Freedom and security issues on x86 platforms
Unbelievable. Yet again, we have a post on finding x86 alternative that's most FOSS friendly. Yet again, the author is unaware of or ignores the <i>only architecture</i> that's open, has GPL cores, and an ecosystem. That's SPARC. Oracle's T1 and T2 cores are open-source to study. More appropriately, Cobham-Gaisler's Leon3 HW is dual-licensed under GPL and commercial. The Leon4 is 4-cores. SPARC ISA is open. Open Firmware exists.<p>So, why is SPARC left off in all these analyses? It's right there ready to pick up and deploy. More open, easy to acquire, and trustworthy (far as licensing) than than a POWER chip although slower for sure.