Comments on: Neutralizing Intel’s Management Engine

By: Nitori

Nitori — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:45:39 +0000

Seems like the leadership of the Eurinal just comes a up with one bad idea after another.

By: Nitori

Nitori — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:39:09 +0000

Actually I’ve done that a few times.
I once replaced the computer controlled ignition and carb on 1980s Dodge truck with a standard HEI and Holley carb and gained 40hp and 2mpg this is often necessary as those systems don’t age well and were junk to begin with I also and once replaced the entire ECM on a 280ZX with a Megasquirt setup.

By: Nitori

Nitori — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:30:43 +0000

Actually the reason for the Intel switch is not what most people think.
The real reason is most likely was because Apple was developing the iphone and the switch to Intel allowed them to move a lot of hardware engineers who were design custom silicon for macs to that project vs hiring more.
There were low volt PPCs from PA Semi that were superior to the Core 1 series chips and maybe even Core 2.
But the side effect the mac no longer has anything unique about it and I have not had a reason to buy a mac since 2007.
Why bother buying one when you can build something faster for less or even run OSX in a VM?

By: Someone Human

Someone Human — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:26:56 +0000

Sauce please.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:25:38 +0000

It is good to have it IF YOU NEED IT. But in a private environment you rarely need it and it can be a security risk. So why not make a HW jumper on the board to enable/disable it?

By: Nitori

Nitori — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:21:18 +0000

Most fast computers are pretty good at that though during this time of year that bug could actually be considered a feature.

By: wkpad

wkpad — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 16:05:41 +0000

Obviously there’s no way for me to post convincing proof, but Intel refuses to make variants of the ME firmware — they only publish the “big one” and the “little one,” and the little one only exists because a very large company wanted something with a smaller attack surface. There was one Intel engineer who slipped up in a casual conversation and admitted there is another firmware specifically made for the NSA, but didn’t say whether it was for NSA’s internal computers or for something else.