Libreboot release information

Releases

"Release" means that a new coreboot git revision with substantially different code has been adapted for libreboot.

"Revision" means a modification to an existing release, where the result is insubstantially different from what preceded it.

The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th releases were really just older revisions of the 5th release. For historical reasons (and to avoid confusion), these are still called 'releases' instead of correcting the mistake.


6th release (pre-release, 3rd beta)

Warning: BETA release! TESTING needed! BUGS present!

If flashing on an X60 then note that you might want to enable wifi and trackpoint after booting libreboot the first time (meaning, **after** you powered off and subsequently booted again). See docs/index.html#x60_wifi and docs/index.html#x60_trackpoint for how to do that.

Binaries (for flashing)

Source code (for hacking)

Metadata (for re-creating the source archive)

Machines still supported (compared to previous release):

New machines supported in this release:

* Note, the T60 models below are NOT supported in this release

Reasons are given in the documentation. If you have one of these machines, then you can look at the documentation for how to remedy the situation (hardware modifications).

T60 15.1" QXGA (2048x1536) with Intel GPU currently does not show GRUB visually (the serial output works), although everything after GRUB is working. A proposed (untested) workaround for GRUB is to lower the screen resolution for that machine (only in GRUB), or try to fix it (the current theory is that not enough memory is allocated for the framebuffer; this is an issue to be dealt with in coreboot (the upstream provider) and not libreboot (the downstream provider)).

* T60 15.4" (1280x800 and 1680x1050) with Intel GPU is UNTESTED

T60 15.4" (1280x800 and 1680x1050) with Intel GPU is untested in this pre-release. Not much yet is known about panel names. They will be tested at a later date.

* T60 (microcode): some CPU's might not work (can be replaced)

A user with 2 T60's, each with a Core 2 Duo T7200 processor tried libreboot on each machine. One worked, one did not. It should be explained that in addition to the microcode (on the CPU), updates are usually supplied in coreboot (from Intel) which patch the onboard microcode to fix bugs. Errata's can be found at http://download.intel.com/design/mobile/SPECUPDT/30922214.pdf and http://download.intel.com/design/mobile/SPECUPDT/31407918.pdf. These microcode updates are not included in libreboot because they are proprietary (blobs). Most CPU's work fine without them: hundreds of Core Duo T2300/T2400/T2500/L2300/L2400/L2500 processors have been tested on the X60, and a few T5600 CPU's have been tested on the T60 (and X60 and all work). In the case of the T7200, it was found that one of the two tested had instability issues (kernel panics) without the updates: work is being done to find out exactly what version of the microcode that particular CPU had in this case. If you find that your CPU gives you similar issues (after trying libreboot), the current workaround is to simply try another CPU (fortunately, the CPU's in the T60 are installed in a socket so replacing them is easy).

There might be a patched kernel that can be used, or a kernel parameter that can be used in GRUB to work around these (rare) buggy CPU's (it is unknown at the moment whether this is possible). The Core 2 Duo T7600 is untested, but will be tested soon (the lead developer of libreboot project has 3 of them to try out).

If reading this for 2nd beta, note that any debugging obtained so far will be included in the 3rd beta.

** Warning: MacBook2,1 UNTESTED!

At the time of this pre-release, MacBook2,1 support is present but untested. I have ordered a MacBook2,1 but it has not yet arrived at the time of writing. I take it merely on faith that these images even work at all. Use at your own risk!

Machines no longer supported (compared to previous release):

Development notes

Revisions for 2nd beta (2014 July 16th)

Revisions for 3rd beta (2014 July 20th)

Other tasks (to be completed before declaring the initial stable release)

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5th release

Officially supported

Binaries (for flashing)

Source code (for hacking)

(gluglug.org.uk/X60/release/4/X60_source.tar.gz and gluglug.org.uk/X60/release/4/X60_binary.tar.gz were the old links)

Development notes

Revision notes (2014 March 9th):

Revision notes (2014 June 5th):

Revision notes (2014 June 11th):

Revision notes (2014 June 22nd)

Revision (2014 June 22nd - extra)

Revision (2014 June 22nd - extra)

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4th release

Officially supported

Binaries (for flashing)

Source code (for hacking)

Development notes

The "Parse" options read ./isolinux/isolinux.cfg on a CD or USB, and automatically converts it to a grub config and switches to the boot menu of that distro. This makes booting ISO's *much* easier than before.

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3rd release

Supported:

Binaries (for flashing)

Source code (for hacking)

Development notes

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2nd release

Supported:

Binaries (for flashing)

Source code (for hacking)

Development notes

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1st release

Supported:

Binaries (for flashing)

Source code (for hacking)

Development notes

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Copyright © 2014 Francis Rowe, All Rights Reserved.
See license.html for license conditions.