Will the use of GPU chips eliminate the need for video cards and/or eliminate the security vulnerabilities that the video cards introduce into operating systems?
Thanks.
On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 2:54 AM, Dave Feustel dfeustel@mindspring.com wrote:
Will the use of GPU chips eliminate the need for video cards and/or eliminate the security vulnerabilities that the video cards introduce into operating systems?
Thanks.
No. Similar to what is already on the market. You have integrated video on many motherboards but still have a market for high performance (gamers, etc.) video.
2008/12/23 Kam Leo kam.leo@gmail.com
On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 2:54 AM, Dave Feustel dfeustel@mindspring.com wrote:
Will the use of GPU chips eliminate the need for video cards and/or eliminate the security vulnerabilities that the video cards introduce into operating systems?
Thanks.
No. Similar to what is already on the market. You have integrated video on many motherboards but still have a market for high performance (gamers, etc.) video.
I just bought a Radeon HD 4870 yesterday. Now until the day an integrated chip can match that, as Leo says, a market for high end graphics solutions will always exist.
However I don't understand what you mean by security vulnerabilities introduced by discrete video cards. Could you elaborate on that a little more?
On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 01:01:32PM -0800, suvayu ali wrote:
2008/12/23 Kam Leo kam.leo@gmail.com
On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 2:54 AM, Dave Feustel dfeustel@mindspring.com wrote:
Will the use of GPU chips eliminate the need for video cards and/or eliminate the security vulnerabilities that the video cards introduce into operating systems?
Thanks.
No. Similar to what is already on the market. You have integrated video on many motherboards but still have a market for high performance (gamers, etc.) video.
I just bought a Radeon HD 4870 yesterday. Now until the day an integrated chip can match that, as Leo says, a market for high end graphics solutions will always exist.
However I don't understand what you mean by security vulnerabilities introduced by discrete video cards. Could you elaborate on that a little more?
Various OpenBSD developers have stated that there are OS vulnerabilities introduced by the use of video card hardware features by X. It's been a while since I read the details, but I wonder if the GPU chips might be able to run in user (non-priviledged) mode only, thus precluding the possibility of exploits based upon direct hardware access given the video card software.
On Tue, 2008-12-23 at 16:34 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
Various OpenBSD developers have stated that there are OS vulnerabilities introduced by the use of video card hardware features by X. It's been a while since I read the details, but I wonder if the GPU chips might be able to run in user (non-priviledged) mode only, thus precluding the possibility of exploits based upon direct hardware access given the video card software.
Are you sure that's not just issues because of X, and maybe drivers, not the actual graphics cards, themselves?
If anything, I'd expect more issues with GPUs, as they're not all just usable for graphics, some are usable as an additional CPU for other purposes.
On Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 08:39:47AM +1030, Tim wrote:
On Tue, 2008-12-23 at 16:34 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
Various OpenBSD developers have stated that there are OS vulnerabilities introduced by the use of video card hardware features by X. It's been a while since I read the details, but I wonder if the GPU chips might be able to run in user (non-priviledged) mode only, thus precluding the possibility of exploits based upon direct hardware access given the video card software.
Are you sure that's not just issues because of X, and maybe drivers, not the actual graphics cards, themselves?
It is my impression that the security vulnerabilities associated with the graphics cards stem from the abiltiy of the cards to access all of memory using dma. The OpenBSD people said that the only way to avoid this problem is to not allow X access to the video card.
If anything, I'd expect more issues with GPUs, as they're not all just usable for graphics, some are usable as an additional CPU for other purposes.
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Dave Feustel -
Kam Leo -
Suvayu Ali -
Tim