Libre Hardware
You might recall that I was considering a [MNT Reform laptop](https://shop.mntre.com/products/mnt-reform) to [replace my crappy HP laptop](https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/13880246) a few months ago. Well, I got no answer or information of any kind anywhere (not just here on Lemmy), but the idea kept going round and round in the back of my head. And now, 5 months later, I find myself having to upgrade Mint to Wilma on my hateful HP laptop soon, and I already dread rebooting to the console because Xorg is dead *again*, having to downgrade to a working version of the kernel *again*, fighting the AMDGPU driver *again*, making the super-flaky and completely terrible wifi-cum-bluetooth Realtek 8821CE adapter work halfway decently *again*... I hate this laptop. In fact, I hate it so much that I finally pulled the trigger on the MNT Reform laptop. Hopefully it'll get here before the need to upgrade becomes too pressing. Stay tuned 🙂
I have a terrible el-cheapo [14" HP laptop](https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06885663) that I bought from a big-box store a few years ago as an emergency replacement for a laptop that died on me on the road while visiting a customer. I literally went to the store 5 minutes before it closed, bought any laptop they had, loaded Linux on it at the hotel and transferred my files from the dead laptop overnight, then did my presentation the next morning. The trouble is, that laptop is VERY Linux unfriendly. I've put up with it for years because I don't like to throw things away, but I just can't stand the regular AMDGPU driver crashes and the broke-ass wifi-cum-bluetooth Realtek chipset anymore. So I'm on the market for a good Linux laptop. I'm not a demanding user - I use that HP laptop to edit videos and do CAD and I'm okay with it - I'm very comfortable with anything Linux and I can code my way around problems. I'm really tempted to get a MNT Reform laptop: I like the LiFePo4 battery cells a lot, it's solid, it's open hardware, it has a trackball and I love trackballs, it's highly hackable, and I'd like to support the MNT Research guys. And I'm old enough and the kids have been out of the house long enough that money is no object. But a couple of things are holding me back. Maybe there are MNT Reform owners here who could shed some light on the following questions: []() - I don't know much of the ARM ecosystem, and what to expect from what processor / SoC. So I'm thinking of going with the highest end RK3588 32GB / 256GB CPU module offered by MNT. Would this at least match the performances of my stupid HP laptop's Ryzen 5 CPU in terms of real-world performances? Or put another way: should I expect to take a hit when encoding my videos or doing big CAD models compared to this already slow laptop, or can I reasonably expect the MNT Reform to at least not be a regression. Side question (yes, I know it should be obvious, but asking is better than guessing): I assume the "32GB / 256GB" in the CPU module's denomination is for 32GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard flash. Meaning I'd have that much disk space without needing to add a NVMe SSD card. Correct? []() - The keyboard layout looks all shades of terrible. I'm flexible with anything but not keyboard layouts - and especially those keyboard that don't put the left SHIFT and CTRL at the bottom where they belong, or have a split space bar. The Reform's keyboard ticks all the wrong boxes for me in that respect: I can tell rightaway that it's going to fight my typing muscle memory all the time and forever, because I sure ain't gonna get used to it. Can I remap the keys so I can at least I can swap CTRL and whatever that key is at the bottom left, and make the 3 buttons that replace the space bar act as a space bar? Then it's just a matter of putting a sticker on the keys and gluing the space bar keycaps together somehow. []() - I seem to recall some years ago that if the laptop was left off and unplugged for long enough - like 2 weeks IIRC - it would drain the cells and kill them because there was no under-voltage protection. Less dramatically but equally annoyingly, you couldn't leave it unplugged for a few days and expect to find it fully charged when you needed it most. Does it still do that? Or has the hardware been fixed - or maybe there's a "Turn really off" option in the little side computer that runs the mini OLED display? Mind you, I can always drill a hole and add a physical switch to disconnect the cells, but I'd rather not do that. []() - Is there an option to limit the charge? Keeping Li-ion cells constantly at 100% (or worse, charging all the time) when the laptop is plugged in isn't ideal. I'd rather it kept the cells charged around 80% . And I mostly use my laptops plugged in. []() - Can I remove the cells and use the laptop plugged in? I might eschew the cells altogether, because I really never need them: I'm plugged in at home, I'm plugged in on the train, I'm plugged in at the hotel, I'm plugged in at the customer's. I can't remember a time when I needed to run this particular laptop on battery. If I can use the laptop as a luggable computer, I wouldn't need to carry the weight of the cells around. []() - Has anybody tried to install Cinnamon? Does it work well on Debian ARM? I see no reason why it shouldn't, but maybe there are issues. []() Well that's pretty much it. Sorry for the long post 🙂 There's precious little information about the MNT Reform out there - probably a good indication that there are precious few such machines in the wild, sadly - so I would welcome any real-world user feedback!
