me_cleaner VS AltStore

Some times Intel version of Lenovo have a problem with Intel ME , check this out. LINK

Yes; there are several ways, depending heavily on the version, and ranging from most trustworthy to least trustworthy:

* By patching the ME firmware itself - see the me_cleaner project, and methods documented here: https://puri.sm/posts/deep-dive-into-intel-me-disablement/ . This is Pretty Reliable; the runtime code has been deleted from flash.

* By setting a bit in the flash configuration, assumed to be added for the US High Assurance program: https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/wiki/HAP-AltMeDisable-bi... , https://www.ptsecurity.com/ww-en/analytics/disabling-intel-m... . This is Mostly Reliable; the mechanism has been fairly aggressively reverse engineered and was added for a program with strict requirements.

* By sending an HECI command that says "hey ME, turn off your runtime" https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/52800 . This is Somewhat Reliable; the method is well understood and seems to work but I'm not sure someone has done a deep dive audit into whether it could be re-enabled somehow.

"...this is interesting is because POWER9 is basically the first time the public got a real view of how sophisticated the backstage cast actually is of a modern server CPU."

Not quite correct; the OpenSPARC T1 and T2 were publicly released and available by 2008.

https://www.oracle.com/servers/technologies/opensparc.html

"Large parts of this process are handled by vendor-supplied mystery firmware blobs, which may as well be boxes with “???” written in them.

The maintainers of the me_cleaner script likely have the clearest view of what is known.

https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner

Your dedicated laptop with disabled Intel ME running OpenBSD might be the gold standard choice for your hardware wallet. Main discussion here.

I consider a dedicated laptop with deactivated Intel ME running OpenBSD (maybe from USB flash) can be a much secure alternative to a proprietary hardware wallet connected to your casual multi-purpose laptop.

On a side note, if Intel has made it this hard to disable Intel ME, is the US government happy with this change? It was them who got the HAP bit part working, and I do not see any news suggesting they have another trick to disable Intel ME. Should I just assume that this still works? Has anybody here tried? And does me_cleaner still work (last updated in 2018: https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner)?

This is incorrect. Intel ME has an internal disablement mechanism: https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/wiki/HAP-AltMeDisable-bit this is the mechanism that it used by S76 and Purism.

If you are sensitive about the Intel Management Engine, the original Core 2 Duo/Quad systems are the last where it could be fully disabled.

Anything later will forcibly shut down after 30 minutes if (at least a fragment of) Intel's closed & bug-ridden monitoring code is not present.

I ran me_cleaner on a few of these systems, and I do all my finances with them running OpenBSD (usually on q9550s).

Yes, this effort to run old hardware is worth it for me. Below are the bios images that I was able to produce:

https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/issues/233

AltServer from the AltStore folks allows you to automate the renewal of sideloaded apps. It’s not perfect, but it’s an excellent workaround.

http://altstore.io/

That's probably to prevent the most obvious workaround of creating a new shell company for every million users. (Which would be not so ridiculous as it sounds, there is plenty of software you cannot buy directly but only through a reseller. Epic could become a pure b2b shop on paper and sell Fortnite clients to regional distributors, or something like that.)

Some time ago somebody made an alternative App Store for emulators, https://altstore.io . I think it works by having users get a developer's certificate and installing the apps like an in-development app. I think it would be really neat if this model got tested in court and declared completely legal.

See: https://altstore.io/

2 apps, re-sign weekly maximum. 3 if you do it without AltStore. Unlimited with a $99/yr developer account.

you already could in a way... by using altstore[0] on non jailbroken devices... It's not as straightforward as on Android but it is possible (there were even some builds of blink engine)

[0] https://github.com/altstoreio/AltStore

I mean, that's fine. My argument about adblockers applies to other software too: the Apple ecosystem has some of the basics (like sync, browsers, etc) figured out for me so that I don't need to fiddle with it. While I'd like to use Firefox, I don't need to, and the tradeoffs that come with accepting Safari instead are worth it for my specific situation. Forcing myself into a different ecosystem so that I can use different software that does the same thing isn't a good tradeoff for me. It sounds like that's not the case for you - glad you've found an ecosystem that works for you.

