Coreboot preinstalled?

[DPic]

Having coreboot preinstalled on system76 machined would be cool. What would be necessary to make this happen? It would certainly gain a lot of publicity. Maybe push dell to finally do something as well?
http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/62549/coreboot_formerly_LinuxBIOS_instead_of_proprietary _BIOS

[thomasaaron]

Coreboot (previously LinuxBIOS) is something that our R&D department keeps an eye on. At some point in the future we may use it. However, there is a lot of testing that needs to be done before we could adopt it as a BIOS replacement.

Unfortunately, it is still a necessity for some of our customers to dual-boot Windows so they can run various industry-specific applications and play certain games. Motherboard manufacturers send down BIOS updates fairly frequently to patch or enhance various Windows-related functionalities. So, we are leery of hampering our customers freedom to use our machines the way *they* need to use them.

Coreboot is definitely a great idea, though, and we will keep an eye on it.

[uid313]

It would be nice if System76 machines worked with coreboot, even if it wasn't pre-installed.
Then those who wanted coreboot could flash with that.

[DPic]

Coreboot (previously LinuxBIOS) is something that our R&D department keeps an eye on. At some point in the future we may use it. However, there is a lot of testing that needs to be done before we could adopt it as a BIOS replacement.

Unfortunately, it is still a necessity for some of our customers to dual-boot Windows so they can run various industry-specific applications and play certain games. Motherboard manufacturers send down BIOS updates fairly frequently to patch or enhance various Windows-related functionalities. So, we are leery of hampering our customers freedom to use our machines the way *they* need to use them.

Coreboot is definitely a great idea, though, and we will keep an eye on it.

Thanks for the reply! As for dual-booting windows, coreboot supports windows. Is there anything that system76 can do to move progress along with making coreboot on system76 machines a reality? If you did, and made it known, i'm sure a *lot* of people would become very, very loyal customers. I know i would!

[DPic]

I got an email response-- Thanks, and keep us posted!


Hi, Danny.

Thanks for the email. The questions isn't so much whether coreboot supports Windows. The question is: Does coreboot keep up with all of the bios updates that come down for windows-related functionality for all of the motherboards they support. I imagine this would be pretty difficult for them to do, but I could well be wrong.

I've passed your email on to our R&D department. They try to contribute to the work of third-party developers if they can.

Best Regards,
Tom Aaron
System 76 Technical Support
support@system76.com
720-226-9269 x603

[benjo316]

I think this would be an interesting idea, and would be glad to have it on one of my computers(I don't have any computers whose motherboards have been tested or definitely work with coreboot, at the moment).

For future reference, here (http://www.coreboot.org/Welcome_to_coreboot) is the coreboot welcome page on their wiki, and here (http://www.coreboot.org/Benefits) is a page with a list of some benefits to using coreboot(though, it's not complete).

Of particular interest is the ability to boot from nonstandard media, like flash cards and other storage devices, which are currently not supported by some(many?) proprietary BIOS's. Also note the payloads, which I believe to be what coreboot is able to boot up(may not be a complete list either).

[DeadSuperHero]

I would truly love to have coreboot on one of these. With this, and the possibility of installing Free Drivers, I might just be able to actually have a 100% Free system. I'd be overjoyed if this happened.

[DPic]

I would truly love to have coreboot on one of these. With this, and the possibility of installing Free Drivers, I might just be able to actually have a 100% Free system. I'd be overjoyed if this happened.

System76 would be the first to offer machines with Coreboot preinstalled! If this happened, i would get seriously active about promoting System76 over Dell and other companies that sell Ubuntu preinstalled.

[DRM_free]

CoreBoot already boots Windows 7 Beta, as shown on this Slashdot article from January 2009:

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/27/1342209

Here's a direct link to the screenshots and videos:

http://www.coreboot.org/Screenshots#coreboot_and_SeaBIOS_starting_Windows_ 7

[DPic]

System76 is amazing for really being dedicated to free software but a truly open system can't have proprietary BIOS!

[DPic]

Ah, looks like this has come up before: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=703673

[jjacobs2]

Perhaps it could be offered as an optional upgrade.

[Progressive]

The only way I would buy System76 over any other vendor who doesn't charge a Microsoft Tax would be if Coreboot were pre-installed.

Without coreboot it is no more open than any of the others

[DeadSuperHero]

Hi, folks. I'm not one to resurrect threads often, but I figured I'd contribute to the existing topic rather than just starting a new one and causing clutter.

I emailed System76 last week about Coreboot, and received a reply.


Hi, Sean.

Thanks for the email.

There haven't been any changes yet. I appreciate you voicing your interest though, and I'll pass your comments on to my managers. Do you know anything about the the ability of OEMs to brand open bios -- custom splash screens, et al? (If not, that's OK. I'm sure our R&D guys would look into that.)

Feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Best Regards,
Tom Aaron

I wasn't sure as to what all could be done about such things, but this looks fairly promising. Getting a Free BIOS replacement on an already linux-specific brand would be a fantastic thing in my opinion.

I've also started a petition to try and get System76 to get Coreboot onto all of their machines. It may not do much, but at least we'd be able to voice our opinion about it. I just know that if I could find a distributor in the United States that sold laptops with Coreboot, I'd definitely be a long-time customer.

The petition is here, for anyone who is interested: http://www.petitiononline.com/system76/petition.html

[thomasaaron]

Guys, for us, installing coreboot isn't just a matter of wanting to. It's a matter of considering our customers' needs.

There are still a lot of people out there that *need* to dual-boot windows because of proprietary software used in their jobs (mostly). We need to make sure they're taken care of.

As such, it is only fair to give them a BIOS for their system that can be updated with the windows-specific BIOS patches that constantly come down the pike. This isn't a matter of windows running on coreboot. It's a matter of making sure our customers have access to BIOS updates required by Windows. As much as we would love for everything to be open source...

I've made my management aware of your petition. Just bear in mind that there are a lot of business factors involved in such a decision.

And, as always, we are keeping our eye on coreboot.

[satsujinka]

Then make it an option. That way you can have your cake and eat it too. Besides, I'm fairly certain Windows runs just fine without those patches. I've never updated my Bios and my computer is from pre-Vista, but it runs Vista/7 just fine (if not a little slow.)
Furthermore, a Bios patch for an O.S. is just not the right way to do things. If the O.S. doesn't support the hardware then get on the O.S. maker's case, and probably the hardware maker too.

[DeadSuperHero]

Then make it an option. That way you can have your cake and eat it too.

^ This. It would be great to at least have it as an OPTION for a while, if you can't have it fully on there. Being Coreboot compatible would be good enough for me; it means that anyone that really wants to have a fully Free Software laptop would have the means to do so.

[DPic]

I'm fairly certain Windows runs just fine without those patches. I've never updated my Bios and my computer is from pre-Vista, but it runs Vista/7 just fine (if not a little slow.)
Furthermore, a Bios patch for an O.S. is just not the right way to do things. If the O.S. doesn't support the hardware then get on the O.S. maker's case, and probably the hardware maker too.

Yeah, but i believe they're talking about corporate customers who like their BIOS patches perhaps? But if coreboot was supported, why would they need those legacy BIOS patches? I'm a little confused about that.

Either way, i have to very much agree here as well. I wasn't suggesting anything more than an option:


^ This. It would be great to at least have it as an OPTION for a while, if you can't have it fully on there. Being Coreboot compatible would be good enough for me; it means that anyone that really wants to have a fully Free Software laptop would have the means to do so.

[grantwu927]

Hi all,
My mainboard is AM2+RS780+SB700.
I use "make menuconfig" command to choose motherboard.
I can only choose "Tilapia" project.
However, it is AM3+RS780+SB700.
So how can I replace the cpu code to AM2?
BR
Grant

[Progressive]

We really need the OEMs and any other companies to help press the mobo vendors for Coreboot support, and to contribute development resources.

That isn't going to happen unless we speak out. I signed that petition above for this reason.

[smtelegadis]

We really need the OEMs and any other companies to help press the mobo vendors for Coreboot support, and to contribute development resources.

That isn't going to happen unless we speak out. I signed that petition above for this reason.

What people are missing is this IS the major hurdle in the entire effort. Coreboot (linuxbios) has been an active project for some time now, but its functioning on the limited support of hardware vendors. That is why there are very few intel chips and those that do garner support are very depreciated. Opening up the code to how the chips function is a major concern for chipset manufacturers. Even the efforts of intel and EFI have had slow progress in the area of firmware improvement.

The only way to get support on the systems is to experiment on your own. It harkens back to the days when Linux was just in your infancy and systems was just as limited.

[Geremia]

I have the Lemur 2 (Lemu2) laptop from System76. It has a Core i3 chipset, and I don't think CoreBoot supports Core i3 chips. Does it? If so, how would I install CoreBoot on my System76? Thank you

[Geremia]

System76 is amazing for really being dedicated to free software but a truly open system can't have proprietary BIOS!A truly open system wouldn't have proprietary hardware, either… :)

[Ubun2to]

I have the Lemur 2 (Lemu2) laptop from System76. It has a Core i3 chipset, and I don't think CoreBoot supports Core i3 chips. Does it? If so, how would I install CoreBoot on my System76? Thank you

Way to unbury a dead corpse.

[lisati]

Way to unbury a dead corpse.

Reburied