General Discussion

AgingAmerican

(12,958 posts)

40. Install Linux Mint

Wed Jul 31, 2013, 12:34 PM

Jul 2013

Just got a laptop for my daughter for her 20th birthday. It had Windows 8 on it. She dinked around with it for about an hour (took her ten minutes to figure out how to close an Internet Explorer window...etc.). She gave up and asked me to install linux on it. Put Mint on it. She had used it on my netbook, so she was somewhat used to it. No complaints from her. She says it does everything she needs it to do.

Problem solved.

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Expert Says NSA Have Backdoors Built Into Intel And AMD Processors [View all] AgingAmerican Jul 2013 OP

little bit fud PowerToThePeople Jul 2013 #1

Yes AgingAmerican Jul 2013 #2

I don't have time to build my own computer... Agschmid Jul 2013 #39

Install Linux Mint AgingAmerican Jul 2013 #40

The hits just keep on coming? Yeah, it's a regular hit parade. Asshats. Th1onein Jul 2013 #3

This report is bullcarp intaglio Jul 2013 #7

I call bullshit on this. longship Jul 2013 #4

You seem to have a mix up with hardware and software. napoleon_in_rags Jul 2013 #9

And my mother was the queen of Romania. longship Jul 2013 #10

here is some microcode that could be activated PowerToThePeople Jul 2013 #19

You can disable microcode on Linux boxes. joshcryer Jul 2013 #22

true. PowerToThePeople Jul 2013 #25

Check your BIOS updates, too, it may be applying them. joshcryer Jul 2013 #26

Cool this AgingAmerican Jul 2013 #38

All you need to do is read the Lenovo story: napoleon_in_rags Jul 2013 #37

It isn't necessarily true that an Intel chip backdoor would be found. Waiting For Everyman Jul 2013 #11

A backdoor can be discovered, but non-trivially. joshcryer Jul 2013 #16

What about this one? Waiting For Everyman Jul 2013 #32

I'm amused by the idea that it was a maybe a 'bug.' joshcryer Jul 2013 #33

That was reaching pretty far to come up with an explanation, alright. Waiting For Everyman Jul 2013 #34

Yeah, microcode is boot level, it is not a rewrite. joshcryer Jul 2013 #13

Hasn't that been everyone's assumption, all along? Same w/commercially available encryption? leveymg Jul 2013 #5

Sorry, I had at least ONE illusion left. Th1onein Aug 2013 #43

K&R DeSwiss Jul 2013 #6

Nothing Would Surprise Me cantbeserious Jul 2013 #8

Microsoft again. nt bemildred Jul 2013 #12

Microcode can be implemented in any OS. joshcryer Jul 2013 #14

"which gets updated every time a Microsoft update is installed" nt bemildred Jul 2013 #15

Or whenever a Linux microcode patch is released... joshcryer Jul 2013 #17

Are you saying Linux uses Microsoft microcode patches? nt bemildred Jul 2013 #18

The microcode is released by the CPU vendors. joshcryer Jul 2013 #20

That could get interesting. Sort of like a grenade. bemildred Jul 2013 #21

FWIW, I have applied microcode patches to CPUs on numerous occasions. bemildred Jul 2013 #23

Same here. joshcryer Jul 2013 #24

You still have to have a network port. bemildred Jul 2013 #27

Great... whttevrr Jul 2013 #28

Nothing to do at the moment, I'm not. bemildred Jul 2013 #30

Use Linux, disable the microcode, use OpenBIOS. joshcryer Jul 2013 #29

I have some quite ancient machines which can still surf well-enough too. bemildred Jul 2013 #31

The "'spying" capabilities of microcode would be very, very limited. Xithras Jul 2013 #35

I think this posting shows an utter lack of understanding of how the NSA works 1-Old-Man Jul 2013 #36

It's all very interesting, on an academic sort of basis. MineralMan Jul 2013 #41

I can provide one fact about the NSA and microprocessor companies. SlipperySlope Jul 2013 #42