I haven't looked systematically recently, will definitely have to give it a (documented, this time) go. Last time I looked circa four months ago, Varia were the only ones selling APU1 units, most (all?) others only had APU2 and above.

Anyway, I'd prefer not dealing with Swiss import/export taxes and the likes if possible, so I'll look deeper at this in February.

> I'm open to splitting the list with you to accelerate the hunt.

Sure, that'd work, though I think I'd be able to do it reasonably fast (~1 week?) once I get to it. Notice that the list has many duplicates, so as a matter of fact there are only a few EU providers, another few in the US etc.

> The x200 that I'm most familiar with use Core 2 Duo Penryn.

I'll look into x200 as well, the Coreboot page seems to have quite a few details on support. I also have an x220 at home, AFAIK the Coreboot people have struggled for years to get the ME gangrene out. Perhaps worth taking a brief look at that as well.

Not even close.

Trinque's latest hit further cemented how not even close.

Re APU1, pcengines says it's in production, how many of those named distributors have you looked into so far ? I'm open to splitting the list with you to accelerate the hunt.

http://logs.ossasepia.com/log/trilema/2019-12-09#1954653

Intel started infecting their CPUs with crapware, e.g. Management Engine, as soon as they switched from Core Duo to Core i3/5/7

That is my understanding as well. The x200 that I'm most familiar with use Core 2 Duo Penryn.

Guess I should get a list/table with known-to-work items started soon.

@Robinson Dorion: I'm happy you enjoyed reading the article!

> Apologies for the delayed comment

I'm off to a slow start this year myself, so I can't really complain.

> Is this "stage 2" program "init" ?

Not even close. The bootloader stage2 is usually found somewhere in /boot, e.g. for Grub it's /boot/grub/core.img and kernel.img -- a decent description of these images can be found here. Not only that, but Grub can dynamically load modules for e.g. filesystems, so that it can look up the Linux kernel image, usually found in /boot/vmlinuz-something. Only after the kernel is loaded, the hardware is probed and configured and the root filesystem is mounted, only then will the kernel launch "init" into execution. All in all a long road, paved by a history of ad-hoc (as opposed to principled, I guess) developments in both hardware and software.

> Start small, build out incrementally, let late comers either scramble of hardware scraps already supported, buy from surplus l1/2 accumulates or invest in extending the support for boards not yet V-ified themselves.

This sounds reasonable IMHO and resonates with footnote 12 above. I believe there's a market there for x86 (64-bit) vintage without EFI, weird BIOSen and so on. For example I've been finding it hard to get ahold of an APU1 and getting it from an in-WoT supplier would be a great win IMHO.

> all Intel is shit

Intel started infecting their CPUs with crapware, e.g. Management Engine, as soon as they switched from Core Duo to Core i3/5/7. I don't know about Nehalems, but Sandy Bridges (the CPUs on which e.g. x220 Thinkpads run) are clearly infected. Still, TMSR-OS would boot on those by virtue of the BIOS not being (completely) stolen by UEFI yet, and perhaps there's lower-criticality applications (gaming, writing) where they'd work.

the bootloader will have to bootstrap itself by loading a "stage 2" program

Is this "stage 2" program "init" ?

The "PC-AT" boot environment presents significant challenges to innovation within the industry.

They "just want" s/innovation/subversion/.

I guess a starting point would be to select one or two boards that are both available and supported by Coreboot, genesize all the software required to get the operating system loaded

This does look like a good starting point. Start small, build out incrementally, let late comers either scramble of hardware scraps already supported, buy from surplus l1/2 accumulates or invest in extending the support for boards not yet V-ified themselves.

Jacob worked out the process of flashing the x200 thinkpads with Coreboot using chip clips of offline flashing, though those aren't widely available - for sure a scrap market.

That being said, I've allowed the all Intel is shit discussion to slide down priority, probably a good time to revisit prior to selecting the worthy chips to start with.

> ideally before buying it.

I really don't give shit one about buying a buncha onsies mobos, to supplement whatever l1/2 can report of their own hardware. There's really no rule we must cover "all" nor any need to attempt. Getting a dozen or two alternatives listed is arch-sufficient. Let the rest fucking wither ; and let them learn the miner lesson in the process.

> I've never booted any PC off the network,

I have, actually. Not recently, but for a while back there in the pre-pentium era it was the ~only way to handle a fleet.