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."

Comments

Re:Stay away. Stay far far away.

[EzInKy]

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?


Interestingly enough, there's a front page article on the LinuxBios project. According to the linked article:

LinuxBIOS works on 64-bit and 32-bit CPUs. CPUs supported include the Alpha, K8, K7, PowerPC, P4, PIII, PII, Cyrix (VIA), Geode (now AMD) and SC520 (AMD). Chipsets are too numerous to list. Form factors of mainboards range from the smallest PC/104 systems to the largest K8 systems. An IBM PPC 970 port is in progress.

As for Apple, trading software lock-in for hardware lock-in is hardly a solution.

Re:Simple...

[pbox]

Ha, ha. Apple will be the first one to implement DRM. It will also successfully hype it as a DRM and all Apple fans will be proud of this! At least that is the trend I percieve...

For a while, about 6? 4? years ago,

[way2trivial]

all pentium iii's (and some II's had) were going to/did have serial #'s that programs could call on... public hue and outcry ended this.

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.

Re:Heh

[ebrandsberg]

From the LinuxBIOS article, apparently Tyan now even ships boards with LinuxBIOS on request. As it is open source, I don't see how a board that supports LinuxBIOS will ever be required to have DRM. From the LinuxBIOS article, the most interesting point I found was the impact that money had on vendor support. As soon as RFP's for millions of dollars of equipment required LinuxBIOS, the vendors supported it. If you support it, it will continue.

Re:The sky isn't falling

[zero_offset]

The only possible people who would be affected would be Windows users.

In other words, almost everybody.

Re:Simple...

[GigsVT]

They already have. Their proprietary music format uses DRM.

12 Volts at 1/2 Amp is plenty

[marcus]

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.