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from the who-remembers-when-a-mini-computer-was-the-size-of-only-three-large-refrigerators? dept.
China's Zhaoxin CPU Is in Its First Mini-PC
Networking specialist Ruijie Networks on Tuesday launched its first mini-PC featuring China's homegrown Zhaoxin KaiXian KX-U6780A processor.
[...] The RG-CT7800 takes the form of a 2.4-liter, black chassis. The device features a custom motherboard for the KaiXian KX-U6780A, since the processor is ball grid array-based. The motherboard comes with two SO-DIMM DDR4 RAM slots too.
[...] Ruijie Networks offers the RG-CT7800 with 8GB of DDR4 memory and a 256GB SSD. One of the product images show the device with what appears to be four USB 2.0 ports and two 3.5mm jacks for heaphones and microphones. It's unclear what other ouputs are on the RG-CT7800.
The RG-CT7800 is compatible with the Chinese-developed UOS (Unity Operating System) and NeoKylin operating systems, which are both based on Linux. Ruijie Networks has made the necessary software modifications so that the RG-CT7800 can run streaming software and office suites, such as Kingsoft WPS Office and Yongzhong Office. The mini-PC also supports a bunch of peripherals, including Pantum printers, CZUR document scanners, digital drawing tablets and bar code scanners.
KaiXian KX-U6780A is a "high-end" 8-core x86-64 CPU from Zhaoxin, a joint venture between Via Technologies and the Chinese government. Any way you measure it, performance is relatively low, but that is not the point:
According to GeekBench, the Zhaoxin KX-U6780A comes in at a 1910 on single core score and a 8670 on a multi core score. This is roughly comparable to a modern high-end Intel Atom, or 2012 era four-core Intel Core i5-3550U.
However, where this gets interesting is how it fits into China's "3-5-2" plan. This is Beijing's mandate to wean China's public sector off foreign technology. By the end of 2020, 30% of the technology infrastructure needs to be domestic, while by the end of 2021 this number jumps to 50%, while the remaining 20% would need to be replaced by the end of 2022. The RG-CT7800 -- while technically unremarkable -- will be a perfect cog in the machine for this plan.
(Score: 1) by Frosty Piss on Wednesday February 26 2020, @01:03AM (3 children)
With baked-in back door!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2020, @09:22AM (2 children)
Isn't it becoming obvious yet..?
What do you think things like the Intel Management Engine [wikipedia.org] are for? If you're not familiar with that it is, essentially, a computer within your computer on intel processors. It's purpose remains classified and it's completely unnecessary. A few years back those pesky Russian hackers showed a way [wikipedia.org] that it can be disabled, though such usage was only intended for "High Assurance Platform" users, like... the NSA.
The big difference between China and the US is increasingly just optics. China is unabashedly spying and exploiting their population. The US is doing the same, while pretending -probably in large part because of our now shat upon constitutional protections- that we're not. I expect you're very likely correct that these machines may end up having hardware backdoors. But much like our backdoors they'll probably have toggles so the elite can use their computers without risk of being spied on, and those toggles will hopefully be discovered.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 26 2020, @04:13PM (1 child)
Why risk having a switch to turn off the backdoor compromise?
Can't the elite simply use a special model of equipment reserved for the "inner party" while the "telescreens" with no off switch go to the "outer party" and
trollsproles.To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2020, @07:04PM
With a toggle, any computer is usable. Adds substantial simplicity as well as likely security.
It also means in a scenario where the backdoor is discovered and exploited by outside players, a patch can be distributed to disable it on a wide scale if desired. Also, I think China is clearly aiming to become the dominant superpower within the next few decades, and that's going to be driven in large part by their economy and manufacturing. Having all your hardware permanently backdoored is probably not a good idea when it comes to foreign hardware exports.