Kevin lyda said
> > Just after getting a PIII machine,
> > I'd like to turn the Processor ID off.
>> why? sparc's have had those id's for years.
The hostid on a Sparcstation (also on Sun's pre-Sparc boxes) is not part of
the processor but is on an NVRAM chip. It can be fudged in a number of ways,
right down to re-programming the chip (which on newer Sparcstations can be
done from the boot prompt, if you're a handy Forth programmer :-) )
> them as well. it's only useful for node locking software - don't let
> single brain celled marketing people at intel fool you.
Indeed, and it would presumably be much harder to get around than Sun's feeble
stuff. However, the worry is not so much Intel's marketing people as those
who would accumulate information about you. Current web browsers don't go near
that ID hence all the paranoia about privacy invasion is just that (paranoia)
but who's to say what a plugin might do, or a new browser - witness Microsoft's
document identifier thing, or the recent Real Networks debacle. There are times
when paranoia may just be justifiable caution :-)
Kindest regards,
Niall O Broin
UNIX Network Administrator nobroin at esoc.esa.de
Ground Systems Engineering Department Ph./Fax +49 6151 90 3619/2179
European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany
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