Nimbus

Given below is the raw mail from Linus Torvalds commenting on Intel's recent patches to fix the Spectre and Meltdown. Have fun reading this... From: Li nus Torvalds <> Date:  Sun, 21 Jan 2018 13:35:59 -0800 Subject:  Re: [RFC 09/10] x86/enter: Create macros to restrict/unrestrict Indirect Branch Speculation On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 12:28 PM, David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org> wrote: > On Sun, 2018-01-21 at 11:34 -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote: >> All of this is pure garbage. >> >> Is Intel really planning on making this shit architectural? Has >> anybody talked to them and told them they are f*cking insane? >> >> Please, any Intel engineers here - talk to your managers. > > If the alternative was a two-decade product recall and giving everyone > free CPUs, I'm not sure it was entirely insane. You seem to have bought into the cool-aid. Please add a healthy dose of critical thinking. Because this isn...

What Happened? During the Summer of 2017, researchers from around the world discovered a design flaw in the computer chips that serve as the brains for our computers and mobile devices. That design flaw — seen in Intel, AMD and ARM licensed chips — allows for two security vulnerabilities to be run, called “Meltdown” and “Spectre”. Both sound ominous and for good reason: the flaws “could allow hackers to steal the entire memory contents of computers, including mobile devices, personal computers and servers running in so-called cloud computer networks” according to the NY Times. So, uh, yeh: that’s not good. Who and What Caused the Problem? These exploits are based on chip engineering flaws, not on software flaws. Apple, Google, Abode, Microsoft, and other software companies didn’t write poor software or bad Operating Systems to cause these problems to occur. Rather, the chip manufacturers — Intel, AMD and ARM — designed and then engineered computer chips with flaws built int...

Intel® Optane™ Technology:  Just 2 years back in July, 2015, the Intel and Micron announced  3D XPoint,  a non-volatile memory (NVM) technology.    Bit storage is based on a change of bulk resistance, in conjunction with a stackable cross-gridded data access array. Initial prices are less than dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) but more than flash memory, as was expected prior to release. Development of 3D XPoint began around 2012. Intel and Micron had developed other non-volatile phase-change memory (PCM) technologies previously; Mark Durcan of Micron said 3D XPoint architecture differs from previous offerings of PCM, and uses chalcogenide materials for both selector and storage parts of memory cell that are faster and more stable than traditional PCM materials like GST. But now, they have a product that uses this Innovative Technology to boost up current generation Kaby Lake systems. Its the Intel Optane Memory Modules that comes with 16GB/32GB...

GLOBALFOUNDRIES 7LP 7nm FinFET process technology platform is ideal for high-performance, power-efficient SoCs in demanding, high-volume applications. 3D FinFET transistor technology provides world-class performance, power, area and cost advantages from 7nm scaling. 7LP technology can provide more than 40% higher device performance and more than 60% lower total power compared to 14nm technologies. History: Over the past few years, companies like Samsung, TSMC, and GlobalFoundries have all jockeyed for the pole position in the highly competitive (and extremely expensive) foundry business. Even Intel, which used to march to the beat of its own drum, has gotten in on the action. As the cost of each new node has risen, the need to be first has increased as well. The first company to hit a new node tends to secure many of the most lucrative contracts. For most of the past two decades, the pure-play foundry world was dominated by TSMC, but Samsung beat its Taiwanese rival to 14...