Hello folks. I'm wanting to learn a bit about computer hardware and firmware design, the ultimate goal will be a fully open-source hardware computer (I don't expect that any time soon). I'm familiar with PCB layout and design already as well as MCU and general programming. Does anyone have suggestions for Off-the-Shelf CPUs that are supported well-enough by Linux and have useful documentation and datasheets available? I'm not looking for high performance, running a GUI, or anything like that. I'm literally just interested in practicing the board layout and figuring out how to extend core/libreboot to support it (out implement my own firmware) and get a terminal session.
What do you think? Has anyone here tried out the Milk-V? Seems like it still does have some proprietary components but hey, that's a big improvement for now.
In celebration of **Bitcoin Black Friday 2023**, we're offering a **10% discount** on all [BusKill cables](https://buskill.in/buy/) sold between Nov 18 to Dec 03. | [](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023) | |:--:| | *BusKill [Bitcoin Black Friday Sale](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023) - Our Dead Man Switch Magnetic USB Breakaway cables are [10% off](https://buskill.in/buy/) all orders paid with cryptocurrency* | # What is BusKill? BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer. | [](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) | |:--:| | *Watch the [BusKill Explainer Video](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) for more info [youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4](https://www.youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4)* | If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device. # What is Bitcoin Black Friday? [Black Friday](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)) is ~1 month before Christmas, and it's the busiest shopping day in the US. The first "[Bitcoin Friday](https://web.archive.org/web/20121213223642/http://bitcoinfriday.com/)" ([launched](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-friday-sale-happening-today-1352497394) by Jon Holmquist) was [Nov 9th, 2012](https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/09/bitcoin_friday_sale_event/) (at the time, one bitcoin was ~$11). The following year, the two ideas merged to become [Bitcoin Black Friday](https://www.vice.com/en/article/jp5xxp/bitcoin-is-taking-on-black-friday). This year, we're joining Bitcoin Black Friday by offering our products at a 10% discount if you pay with cryptocurrency. # Why should I use cryptocurrencies? We've always accepted cryptocurrencies because: 1. They're more [secure](https://www.buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/#secure) than pre-cryptocurrency payment methods 2. They're a more [egalitarian](https://www.buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/#egalitarian) system than pre-cryptocurrency finance 3. They're more [environmentally friendly](https://www.buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/#environmentalism) than pre-cryptocurrency financial systems 4. The [fees are less](https://www.buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/#fees) than pre-cryptocurrency transactions 5. They allow for [anonymous](https://www.buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/#privacy) purchases online 6. Their transactions are [censorship-resistant](https://www.buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/#censorship) ## Security Before cryptocurrencies, making an online transaction was horrendously insecure and backwards. | [](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023) | |:--:| | "Conceptually, pull-based transactions are really not that different than giving three parties the password to your online banking service and trusting them to log in and take what they need. You have to trust the merchant, their IT supplier; the acquiring bank, their third-party processor; the card network; and your own card issuer---and everybody who works for them and has access to their systems. If a bad guy gets hold of your card details at any point in this process, they could drain your account. | | The picture shows the scope of all the entities with access to your critical card information" [source](https://www.coincenter.org/education/crypto-regulation-faq/how-are-payments-with-bitcoin-different-than-credit-cards/) | [Asymmetric cryptography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography#History) has been available since the 1970s, but [CNP (Card Not Present)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_not_present_transaction%22) transactions to this day still don't use public keys to sign transactions. Rather, you give your private keys (that is, your credit card number, expiry, etc) directly to the merchant and you authorize them to **pull money out of your account** (trusting that they take the right amount and not to loose those precious credentials). Bitcoin flipped this around to actually make transactions secure. **With bitcoin**, you don't give others the keys to take money out of your account. Instead, **transactions are push-based**. You sign a transaction with your private keys, and those keys are shared with no-one. Even today, pre-cryptocurrency transactions are abhorrently insecure. In the US or Europe, if someone knows your account number and bank, they can [direct debit money out of your account](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1574781/Jeremy-Clarkson-eats-his-words-over-ID-theft.html). For the same reason, losses due to credit card theft is enormous. To quote Satoshi Nakamoto's criticism of pre-cryptocurrency transactions, "A certain percentage of fraud is accepted as unavoidable" In fact, fraudulent transactions in the banking industry are so common that your bank will generally reimburse your account for any malicious transactions that you tell them about within 60-90 