>Can this be? No binary blobs?
The "absolutely no mystery cod" is fake, the same page say:
"which includes a binary from Intel, called FSP."
The FPS is the Firmware Package Support[1]. It have "CPU, memory controller,
and Intel(R) chipset initialization functions as a binary package".
- Run proprietary microcode[2];
- Blobs on Embedded Controller[3];
- Support Intel "features" (Management Engines):
- SMM [4], It have many allegations of backdoor inside;
- SMC [5] . It's a mechanism that have total controll of your hardware;
- AMT[6] (Active Management Technology); and
- This processor have a cryptoprocessor (or accelerator, I don't know
exactly)
inside [7]. This processor perform the "Intel Indentity Protection Technology"
(on Public Key Generation step) and AES acceleration (if enabled).
Intel already have accusations about backdoor on this [8].
OpenBSD don't allow this to run.
- Blobs on GPU. It run a Intel Iris Pro 5200, that is VBIOS closed;
- Blobs on USB 3.0; and
- The SSD/HDD have blobs on microcontrollers on drive board.
If you want something more "free", try out some ARM board, like SABRE lite or
something like that.
Regards,
L.
[1] https://archive.today/hWkT3
[2] https://archive.today/GKqXM
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embedded_controller
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Mode#Problems
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Controller
[6] https://archive.today/YTuP8
[7] https://archive.today/89RGl
[8] https://archive.today/R8MXN
