Project LinuxBoot has been around for almost two years, and has made significant progress in that time. The project positions itself as an open source alternative to proprietary UEFI firmware. However, until recently, the system was quite limited. Now, however, Chris Koch of Google new version as part of the Security Summit 2019.
The new build is reported to be LinuxBoot supports booting Windows 10VMware and Xen also work. Below is a video from the summit, and presentation available.
Note that the first motherboard with firmware LinuxBoot became the Intel S2600wf. It was also used in Dell R630 servers. Google, Facebook, Horizon Computing Solutions, and Two Sigma are participating in the project.
In the LinuxBoot develops all kernel related Linux Components, while not being tied to specific runtime environment components. Coreboot, Uboot SPL, and UEFI PEI are used for hardware initialization. This will block background activity of UEFI, SMM, and Intel ME, and also increase security, as proprietary firmware is often riddled with security holes and vulnerabilities.
In addition, according to some data LinuxBoot allows you to speed up server boot times by tens of times by removing unused code and implementing various optimizations. However, manufacturers are still reluctant to switch to it. LinuxBoot. However, this attitude toward open source may change in the future, as using open-source firmware increases the likelihood of vulnerability detection and speeds up the patching process.
Source: 3dnews.ru