days. But if someone drains your account of all your money and you don't notice for 12 months? Too bad. All your money is gone. | [](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023) | |:--:| | In Bitcoin, transactions are push-based. [source](https://www.coincenter.org/education/crypto-regulation-faq/how-are-payments-with-bitcoin-different-than-credit-cards/) | [Tokenization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokenization_(data_security)) and [3DS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_Secure) are merely bandages on a fundamentally backwards, pull-based transaction model. But because [bitcoin is push-based](https://www.coincenter.org/education/crypto-regulation-faq/how-are-payments-with-bitcoin-different-than-credit-cards/), it's magnitudes more secure. ## Egalitarian If you have a bank account, then you probably take a lot of things for granted. Like buying things online (with a credit card). Or getting cash when traveling abroad (from an ATM machine). Or taking out a loan so you can start a business. Before crypto-currencies, it was very difficult to do these things unless you had a bank account. And in 2008 (the year with the first-ever bitcoin transaction), McKinsey & Company published a report concluding that [half of the world's adult population is unbanked](https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/public%20and%20social%20sector/our%20insights/half%20the%20world%20is%20unbanked/half-the-world-is-unbanked.pdf). But with crypto-currencies, anyone with access to the internet and a computer or smart phone can use bitcoin to send and receive money online -- without needing to first obtain a bank account. ## Environmentalism The energy required to facilitate transactions in decentralized, blockchain-based cryptocurrencies like bitcoin is minuscule by comparison. And, most importantly, the amount of energy used to solve the proof-of-work problem does not grow as the number of transactions-per-second grows. Traditional financial institutions require an enormous amount of overhead to facilitate transactions in their centralized networks. Unlike bitcoin, which was designed specifically to [eliminate the unnecessary overhead](https://www.buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/#fees) created by a trusted third party, pre-cryptocurrency transactions required humans to verify transactions. These humans require office buildings. These office buildings require energy to build and maintain. And, most importantly, as the number of transactions-per-second grows on their network, the number of humans and office space also grows. | [](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/) | |:--:| | Bitcoin versus other industries --- yearly energy use, in TWh [source](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/bitcoin-energy-use-compare-industry) | This fact is often misunderstood because there's a lot of misinformation on the Internet that makes a few disingenuous modifications to the facts: 1. They calculate the energy usage of the computers processing transactions only, maliciously omitting calculating the energy usage of the entire industry's infrastructure (eg energy used by office buildings) 2. They calculate the energy usage *per transaction*, maliciously omitting the fact that the amount of energy expended by bitcoin miners is automatically adjusted by the proof-of-work algorithm (so energy usage does not increase as the network scales-up) 3. They offer statistics about "energy usage" without mentioning the energy sources. It matters if the energy source is coal/nuclear/natural-gas or solar/wind/hydroelectric > | "...estimates for what percentage of Bitcoin mining uses renewable energy vary widely. In December 2019, one report suggested that 73% of Bitcoin's energy consumption was carbon neutral, largely due to the abundance of hydro power in major mining hubs such as Southwest China and Scandinavia. On the other hand, the CCAF estimated in September 2020 that the figure is closer to 39%. But even if the lower number is correct, that's still **almost twice as much [renewable energy sources] as the U.S. grid**" | [](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/) | > |:--:|:--:| > | [source: Harvard Business Review](https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-actually-consume) | Nic Carter | The facts are that the energy usage of bitcoin is magnitudes less than the energy used by pre-cryptocurrency financial intuitions, that energy usage does not increase as the number of transactions processed by the network increases, and that mining bitcoin is often done with renewable energy. The facts are that the energy usage of bitcoin is magnitudes less than the energy used by pre-cryptocurrency financial intuitions, that energy usage does not increase as the number of transactions processed by the network increases, and that mining bitcoin is often done with renewable energy. ## Low Fees The introduction to the [Bitcoin White Paper](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf) (2008) clearly states that Bitcoin was created to reduce costs by using a distributed ledger (the blockchain) to eliminate the need for a trusted third party. > | "Commerce on the Internet has come to rely almost exclusively on financial institutions serving as trusted third parties to process electronic payments. While the system works well enough for most transactions, it still suffers from the inherent weaknesses of the trust based model. | | > |:---|:---| > | Completely non-reversible transactions are not really possible, since financial institutions cannot avoid mediating disputes. **The cost of mediation increases transaction costs**... | | > | These costs and payment uncertainties can be avoided in person by using physical currency, but no mechanism exists to make payments over a communications channel without a trusted party. | | > | What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party. Transactions