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A Site that Lists Systems w/o DRM?

Posted by Cliff on from the opting-out-of-rights-management dept.

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."

5 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. From the LinuxBios docs... by Micro$will · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:From the LinuxBios docs... by HoneyBunchesOfGoats · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is in fact quite harmless. In normal operation, the BIOS is loaded into memory right at the start, and then the chip isn't touched after that. If you have a borked BIOS, and a spare machine with the same type chip, you can pull the BIOS chip from the working machine while it's on, stick in the borked chip, program with the BIOS for the borked motherboard, then swap the chips out again. Has saved my ass a number of times, when BIOS flashes fail and whatnot. The chance of harming anything is next to nil, just make sure you don't put the chip in backwards.

  2. Re:For a while, about 6? 4? years ago, by nempo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Funny thing is that every cpu that has ever been produced has a serial that programs can read. The serials are only unique in the fab. that they are produced in though, meaning two cpu:s from two diffirent fabs. can have the same serial.
    These serials are used to track down bad areas on the waffers and other things in the manufacturing process.

    --
    --- No, english is not my mother tongue.
  3. I'd say Against TCPA is such a site? by Saiai+Hakutyoutani · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.againsttcpa.com/ has a list of some TCPA-enabled hardware, at least.

  4. Now we do: www.DRMfree.com by techstar25 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I just registered it. Email me with links to add. drmfree@techstarweb.com