Talos Secure Workstation (IBM POWER8 processor)

Just stumbled on this, not sure about it's provenience or viability, but thought others might be interested in checking it out.

Crowd funded project, 61 days left, $48,850 raised of $3,700,000 goal.
Funding ends on Dec 15, 2016 at 03:59 PM PST (11:59 PM UTC)

There are details and video's on the crowd funding site:

IBM POWER8 processor
https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/talos-secure-workstation

And, to the sponsor site:
https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/prerelease.php

"The world's first ATX-compatible, workstation-class mainboard for the IBM POWER8 processor."

"Overview
Performance
Talos™ competes with the highest-end mainstream (e.g., x86) computers available - Intel Xeon E5 and even E7 machines. Whether it’s AAA games, intensive CAD and modeling software, or machine learning algorithms for crunching huge datasets, Talos™ is well-equipped to handle the workload:

• • Up to 256 GB RAM
  • Up to 96 logical cores
  • Multiple PCIe, USB, and other interfaces
  • Onboard FPGAs

Security
Talos’™ fully open firmware means there are absolutely no inscrutable binary blobs where bugs, backdoors, and vulnerabilities can hide. If you deal with sensitive information or you care about the safety of your intellectual property, Talos™ will dramatically reduce the risk of intrusion and theft with features like:

• • Trusted Platform Module (TPM) that verifies all firmware before boot
  • No Intel Management Engine or equivalent
  • Auditable schematics, firmware, and software
  • 100% self-hosting, no need for external tools or compilers

Control
Say goodbye to the days of not being able to configure your system to your needs because of inaccessible firmware, schematics, or toolchains. With Talos™, you own the machine and can modify it to your heart’s content:

• • No signing keys preventing firmware codification
  • Openly licensed firmware and software (Apache 2.0, GPL 2.0, GPL 3.0)
  • Open toolchains for the onboard FPGAs allow for tuning of power sequencing, IRQ routing, and more

Extensibility
You can extend Talos’™ capabilities with hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs and GPUs) and with custom peripherals, using a wide array of interfaces:

• • GPIO header
  • Seven PCIe slots
  • Eight USB 3.0 ports

High-level overview of Talos™ mainboard components
A. 1 x PCI slot G. 8 x DDR3 ECC DIMM slots
B. GPIO header H. 6 x PCI Express slots
C. mPCIe slot I. AST2300 BMC with HDMI video
D. 8 x 6 Gbps internal SATA J. Integrated I/O
E. 2-port USB 3.0 header K. 1x socketed POWER8 SCM
F. 2 x internal USB 3.0
Features & Specifications

• • POWER8 Single-Chip Module (SCM) [sold separately]
    • QEMU-supported Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM)
    • Translation Control Entry (TCE), a variant of an IOMMU
    • Vector Multimedia eXtension (VMX)
    • Vector Scalar eXtension (VSX)
    • AES acceleration for VMX / VSX
  • Up to 256 GB Memory
    • 8 DDR3 RDIMM slots with ECC support
    • 2 memory controllers
  • Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
    • 2 PCIe x16 slots (8 shared lanes)
      • each can become a Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI)
    • 4 PCIe x8 slots
    • 1 internal mPCIe 1x slot
    • 1 legacy PCI slot
  • Serial ATA (SATA)
    • 8 internal SATA 6 Gbps ports
    • 2 external eSATA 6 Gbps ports
  • RS-232
    • 2 external ports with DB-9 connectors
    • 2 internal ports with 10-pin connectors and level shifters
  • Universal Serial Bus (USB)
    • 4 external USB 3.0 Type A ports
    • 2 internal USB 3.0 stacked Type A ports
    • 2 internal USB 3.0 ports via a single header
  • General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO)
    • 1 40-pin dual inline header with 0.1” pitch
    • most pins connected directly to one of the onboard FPGAs
  • Onboard, open-toolchain FPGAs for controlling low-level operations
  • 2 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports
  • Video
    • Integrated ASPEED AST2400 for HDMI output
    • Support for discrete GPUs
  • Standard ATX form factor
  • Heatsink
    • Includes a 92 mm fan
    • Dissipates 190 W continuously in a normal office environment
  • Operating System
    • Little Endian Mode
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 or higher
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 or higher
      • CentOS 7 or higher
      • Fedora 22 or higher
      • Debian 8.0 (“Jessie”) or higher
      • Ubuntu 14.04.3 (“Trusty”) or higher
      • Gentoo (planned, build in process)
      • Trisquel (planned for Trisquel 8)
      • others
    • Big Endian Mode
      • Fedora 22 or higher
      • others

The POWER Architecture
Talos™ is designed around IBM’s POWER8 architecture and line of processors. IBM has published a significant amount of detailed POWER8 design and software documentation:

• • POWER Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) v2.07
  • POWER8 Processor User’s Manual for the Single-Chip Module
  • IBM’s OpenPOWER Connect portal (free account creation required)

OpenPOWER Foundation
Raptor Engineering (a partner of Raptor Computing Systems) is a member of the OpenPOWER Foundation, an open technical membership organization dedicated to the POWER architecture.