that are computationally impractical to reverse would protect sellers from fraud, and routine escrow mechanisms could easily be implemented to protect buyers. In this paper, we propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer distributed timestamp server to generate computational proof of the chronological order of transactions." | [](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/) | > | [source: Bitcoin Whitepaper](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf) | Satoshi Nakamoto | At the time of writing, **the [average transaction fee](https://bitcoinfees.net/) for a bitcoin transaction is $0.06**. And unlike pre-cryptocurrency transactions, you can increase or decrease the fee that you pay to increase or decrease the time it takes for the transaction to complete (at $0.06, it will get added to the blockchain in **~1 hour**). By comparison, the way to send funds internationally through the Internet via pre-cryptocurrency banks is via an **[international wire transfer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_transfer)**. Fees very per bank, but [they typically charge **$15-$85 per transaction**](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/wire-transfers-what-banks-charge). And unlike bitcoin, wire transfers won't make move on nights and weekends, so they can take **1-7 days** to complete. Also, with bitcoin, that $0.06 transaction fee only applies when you're sending money. Many banks will *also* charge a fee for an incoming wire transfer. In bitcoin, there is no transaction fee to receive money. ## Anonymity Though early cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin don't ensure anonymity like newer privacy coins, [ZCash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zcash) and [Monero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monero) were designed specifically to provide private transactions. This allows our customers to purchase from us anonymously, which can be extremely important for activists and journalists whose lives are threatened by their adversaries. | [](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/80774521350668288) | |:--:| | WikiLeaks started accepting donations in Bitcoin 7 months after PayPal froze their account | We accept both ZCash and Monero. If you'd like us to accept another privacy coin, please [contact us](https://buskill.in/contact) :) ## Censorship-Resistant Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are peer-to-peer and permissionless. Transactions exchanging bitcoins occur directly between two parties. There is **no middle-man** that has the power to block, freeze, or reverse transactions. Before blockchains were used to maintain a public ledger and enable peer-to-peer transactions, we were dependent on big financial institutions to move money on our behalf through the internet. That antiquated system allowed them to censor transactions, such as donations made to media outlets reporting war crimes and donations to protest movements. > | "For me, that is one of the coolest things about bitcoin... | | > |:---|:---| > | People can potentially use it donate more anonymously to dissident groups and causes in a world where mass government surveillance threatens freedom of expression and certainly harms activists' ability to fundraise for their work, when people are afraid they could be targeted by a government for donating to a worthy cause." | [](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2023/) | > | [source](https://www.vice.com/en/article/jp5xxp/bitcoin-is-taking-on-black-friday) | Evan Greer | After [PayPal froze WikiLeaks's donation account](https://wikileaks.org/PayPal-freezes-WikiLeaks-donations.html) in 2010, WikiLeaks started [accepting bicoin](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesdigitalcovers/2018/07/30/the-backsies-billionaire-texan-builds-second-fortune-from-wreckage-of-real-estate-empire-hed-sold/?sh=6f75c6883a72) in 2011. From [Occupy Wall Street](https://web.archive.org/web/20111126164538/http://occupywallst.org/donate/) to [Ukraine](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/03/donate-ukraine-money-crypto/), defenders of democracy have utilized permissionless cryptocurrencies to accept international donations without the risk of transactions made through financial institutions. ## Buy BusKill with crypto Don't risk loosing your crypto to a thief that steals your laptop. Get your own [BusKill Cable](https://buskill.in/buy/) at a 10% discount today! **[Buy a BusKill Cable](https://buskill.in/buy)** [https://buskill.in/buy](https://buskill.in/buy) You can also buy a BusKill cable with bitcoin, monero, and other altcoins from our [BusKill Store's .onion site](http://buskillvampfih2iucxhit3qp36i2zzql3u6pmkeafvlxs3tlmot5yad.onion/buy/). ` ` [](https://buskill.in/buy) [](https://buskill.in/buy) ` ` ` ` Stay safe, The BusKill Team https://www.buskill.in/ http://www.buskillvampfih2iucxhit3qp36i2zzql3u6pmkeafvlxs3tlmot5yad.onion
I am referring to both the design, and the independent, and auditable manufacture of the CPU. It should be noted that such a CPU needn't fully compete with modern ARM, Intel, AMD, etc. CPUs, but it would be an incredible boon to have a fully trustworthy piece of hardware, even if it is considerably lower in it's strength. For specifics, let's say a CPU that could run a lightweight Linux distro at a "tolerable" speed. Creating the designs for the CPU, of course while still difficult, is, most likely, the most feesbile aspect -- I presume it would "just" consist of writing the Verilog, or some other hardware description language to describe the CPU's function. The manufacture, however, is a substantial obstacle. Modern photolithography is, quite litterally, at the very forefront of human technological creation. I am just hoping that turning back the clock perhaps 20 years on the technological complexity might reduce the barrier to entry.
