The release of the CoreBoot project 24.02 has been published, developing a free alternative to proprietary firmware and BIOS. The project code is distributed under the GPLv2 license. 111 developers participated in the creation of the new version, preparing 814 changes. Starting with this release, the project has switched to a new version naming scheme, using a date-based format (year.month.update), so in February 2024, instead of version 4.23, the release 24.02 will be formed, with the release 24.05 scheduled for May.
Key Changes:
- Support for three motherboards has been added. One motherboard is used in the Lenovo ThinkPad X230 eDP Mod (2K/FHD) laptop, while two others are used on devices running Chrome OS or on Google. Support for the Google Primus4ES board has been discontinued. servers The transition from using the 'master' branch for development to the new 'main' branch has been completed, created because the word 'master' has been considered politically incorrect in recent years and has caused discontent among some activists. For around 6 months, the 'master' and 'main' branches were kept in sync, and now only the 'main' branch remains, which may require rewriting scripts referring to the 'master' branch.
- The JPEG image decoder has been replaced with an implementation in Wuffs (Wrangling Untrusted File Formats Safely), which safely handles memory, generates code in C/C++, and is optimized for creating parsers, encoders, and decoders for file formats. The use of a secure JPEG decoder prevents the project from being susceptible to attacks such as LogoFAIL.
- ACPI specification compatibility has been improved:
- Support for the IORT (Input Output Remapping Table) structure has been added, used for defining the input/output topology on ARM systems.
- Support for the PPTT (Processor Properties Topology Tables) structure, defined in the ACPI 6.4 specification and including information about processor topology, has been added. The creation of PPTT is currently implemented only for qemu-sbsa and Neoverse N2 boards that require this table.
- Support for the WDAT (Watchdog Action Table), proposed by Microsoft for describing a watchdog timer that automatically reboots the PC in case the operating system hangs, has been added.
- Support for the GD25LQ255E and IS25WP256D SPI Flash chips has been added.
- The capability to work with multiple groups of PCI segments simultaneously has been implemented.
- The structures bus and link_list have been renamed to upstream and downstream.
- The structures bus and link_list have been renamed to upstream and downstream.
- Descriptions of modern Intel platforms have been added to the device tree files.
- Support for buildgcc has been added for Apple devices MacBook1 and MacBook2.
- The transition from using GCC 11.4.0 to GCC 13.2.0 has been made in crossgcc, while CMake has been updated from version 3.26.4 to 3.27.7.
- Payload components based on GRUB 2.12 and Seabios 1.16.3 have been updated.
Additionally, the release of the Libreboot project 20240225 has been introduced, which develops a ready-to-use Coreboot build to replace proprietary UEFI and BIOS firmware responsible for initializing the CPU, memory, peripherals, and other hardware components. Libreboot aims to create a system environment that minimizes reliance on proprietary software as much as possible, not just at the operating system level but also in the firmware that facilitates booting. Libreboot supplements Coreboot with tools designed to simplify usage for end users, creating a ready distribution that can be used by any user without special skills.
In the new release:
- Support for HP EliteBook 8560w and Dell Latitude E5520/E5530/E6520/E6420 laptops has been added.
- Support for Dell OptiPlex 9020/7020 PCs (SFF, XE2 SFF, MT, and XE2 MT series) has been added.
- The release update script has been enhanced to support the generation of a separate archive with U-Boot code (./update release -m u-boot).
- For flashing Libreboot images onto motherboards, the flashprog toolkit (a flashrom fork aimed at maintaining stable releases and supporting new chips while preserving support for older ones) has been utilized instead of the flashrom utility.
Hardware supported by Libreboot:
- Server motherboards:
- ASUS KFSN4-DRE
- ASUS KGPE-D16
- Desktop systems:
- Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L;
- Acer G43T-AM3;
- Intel D510MO / D410PT;
- Apple iMac 5,2;
- HP Elite 8200 SFF/MT;
- HP Elite 8300 USDT;
- ASUS KCMA-D8;
- Dell Precision T1650.
- Intel D945GCLF
- Dell OptiPlex 7020 and 9020 series SFF, XE2 SFF, MT, and XE2 MT;
- Laptops:
- ThinkPad X60 / X60S / X60 Tablet;
- ThinkPad T60;
- Lenovo ThinkPad X200 / X200S / X200 / X220 / X220 eDP / X230 Tablet;
- Lenovo ThinkPad X301;
- Lenovo ThinkPad R400;
- Lenovo ThinkPad T400 / T400S / T420 / T420S / T430 / T440;
- Lenovo ThinkPad T500 / T530;
- Lenovo ThinkPad W530 / W541;
- Lenovo ThinkPad R500;
- HP EliteBook 2560p / 2570p / 2170p / 8470p / Folio 9470m;
- HP EliteBook 820 G2;
- HP Compaq Elite 8300 CMT;
- HP EliteBook 8460p;
- HP EliteBook 8560w;
- Dell Latitude E6400 / E6430;
- Dell Latitude E5520/E5530/E6520/E6530/E6420;
- Apple MacBook1 and MacBook2;
- ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 (ARM);
- Samsung Chromebook Plus (ARM).
Source: opennet.ru
