On Thu, Dec 08, 2016 at 10:41:46AM +0500, Roman Mamedov wrote:
On AMD that's been implemented only after "Family 15h" https://libreboot.org/faq/#amdbastards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_CPU_microarchitectures
Family 15h itself is safe.
It includes FX-series 8-core CPUs at up to 5 GHz supporting DDR3-2133 RAM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piledriver_%28microarchitecture%29
So don't handwave-away AMD with "they are doing that too", today you CAN have a non-backdoored modern high-performance CPU -- from AMD.
Interesting, but this microarchitecture entered the market in 2012 and is probably being phased out now, I guess?
As far as modular, open hardware is concerned, I set my hopes on the new EOMA68 architecture. This is a draft standard for computer cards in the PCMCIA form factor: http://elinux.org/Embedded_Open_Modular_Architecture/EOMA68
Crowdfunding for the first implementation of this specification (EOMA68-A20) has been successful: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop I ordered one, and I convinced Digitalcourage e.V. to order three more that will be used for trustworthy computing – maybe Tor relays.
The performance of this first implementation will probably be comparable to the CubieTruck which is based on the same SoC, the Allwinner A20, which is an ARM Cortex-A8 design. So CPU-wise, it will be between the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3. Network throughput might be better because it does not use Raspi's peculiar design.
New implementations with more powerful hardware are in preparation (see the latest updates on CrowdSupply), but we are still talking about smartphone-like systems.
Last time I checked, Tor did not support the hardware AES acceleration of the A20 SoC called Security System (SS) http://sunxi.montjoie.ovh. Is this still the case?
Greetings from Bielefeld, Germany! Christian