will slam into the corner of the case/power supply/whatever and you will scream.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
It's up to the LAN card driver to read the MAC address on the ethernet adapter and place it in the TCP/IP packet header. A modified/hacked driver can easily ignore the hardwired MAC and spoof whatever.