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DRM Tinkering with Intel's PXA270?
putko asks: "Intel has a new line of chips with DRM built in. This appears to be the very first DRM-enabled chip to hit the streets. This microprocessor is unlike others available, because the user doesn't have complete control over the thing, and your computer can (theoretically) betray you.
For a while now, there have been computers (IBM ThinkPad) that won't boot unless you give the password, but you could always rip out the hard drive and read it, right? With this chip, the keys and RAM are on the chip, and the flash is encrypted, so this really looks locked up tight.
Has anyone worked with this chip, and is possible to build your own device that uses the Intel Trusted Wireless Platform to protect your secrets (like your software, perhaps)?"
"I'm reminded of this due to Slashdot's recent story on the iPAQ, which uses the chip (and has some neat security features too). Somewhat surprisingly, nobody brought up the Doomsday scenarios, there. It should also be mentioned that there are companies selling incredibly tiny boards for it. Maybe you can run Linux on them?
Wouldn't it suck if the chip had the capabilities and you couldn't use them in your own projects -- e.g. if that was just reserved to big companies like Microsoft? On the other hand, if you can use the features, you might see some neat applications. Assuming you can program the DRM stuff, how do you avoid locking yourself out of the chip while developing? What extra pitfalls may developers run into using it?"
Wouldn't it suck if the chip had the capabilities and you couldn't use them in your own projects -- e.g. if that was just reserved to big companies like Microsoft? On the other hand, if you can use the features, you might see some neat applications. Assuming you can program the DRM stuff, how do you avoid locking yourself out of the chip while developing? What extra pitfalls may developers run into using it?"
Joe Blow: Open warez site please
PXA270: I am sorry Joe, but I am afraid I can't do that...
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Thing is, it's already showing up. I've seen the PXA270 as the processor in a number of PDAs already, including ones I was showing some interest in. And yet there's NO mention of any special DRM functionality in the processor in the advertising or even during the process of purchasing one (examples include Dell's new x50 and x30 series, and a number of HP's iPAQs). I haven't seen mention of DRM functionality in any reviews yet either, which makes this the first I've heard of it.
Good to know, though. Time to go look into it a little closer and see if anyone plans on putting out a PDA with a VGA screen and a different processor. Today, AFAIK, the only VGA capable models all use the PXA270.
Home users will complain that things don't work correctly.
Home users might find that this will be the first "computer" that does work correctly out of the box. This will be the computer appliance that they're looking for. The "hood will be welded shut", and that will be just fine with most users. Real computers will become the hobbyist's toy, just like short wave radio. Just as we have less people that know morse code, we will have less people that can work a keyboard. It will look like a McDonalds cash register with lots of pretty buttons(or more likely a touch screen), and will probably only connect to shopping sites.
What?
I was amused to see that in a recent interview with Richard M. Stallman he referred to DRM as Digital RESTRICTIONS Management.
Although I'm not a big fan of spin, the current political climate makes renaming things with misleading names a necessity. When you say "Digital RESTRICTIONS Management", it makes it fairly clear that it's a technology aimed at limiting personal liberties.
P.S. Yes, I know this is a repost, but...
Signatures are a waste of bandwi (buffering...)
You throw the toad straight into the pot of boiling water and it will jump straight out, but put it in a pot of cold water and slowly increase the heat, and the toad will be boiled to death.
;)
This is off-topic nitpicking, but real toads will jump out of the pot as soon as they get too warm. This is pretty much true of all amphibians and reptiles. Lacking the ability to thermoregulate internally, cold-blooded animals instinctually move toward and away from heat sources as necessary. When, for example, a lizard is too cold, it will move into the sun to bask. When it starts to get too warm, it will move back into the shadows.
It's warm-blooded animals that are susceptible to this trick because they lack the necessary instincts. If you want to cook a human for example, you put him into a hot tub and slowly crank up the temperature. Long before you reach the boiling point or even any discomfort, he will pass from heat exhaustion to hyperthermia, and finally into unconsciousness, seizures, and organ failure. Read the warnings in a hot tub owner's manual sometime, or ask your friendly neighborhood paramedic how often failure to RTFM requires them to fish dead guys out of their hot tubs.
So really, all this "how to boil a frog" nonsense really out to be "how to boil an end user".
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
I'm a developer for these chips, and I have to say, this is much ado about nothing.
This has been said before - the primary goal is to get the board part count down.
The primary goal is to get the board part count down.
Let me reiterate once more: The primary goal is to get the board part count down.
With this chip, the only thing that it means is that you don't need o include a flash chip on the board.
The system will still be reflashable through a JTAG interface - just as any other device with flash connected to a CPU would be. In that respect, this machine is no more holding us "hostage" than any other previously released iPAQ or Zaurus.
I thereby declare you, sir, to be talking out of your ass.