Booting up the coreboot firmware alternative
Distro Walk – coreboot
Coreboot is an open source firmware alternative with an emphasis on speed and simplicity.
In the next few years, how you boot a computer could change drastically. A firmware alternative known as coreboot [1] is well on the way to becoming readily available, and it is likely to become more popular as development accelerates. For one thing, coreboot is a giant leap forward for open hardware. Just as importantly, on hardware where it can be implemented, coreboot boots three to four times faster than the familiar BIOS or UEFI, and, depending on how it is configured, sometimes even faster.
Originally known as LinuxBIOS, coreboot was founded in 1999 at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the research and development facility best known for its role in the development of the atomic bomb. Today, coreboot's major contributors include manufacturers such as AMD and SiS, and motherboard vendors such as MSI, as well as various participants in the Google Summer of Code.
Supported CPU architectures include x86-64, ARM, ARM64, and RISC-V, as well as AMD's Geode and other software-on-a-chip platforms. In addition to Linux, coreboot directly supports BSD, OpenBSD, and Windows 2000 or later. You can also use coreboot indirectly with other operating systems specified in the payload. In addition, coreboot has inspired a number of spin-off projects, such as the Libreboot distribution [2] and librecore [3], which places a heavy emphasis on software freedom and non-x86 architectures. As these lists show, coreboot is supported across a wide spectrum of hardware and developed by an alliance of academics, manufacturers, and community members. Although reverse engineering is sometimes required, in a growing number of cases, coreboot developers can get schematics directly from manufacturers.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.
-
DebConf24 to be Held in South Korea
Busan will be the location of the latest DebConf running July 28 through August 4