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Forced E-Waste PCs And The Case Of Windows 11’s Trusted Platform

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  • ROFL no. I once knew someone who got offered an upgrade from whatever to Windows 10, only for it to fail half way through because their CPU was some weird corner case that the OS thought it supported but when it was time to boot... didn't.

    Also if you want to talk e-waste, look no further than Chromebooks.

    Windows 11 has problems, this is hardly one of them.

    Chromebooks and Apple products hitting EoL for sure.

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    I'm grateful to Microsoft for Windows 11 providing me a bunch of free machines to stick in my basement and put Linux on.

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    The writer clearly understands that something isn’t adding up with Microsoft’s claims about TPM, but nowhere do they address the accusations that Microsoft plans to use it as DRM (and potentially spying).

    Similarly, only supporting certain CPU’s is suspect as hell. Between all this and Recall, it really feels like the driving design focus behind Windows 11 was to build the best spying machine they could.

  • Debian user here. All people have a doorkey. Some people have an alarm system as well. Infosec is about ' what do you have and what do you know '. So in principle TPM is a defencible argument. You should absolutely bail from MS products for different reasons. Like privacy. Your PC isn't yours anymore. Your NPU will reduce THEIR costs. Etc.

    Don't enter Linux thinking its a drop in replacement. Go slow and do 'ships in the night'. Move data over to the new ship. Start embracing OSS on windows, it'll be familiar when you finally bail.
    G luck.

    TPM is the wedge to put a cryptoprocessor in your computer so program can finally operate under the tyrannical scrutiny of users and the pirates using ghidra !

  • Quick glance on my installed programs, and I count 7 apps I heavily use in windows 11 with no linux version, nor a clear equivalent that could replace them without extensive hacks that may or may not work and be a total waste of my time.

    Also a funny thing: I installed Debian with KDE and then GNOME last year on another PC, and guess what? KDE & GNOME came bloated with a bunch of apps, games, office suite, code editor and other shit.

    I thought the whole shtick of Linux/FOSS was that it didn't make any default choices for you. That's what I always read here when people cry about windows bloat.

    The same cleanup & customization did for windows 11 I had to do to Debian KDE and then GNOME.

    Point is: it's not that easy and being and insufferable jerk about it its not gonna solve it. Let people use what they want.

    If a distribution didn't come with any default software, it would be unusable out of the box by the average user. If you want that, choose something like Arch or Gentoo or LFS.

    The point of FOSS is freedom and choice. You can choose a distribution that aligns with your needs, and once it's running, you can e.g. replace Firefox with Chrome or use Nautilus instead of Thunar. Try uninstalling IE/Edge or Explorer on Windows for a direct comparison.

  • Idk about the lack of repairability, those things are really easy and cheap to fix in my experience. They are at least no less repairable than 95% of laptops on the market.

    Depends on what. The most common thing i see is that the kids mess with either the keyboard and or the screen, which you're basically forced to scavenge another broken Chromebook for because the replacement parts are pretty much like half the cost of the chromebook

    If it's something simple then yea I agree, but kids are menaces against their chromebook so damage usually ends up being on the extreme side.

  • I've been running Linux exclusively since 2001 or so. It was rough around the edges back then, but it was useful enough for what I needed.

    You had to choose a good distro on that note; redhat, mandrake, etc broke on me so many times, and I was only able to fully switch after finding slackware, which was rock solid.

    I remember suse and Debian where ahead of the curve back then. Package managers really changed the game when they started showing up around then. I will admit I’m probably a little too cynical. But I had to run windows through college for various software, and until recently playing most games on Linux was quite the challenge. Steam has truly cracked the code. So I’m dipping my toes back into Linux for daily use. I’ve been running my truenas server for a few years now and run several Linux VM’s so I’m not starting from scratch.

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    Little Brother is a novel about a future dystopia where copyright laws have been allowed free rein to destroy people's lives.

    It's legislated that only "secure" hardware is allowed, but hardware is by definition fixed, which means that every time a vulnerability is found - which is inevitable - there is a hardware recall. So the black market is full of hardware which is proven to have jailbreaking vulnerabilities.

    Just a glimpse of where all this "trusted", "secure" computing might lead.

    As a short video I saw many years ago explained on the concept: "trust always depends on mutuality, and they already decided not to trust you, so why should you trust them?"

    Edit: holy shit, it's 15 years old, and "anti rrusted computing video dutch voice over" (turns out the guy is German actually) was enough to find it:

  • Thanks for the lead, but I'm afraid I don't know what to do with these modules. Do they only work with NixOS?

    Yeah sorry should have listed that, they do require a NixOS installation.

    Pick a DE for the installer, and if you want to change DE the installer will guide you through the process.

    Then it will leave you with a config file and some man pages, it's a bit much at first but spend some time with it. In my eyes easily one of the better distros out there.

  • I remember suse and Debian where ahead of the curve back then. Package managers really changed the game when they started showing up around then. I will admit I’m probably a little too cynical. But I had to run windows through college for various software, and until recently playing most games on Linux was quite the challenge. Steam has truly cracked the code. So I’m dipping my toes back into Linux for daily use. I’ve been running my truenas server for a few years now and run several Linux VM’s so I’m not starting from scratch.

