MSI PRO Z690-A WiFi DDR5 Support Upstreamed To Coreboot

[phoronix]

Phoronix: MSI PRO Z690-A WiFi DDR5 Support Upstreamed To Coreboot

One of the exciting Coreboot / open-source firmware milestones of 2022 was a Coreboot/Dasharo port to a readily available Intel Alder Lake motherboard from MSI with the port being carried out by consulting firm 3mdeb. That port started with the MSI PRO Z690-A WiFi DDR4 and then more recently focused on the DDR5 variant. That MSI PRO Z690-A WiFi DDR5 support has now been upstreamed into mainline Coreboot...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/MSI-Z690-A-DDR5-Coreboot

[Sethox]

Does anyone know a site or database where I can get for a list of open source framework motherboards?
Seems nifty as a next purchase (if it's progressing on said motherboard), knowing it will be open source.

[alturigo]

I have my eyes on the DDR4 version. I was lingering on upgrading from Skylake but coreboot support is the push I needed. Very happy to have a team working on this.

[dimko]

I understand that coreboot does not support overclocking.
Does it even support Resizable Bar?

As end user i fail to see point of this technology. Apart from fact that it's OpenSource.

[avis]

I understand that coreboot does not support overclocking.
Does it even support Resizable Bar?

As end user i fail to see point of this technology. Apart from fact that it's OpenSource.

For bragging rights mostly.

It doesn't support a whole lot more, even tuning your RAM or using XMP. Let's say it doesn't support 95% of features available in the stock ROM.

[commodore256]

That would be great if I could buy a $300 Desktop Motherboard with Coreboot preinstalled and not just a laptop... I love how the "for end users" part only talks about buying laptops and chromebooks and chromeboxes with Coreboot preinstalled or old thinkpads with libreboot and not an actual socketed motherboards.

[pWe00Iri3e7Z9lHOX2Qx]

I understand that coreboot does not support overclocking.
Does it even support Resizable Bar?

As end user i fail to see point of this technology. Apart from fact that it's OpenSource.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Coreboot-4.16

Michael posted about Resizable Bar being added in February 2022 with 4.16. Maybe he has already tested that and can tell us what pieces work and which ones don't, at least the important ones. Resizable BAR, setting PL1 / PL2, XMP, etc. What say you Michael?

[azdaha]

For bragging rights mostly.

It doesn't support a whole lot more, even tuning your RAM or using XMP. Let's say it doesn't support 95% of features available in the stock ROM.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of cases where the stock ROM doesn't support things correctly (or at all) even though it's advertised or made available in the firmware. This rings especially true when dealing with RAM, based on my experience. Random Google search Anyway, no point going beyond that statement to talk about additional benefits of OpenSource software (especially low-level stuff). If you find it useful and important, there's plenty of information available online that goes into more detail. If you don't, keep doing what you're doing and make the best of it.

[andyprough]

As end user i fail to see point of this technology. Apart from fact that it's OpenSource.

Those are pretty funny side-by-side statements. But true! As consumers, we're probably all looking for value - the biggest bang for the buck. As hackers, we're probably all sick and tired of paying for machines only to be faced with a big wall of proprietary obtuseness the moment we hit the power "on" button and want to start hacking on low-level settings. Those two motivations are held in tension all the time.

[avis]

Unfortunately, there are plenty of cases where the stock ROM doesn't support things correctly (or at all) even though it's advertised or made available in the firmware. This rings especially true when dealing with RAM, based on my experience. Random Google search Anyway, no point going beyond that statement to talk about additional benefits of OpenSource software (especially low-level stuff). If you find it useful and important, there's plenty of information available online that goes into more detail. If you don't, keep doing what you're doing and make the best of it.

Coreboot is such a low effort project (I'm not belittling its developers, I'm just stating the obvious - it doesn't have nearly enough manpower), expecting it to work better than the official proprietary EFI ROM sounds like a case of hopium.

Maybe it has some obscure bugs fixed for obscure no longer supported motherboards but I don't expect it to fare better than for modern still supported motherboards.