this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
75 points (98.7% liked)
Linux
48334 readers
632 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It runs JavaCard OS, which is developed by Oracle and not open source. Even though it also runs JavaCard OS, I'd recommend the flexSecure JavaCard from Dangerous Things (for the same price as the Apex Flex), because all of its applets are open source: https://dangerousthings.com/product/flexsecure/. It isn't quite as "seamless", because it doesn't have the closed-source app store available for it that the Apex Flex does, but it instead uses open-source applets that you can load onto it. Regardless, either option will run a closed-source OS, but as far as secure verification goes (by using challenge-response instead of static keys which could be read and copied like old RFID tags), JavaCard is currently the best option. And as far as implantable chips go, the flexSecure JavaCard and the Apex Flex are the 2 best chips on the market to my knowledge.
The silver lining is that there are plenty of open source applets you can run on JavaCards (like the flexSecure ones written by Dangerous Things)
Great answer, I will add that another major difference between the Apex Flex and the FlexSecure is the FlexSecure comes with factory default signing keys (which you can change), while the Apex Flex does not. This means you can't add your own applets the Apex Flex. Para_lyzed touched on this but I wanted to emphasize that the flexsecure gives you the ability to fully manage the implant while the Apex Flex doesn't. There are trade-offs of course.