    I was pretty lucky in university as most of my profs were either using cross platform stuff or Linux exclusive software. I had a single class that wanted me using windows stuff and I just dropped that one.

    Awesome that you're getting back into it, it's definitely the best it's ever been (and you're right that Steam cracked the code). It sounds like you probably know what you're doing if you're running Linux VMs and stuff, but feel free to shoot me a PM if you run into any questions or issues I might be able to point you in the right direction for.

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    eightbitblood@lemmy.worldE
    Incredibly well said. And couldn't agree more! Especially after working as a game dev for Apple Arcade. We spent months proving to them their saving architecture was faulty and would lead to people losing their save file for each Apple Arcade game they play. We were ignored, and then told it was a dev problem. Cut to the launch of Arcade: every single game has several 1 star reviews about players losing their save files. This cannot be fixed by devs as it's an Apple problem, so devs have to figure out novel ways to prevent the issue from happening using their own time and resources. 1.5 years later, Apple finishes restructuring the entire backend of Arcade, fixing the problem. They tell all their devs to reimplement the saving architecture of their games to be compliant with Apples new backend or get booted from Arcade. This costs devs months of time to complete for literally zero return (Apple Arcade deals are upfront - little to no revenue is seen after launch). Apple used their trillions of dollars to ignore a massive backend issue that affected every player and developer on Apple Arcade. They then forced every dev to make an update to their game at their own expense just to keep it listed on Arcade. All while directing user frustration over the issue towards developers instead of taking accountability for launching a faulty product. Literally, these companies are run by sociopaths that have egos bigger than their paychecks. Issues like this are ignored as it's easier to place the blame on someone down the line. People like your manager end up getting promoted to the top of an office heirachy of bullshit, and everything the company makes just gets worse until whatever corpse is left is sold for parts to whatever bigger dumb company hasn't collapsed yet. It's really painful to watch, and even more painful to work with these idiots.
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    That's always worth considering. A phone app doesn't take a big operating budget to launch and maintain. Especially for state-actors.
  • Sitting up and waiting.

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    What new AI slop hell is this?
  • Uber, Lyft oppose some bills that aim to prevent assaults during rides

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    F
    California is not Colorado nor is it federal No shit, did you even read my comment? Regulations already exist in every state that ride share companies operate in, including any state where taxis operate. People are already not supposed to sexually assault their passengers. Will adding another regulation saying they shouldn’t do that, even when one already exists, suddenly stop it from happening? No. Have you even looked at the regulations in Colorado for ride share drivers and companies? I’m guessing not. Here are the ones that were made in 2014: https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/2021/title-40/article-10-1/part-6/section-40-10-1-605/#%3A~%3Atext=§+40-10.1-605.+Operational+Requirements+A+driver+shall+not%2Ca+ride%2C+otherwise+known+as+a+“street+hail”. Here’s just one little but relevant section: Before a person is permitted to act as a driver through use of a transportation network company's digital network, the person shall: Obtain a criminal history record check pursuant to the procedures set forth in section 40-10.1-110 as supplemented by the commission's rules promulgated under section 40-10.1-110 or through a privately administered national criminal history record check, including the national sex offender database; and If a privately administered national criminal history record check is used, provide a copy of the criminal history record check to the transportation network company. A driver shall obtain a criminal history record check in accordance with subparagraph (I) of paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) every five years while serving as a driver. A person who has been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the previous seven years before applying to become a driver shall not serve as a driver. If the criminal history record check reveals that the person has ever been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to any of the following felony offenses, the person shall not serve as a driver: (c) (I) A person who has been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the previous seven years before applying to become a driver shall not serve as a driver. If the criminal history record check reveals that the person has ever been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to any of the following felony offenses, the person shall not serve as a driver: An offense involving fraud, as described in article 5 of title 18, C.R.S.; An offense involving unlawful sexual behavior, as defined in section 16-22-102 (9), C.R.S.; An offense against property, as described in article 4 of title 18, C.R.S.; or A crime of violence, as described in section 18-1.3-406, C.R.S. A person who has been convicted of a comparable offense to the offenses listed in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (c) in another state or in the United States shall not serve as a driver. A transportation network company or a third party shall retain true and accurate results of the criminal history record check for each driver that provides services for the transportation network company for at least five years after the criminal history record check was conducted. A person who has, within the immediately preceding five years, been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to a felony shall not serve as a driver. Before permitting an individual to act as a driver on its digital network, a transportation network company shall obtain and review a driving history research report for the individual. An individual with the following moving violations shall not serve as a driver: More than three moving violations in the three-year period preceding the individual's application to serve as a driver; or A major moving violation in the three-year period preceding the individual's application to serve as a driver, whether committed in this state, another state, or the United States, including vehicular eluding, as described in section 18-9-116.5, C.R.S., reckless driving, as described in section 42-4-1401, C.R.S., and driving under restraint, as described in section 42-2-138, C.R.S. A transportation network company or a third party shall retain true and accurate results of the driving history research report for each driver that provides services for the transportation network company for at least three years. So all sorts of criminal history, driving record, etc checks have been required since 2014. Colorado were actually the first state in the USA to implement rules like this for ride share companies lol.