From bb52ca4f349d86bd2ac34874a0b4029b371abc55 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Francis Rowe Hardware compatibility
-
@@ -67,9 +68,8 @@
+ Probably not. There are several privacy, security and freedom issues with these laptops, due to the Intel chipsets + that they use. See #intel. There are signed proprietary blobs which cannot be replaced + (e.g. Intel Management Engine and CPU microcode updates). + It uses the proprietary Intel FSP blob for the entire hardware initialization, which + Intel won't provide the source code for. The Video BIOS (initialization firmware + for the graphics hardware) is also proprietary. The libreboot project recommends avoiding this hardware entirely. +
++ It will likely take many years to replace even one of these blobs, let alone all of them. Some of them (ME firmware and microcode) can't even be replaced, + which immediately disqualifies these laptops from being added to libreboot. Google engineers have tried + for many years to get source code from Intel, and to reverse engineer the blobs that Intel provides. So far, they have + been unsuccessful. Google is also one of the companies that funds the coreboot project, and they hire a lot of the core + developers, so it's not like they don't have vast resources at their disposal. Smaller companies have no chance. +
++ The librem does have coreboot support, but it's pretty meaningless (it's shimboot, which + means that coreboot is just incorporating blobs. It's not real coreboot support, + but rather, what is shamelessly passed off as coreboot support these days, where + binary blobs for the entire hardware initialization is considered acceptable in the coreboot project). + It should be noted, that the coreboot port for librem was done by a lone Google software + developer (Duncan Laurie), not Purism, working independently. Purism had nothing to do with the port. +
+ +It is extremely unlikely that any post-2008 Intel hardware will ever be supported in libreboot, due to @@ -301,7 +329,7 @@
On all recent Intel systems, coreboot support has revolved around integrating a blob (for each system) called the FSP (firmware support package), which handles all of the hardware initialization, including - memory initialization. Reverse engineering and replacing this blob is almost impossible, due to how complex it is. Even for the most skilled developer, + memory and CPU initialization. Reverse engineering and replacing this blob is almost impossible, due to how complex it is. Even for the most skilled developer, it would take years to replace. Intel distributes this blob to firmware developers, without source.
@@ -491,35 +519,6 @@ Check #compatibility for more information.
-- Probably not. There are several privacy, security and freedom issues with these laptops, due to the Intel chipsets - that they use. See #intel. There are signed proprietary blobs which cannot be replaced - (e.g. Intel Management Engine and CPU microcode updates). - It uses the proprietary Intel FSP blob for the entire hardware initialization, which - Intel won't provide the source code for. The Video BIOS (initialization firmware - for the graphics hardware) is also proprietary. -
-- It will likely take many years to replace even one of these blobs, let alone all of them. Some of them (ME firmware and microcode) can't even be replaced, - which immediately disqualifies these laptops from being added to libreboot. Google engineers have tried - for many years to get source code from Intel, and to reverse engineer the blobs that Intel provides. So far, they have - been unsuccessful. Google is also one of the companies that funds the coreboot project, and they hire a lot of the core - developers, so it's not like they don't have vast resources at their disposal. Smaller companies have no chance. -
-- The librem does have coreboot support, but it's pretty meaningless (it's shimboot, which - means that coreboot is just incorporating blobs. It's not real coreboot support, - but rather, what is shamelessly passed off as coreboot support these days, where - binary blobs for the entire hardware initialization is considered acceptable in the coreboot project). - It should be noted, that the coreboot port for librem was done by a lone Google software - developer (Duncan Laurie), not Purism. - It's a shame, because these laptops would be perfect for libreboot, but it unfortunately will not happen. -
- -Short answer: yes. These laptops also have an Intel GPU inside, which libreboot uses. The ATI GPU is ignored by libreboot. -- cgit v0.9.1