There are a couple of things you might want to be aware of though:

* AltStore exists and works pretty well: https://altstore.io

* iOS 17.2 allows users in some locales to side load apps: https://medium.com/@rmndrathna4/ios-17-2-sideload-apps-what-... . This was sparked by the Digital Markets Act, which could also force Apple to allow alternate browser engines. It went into effect May 2023, but I'm not a lawyer and idk how this will actually affect the Apple ecosystem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Markets_Act

No problem! I can guide you step by step here. You will need: A Mac Computer A supported Device (which I know you have) A jail broken device This tutorial is for iOS 9 btw, so you should probably update. It’ll only be temporary. First, jailbreak your iPhone. Personally, I updated my iPhone to iOS 9 then jail broke it using Phoenix. To do this, turn on your Mac and download Altstore. (https://altstore.io). Go to the phoenix website and download the ipa file. Then go into Altstore and sideload the ipa on your device by plugging in the 4S and trusting the Mac. It’ll ask you for your Apple ID and password, but if you don’t feel safe giving it, you can create a throw-away Apple ID. Once the ipa is done sideloading, you should see the Phoenix app icon on your main iPhone menu. Go into it, and it’ll say iPhone 4,1 isn’t jailbrolen. Click on the begin button, and go through the terms and service. They will show you their mixtape, but you can ignore it. Now, click begin installation. You should see two buttons to use the premade files or your own. Here, you MUST WAIT at LEAST 5 minutes on this screen before you proceed. If you click the button before five minutes, the screen would fade black and you did it incorrectly. After five minutes, click the use premade asserts button (the button above). After a bit, you should get a storage full message. Then the phone will shut off on its own. When the phone is on, you should have Cydia. Go back into the Phoenix app and make sure it says your iPhones is jailbroken and Cydia can be launched. If not, click the “jumpstart jailbreak” button, and when you get to the assets thing again, wait 5 minutes once more. Once that is done, go into Cydia and go to the sources button. Click Edit on the upper right hand corner, then click Add. Then type this link in. http://repo.tihmstar.net/. Once done, scroll through his selection until you find the kDFU app. Download it, and go into the app. Turn on all the switches, and enter kDFU mode. Now we go back to your Mac. Go here: https://github.com/LukeZGD/Legacy-iOS-Kit/releases/tag/latest. Click on the one that says _Macos. That should download the zip file. Now unzip it, but don’t go into it. Now go to the Mac Terminal. Type cd then a space. Then drag the iOS Kit folder to terminal. The path name should show in terminal next to cd. Click enter. Now type chmod +x restore.sh Now type ./restore.sh You should see some things pop up. Now read if it asks you to update. Type “y” if it asks, and let it do its thing. When it is done updating, type ./restore.sh again. Now if you iPhone 4S is still in kDFU mode and is plugged in, the Patcher should see your iPhone 4S. Now it should show you some options. Type “1” as you are downgrading and click enter. It should now show you if you wanna downgrade to iOS 8 or 6. Type “2” as that is the option listed for iOS 6. Click enter. Now you should see a list of options that show Ipsw related things. Type “2” as that should download the iOS 6 ipsw. When that is done, type “3” and click enter. That will begin the restore. It’ll ask you a few questions, and type y/n to what you want. Now let it finish. Do NOT unplug the phone. When it is done, you should be downgraded!

/u/sevenlayercookie5 /u/rogo725 - I side load it with https://altstore.io/ - it keeps it refreshed every 7 days as well. If you need any help with it, hit me up.

https://altstore.io/ Go here in your computer, download alt server then connect your phone via usb and download AltStore on phone. AltStore will have delta available to download.

Fuck you for not having a Linux version JKJK Thanks for Altserver and Altstore: https://github.com/altstoreio/AltStore

nope you can still sideload look into altstore: https://altstore.io/