[geeks] [rescue] Hardware Recommendations for upgrading sunhelp.org?

[Andrew Luke Nesbit]

On 02/10/2018 00:25, Mouse wrote:
>> [W]hat Oracle wanted for a support contract, just to get patches, was
>> more than sunhelp.org has brought in, in income, total, in the past
>> twenty-one years that I've run the site.
> 
> That's relevant only if you run their software, though, isn't it?

At the hardware and firmware level you still need their support.  One is
forced into paying for stuff that should be distributed for free.

Two examples off the top of my head:

-   Microcode updates to help mitigate known security exploits due to
fundamental flaws, e.g., Spectre.

-   Enabling remote out-of-band managment.

So the support isn't really support, it's just a licensing fee.

> On
> all but the very most recent hardware I'd expect Linux to run fine
> (well, as fine as Linux ever does), on most at least a few of the BSDs
> also.  Are my expectations wrong?

Yes, indeed this is the case.  But as far as the machine is concerned
this is bordering on the application layer.  You can probably run
GNU/Linux just fine on an unpatched machine, but you have to weigh up
the risks and benefits.

>> Plus, I refuse to give them business due to moral reasons.
> 
> I sure can't disagree with you there.

+1

Andrew
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