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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."
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.
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...
Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
But it is Apple!
Apple is as pure and clean as the wind-driven snow.
If my iMac gave me electric shocks for looking at the Dell website, I would thank Steve Jobs for setting me straight.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
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.
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
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.
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.
I just registered it. Email me with links to add. drmfree@techstarweb.com