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Released: First PC Based On Russia's Homegrown "Baikal" Processor (t-platforms.ru)
WheatGrass writes to note that the company T-Platforms has introduced the first mass production unit based upon the Russian Baikal-T1 processor, mentioned here last in 2014. The new Baikal-based workstation is called the "Meadowsweet terminal," according to T-Platform's official website; the feature list says it's running a Debian-based Linux distro. "Congratulations, Russia," Says WheatGrass.
(According to Google's translation of this Russian-language story at RG.RU Digital,
"[Y]ou can install many conventional applications, such as the LibreOffice office suite, Firefox web browser, and so on, the developers say," but the main use seems to be as a thin client.)
Yes, it's probably a dated design and all, and bluntly I don't care about the chip itself. I wonder WHY.
Why is Russia making its own chips when computer chips are cheap and plentiful? It's way cheaper to simply buy a few. Why bother rolling your own? Well, there are exactly two reason why I would make my own hardware. One, I don't trust the existing manufacturers to not include backdoors and kill switches. This is what I hope the reason for doing it is.
Two, because they may not be available anymore when the country they're made in is no longer friendly to mine. This is what I kinda fear the reason could be.
We're not going to head for war, but I could see the international climate getting frostier in the near future.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.