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OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

jcs.org

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Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#41

Post by cyphar »

cwisecarver wrote: post #16

Is anyone else concerned about buying a laptop from a Chinese manufacturer? I own a number of MacBooks and while they were all assembled in China I don't have any concerns about the firmware. As more of these make it to US markets I'm sure if there is something it will come out but I'm currently taking a wait and see approach.

Your firmware was flashed in China. At the end of the day, everything comes from China and if you're worried about Huawei firmware you should also be worried about Macbook firmware. For reference, some time ago it was discovered that Lenovo firmware also had Chinese backdoors[1].

[1]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/lenovo_accused_backd...

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#42

Post by cyphar »

tmnvix wrote: post #34
izacus wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you concerned about exactly?

I imagine compromised security due to government meddling. Huawei's ownership structure is complicated and government influence is a concern. See Australia's decision to ban Huawei from it's National Broadband Network tender: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-29/government-maintains-n... I have yet to hear of any proof that Huawei has actually compromised any of it's products or work.

As an Australian, I'm not sure that I would recommend listening to any advice from us in relation to the NBN. Also from my experience working with them in upstream projects like runc, Huawei has a lot of very interesting technology in their offerings.

Also note that basically every modern piece of technology is assembled and has its firmware flashed in China (or other various Asiatic nations with questionable governments).

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#43

Post by cbhl »

voltagex_ wrote: post #38
sverige wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things like suspend/resume, hibernate, video drivers, and touchpads generally get fixed when developers have a need for them. You can hack it together yourself, or you can buy a developer the same model laptop that you wish had everything working and hope they like it enough to fix stuff. Or you can shut up. And fwiw, cheap windows laptops "just work" far more often and far better than almost any linux distro I've tr…

Looks like $1500+ here. Bit steep, but I may try to find the cash so I can send one to any developer who can make HiDPI not suck on Linux.

I think one of the biggest challenges for FOSS (that proprietary software gets right) is making an app work and look right when half of it is on a HiDPI screen and half of it is on a lower resolution screen.

Sad to say, once I could afford $2500+ HiDPI laptops, I became a lot less picky about running proprietary OSes...

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#44

Post by cbhl »

cwisecarver wrote: post #16

Is anyone else concerned about buying a laptop from a Chinese manufacturer? I own a number of MacBooks and while they were all assembled in China I don't have any concerns about the firmware. As more of these make it to US markets I'm sure if there is something it will come out but I'm currently taking a wait and see approach.

My impression is that all electronics contain components from Shenzhen. Like, everyone I know who did a hardware startup moved to Shenzhen and spent at least six months there (if they didn't move part of the team there permanently).

So you should (dis)trust all consumer-facing manufacturers equally, and find another way to verify that your system is running correctly. For example, here's how Chromium OS / Chrome OS does it:

https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs/...

https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs/...

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#45

Post by tedunangst »

unethical_ban wrote: post #35
sverige wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things like suspend/resume, hibernate, video drivers, and touchpads generally get fixed when developers have a need for them. You can hack it together yourself, or you can buy a developer the same model laptop that you wish had everything working and hope they like it enough to fix stuff. Or you can shut up. And fwiw, cheap windows laptops "just work" far more often and far better than almost any linux distro I've tr…

Or one can continue pointing out the deficiencies in the software as it relates to a consumer-ready laptop WITHOUT doing anything you mentioned, which is almost as impolite as you telling people to shut up when they notice an imperfection in the OS.

Was the table at the bottom of the page somehow insufficient? jcs managed to present all the same information, with more detail in fact, in an easily parsed format, so I'm not sure what contribution the comment really adds.

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#46

Post by glandium »

dchest wrote: post #25
SkyMarshal wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree on build quality. I'm a desktop linux guy since 2007, but a company I worked for a few years ago gave us all 15" MBPr's, and I've been using it ever since just for the build quality. Not a fan of closed source, walled gardens, or of running Linux in a VM, but the durability of the hardware is addicting.

Just to add an anecdote, I had a design/construction defect on every MacBook I owned after iBook, although almost all of them were covered by replacement programs: 2007 (?) 17" MBP - bad display (no recall), bad battery (recall) 1-gen MacBook Air - broken hinges (Apple used unsuitable metal in first shipments, replacement program), CPU throttling leading to long pauses (Intel issue? disabling one core 'fixed' it if I…

You can also add, for every single one of those: thermal issues.

(And to add to your anecdote, I had a white macbook, and had the same case cracking problem on the hands area, plus the plastic around the monitor would start to "peel" off, revealing the inside of the case around the monitor)

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#48

Post by xupybd »

cwisecarver wrote: post #16

Is anyone else concerned about buying a laptop from a Chinese manufacturer? I own a number of MacBooks and while they were all assembled in China I don't have any concerns about the firmware. As more of these make it to US markets I'm sure if there is something it will come out but I'm currently taking a wait and see approach.

I'd be more worried about the cooling. I'm not sure that they'd have put the work into cooling this properly.

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#49

Post by toomanybeersies »

dchest wrote: post #25
SkyMarshal wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree on build quality. I'm a desktop linux guy since 2007, but a company I worked for a few years ago gave us all 15" MBPr's, and I've been using it ever since just for the build quality. Not a fan of closed source, walled gardens, or of running Linux in a VM, but the durability of the hardware is addicting.

Just to add an anecdote, I had a design/construction defect on every MacBook I owned after iBook, although almost all of them were covered by replacement programs: 2007 (?) 17" MBP - bad display (no recall), bad battery (recall) 1-gen MacBook Air - broken hinges (Apple used unsuitable metal in first shipments, replacement program), CPU throttling leading to long pauses (Intel issue? disabling one core 'fixed' it if I…

I'm not a fan at all of the Macbook charger cords. They all invariably split, it's taken only 8 months for mine to split, so now it's wrapped in electrical tape, which gets all ugly.

That's not to mention that the cable always get filthy, they're made out of the perfect material to get all grey and yuck.

I'm on the fence about magsafe, although that's moot now that new Macbooks use USB-C.

Re: OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X

#50

Post by ams6110 »

cyphar wrote: post #40
sverige wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's free software. Does OpenBSD owe you a perfect OS?

No, but if you want people to switch to it, then ignoring complaints is the first way for people to just boycott using your OS. I also work as a free software developer, and I don't understand why you would act that way when someone tells you they don't like the state of your project. Responding to a reasonable complaint with "as developers we only scratch our own itch and we don't owe you a 'perfect OS'" is just hos…

I stand to be corrected, but I don't think most OpenBSD devs care too much about getting others to switch to it.

They build the OS that they want, and make it available for anyone else to use.

There are some evangelists, to be sure. I just don't think it's a primary concern to many of the devs.

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