
Google Working to Remove MINIX-Based Management Engine from Intel Platforms - rbanffy
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/google-removing-minix-management-engine-intel,35876.html
======
AdmiralAsshat
>Due to MINIX’s presence on every Intel system, the barebones Linux OS is the
most widely deployed operating system in the world.

Yeeeowch. That's a pretty egregious error.

~~~
agumonkey
I see no error. Just a very willful self congratulation.

~~~
detaro
Minix is not a Linux OS.

------
peatmoss
Looking at [https://raptorcs.com/TALOSII/](https://raptorcs.com/TALOSII/), the
main cost to getting a POWER9 CPU isn't the CPU itself, it's paying a
relatively small mainboard design company that needs to recoup their
(presumably substantial) engineering costs.

Given Google's size, I wonder:

1) If they could reasonably design their own mainboards for POWER9

2) If they could create a market for POWER9 CPUs among enthusiasts and the
security minded (Google's apparent motivation for lobotomizing Intel ME)

3) If the POWER9 CPU is a reasonable option for their workloads

4) If other architectures are a non-starter from a homogeneity standpoint
(e.g. everything else runs Intel, and software compatibility is king).

EDIT: Formatting

~~~
amock
Google and Rackspace developed a POWER9 server
[https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2016/10/introducing-
Zai...](https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2016/10/introducing-Zaius-Google-
and-Rackspaces-open-server-running-IBM-POWER9.html) but I don't think it's
available to others.

~~~
rbanffy
If that motherboard could fit in a reasonable desktop tower chassis, it'd be
cool to be able to piggyback on Google's and Rackspace's work.

BTW, I assume both companies would somehow benefit from having machines like
those on engineer's desks - it's certainly convenient to do local development
on the platform you are deploying to.

------
detaro
This doesn't seem to contain anything new from the previous stories, one of
which was even submitted by you :/

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15641592](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15641592)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15634014](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15634014)

~~~
rbanffy
This piece focuses on Google's attempt at removing ME 11 code and replace it
with something they are more comfortable with. The others drove discussion
towards numbers, security issues and a third one focused on the license (BSD)
and its effects.

------
chipaca
Why is tomshardware calling MINIX a "barebones Linux OS"?

~~~
castle-bravo
Linux Is Not UniX.

~~~
rbanffy
Neither is MINIX.

In the end, though, they're all Unixy enough.

------
gondo
what was that video about?

