Talos Secure Workstation crowdfunding (was Re: Uncorrectable freedom and security issues on x86 platforms)

[Paul Boddie]

On Monday 4. April 2016 17.06.23 Timothy Pearson wrote:
> 
> === POWER ===
> 
> IBM has recently released their high-performance POWER8 architecture for
> third party licensing, and has also released a small treasure trove of
> firmware and documentation for these devices.  POWER is the only
> architecture currently competitive with Intel in terms of raw
> performance, and boots using a fully FOSS firmware with no DRM
> antifeatures embedded.  The primary disadvantage of power is cost, as it
> is currently targeted at the server and datacenter markets.  We are
> attempting to bring POWER to the high-end workstation market in a
> FOSS-friendly form via the Talos™ Secure Workstation, but need
> additional interest to make this a reality:
> https://raptorengineeringinc.com/TALOS/prerelease.php

Having seen the EOMA68 crowdfunding campaign get funded on Crowd Supply, it 
was interesting to see you proceed with a rather more ambitious campaign for 
Talos:

https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/talos-secure-workstation

It's notable that you've raised as much in pledges in about ten days as the 
EOMA68 campaign raised within its entire funding window, but then again, 
you're attempting to raise twenty times that amount or so.

What you're offering is largely beyond my computing budget, but I hope you 
manage to meet your target. Looking at the product pledges, it's clear that 
some demand is there, particularly when four- and five-figure dollar amounts 
are involved!

Paul