ECS Industrial Computer Co., Ltd., also known as ECSIPC, proudly unveils its latest generation of mini PCs for quad-display industrial applications, the LIVA Z5 series, which includes the LIVA Z5 Plus, LIVA Z5E Plus, and LIVA Z5F Plus. Committed to providing industry-specific value solutions, ECSIPC focuses on developing niche products and solutions for vertical industry applications. ECSIPC has achieved success in various application areas, including educational electronic whiteboards in Europe and the US, airport real-time flight systems in India, image projection for Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains, and electronic menu and POS systems for KFC in South America, while also exploring applications in vending machines and digital signage.

The newly launched LIVA Z5 series is powered by Intel 13th and 14th generation Core processors, delivering significant performance improvements with up to 10 cores capable of efficiently handling various demanding tasks. The series has Wi-Fi 6E speeds up to 9.6 Gbps for enhanced data transmission efficiency, allowing seamless playback of high-quality audiovisual content. Additionally, the multi-storage design accommodates PCIe Gen 4 M.2 NVMe SSDs and a 2.5-inch SSD or HDD, offering greater storage flexibility. The series ensures high-speed data processing in industrial environments with two 2.5G Base-T (2.5G) ports. At the same time, support for vPro and physical TPM significantly enhances the value of industrial applications.

ADLINK Technology Inc., a global leader in edge computing, a global supplier of industrial PCs and motherboards, and a Titanium member of the Intel Partner Alliance, announces the launch of the new IMB-M47 industrial ATX motherboard for 12th and 13th Gen Intel Core i9/i7/i5/i3 processors. The IMB-M47 ATX motherboard delivers high-performance computing power, with multiple I/O and expansion ports, including three simultaneous independent displays, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gb/s), up to 128 GB DDR5 4800 MHz, 3x 2.5 GbE, multi-M.2 Key M, TPM 2.0, and PCIe 5.0 high-performance add-on cards for complex Edge AIoT processing tasks in industrial automation, machine vision, factory automation, and logistics.

The IMB-M47 industrial ATX motherboard supports 12th and 13th Gen Intel Core processors that utilize a high-performance hybrid architecture with up to sixteen E-cores (Efficient-cores) for multi-threaded background task management and multitasking, and up to eight P-cores (Performance-cores) for demanding single-threaded work such as graphics and video rendering. The 13th Gen Intel Core processors speed up edge applications that benefit from faster memory performance with faster DDR5 memory.

Getac has today announced the launch of its next generation S410 semi-rugged laptop, which delivers powerful processing and graphics performance in a sustainable new design, without compromising on rugged reliability. The result is an incredibly versatile device that improves efficiency in the field while giving peace of mind to users in work environments where accidental knocks, bumps and drops can frequently occur.

Outstanding processing power
The next generation S410 is the first Getac device to feature an Intel Core 13th generation i5/i7 processor as standard, which delivers remarkable computing performance and rapid responsiveness to users. Integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics ensure a rich visual experience, while an optional dedicated GPS chip offers significantly improved location accuracy compared to previous generations. When it comes to connectivity, the next generation S410 includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 as standard, with optional 4G LTE and/or 5G Sub-6 with integrated GPS, keeping users connected in even remote locations.

IBASE Technology Inc. (TPEx: 8050), a renowned provider in the design and manufacturing of embedded computing solutions, rolls out the low-power IB838 3.5" single board computer powered by Intel Core i3 N-series (formerly Alder Lake-N) processor. Combining robust computing performance with advanced features, it is positioned to meet diverse needs across multiple industries, including industrial automation and control, retail displays, transportation, and automotive applications.

Fortified with intelligent power handling and a 9 V~36 V DC input range, the IB838 ensures reliability and consistent operations in transportation applications that may encounter variable power conditions. Versatile connectivity makes it ideal for automation processes and data acquisition systems. The SBC offers Type-C, DP++, and eDP or LVDS display options, along with a rich set of I/O interfaces, including two Intel PCI-E 2.5G LAN ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and four USB 3.2 ports (1x Type-C + 3x Type-A).

IBASE Technology Inc. (TPEx: 8050), a leading provider of industrial computing solutions, unveils the SI-624-AI industrial AI computer, which won the Embedded Computing Design's Embedded World 2023 Best in Show Award in Germany. This recognition highlights the exceptional performance and innovation of the rugged system in the field of AI deep learning.

The SI-624-AI is designed to meet the demands of high-speed multiple tasks for artificial neural network applications. Powered by the 12th Gen Intel Core CPU and incorporating the NVIDIA Ampere Architecture MXM GPU, this cutting-edge system delivers image processing capabilities that enable real-time analysis of visual data, enhancing automation, quality control, and overall production efficiency for AIoT applications in smart factory, retail, transportation or medical fields. It is suitable for use as a digital signage control system in mission-critical control rooms in transportation networks, smart retail, healthcare, or AI education where remote AI data analysis capabilities are required.

IBASE Technology Inc. (TPEx: 8050), a leading provider of embedded computing solutions, introduces the IB837 3.5" single board computer that is designed for a wide range of IoT applications, including industrial automation, smart retail, healthcare, smart city and edge AI solutions, combining powerful processing capabilities with extensive connectivity options.

At the heart of the IB837 is the onboard Intel Celeron N & J series (formerly Elkhart Lake) processor, offering a good balance of performance and power efficiency. With support for up to 16 GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory, the SBC ensures smooth multitasking and efficient operation, delivering exceptional performance while consuming minimal power for applications requiring a compact form factor.

ASRock Industrial is introducing new choices in industrial motherboards powered by 13th Gen Intel Core Processors (Raptor Lake-S) with up to 24 cores and 32 threads that boost computer-intensive edge performance. They come equipped with Intel W680, Q670, and H610 chipsets, and offer support for up to DDR5-5600 memory modules and PCIe Gen 5, allowing expanded possibilities and seamless integration within industry-specific applications.

By harnessing the power of the 13th Gen Intel Core Processors, they leap up to 1.04x/1.34x/1.25x faster in single-thread, multi-thread, and CPU image classification inference performance, respectively, compared to the preceding 12th Gen Intel Core processors. The new 13th Gen Intel CPU motherboards with DDR5 support, available in Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX form factors, have been specifically designed to cater to the unique requirements of the Edge AIoT applications in commerce, automation, robot, entertainment, and security industries.

Researchers at the Technical University of Berlin have published a paper called "faulTPM: Exposing AMD fTPMs' Deepest Secrets," highlighting AMD's firmware-based Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is susceptible to the new exploit targeting Zen 2 and Zen 3 processors. The faulTPM attack against AMD fTPMs involves utilizing the AMD secure processor's (SP) vulnerability to voltage fault injection attacks. This allows the attacker to extract a chip-unique secret from the targeted CPU, which is then used to derive the storage and integrity keys protecting the fTPM's non-volatile data stored on the BIOS flash chip. The attack consists of a manual parameter determination phase and a brute-force search for a final delay parameter. The first step requires around 30 minutes of manual attention, but it can potentially be automated. The second phase consists of repeated attack attempts to search for the last-to-be-determined parameter and execute the attack's payload.

Once these steps are completed, the attacker can extract any cryptographic material stored or sealed by the fTPM regardless of authentication mechanisms, such as Platform Configuration Register (PCR) validation or passphrases with anti-hammering protection. Interestingly, BitLocker uses TPM as a security measure, and faulTPM compromises the system. Researchers suggested that Zen 2 and Zen 3 CPUs are vulnerable, while Zen 4 wasn't mentioned. The attack requires several hours of physical access, so remote vulnerabilities are not a problem. Below, you can see the $200 system used for this attack and an illustration of the physical connections necessary.

Amid the push for technology independence, Chinese companies are pushing out more products to satisfy the need for the rapidly soaring demand for domestic data processing silicon. Today, we have information that Chinese Loongson has launched a 3D5000 CPU with as many as 32 cores. Utilizing chiplet technology, the 3D5000 represents a combination of two 16-core 3C5000 processors based on LA464 cores, based on LoongArch ISA that follows the combination of RISC and MIPS ISA design principles. The new chip features 64 MB of L3 cache, supports eight-channel DDR4-3200 ECC memory achieving 50 GB/s, and has five HyperTransport (HT) 3.0 interfaces. The TDP configuration of the chip is officially 300 Watts; however, normal operation is usually at around 150 Watts, with LA464 cores running at 2 GHz.

Scaling of the new chip goes beyond the chiplet, and pours over into system, as 3D5000 supports 2P and 4P configurations, where a single motherboard can become a system of up to 128 cores. To connect them, Loongson uses a 7A2000 bridge chip that is reportedly 400% faster than the previous solution, although we have no information about the last chip bridge. Based on the LGA-4129 package, the chip size is 75.4x58.5×6.5 mm. Regarding performance, Loongson compares it to the average Arm chip that goes into smartphones and claims that its designs are up to four times faster. In SPEC2006, performance reaches 425 points, while maintaining a single TeraFLOP at dual-precision 64-bit format. On the other hand, the processor was built for security, as the chip has a custom hardware-baked security to prevent Spectre and Meltdown, has an on-package Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and has a secret China-made security algorithm with an embedded custom security module that does encryption and decryption at 5 Gbps.

A pair of new vulnerabilities has been found in the TPM 2.0 library by cybersecurity company Quarkslab, that has security experts worried, as both of the flaws have potential far reaching implications. The two vulnerabilities go under the CVE identifiers of CVE-2023-1017 and CVE-2023-1018, where the first one allows for out-of-bounds writes, whereas the second one enables out-of-bounds reads, also known as buffer overflow vulnerabilities. This in itself might not sound particularly concerning, but as both can be triggered from user-mode applications, they're a pretty big deal, as it would enable malicious commands to be sent to a TPM 2.0 module, which could in turn enable malicious software to be installed on the device with the TPM 2.0 module.

According to Quarkslab, billions of devices could be affected, as TPM 2.0 authentication modules are used in everything from servers to IoT devices and has been the main hardware-based crypto solution for almost a decade by now. The attacker using the vulnerabilities would have to know what they're doing to be able to take advantage of these two flaws in TPM 2.0, but as it relies on the TPM command interface, there's no easy way to protect against an attack, if someone has gained user access to the system in question. The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) which is in charge of the TPM standard, has already issued an errata which includes instructions on how to address the two vulnerabilities and we're like to see updates from all major hardware vendors as they see fit.

Users of Windows 11 on "unsupported hardware" report that since the most recent Patch Tuesday (monthly) Cumulative Update, an ugly watermark message began appearing on the Windows Desktop screen for the Windows 11 22H2 Update operating system. The bottom-right corner has a permanently-overlaid message that reads "System requirements not met. Go to Settings to learn more." This is visually similar to the watermark you get when you haven't activated Windows with a valid license.

Windows Setup is designed to prevent the installation of Windows 11 on machines that don't meet its minimum system requirements, most notably, the need for a hardware Trusted Platform Module (TPM). There are ways to circumvent this hardware requirements check during setup. The latest Patch Tuesday update apparently takes a quick check on whether Windows 11 is installed on a machine that actually meets its requirements as laid by Microsoft; and if not, places the watermark message on Windows Desktop. It's important to note here, that unlike the "Activate Windows" watermark, this "System requirements not met" watermark does not impact the functionality of Windows 11, and you probably won't wake up one day to find that your machine won't boot. It seems more like a means to get people to fix their hardware requirements using an eyesore.

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted to the research, development, and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to announce the iNA200, a DIN-rail cybersecurity gateway for operational technology (OT) network security. The iNA200 is powered by the Intel Atom x6212RE or x6414RE processor (Elkhart Lake) and has one DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM for up to 32 GB of system memory. For demanding rugged environments, this fanless IIoT edge gateway comes with a wide operating temperature range of -40°C to 70°C and supports wide power input of 9 to 36 VDC with dual power input. The iNA200 also has two 2.5G LAN ports, sufficient storage, and high expandability for various industrial application needs.

"OT cybersecurity is essential for Industry 4.0. Axiomtek's iNA200 is designed to safeguard your OT assets and avoid network threats for critical infrastructure," said Kevin Hsiao, a product manager of Network Computing Platform Division at Axiomtek. "Additionally, our iNA200 features an M.2 Key B slot to enable 5G connectivity for next-generation industrial use cases. With the Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM 2.0) support, this cybersecurity gateway increases security offering hardware-level protection against malware and sophisticated cyber-attacks."

ASUS, a global technology leader renowned for continuously reimagining today's technologies for tomorrow, today announced a new Expert series desktop model, the ExpertCenter D7 SFF (D700SD).

The ExpertCenter D7 SFF is designed for long-term use, giving business users in financial, retail, manufacturing, creative fields, and other industries a durable solution. It's designed to suit growing business needs with tool-free expansion, making this model an investment that can evolve with a business. The case is rotatable and can be fully opened for convenient maintenance and upgrades, with side panels on the chassis that are easily removed without a screwdriver, and a 3.5-inch HDD tool-free tray that enables users to quickly replace or upgrade hard drives.

ASUS today announced ExpertBook B5 (B5602C) and ExpertBook B5 Flip (B5602F), all-new laptop models engineered with an expansive 16-inch, 16:10 display and strong, lightweight build for extreme flexibility and business productivity on the go—plus the option of an OLED panel for stunning visuals.

The new models laptops are set for serious travel with amazing all-day battery life, and are engineered with many cutting-edge technologies to improve mobile work efficiency. These include an up to 12th Gen Intel Core processor with up to Intel Arc A350M discrete graphics, dual-fan cooling, AI-powered conferencing technology, and dual-SSD RAID support. B5 Flip additionally benefits from a 360°-flippable screen, plus the added versatility enabled by support for a fast-charging, garaged stylus. ExpertBook B5 and ExpertBook B5 Flip are also packed with features to protect personal privacy and business data, including vPro support, a built-in fingerprint sensor and TPM 2.0 chip.

ASUS today announced the refreshed 13-inch ExpertBook B5, an ultralight, kilogram-class laptop series available in both traditional clamshell and 360° convertible forms for the ultimate in portability and flexibility, plus the added versatility enabled by stylus support in B5 Flip. The new ExpertBook B5 laptops are built for business success in style, with a precision-crafted and minimalist chassis that pushes the limits of lightness. They're also set for stress-free travel with an amazing 11-hour battery life, and are engineered with many cutting-edge technologies to improve on-the-go work efficiency. These include a 12th Gen Intel Core processor with vPro support, AI noise cancelation, dual-SSD RAID support, ASUS NumberPad 2.0 and ASUS ExpertWidget.

The all-new ExpertBook B5 models are also packed with features to protect personal privacy and business data, including a built-in fingerprint sensor and TPM 2.0 chip. ASUS ExpertBook B5 laptops are sleek, stylish and crafted for the ultimate mobility. Both the top and bottom cover are cut from pure aluminium, while the area around the keyboard area is formed using magnesium-aluminium alloy. These premium materials and careful construction keep the weight down to as little as a feather-light 1.1 kg, while also ensuring that the machines are ready for the rigors of everyday use in the office or on the go. ExpertBook B5 laptops are also remarkably thin, with a profile that measures just 16.9 mm, so they're easy to slip into a bag or briefcase, ready to travel anywhere. B5 Flip also offers stylus support.

AMD over the weekend reportedly released the AGESA V2 PI 1.2.0.7 microcode to motherboard vendors and PC OEMs. This particular version of AGESA gains importance to those on Windows 11, as it corrects a performance-stuttering issue caused due to frequent polling of the fTPM by the OS. The new version of AGESA is also bound for AMD 300-series chipset motherboards, where it adds official (stable) support for Ryzen 5000 series processors, letting those on the 5-year old platform enjoy an IPC uplift as much as 60% (Zen 3 vs. Zen). 1.2.0.7 is also rumored to address certain stability issues with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, and enables BCLK overclocking on the chip, as long as the processor doesn't draw more than 1.35 V in the Vcore voltage domain. It's now over to the motherboard vendors and PC OEMs, to encapsulate 1.2.0.7 with their firmware and release to end-users.

ASRock Industrial launches a new range of industrial motherboards powered by 12th Gen Intel Core Processors (Alder Lake-S) with up to 16 cores and 24 threads, supporting the new Intel 600 Series W680, Q670, and H610 chipsets. Featuring high computing power with performance hybrid architecture and enhanced AI capabilities, rich IOs and expansions for up to quad displays 4K@60 Hz, USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gbit/s), triple Intel 2.5 GbE LANs with real-time TSN, multi M.2 Key M, ECC memory, plus TPM 2.0, and wide voltage support. The new series covers comprehensive form factors, including industrial Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX motherboards for diverse applications, such as factory automation, kiosks, digital signage, smart cities, medical, and Edge AIoT applications.

Does it take ages for the taskbar calendar and notification center to load on your Windows 11 PC powered by an AMD Ryzen processor? Notice random stutters in performance? Chances are, the lag is caused not due to user-interface bugs by Microsoft, but hardware. AMD discovered that certain Ryzen-powered Windows 11 and Windows 10 PCs experience intermittent performance stutters when running with fTPM (firmware TPM) enabled.

The performance stutter is caused due to background memory transactions between Windows and the fTPM, to authenticate an action, as the fTPM serves the function of a hardware root of trust. Since the fTPM is part of the UEFI firmware that resides on the SPI flash EEPROM chip, the performance stutter is caused due to fTPM-related memory transactions with this chip.

MSI, a world leader in high-performance and innovative computing solutions, has announced the PRO DP130 11th Business & Productivity PC. Featuring a powerful processor, MSI external graphics card, exclusive software, and various IO ports, the PRO DP130 11th is designed with efficiency and productivity in mind.

The MSI PRO DP130 Series was inspired by natural bamboo's perseverance, transformation & refinement. A bamboo tree lies dormant for four years only to grow exponentially in the fifth. The little plant was growing underground, developing a root system strong enough to support its potential outward growth in the fifth year and beyond. It sustained its life by growing slowly at the start to develop a strong foundation, then it will grow a hundred feet tall. This is the MSI PRO DP130 Series.

So you have a $2,000 Core i7-6950X HEDT processor, which you thought would last forever, but Windows 11 Setup stands in your way with its steep system requirements that include TPM and Secure Boot. What do you do? With Windows 11, Microsoft introduced new requirements for compatible hardware, and these are purely software-only checks—nothing really requires it. Besides the much-talked about TPM 2.0 spec compatible hardware Trusted Platform Module as a system requirement, there's also new requirements for UEFI Boot, and installation on a GPT partitioned drive (no more MBR boot for Windows 11).

While these requirements do make some sense going forward, this walls off a lot of potential users, i.e. everyone without a TPM 2.0 add-on card, or those with processors older than 7th Gen Intel Core "Kaby Lake," or AMD Ryzen 2000 "Pinnacle Ridge" series. We have discovered a quick and easy way to defeat these checks during Windows 11 Setup, including for that nagging TPM 2.0, and Secure Boot. Here's a step by step guide for fresh installations.

Update Oct 7th: At the end of this article, which is focused on "clean installation", we added a method that lets you perform the upgrade of an existing installation to Windows 11, without any TPM. For this same scenario Microsoft offers a method that downgrades the TPM requirement from 2.0 to 1.2, our method works without any TPM and also relaxes other requirements, like memory size, UEFI and MBR.

Update Oct 10th: Improved the steps for the "upgrade" installation, to mention that updates to the updater should be turned off.

With pre-release builds of Microsoft's upcoming operating system, Windows 11, doing rounds, the PC enthusiast community has developed various workarounds to the system requirement of a hardware trusted-platform module 2.0 (TPM 2.0) for the operating system. Microsoft itself also suggested that those on older machines (without TPMs), who cannot upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, have the option of performing a clean-installation of the new operating system using its ISO installer disk image.

These machines, however, will be treated as "unsupported," will not have access to Windows Update, and may potentially be barred from receiving important security updates. Microsoft recommends, however, that those who don't meet the system requirements of Windows 11 remain on Windows 10. The company plans to maintain support for Windows 10 up to October 14, 2025, which means four more years of security updates for the older operating system. The choice, hence, would be between upgrading hardware to meet Windows 11 requirements, or to remain on Windows 10 until Q4-2025.

Valve has previously announced that the Steam Deck will ship with their custom Steam OS 3.0 based on Arch Linux but that the user would be able to install alternative operating systems such as Windows 10. When Microsoft recently announced Windows 11 they also increased the system requirements with the most contentious decision being the requirement of a Trusted Compatibility Module (TPM). The Zen 2 Van Gogh APU found in the Steam Deck features a firmware-integrated TPM which needs to be supported within the device BIOS to enabled compatibility with Windows 11. Valve has confirmed that they are working with AMD to support the requirement and are hopeful that they will be able to achieve this.

Greg Coomer - Valve Steam Deck designerThere's work looking at TPM just now. We've focused so much on Windows 10, so far, that we haven't really gotten that far into it. Our expectation is that we can meet that.

ASUS and MSI have each put out lists of their motherboards and compatible processors that meet the Windows 11 requirement of a TPM 2.0 spec-compliant trusted platform module, without needing an add-on TPM. ASUS says that its motherboards dating back to the Intel 300-series, and AMD 300-series, and processors compatible with them, meet the requirement, which would mean Intel "Coffee Lake" and forward; and AMD "Zen" and forward. MSI, on the other hand, extends support all the way back to Intel 100-series (when paired with "Kaby Lake" or forward); and AMD 300-series ("Zen" and forward).

For HEDT platforms, both companies support TPM 2.0 on Intel X299, AMD X399, and AMD TRX40. Server- and workstation chipsets from processor generations corresponding to these platforms, will also support Windows 11. Intel and AMD began integrating a firmware TPM with these platforms that met TPM 2.0 specification. Older platforms will require an add-on TPM, which scalpers are selling for upward or $100 these days (normally under $20). The firmware TPM, although present, is usually disabled, and needs to be enabled in the UEFI setup program. In addition, the firmware must be configured for UEFI boot, with Secure Boot enabled, to meet Windows 11 requirements.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announced that the BIOS of their series motherboards, including Intel X299, C621, C232, C236, C246, 200, 300, 400, 500 lineups, as well as AMD TRX40, 300, 400, 500 motherboards are TPM 2.0 function ready, which can pass the upgraded Windows 11 OS. verification.

Windows 11 is the latest operating system from Microsoft, and features dozens of exciting new functions and Android APP support to effectively improve productivity, system security, and gaming performance. However, most of the users might be confusing that Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 support means they need a TPM module on board for Windows 11 upgrade.

Perhaps the most controversial system requirement of the upcoming Windows 11 operating system is the need for a hardware trusted platform module that meets TPM 2.0 specs. Most modern computers fulfill this requirement using fTPM (firmware TPM) solutions built into their processors; and those that don't, have TPM headers for add-on TPMs, which scalpers have their eye on. It turns out, that Microsoft is designing special variants of Windows 11 for special contracts Microsoft will execute.

Computers sold under the scheme will be marked "special purpose systems," and the Windows 11 version running them will do away with the TPM 2.0 requirement. These systems are very likely to be Government or Military; or perhaps even variants Microsoft exports to countries like China and Russia, which have their own specialized cybersecurity policies and dictate software to be written a certain way to be sold in the country.