How to talk to skeptics?

Jeremiah at pdp10.guru Jeremiah at pdp10.guru
Mon Dec 19 01:42:29 UTC 2022


> That's really awesome work like many other out there
> https://codeberg.org/StefanK/MinimalBinaryBoot . I hope it won't end
> up as yet another failed project that stuck somewhere in the middle of
> the road.
That really isn't our style, we produce results. Even if it means years
of work.

> But shouldn't we focus first on fixing the hardware instead
> of constantly forking each other with biased software? Why China
> developing their own completely new native hardware architectures from
> scratch is straggling so much to port any public software on it? Even
> in RISCV we have serious issues to bootstrap Guix without
> crosscompilation or just to reproduce popular software like Rust,
> etc. Is it really so hard even for top world universities to create at
> least theoretical model of perfectly libre, formally verifiable and
> auditable hardware(linux capable) that could serve as a ground truth
> device for further transparent, bootstrappable and reproducible
> research? Without this base requirement don't you feel like a surgeon
> operating humans that only knows frogs anatomy? I have an impression
> that if nothing change in this topic the future history books will
> describe our times as an Open-Source big illusion era.
Who said hardware wasn't on the table for bootstrappable? We will get to
it when people willing to do the work show up. I'll even buy them the
tools they need to get that job done. But until we find people willing
to do that work; then what would be superior really doesn't matter.

I'll even pay to have their design be fabbed.

I'm even cool sending money to people so that they can build their own
fab to make chips if they are willing to publish their work like the
Libresilicon  project [ https://libresilicon.com/ ]

I would love to see proper hardware bootstrapping being done but until
the people willing to do that work show up (or get started on it); then
I will use what I have to give people as much freedom as I can.

We have created a path to free you from all your binaries except your
kernel, firmware and microcode.

We are working to free you from your kernel as well (it is hard work and
it takes time and skill). And it is already to the level which you can
bootstrap to TCC.

We will keep going and we will not stop at the software but go straight
into the metal and the processes and reveal all the magic to anyone who
wishes to know.

-Jeremiah


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