www.buskill.in
We're happy to announce that, for the first time ever, [BusKill cables can be purchased in-person](https://www.buskill.in/leipzig-proxystore/) in Leipzig, Germany. [![[BusKill] Our Dead Man Switch Magnetic USB Breakaway cables are Now Available in-person in Leipzig, Germany at ProxyStore](https://www.buskill.in/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/leipzig-proxystore-featuredImage9.jpg)](https://www.buskill.in/leipzig-proxystore/) The BusKill project has partnered with [ProxyStore](https://www.buskill.in/leipzig-proxystore/) to make BusKill laptop kill cords finally available from a brick-and-mortar location. You can now go to the following location and purchase a BusKill cable with cash or cryptocurrency. > Bernhard-Göring-Straße 162 > 04277 Leipzig > Germany # About BusKill BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer. | [](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) | |:--:| | *Watch the [BusKill Explainer Video](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) for more info [youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4](https://www.youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4)* | If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device # About ProxyStore [ProxyStore](https://www.buskill.in/leipzig-proxystore/) has, among other things, a **proxy ordering service** where you can: 1. order items from the Internet anonymously, 2. pay anonymously, and 3. get the goods forwarded to you (by mail) or pick them up (in-store) **ProxyStore accepts cash in-store** or anonymously via-mail (20 fiat currencies accepted), cryptocurrencies (Monero and Bitcoin), bank transfers, Paypal and more. In addition to their ordering services, ProxyStore offers key community services at its [physical location in Leipzig](https://www.buskill.in/leipzig-proxystore/), including high-security paper shredding (P-7/F-3), MIC-free printing, and a cabinet with TAILS for anonymous Internet surfing. ## Resellers welcome! If you operate a shop selling open-source security hardware and you'd like to sell BusKill cables, please [contact us](https://buskill.in/contact) about our wholesale pricing :) ## Buy BusKill in-person in Germany Order at [shop.proxysto.re](https://shop.proxysto.re/category/3) or stop by in-store to purchase a BusKill cable. Bitcoin, monero, and fiat (cash) are all accepted payment methods at ProxyStore. Stay safe, The BusKill Team https://www.buskill.in/ http://www.buskillvampfih2iucxhit3qp36i2zzql3u6pmkeafvlxs3tlmot5yad.onion
geteilt von: https://feddit.de/post/3049646 > geteilt von: https://feddit.de/post/3048730 > > > Github link: https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry > > > > Here's a video of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDb8_ld9gOQ > > > > I've been using it for almost two years now, and I'm not going back. > > > > It's based on a spare Blackberry Q10 keyboard and a custom Arduino-compatible board that reads the keyboard matrix and outputs it as USB HID to the phone. From the viewpoint of the phone, it's just a regular USB keyboard, so no special software is needed. > > > > But I do use a custom virtual keyboard to have just two rows of symbols that are not natively on the keyboard, as I didn't want to add another layer of rarely used symbols that I'd have to memorize. > > > >  > > > > (On the image you can see Ubuntu with XFCE4 running on it. I chose Ubuntu because it's what was easiest to get running in a chroot jail on the phone. I'm using VNC to display the GUI. I even managed to get FEX (x86/x64 emulator) and Wine running, so it runs x86/x64 Linux and Windows apps.) Btw: Is there maybe someone who wants to make a little side money? There are tons of people who say they'd buy this, but I don't want to make them. The designs are all online and I'm happy to help. So if someone wants to make and sell them, that would be really cool! (I don't want or need any financial compensation. I'd just be happy if people have access to this.)
