Or other mnt reform projetcs, maybe even then one I mentioned in my other thread about the mnt reform frankenstein project.
Would either of these processors work for this?
LS2084A and LS2088A
or, LS1046
there isn’t exactly an information site on which arm processors can be used without any insecurity blobs/blobs in general.
IF nothing else, I just decided to throw these to you as possible processors for the future. I assume you already looked at these, but yeah, I am curious if you have tried. And if the possibility still exists in these or even newer a73+ cortex based processors.
Alright, so I take it there isn’t anything with Quad Core A72 that is as libre and fast as the imx8m that also can use 4GB of ram or more while still being as functional?
I wonder if someone ever plans to reverse engineer A75 cortex processors or later in the future.
Anyway I think even dual core LS1028A with A72 is better than quad core A53.
Also @minute is currently working on an adapter for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. It has quad-core Broadcom with A72 cores. But probably it will require active cooling.
You mention USB and Ethernet speed, but these don’t depend on C72 vs C53. These are mostly constrained by bus/Network-on-Chip architecture and chosen IP for these functions of the individual SoC, which varies greatly between chips and vendors.
Note that the Pi4 CM adapter is more of an experiment. I personally wouldn’t use it as a daily driver, as I prefer the i.MX8MQ for its architecture. Also, there is only a USB2.0 root port on the Pi4 CM, no USB3. The DSI output is constrained by secrecy/missing documentation, so we have to go through a HDMI->eDP converter for the internal display. Moreover, the main CPU in the system is actually the VideoCore which requires binary firmware if I’m not mistaken.
So your saying the Pi4 CM thing is not really important, the layerscape 1028A is however important.
As for 1028A though, do you know which runs faster for you when you have compared their speeds of processing? I am curious what you have to say.
Also, is getting 16GB even have a purpose if you using an arm processor like Layerscape LS1028A? Or would it make more sense for most people to get 8GB of ram with it. Just wondering?
Out of order execution also means complex secret firmware on the chip for selecting instructions. I guess it’s alright though as long as we can choose the old ones.
Proprietary firmware does not mean that it’s insecure by default. It could be dangerous then you keep features like Intel ME or AMD PSP turned on, but it’s not a case with ARM processors AFAIK.
In my opinion most privacy and security issues come from proprietary OSes and apps.
I can suggest you to create your own threat model at first. Do you really scare relatively rare hardware security issues?
I think open source firmware is a really cool thing when you really know what it does and want to experiment without the surprises that black boxes usually have.
Depends, sometimes your right, sometimes your wrong, isnt there some sort of arm type risk called the Arm Platform Trust Zone?
I recall somewhere hearing some arm processors have something close to equivalent…
My threat* model is this, does it dial when your connected or not connected to the internet, to places other than what I am connecting to currently.
Aka, are there any remote issues with having out of order execution?
I know you can break into most hardware easily if you have physical access, that isn’t my issue. I am speaking specifically, about over the net, or remote security issues as a whole. That’s my threat model.
Seems I had a typo, also I looked it up and it seems the trust zone can be controlled by the user? So maybe its not a big issue? Idk… heh.
AFAIK there is no known CPU firmware exploits to hack your PC over net except Intel ME and alternatives.
Out-of-order execution means that it could be vulnerable to a newer SPECTRE like attacks I guess. But all of them only allows an attacker to read bytes SUPER slowly from CPU cache. While it’s still dangerous, this attacks are mainly very limited.
The i.MX8MQ module with in-order Cortex-A53 cores will always be available. The new modules are just alternatives. The idea is to create a lively ecosystem of modules around MNT Reform.
