Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint

From	David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no>
Newsgroups	comp.os.linux.hardware
Subject	Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint
Date	2021-03-24 10:12 +0100
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<s3evpb$g6b$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<20210322145810.4efb70c6@jspc> <s3ca5c$ig8$1@news1.tnib.de> <s3cf0t$qb4$1@dont-email.me> <s3dg7m$hln$1@dont-email.me>

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On 23/03/2021 20:40, Henrik Carlqvist wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Mar 2021 11:13:48 +0100, David Brown wrote:
>> There is nothing that a UEFI BIOS can do that a traditional BIOS
>> cannot,
> 
> Yes it is. An UEFI BIOS is able to understand and modify contents on file 
> systems on the computer.

First, let me repeat - there is nothing that the UEFI BIOS can do that
another BIOS cannot.  There is nothing hindering a non-UEFI BIOS being
able to access files.  A Coreboot BIOS, for example, has as much of a
Linux system as you choose to compile into it.  It is not UEFI - it does
not provide the UEFI-specified services, or need the UEFI partition.

Secondly, a UEFI BIOS cannot access files except on a very simplistic
and limited filesystem (fat32).  It can't work with files on NTFS, ext4,
btrfs, raid, or anything else.

> This in combination with the feature to be able 
> to update the BIOS from software running in the computers operating 
> system makes things interesting in a bad way. This is the kind of 
> features that gives us persistent malware surviving reformatted and even 
> repaced disks. The features are not only used by malware makers but has 
> also been used by vendors like Lenovo for bloatware:
> 
> https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenovo-busted-
> stealthily-installing-crapware-via-bios-fresh-windows-installs.shtml
> 
> What did they call this? Secure boot?
> 

Traditional BIOSes have been able to block writes to boot sectors
(previous to that, boot sector viruses were "popular".  The only virus I
have ever had on a computer was a boot sector virus).  And updates to
BIOS were protected by "security by obscurity" - updates were so
inconvenient that you didn't do it by mistake or malware.

When you have unnecessarily features that are not used (and therefore
people don't get familiar with them and spot flaws), and an overly
complex design, then security failures are almost inevitable.

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Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Johnny <johnny@invalid.net> - 2021-03-22 14:58 -0500
  Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Bobbie Sellers <bliss@mouse-potato.com> - 2021-03-22 13:20 -0700
    Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Johnny <johnny@invalid.net> - 2021-03-22 15:46 -0500
      Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Zebee Johnstone <zebeej@gmail.com> - 2021-03-23 00:35 +0000
  Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Andrew <Doug@hyperspace.vogon.gov> - 2021-03-22 22:08 +0100
    Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Johnny <johnny@invalid.net> - 2021-03-22 16:20 -0500
    Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-03-23 08:30 +0100
  Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-03-23 08:22 +0100
    Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> - 2021-03-24 16:24 +0000
      Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2021-03-24 20:43 +0000
  Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam1118@zugschl.us> - 2021-03-23 09:50 +0100
    Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-03-23 11:13 +0100
      Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be> - 2021-03-23 11:59 +0100
        Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-03-23 15:07 +0100
          Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2021-03-23 13:19 -0400
            Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-03-24 10:04 +0100
              Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2021-03-24 05:36 -0400
      Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam1118@zugschl.us> - 2021-03-23 13:46 +0100
        Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-03-23 15:08 +0100
          Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam1118@zugschl.us> - 2021-03-23 16:30 +0100
      Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2021-03-23 19:40 +0000
        Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-03-24 10:12 +0100
          Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2021-03-24 20:55 +0000
        Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Andrew <Doug@hyperspace.vogon.gov> - 2021-03-24 11:31 +0100
          Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2021-03-24 11:20 -0400
        Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Johnny <johnny@invalid.net> - 2021-03-24 07:49 -0500
          Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> - 2021-03-24 14:01 +0000
            Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Johnny <johnny@invalid.net> - 2021-03-24 10:02 -0500
  Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> - 2021-03-24 16:05 +0000
    Re: Best Desktop Computer for Linux Mint Bobbie Sellers <bliss@mouse-potato.com> - 2021-03-24 11:46 -0700

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