>For the rest of the population, there's value in there being a vendor who sells magic black boxes, certified to be freshly purged of all known evil demons.
Sure, but there are things that I like about my Chromebook that the System 76 laptops, despite being way more expensive, are unable to to provide. I like how mine has a backlit keyboard, has a FullHD 1080p IPS screen, and an 10 hours battery life, all that for $300.
I just looked at the number of people who upvoted my post and I am really think that this actually could work if there is a person who builds the hardware, which I think is trivial. The problem is that not many are comfortable with both the electronics (wiring the clip) and be able to compile a big software package with dependencies on the Raspberry Pi. Make the frustrating 2 hours job to a 5 minutes job of opening the laptop and identify the chip, I think it might just be what many people want.
I talked to a very smart netsec person and he just said that because he doesn't understand electronics, he couldn't have done it himself, but if that's something prebuilt or foolproof, he would absolutely do it.
Perhaps I will actually take the plunge and publish the work over the next couple of months as a Show HN post.
If it became popular, then there would be a cottage industry in doing it for people. Charge them say $20 for the labour of opening the thing up, running the tool, reassembling and testing it.
This already exists for "chipping" games consoles and the like. I think it's just that the average person can see the cash value to them of pirating games while the ME has no effect on their daily life.
This sounds like it makes sense to offer as a service: You should know how to protect against electrostatic shocks and preparing everything is time consuming. It scales much better after the first time.
Maybe mobile phone repair shops would be interested in offering?
This is something I would love to see. As evidenced by the netsec person you spoke to, not everyone's comfortable with electronics. But a pre-built thing or kit that leaves little to no chance of user error would provide a great deal of value to a great many people.
> I like how mine has a backlit keyboard, has a FullHD 1080p IPS screen, and an 10 hours battery life, all that for $300
That sounds very compelling. Which model are you using please? I'd like to take a closer look but I don't seem to see one with these features/price - but I am in the UK.
The Dell Chromebook 7310. They don't sell it anymore now. They used to have the option to choose Celeron/i3/5/7 and 4/8GB of RAM. I have the 8GB i3 one.
Sure, but there are things that I like about my Chromebook that the System 76 laptops, despite being way more expensive, are unable to to provide. I like how mine has a backlit keyboard, has a FullHD 1080p IPS screen, and an 10 hours battery life, all that for $300.
I just looked at the number of people who upvoted my post and I am really think that this actually could work if there is a person who builds the hardware, which I think is trivial. The problem is that not many are comfortable with both the electronics (wiring the clip) and be able to compile a big software package with dependencies on the Raspberry Pi. Make the frustrating 2 hours job to a 5 minutes job of opening the laptop and identify the chip, I think it might just be what many people want.
I talked to a very smart netsec person and he just said that because he doesn't understand electronics, he couldn't have done it himself, but if that's something prebuilt or foolproof, he would absolutely do it.
Perhaps I will actually take the plunge and publish the work over the next couple of months as a Show HN post.