Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Debian Project Warns: Turn off Hyperthreading with Skylake and Kaby Lake (Ubuntu affected)
guru3d.com ^ | 06/26/2017 08:40 AM | Hilbert Hagedoorn

Posted on 06/26/2017 8:41:07 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-30 last
To: Zathras
Just picked this up from Phoronix comments:

*************************************************************************

06-25-2017, 11:44 AM
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/267...e-20170511.tgz and install with microcode... the "ucode-tool" is no longer needed, Intel provides the microcode in native linux format nowadays....

Posted by:

arjan_intel

Intel

21 posted on 06/26/2017 10:57:30 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I think he is mistaken about Debian.


22 posted on 06/26/2017 11:14:01 AM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

True, but Intel has pushed out CPU microcode updates through Windows Update in the past.


23 posted on 06/26/2017 11:15:51 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The fact Intel has made updates available for Linux/Unix users means this whole issue is moot. Somebody should "virtually bop" the person who caused a panic for all the wrong reasons.
24 posted on 06/26/2017 11:18:34 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: RayChuang88
More interesting discussion form Phoronix:

*****************************************************

06-25-2017, 03:00 PM

More like dangerous to run Debian. You're telling me that I'm supposed to run this crap on a production system and disable one of the biggest perks of having a Core i7? HAHA! No. Their refusal to ship device firmware is really stupid. The whole reason we have firmware is to avoid precisely this kind of situation.

Back in the 90s when Intel processors didn't have replaceable firmware, things like the Pentium FDIV and F00F bugs required removing the processor and sending it to Intel for a replacement.

The processors that misbehave under Debian won't misbehave under Fedora, because Fedora ships and updates linux-firmware quite often. Also, my wifi works.

It's funny how Debian goes to all this trouble to be "Free", but then they package things like Widevine, Flash, RAR, etc. and just say that it's not officially part of Debian. The FSF has Debian on the non-recommended list of distributions even though Debian policy makes it much harder than necessary to set your computer up properly and most people end up figuring out a way to get the firmware anyway because they have devices that don't work without it. There is no functional difference, spare a little disk space used, of making available and pre-installing the firmware, since if you don't have the device, it will never get loaded, and few (if any) users want their computer to be non-functional in some way if it's missing.

Fedora is actually more Free by the FSF's own guidelines than Debian is. While Fedora ships firmware, the FSF would declare Debian non-Free for suggesting the firmware or making it available, which it does, but Fedora does not suggest, pre-install, or make available the non-Free software that is hosted by Debian. They don't stop you from installing it yourself from RPM Fusion and they don't try to break it (which would make an operating system non-Free if it did), but RPM Fusion is another project that is not made available by default or recommended by the Fedora project websites.

While there is some effort to set Fedora up, critical hardware isn't broken out-of-the-box simply due to lack of firmware. Debian has picked some odd policies and it continues to do so.

Also, after a while, Debian Stable becomes crusty enough that it won't work properly on new-ish hardware. Not only is the kernel Linux that it ships with sufficiently old that it still has a bunch of Skylake behavior that will make your laptop less efficient and will run down your battery, they insist on breaking the wifi chip until you can install the iwlwifi firmware (which is more of a pain because modern laptops don't have ethernet ports!), *and* to top it off, if you don't disable Hyperthreading, then certain Skylake processors will malfunction on Debian unless the manufacturer releases a new BIOS, which, guess what, probably only installs if you have Windows(!) all because Debian won't ship firmware for the kernel to replace on boot to solve things like this, like a sane OS does.

I don't even consider Debian. The people making their policies are braindead. There shouldn't be a struggle to set up a modern operating system. Sure, there are things to install and settings to tweak in Fedora, but it's not effing broken right out of the gate.

Right now I pretty much use Fedora because on other distributions my laptop is somewhat broken and finding out why or fixing it robs me of the time that I could be using my computer. If I ever want Long Term Stable, I'll go with CentOS. Whenever 8 is out, I guess. You could conceivably install CentOS and never have to do a distribution upgrade again. It's supported for longer than a Debian Stable or Ubuntu LTS, and it gets feature and driver backports.
Last edited by BaronHK; 06-25-2017, 03:08 PM.

25 posted on 06/26/2017 11:25:32 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Or in short, Debian is officially s***wing themselves. Meanwhile, Fedora, which is supported by Red Hat Software (a company with a LOT of experience developing Linux for "big iron" mainframe hardware), will end up getting more business as many server farms ditch Debian for Fedora.
26 posted on 06/26/2017 11:31:33 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Hmm....I will have to look at Centos.


27 posted on 06/26/2017 11:40:13 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: RayChuang88
Yes, and there can be a big difference between Lionux distros for sure, and the Unix distros as well.

Wonder how Gentoo does their support items, something to check,

28 posted on 06/26/2017 12:56:23 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
In short, anyone who owns Red Hat Software stock will be VERY happy with Debian's horrible missteps over this issue--one that Fedora has likely fixed already. Watch many server farms officially ditch Debian permanently--and that might include Amazon Web Services, Squarespace, etc.
29 posted on 06/26/2017 1:01:48 PM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Thanks for the ping! Got another ping that references the Debian post and had links back to this thread as well, so I pinged my list to that one for better overall coverage.


30 posted on 06/26/2017 2:44:20 PM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-30 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson