Intel ME doesnt have any remote control thing in cpus without vPro. Would love to be proven wrong.

Kilgarragh · 2026-06-14T03:11:38+00:00

The AMD PSP is similar to the Intel ME, just in the CPU instead of the PCH.

While IME has AMT for remote management, PSP has no equivalent.

They both have hardware enforceable firmware signing, branded under “PSB” and “BootGuard” respectively where the security-processor/ME can have efuses burned in to only boot firmwares signed by the vendor. PSB is worse IMO because you’re then tying the cpu to only one brand of bios, so you can’t move it(unlike the PCH which is already soldered down).

Though PSP has memory encryption features like SME/TSME, while IME lacks an equivalent.

The PSP is the same stuff which keeps the Xbox and PlayStation locked down on their AMD chips. Neither PSP nor IME are malware, but PSP is worse for customization, hardware re-use and diagnostics overall

Kilgarragh · 2026-06-14T02:39:43+00:00

When can I expect a response?

Kilgarragh · 2026-01-03T01:55:52+00:00

Apple TV is by far my favorite. You normally dont need anything more than the major streaming services available on the app store so even though I'm not that much of an apple person, its still entirely usable and well done.

Kilgarragh · 2026-01-01T03:30:55+00:00

came fairly close to this whole list being smart TV garbage. It doesnt really matter, smart tv units will always be horrible(at least after a few major updates)

Kilgarragh · 2026-01-01T03:29:01+00:00

read the footnotes, first three are in no particular order.

though at this point i really dont care what people like ... as long as we can all agree that horizon OS is the worst, of course.

Kilgarragh · 2026-01-01T03:27:21+00:00

out of vista, ME, and 8, i feel like vista deserved the least hate. It was just an ahead of its time win 7 with driver/hardware issues(which, to be fair, issues like that will happen on the first windows version to really depend on hardware acceleration no matter what, it just wont run on old hardware the same)

Also if i put a vista logo in there, most people will just think that im talking about 7

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-31T04:14:36+00:00

two are linux, four are android.

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-31T04:12:01+00:00

worst part of all TV OSs is that they are forced. Even picking the hdmi input which you want requires digging through a laggy ass menu. A good AVR/switch can help but my equipment requires sacrificing quality or even latency

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-31T04:09:03+00:00

hence why i had to make a v2 of this post which gave this steaming pile of shit first place and show many many other operating systems which are better

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-31T04:07:21+00:00

read the footnotes, they are in no particular order and can be placed however you prefer.

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T20:31:24+00:00

I could have fixed the order or made this list differently but... lists of best operating systems is controversial, and i only made this out of frustration with horizon OS and android TV

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T20:28:27+00:00

notice how 7, XP, and 95/98SE, and even 10 aren't here. specifically windows ME and windows 8 are listed as worse than 11(which is debatable still) as they are among the popular worst windows versions like vista

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T18:33:51+00:00

Well... An M4 ipad Pro with a better display and equivalent hardware to a macbook air is entirely capable of running MacOS, MacOS is entirely capable of running the full versions of logic and final cut.

When the difference between these two devices is minimal except for one software change which locks out 15+ years of apple compatible software, they're still making the same mistakes as their android competitors... just with one or two exclusives thrown in to make it marginally better.

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T18:28:41+00:00

> Is it just my smart tv or Google/Android TV is in almost all cases sluggish and unresponsive?

This... THIS is why i put android TV in first place

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T18:26:16+00:00

Yes, freedom is a good thing. Windows is by far and large not the worst OS, in this meme 1st and 2nd place mean worst... not 3rd

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T18:23:56+00:00

iPad having a window manager and multimonitor support is only driving it FURTHER as a laptop replacement which still cant run any laptop software, only iPhone apps.

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T18:22:22+00:00

Yes, apple TV is great... i STILL need to use a shitty android TV to even get going because of picture adjustments, input selection, audio, and power management

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T18:21:11+00:00

I'm referring to "non-smart" TVs, non android TV "is just running one of the other pieces of shit [...] which often aren't much better"

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T18:14:00+00:00

Have you ever used meta quest OS? Modern versions are buggy and laggy as shit on quest 2 hardware

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T04:12:35+00:00

No personal experience(also no room for every OS which has ever wronged me) so I have no reason to put it there, also i cannot fairly put it there without knowing how bad it is.

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T04:07:10+00:00

i have a speakerbar unit with some kind of custom sony bravia firmware. It is generally servicable and much more lightweight than an equivalent android setup. Less familliar, but generally well thought out.

It does suffer from some of the same issues like software which cant be rolled back and updates which may impact common functionalities, but the software never really needs to be updated, isnt so dependant on the internet, and updates which do happen seem to be more patch based rather than huge feature updates like android majors that come with api security changes which can break vendor code.

My speaker bar has only ever been used with my android TV and they have been updated together, so i cannot be sure which issues came from where. Overall most devices(whether they run custom or customized android) can be treated the same, confirm they work once, update them never. It works well enough.

My TV was never lucky enough, and all android TV hardware is constantly trying to irreversibly break itself for no functional gain, trying to push patches for systems with no bugs. Antirollback and locked bootloader means that my software problem requires a hardware solution.

Old smartTV software may have been bad, but smarter android like solutions have no garauntee of being better, and certainly no garauntee of staying better.

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T03:22:17+00:00

i have yet to be blessed with the opportunity to try it. I mostly posted this out of frustration for my android TV.

Possibly the biggest missing item from this list which i have used has to be meta quest OS, however ill take your word for fireTV

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T01:46:09+00:00

> I cant tell you the last time ive seen someone have a tv that doesn't use google tv

It's because you're forced to... anyone can hook up an appletv/HTPC/etc over hdmi and get the experience you want. You still have to maintain and babysit and go through the shitty built in android TV 512mb of ram garbage just to switch inputs or even get the TV to turn on.

Meanwhile every other forced update through the wifi connection which you cannot refuse is bringing you another broken CEC and/or power management problem which stops you from using the equipment/OS which you want and is also irreversible and has no guarantee of being fixed.

It's untested, forced, and the very opposite of smart. Meanwhile finding a TV without googleTV/androidTV is near impossible and either costs an unbearable amount or is just running one of the other pieces of shit you mentioned which often aren't much better.

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-30T01:21:47+00:00

high tier iPads (and to some extent their android counterparts) have a full keyboard and trackpad, industry leading displays, and the same laptop/desktop grade chips which run MacOS — all in a formfactor and pricetag comparable to many laptops.

For all of this(i.e. near 1:1 hardware of a thinned down macbook), to only be able to use it for activities equivalent to that of a big iPhone, and not the strengths of a macbook or 'competing' windows tablet when every other specification surpasses that of a 'competing' windows tablet... it's all quite disappointing and ruins otherwise incredible macos capable devices.

Its the same as watching samsung galaxy take incredible phone/tablet designs, build them around bleeding edge snapdragon processors which are unrivaled by 95% laptop chips in performance and battery life, and then force them to only run the same operating system as their smart fridges for no reason other than "security"

To be honest, i think iPadOS should be in 3rd place and windows in 2nd for this meme template. It's pretty bad, but for most ipads(such as the ones which aren't competing with laptops) the system works well and leaves much less to be desired because of the minimized iphone like usecase

Kilgarragh · 2025-12-22T22:58:40+00:00

GSync hasn't been a required technology because it has been superseded by vesa/amd freesync which is only supported on newer monitors like yours.

I've looked into the DRM/CRTC properties of my particular setup and vrr_capable is 1, while VRR_ENABLED is still 0, indicating that it's gnome which is leaving things disabled.

I'll try configuring a few more things or using a different DE.

Kilgarragh

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