www.buskill.in
We're happy to announce that we were [successfully able to initiate a BusKill lockscreen trigger using a 3D-printed BusKill](https://www.buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08) prototype! | [](https://www.buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08/) | |:--:| | *Watch the [3D Printable BusKill Proof-of-Concept Demo](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) for more info [youtube.com/v/Q-QjHelRvvk](https://www.youtube.com/v/Q-QjHelRvvk)* | via [@Goldfishlaser@lemmy.ml](https://lemmy.ml/u/Goldfishlaser) # What is BusKill? BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer. | [](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) | |:--:| | *Watch the [BusKill Explainer Video](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) for more info [youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4](https://www.youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4)* | If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device. # Why? While [we do what we can](https://buskill.in/buskill-onion-service-tor/) to allow at-risk folks to [purchase BusKill cables anonymously](https://buskill.in/bitcoin-black-friday-2022/#privacy), there is always the risk of [interdiction](https://docs.buskill.in/buskill-app/en/stable/faq.html#q-what-about-interdiction). We don't consider hologram stickers or tamper-evident tape/crisps/glitter to be sufficient solutions to supply-chain security. Rather, the solution to these attacks is to build open-source, disassembleable, and easily inspectable hardware whose integrity can be validated without damaging the device and without sophisticated technology. Actually, the best way to confirm the integrity of your hardware is to build it yourself. Fortunately, printing your own circuit boards, microcontroller, or silicon has a steeper learning curve than a BusKill cable -- which is essentially just a USB extension cable with a magnetic breakaway in the middle. Mitigating interdiction via 3D printing is one of many reasons that [Melanie Allen](https://github.com/Goldfishlaser) has been diligently working on prototyping a 3D-printable BusKill cable this year. In our [latest update](https://buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08/), we hope to showcase her progress and provide you some OpenSCAD and `.stl` files so you can experiment with building your own and help test and improve our designs. # Print BusKill [](https://www.buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08) If you'd like to reproduce our experiment and print your own BusKill cable prototype, you can [download the stl files](https://www.buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08) and [read our instructions](https://www.buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08) here: * [buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08/](https://www.buskill.in/3d-print-2023-08) # Iterate with us! **If you have access to a 3D Printer, you have basic EE experience, or you'd like to help us test our 3D printable BusKill prototype, please** [let us know](https://buskill.in/contact). The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and we're eager to finish-off this 3D printable BusKill prototype to help make this security-critical tool accessible to more people world-wide!
