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What kind of CPU do you primarily use when browsing SoylentNews?
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Endless Loop, n.:
see Loop, Endless.
Loop, Endless, n.:
see Endless Loop.
-- Random Shack Data Processing Dictionary
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @05:18AM (3 children)
Problem is that if you want a decent computer these days it comes with crap on the CPU.
Maybe in time better options will be available. For today, the ME can be neutered on some types.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 13 2019, @07:45AM (2 children)
I have my doubts. Witness the number of mobile devices sold with invasive spying applications. I suspect that it will become more and more difficult to find good options.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 14 2019, @01:00PM (1 child)
Start with a 4(3.75-3 usable) gigabyte memory capable pentium motherboard. Include PCI, USB 1.1 (2.0 if it is out of patent), ISA. Ensure it emulates 8059 ps2 keyboard/mouse ports (it can internally run a usb stack and convert HID devices to these, but it must be separate from the actual usb stack/bus). iCE40 FPGAs have up to a theoretical 1066mb/s of throughput at 533@16 bit width. That should be enough to run 2-3 full speed PCI slots/busses, ISA, plus have an SDRAM memory controller attached (maybe even DDR, but SDRAM is out of patent now both dimms and bare SDRAM chips are still cheap enough to produce new parts.)
With this hardware stack you will have a system capable of operating most software without mandatory SSE2/AVX/NX bit support, have enough ram to keep a modern multitasking OS running, and show there is demand for user controlled systems. If you want to get really badass, there is no reason 64 bit BAR support, IOMMU, or other features can't be added, so long as you adhere to the pre-i686 AT system expectations, and provide emulation modes for the expected devices of that era. Plus if you add 64 bit BAR support, with PCI to PCIe bridging you can begin supporting modern 64 bit only devices on your 32 bit system, leaving the way open for either a Super Socket 7 x86_64 chip, or even an fpga update of the system with protocol level compatibility for all modern system features, but over unpatented bus technology.
- Digital Open Hardware Luddite Kook
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 14 2019, @01:58PM
Mmmmmm. I see "pentium" yada yada yada, uh-huh, alright, OK, then "super socket 7". Right there, you have me.
I took a Super Socket 7, with an AMD 450 mobile, slightly overclocked it (I think I clocked to 515, can't remember for certain if that's the "stable" speed I settled on), provided a full gig of PC-150 memory, and installed WinXP on it. With careful tweaking, I could convince the less savvy user that he was running an Athlon class computer. You would never convince the tech savvy of that, but the machine was far more responsive, and seemingly faster than the new-at-the-time 1 ghz Athlon chips. Later, it held it's own against the Athlon XP chip, at some slightly higher CPU speed. By the time the Athlons reached 2 Ghz, I gave in and bought my own Athlon, and retired the Super Socket 7.
If you could resurrect that kind of sweetness, I would certainly drive it!