Why should a serious backdoor, privacy concerns and ethical problems with a monopolies new product not be discussed in a thread about that product? Not sure I get your point on that.

But yeah you are totally right on the alternatives. Nothing quite matches Intel and AMD, and a lot of those ARM SoC's have proprietary code running on their bootloader too. But you can get some processor from 7 years ago that are usable.

OpenPOWER is fantastic though and has real potential. There were a few projects out there looking to implement a laptop and personal desktop computer using it, but unfortunatly didn't reach it's funding goals.

I think the more people that know about Intel and AMD's shading practices that more funding open hardware projects can get, and maybe in the next few years we can replace Intel and AMD with ethical and open solutions.

I agree, this has to be allowed to be discussed about, it's literally about the product.

Haven't heard about OpenPOWER, I hope more people are made aware of alternatives to get funding and spin.

There are some ARM processors that live without blobs, I think Olimex produces what they call open-source hardware (OSHW), is this an acceptable product?

I meant that as in, there have been plenty of dedicated discussions threads on this site and many others regarding the Intel ME. Most people here know about the ME by now, and we don't have to bring it up in every single Intel-related thread.

> a lot of those ARM SoC's have proprietary code running on their bootloader too

Usually possible to replace that blob! e.g. https://github.com/christinaa/rpi-open-firmware for the Raspberry Pi

Check out Talos II motherboard. It's a workstation-class motherboard with dual POWER9 CPUs for $2750. It's a good price for workstation computer IMO. They claim that all their firmware is open source. Specifications are quite modern. The only problem is (kind of) exotic architecture, but many people would be able to use it with open source software.

> It's a workstation-class motherboard with dual POWER9 CPUs

Isn't it more accurate to say it might at some point be available as a motherboard with power 9 CPUs?

I mean, it looks very interesting, but afaik no-one has been shown even a prototype yet?

I was scanning thought he comments to see if somebody had already mentioned this and if you hadn't I would have.

I am finding the Talos II an increasingly attractive proposition, even though the prices got a full system are quite staggering by comparison to mainstream hardware.

Though if you're comparing the Talos II to a Mac Pro, the price difference isn't quite as staggering :P

> All ARM SoCs come with radio processors that are running a non-trivial piece of software with full access to the system memory, which is responsible for power management, boot sequence and wireless communications. It is by definition network connected.

The high-end ones used for flagship smartphones/tablets do, but low-end ones used in cheaper tablets/TV boxes and more specialized hardware often don't have any radio interface.