Hello all! My name's Evan, and I'm starting development on an idea I had a few years ago. [The Synharmonium](http://www.unrestrictedinstrumentworks.com/index.html) is a microcontroller-based synthesizer with control elements based on the accordion and the Suzuki Omnichord, and an algorithm to solve the centuries old musical problem of versatile just intonation. Best case, this could have a huge impact on how western music is written and performed. Worst case, its a fun and easy synthesizer you can build at home. But right now its not much more than an idea and a janky keyboard prototype. I am a student of computer engineering, and I have a non-zero amount of programming skill, but I tend to make stupid mistakes that I can't easily spot. I need someone who's good at programming, has some spare time, and finds this idea interesting, to help me get the software side of the instrument going. If you can become a major contributor, I'd love to have you, but if you can just help me find one boneheaded mistake I will be extremely grateful, because I'm pretty stuck at the moment.
My wishlist: - Disabled Intel ME - Libreboot/Coreboot - From Europe if possible - For running [100% free distro](https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html)
VSDSquadron is a cutting-edge development board based on the RISC-V architecture that is fully open-source. This board presents an exceptional opportunity for individuals to learn about RISC-V and VLSI chip design utilizing only open-source tools, starting from the RTL and extending all the way to the GDSII. The possibilities for learning and advancement with this technology are limitless.
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research announces to fund the development of an open-source chip design ecosystem. This includes also design software.
The most difficult thing about hardware to have 'libre' are the silicon chips. But times start changing. Hopefully. The program of FSiC2023 contains diverse talks about chip design with open-source CAD tools open-source hardware (FPGA, ASIC).
I had a person ask me the other day if I knew of any stores that sell hardware with Linux preinstalled in Africa; Latin America or Russia and I couldn't think of any. I know plenty in Europe; U.S.A. and Canada but none for those places. Do any of you know of any ? They didn't mean stores that will ship there but stores that are based there.
I recently received my MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 motherboard from Dasharo. It came with version 1.0 which from what I understand has a different update process than later versions. Am I correct in understanding that I need to open a Terminal and type in "flashrom -p internal -w [path] --ifd -i bios" substituting the path bit there with the actual path to the file I downloaded ? Figured I would ask first before diving in.
frame.work
"We’re happy to share that we’ve released a GitHub repository of CAD and electrical documentation, all under an open-source Creative Commons license. In addition to 2D drawings of the Mainboard to help you design your projects, we’ve released two 3D-printable reference designs. One is a minimal VESA-mount holder that lets you attach the Mainboard to a monitor or TV, while the other is a fully featured small form factor desktop case. Both of these are easy to print on home 3D printers. Since these are open source, you are free to modify, remix, and redistribute them however you’d like to. All of this is a starting point for a broader set of open source Mainboard documentation to enable creation of fully compatible third-party Mainboards in the future."