> On Jul 22, 2018, at 16:48, Jean Flamelle <eaterjo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The device being airgapped so that the only input is power, should
> socially suggest that one can't be tampered with or forged (i.e. by
> extracting a signing key).

One fly in the ointment is that, at least according to my understanding, power 
on the HDMI is part of VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) DDC 
(Display Data Channel) support.  As such the power is supplied by the video 
signal source which is the I2C bus master on the DDC bus.  This applies to all 
of the incarnations of VESA DDC on VGA, DVI, and HDMI.

Thus, in order for us to be able to use the HDMI power pin as an input, we need 
to be connecting that pin to some other HDMI signal source (computer, DVD 
player, Blu-ray  player, et cetera).  Hence our smallest form factor for 
HDMI-only connections would be an HDMI(male)-HDMI(female) adapter to plug in 
between an HDMI source (as above, for power) and an HDMI sink (monitor, 
television, projector, et cetera).  For convenience, I recommend connecting 
between the HDMI source and the HDMI cable going to the HDMI sink.

Another option would be to use a USB connection for power.  Not as elegant as 
the HDMI stick but USB power is relatively ubiquitous for charging mobile 
devices.  And it doesn't require a separate HDMI source just for power.  In 
fact, a lot of televisions with HDMI ports also sport USB ports so a USB cable 
would be sufficient.

Furthermore, if power is truly our only input we'll have a hard time sending 
out a signal which is compatible with a wide range of displays unless we choose 
the lowest common resolution/color depth.  We could adapt to the best display 
mode that the display offers, and that our board can generate, if we connected 
to the bi-directional VESA DDC bus and read the display's capabilities.

Richard


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