A World Beyond x86
The x86 architecture, while ubiquitous in personal computing, suffers from irreparable security and lockdown issues. For example, the Intel Management Engine (ME) is a problem that’s been brewing for about ten years, even though the popular technology press has only recently started reporting on it. The Intel ME is present on all modern Intel processors and is essentially a backdoor with full access to the entire computer - a security disaster waiting to happen. Due to the deeply entrenched interests of current players (e.g., Intel and AMD), and the presumed jungle of legally binding contracts those interests have with their myriad partners, this situation will never improve and will only worsen.

The video below goes into detail about why Talos is a great alternative to x86. (This presentation was first given at the Coreboot conference and developer meeting in San Francisco, June 2016.)"

Please go to the site for the rest of the details:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/talos-secure-workstation

And, to the sponsor site:
https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/prerelease.php

 

Can you actually install windows and game on this?

 

Some support from the Free Software Foundation:

Free Software Foundation

"Whereas all modern x86 systems are encumbered by proprietary firmware and software, such as Intel's Management Engine and Active Management Technology (AMT), the POWER 8 architecture is able to run an entirely free software boot system."

Interested in a powerful, free software friendly workstation?
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interested-in-a-powerful-free-software-friendly-workstation

by Joshua Gay — Published on Mar 15, 2016 05:41 PM
Let Raptor Engineering know that you would be interested in purchasing a Talos™ Secure Workstation mainboard that runs only 100% free firmware and software.

Raptor Engineering, is gauging public interest in a new high-end workstation designed to run only free software. The Talos™ Secure Workstation uses the IBM POWER 8 processor and architecture, which is comparable in terms of overall power and performance to that of modern Intel/AMD x86 based systems. However, whereas all modern x86 systems are encumbered by proprietary firmware and software, such as Intel's Management Engine and Active Management Technology (AMT), the POWER 8 architecture is able to run an entirely free software boot system, Libreboot. Raptor Engineering is a significant contributor to Libreboot projects and they wish to make and sell Librebootand GNU/Linux-based workstation that are "designed for security-conscious, high performance users."

In order for Raptor Engineering to be able to sell these workstations, they will need to manufacture a large enough quantity to make it a cost effective proposition for them. Therefore, if you might be interested in purchasing a Talos™ Secure Workstation mainboard, then let them know by signing-up today to be informed when they are available for pre-order. If Raptor Engineering does end up producing these workstations, the FSF will be evaluating them for Respects Your Freedom certification.

 

Talos Secure Workstation crowdfunding begins! ( crowdsupply.com)
submitted 12 hours ago by pizzaiolo_
https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/57j1w5/talos_secure_workstation_crowdfunding_begins/

Talos Secure Workstation: Which GNU+Linux games would run well on this free Power8 Server? ( crowdsupply.com)
submitted 14 minutes ago by freelyread
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/57lh5m/talos_secure_workstation_which_gnulinux_games/

 

I presume that if the major focus of this system is security, I don't think the target audience would even use Windows in the first place (fully-open firmware/100% self-hosting and a proprietary OS seem like an odd combination), nevermind if Windows can even run on POWER8 (can't find any documentation that says yes or no).

 

Let's be straight here, M$ has not supported the Power architecture (specifically PowerPC) since Windows 2000 so I think you get the idea.

Anyway, as Jarhead-san said, most servers or workstations don't use Windows. Don't just limit your vision to Windows only, think about other Unix-like OS.

 

Talos Secure Workstation isn't reaching funding goal:
Funding ends on Jan 14, 2017 at 03:59 PM PST (11:59 PM UTC)
$457,500 raised of $3,700,000 goal
5 days left 12% funded 394 pledges

https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-...wner-controlled-computing-as-talos-winds-down

 

Given the sorry state of crowd funding, especially in terms of broken promises, this isn't too surpring to be honest.

 

That goal was a bit high too, if they had scaled down into the under $1M range, they likely would have reached it, and then could have scaled up a bit for the next round. Success builds on Success.