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The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

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Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#411

Post by sifar »

nrp wrote: post #263
Halan wrote: post #257

The words chromebook and privacy in the same marketing material for a product that clearly targets power users is an audacious choice

It is indeed. The intent of that is to communicate that no matter what the OS is doing, the privacy switches for the camera and microphone are yours to control. The switches function at hardware level with no possibility of software override.

>> The intent of that is to communicate that no matter what the OS is doing, the privacy switches for the camera and microphone are yours to control

Then why partner with such an OS ? It is not just the HW switches when I cannot use the very Framework chromebook without a google account - where is the privacy in that.

I was very excited for Framework and I appreciate your responses here but this feels too early a backward move for Framework. Is the market/partnership worth the trust hit ?

I hope I am wrong but this seems like going the Don't be evil way.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#412

Post by mschuster91 »

beal wrote: post #72
kilovoltaire wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds like the page should say "at least eight years" then, instead of "up to eight years"

What's more likely, Google break their commitment or they provide extra patches past their commitment.

In case of doubt you can always replace the OS with whatever Linux distribution you choose, which only leaves closed-source driver/fw blobs - but that problem is shared with every other general-purpose computer these days.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#414

Post by r2binx »

cbsmith wrote: post #245
r2binx wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why use another encrypted partition instead of putting a swap partition/file on the same with LVM/btrfs?

There's a lot of security models that rely on RAM being more difficult for an attacker to access than disk (as you can imagine it is much easier to ensure things stored to disk are resistant to compromise than to ensure that nothing in working memory is usable by an attacker). Swap is that in between case where storage is memory, so that creates a unique challenge. What you want is that if someone steals your hiberna…

Ah of course, I haven't thought about it that way, thanks for your explanation. I guess it depends if you're willing to put all eggs in one basket so to speak. But instead of disabling hibernation outright maybe distros can find a compromise there.

My anecdotal experience with friends that tried Linux is that it left such a bad impression when they opened they're laptop the next morning and it's lost most of its battery life that some actually went back to Windows.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#415

Post by octoberfranklin »

samueldr wrote: post #187

I wonder if it will have proper CCD (Case Closed Debugging)[0] support. With CCD, you are pretty much free to mess around with the "BIOS" of the machine, without fear of being put in a bad situation. It also provides a serial terminal to the "AP" (application processor), e.g. available to the OS. In other words, the Cr50 provides a controlled and user-controlled (but not user-owned) sideband channel to debug the syst…

> the Cr50 provides a controlled and user-controlled

The Cr50 is as far from user-controlled as you can get. It can MITM your keyboard, reflash your firmware, and obeys only the holder of the private key corresponding to `LOADERKEY_A`:

http://www.loper-os.org/?p=2433

If the Chromebook is Google's take on laptops, then Cr50 is Google's take on the IME.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#416

Post by pjerem »

aembleton wrote: post #396
Self-Perfection wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an example what might go wrong? I cannot imagine how can one mess up desktop Linux system without root privileges. Totally fill up the storage maybe?

Delete .config

Why would they delete files they cannot see without opting to see them ?

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#417

Post by r2binx »

nrp wrote: post #7
ex3ndr wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the difference from original?

ChromeOS! Specifically, the Mainboard is custom-designed for ChromeOS. This means it uses coreboot instead of a proprietary BIOS and has Google's Titan C security chip. There are some other smaller differences. To keep the cost down, the top cover is aluminum-formed instead of CNCed, for compatibility reasons we weren't able to bring our fingerprint module in, and we were able to improve both audio quality and speake…

Can you elaborate what you mean with improved audio quality? My headphone jack on the 12th gen. (batch 1) model has a constant loud static/white noise which is very audible when listening to music even at max volume.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#418

Post by cmatthias »

kweingar wrote: post #371
wyldfire wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a fan of Linux and a fan of ChromeOS. but are the user experience and security better on ChromeOS than Linux? It's a bit simpler than linux but I'd say Linux is a close second.

(Disclaimer: I work on ChromeOS at Google) I would let anyone, even a total stranger, use my Chromebook in guest mode without a second thought (as long as I am reasonably sure they won’t steal it, break it, or disassemble it).

Would you be at all concerned about the security and privacy of your guest user’s data, given your employer’s propensity for slurping up and storing whatever user data they can get their hands on? What if your guest user was searching for terms related to abortion in a US state where that procedure is (or will shortly be) illegal? What if they’re doing that and you happen to be physically near a provider of abortions?[1]

Security does not only mean security of your own data stored on the device. A device made by Google will never be secure.

[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/18/google-data-states-...

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#419

Post by top_sigrid »

nrp wrote: post #263
Halan wrote: post #257

The words chromebook and privacy in the same marketing material for a product that clearly targets power users is an audacious choice

It is indeed. The intent of that is to communicate that no matter what the OS is doing, the privacy switches for the camera and microphone are yours to control. The switches function at hardware level with no possibility of software override.

Soory to be harsh, but advertising hardware features "to give you control over your privacy" for a device that runs Google's tracking-ware OS is questionable to say the least.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#420

Post by _nalply »

Self-Perfection wrote: post #387
cowmoo728 wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't hand my non-technical family member a Linux device and expect it still work a week later without any intervention.

Do you have an example what might go wrong? I cannot imagine how can one mess up desktop Linux system without root privileges. Totally fill up the storage maybe?

They go to a shady website telling them to open a terminal and entering `sudo rm -fr /`, and you got unlucky that they entered the same password they used when logging in.

But! It's your fault! They shouldn't be able to sudo!

But that's the point. If they couldn't sudo, they could do something else as disastrous. It is difficult to secure a Linux system if the user is allowed to log in. If I needed to give someone access, I just would give him a freshly installed Linux virtual system, and if he deleted something important, it's his problem, not mine.

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