Meltdown & Spectre Information and Discussion

[The Repairman]

8)

[TheDead]

[quote author=TheDead link=topic=4978.msg39374#msg39374 date=1519571226]
Sooo, if I’m on 4.10, I have to revert to 4.4.0-116 to get the fix?

I would think that you would be able to use the 4.15 kernel which you can download and install from the Synaptic Package Manager aka Install/Remove Software.

Go into Synaptic Package Manager / Install/Remove Software center and install linux-headers 4.15 first and then install linux-image 4.15 second.

Do a reboot and you should boot into the new 4.15 kernel.

Do not remove existing kernel in case the new kernel fails to boot.

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Update
It appears that Lite Tweaks in the Menu under System has a kernel installer so you might want to give that a look at also.


Don't hold me to this as I'm only a Linux Lite user and not a Linux Guru.
[/quote]

Thanks and yep,  I'm gonna keep older kernels because last time I tried 4.13, got a kernel panic on boot.
If 4.15 breaks, I'll go the 4.4.0-116 route.

Now time to read if those fixes slow CPUs down or not, whick was the big worry in the beginning. :-O

Cheers!

[The Repairman]

8)

[newtusmaximus]

Vulnerabilities resolved
Speed?? has it been reduced.  Tests below.


-Computer-
Processor      : 2x Intel® Core™2 CPU          6300  @ 1.86GHz
Memory      : 4037MB (2138MB used)
-Version-
Kernel      : Linux 4.4.0-116-generic (x86_64)

Distribution      : Linux Lite 3.6
-Current Session-
Computer Name      : linuxlite-HP-Compaq-dc7700p-Ultra-slim-Desktop
Desktop Environment      : XFCE 4
-Misc-
Uptime      : 6 hours, 10 minutes
Load Average      : 0.42, 0.56, 0.38


-CPU Blowfish-
<big><b>This Machine</b></big>  1867 MHz  9.806 
Intel® Celeron® M processor        1.50GHz  (null)  26.1876862 
PowerPC 740/750 (280.00MHz)  (null)  172.816713

-CPU CryptoHash-
<big><b>This Machine</b></big>  1867 MHz  137.318 

-CPU Fibonacci-
<big><b>This Machine</b></big>  1867 MHz  5.082 
Intel® Celeron® M processor        1.50GHz  (null)  8.1375674 
PowerPC 740/750 (280.00MHz)  (null)  58.07682 

-CPU N-Queens-
<big><b>This Machine</b></big>  1867 MHz  17.196 

-FPU FFT-
<big><b>This Machine</b></big>  1867 MHz  4.524 
 
-FPU Raytracing-
<big><b>This Machine</b></big>  1867 MHz  11.347 
Intel® Celeron® M processor        1.50GHz  (null)  40.8816714 
PowerPC 740/750 (280.00MHz)  (null)  161.312647

No idea what the above means.  perhaps those more knowledgeable can comment??

[TheDead]

Thanks [member=149]newtusmaximus[/member] but  I have no clue what the benchmark numbers mean either.
Guess I'll have to bench the machine before and after all the patches.

Cheers!

[Ottawagrant]

My HP compaq is 9 years old, 3.33MHz, duo core w/8gb RAM. Absolutely no slowdown with the patch installed. My Windows 10 computers, with whatever patch Microsoft has issued, all show slowdown. I only have one computer with an AMD processor, so I use that if I have to use Windows. Next month is Microsoft's Spring update to Windows 10. Better check the drug store flyers for antacid.

[newtusmaximus]

Re Speed / performance tests. as per my previous post, is there a simple "idiots" guide as to what the results means in real life for the average  computer user?  Thanks

[trinidad]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/Kno...wn/TechFAQ

I doubt microcode updation will ever appear for anything older than Skylake, and though Intel is already facing over 30 litigations I expect class actions to branch out to include OEMs Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Asus. We've only just begun in Linux with retpoline and it's going to be an application by application case instance without microdode updation for older CPUs. Worse off MS is riddled with potential sleeper applications and the Spring update is probably going to kill off hordes of current Windows 10 users on machines older than Skylake who will find themselves unable to connect to their financial institutions.

TC

[trinidad]

The spectre-meltdown-checker received an update today on my Debian machines. I'm going to look now if LL or Ubuntu versions were updated.

Okay checked LL and Ubuntu. LL/Ubuntu version is v0.33 Debian version is v0.35. The only differences in the script I could find is how variant 1 mitigation detection is handled in Debian. Ubuntu uses the original Red Hat patch and Debian does not. v0.33 is okay for LL/Ubuntu even though v0.35 is newer.

TC

[Valtam]

Debian have their own fork based on their own kernels. Not applicable to LL here which uses Ubuntu kernels. I'd like to keep this LL focused so newbies don't start posting questions about how they are confused. Cheers