|
Message
From: Rudolf Usselmann<rudi@a...>
Date: Thu May 13 06:40:08 CEST 2004
Subject: [oc] One issue about free hardware
On Thu, 2004-05-13 at 02:41, Richard Stallman wrote:
> As I understand it you are proposing a thought experiment.
>
> Absolutely not. I suggested a method of verification in hope that it
> may be of direct practical use, sooner or later.
>
> Yes, when we trust neither the tools, the code, the fab line, or
> the design, but all the parties who contribute them.
>
> That is not a solution; we cannot assume that everyone we deal with is
> honest. One of the benefits of free software is that we need not
> assume this. We can see the results of other people's work; we are
> not constrained to depend on blind faith. It will be a problem, in
> the future, if we are constrained to placing blind faith in chip
> fabricators. Blind faith is not the solution, it is the problem.
>
> Some are arguing that it would be unfeasible for them to modify the
> chip design they are sent. If that is sufficient to avoid depending
> on blind faith, that's good. My suggestion is available in case it
> helps.
Actually one solution for your "mistrust" problem is to
build the computer and peripherals from FPGAs, and then
synthesize and download the actual hardware descriptions
yourself !
This might not be practical for everybody, but for "mission
critical" systems (e.g. firewalls ?) this might be the only
way to get a trusted system.
Regards,
rudi
========================================================
ASICS.ws ::: Solutions for your ASIC/FPGA needs :::
..............::: FPGAs * Full Custom ICs * IP Cores :::
FREE IP Cores -> http://www.asics.ws/ <- FREE EDA Tools
|
 |
Browse
