Processor Microcode for Linux | Hacker News Reader

Processor Microcode for Linux

downloadcenter.intel.com

38 pointsswills9 comments

Does amaze me that Intel list this as supporting all the way back to the original Pentium 75MHz. That's over twenty years old. This kind of support for a consumer tech product? Incredible.

OG Pentiums are still used in embedded systems and space applications

The package contains microcode for old CPUs but it isn't necessarily still updated or recent.

Here for example is what's available for my router's CPU, from the latest package:

  # grep model\ name /proc/cpuinfo
  model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E4500  @ 2.20GHz

  # iucode_tool -S -l /lib/firmware/intel-ucode/* | tail -n1
  iucode_tool: system has processor(s) with signature 0x000006fd
    030/003: sig 0x000006fd, pf_mask 0x01, 2010-10-02, rev 0x00a4, size 4096

Last updated almost eight years ago, so doesn't contain any Spectre/Meltdown fixes.

According to another link on here, there are plans to patch all the way back to 45nm Core 2 Duo chips in the works:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12533/intel-spectre-meltdown

Is this Spectre/Meltdown related? The last microcode release for that wasn't good.

Yes, this should have the fixed fix.

I would rather just ask the NSA what information they would like from me and send it to them directly.

But if they told you what information they wanted from you, they'd have to kill you ;)

We already know this. They have a mandate for total information awareness. Collect everything. They just claim they haven't collected the data until someone views it in their database for a specific purpose, but that's misusing the word "collection" so they can pretend they aren't shitting all over the 4th amendment.

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