Coreboot 4.7 Released With 47 More Motherboards Supported, AMD Stoney Ridge

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Coreboot 4.7 Released With 47 More Motherboards Supported, AMD Stoney Ridge

Coreboot 4.7 is now available as the latest release of this free and open-source BIOS/UEFI replacement...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Coreboot-4.7-Released

[wdb974]

I've had a look around, and apparently, I need to use flashrom to replace my Asus BIOS with Coreboot. Ugh, I'm not really comfortable doing that with the OS running...

[Adarion]

Ehm, you generally shouldn't do Coreboot "just like that". Do not use Coreboot (if you're a first timer) on productive systems. Make yourself familiar with Coreboot, Seabios, board and chip support. Get around to handle flashrom. Have some exchange flash chips at hand - with the original manufacturer's firmware. (And be sure the chip is socketed, of course.)

More on the news: Good to see, also good that big G is sponsoring devs/work there, but sad that there is so much Googe-related influence. I'd rather like to have more work focused on real mainboards that are out there in the wild and on the markets (I know, some have short production life cycle). And especially GOOD support. Not something like "yeah, well it boots, but... PS/2 kbd doesn't work in Linux, you can't S2R, ...).
But then Google can hopefully add some pressure to SuperIO/EC manufacturers and other chip makers for spec releases and better compatibility. No SIO support, usually no Flashrom/Coreboot. Maybe we'll see some a Chrombook with a Zen/+ APU one day... and if the brings initial support for the chip(set) it's a base for others to build upon.

[starshipeleven]

I've had a look around, and apparently, I need to use flashrom to replace my Asus BIOS with Coreboot. Ugh, I'm not really comfortable doing that with the OS running...

If you have another PC you can/should use an external SPI chip flasher, maybe with a SOIC clip of the right size if you can't remove the chip.

If you are talking of your AM1 system then the chip is removable afaik.

An extremely cheap flasher supported by flashrom (0.9.9 and later) is " CH341A", just look for that on ebay.

Having an external flasher also allows you to recover or reflash stock firmware in case of issues (and the board does not boot). This is VERY important because Coreboot is not guaranteed to work and to be 100% good for you. In most cases you will have some kind of issues.

[pal666]

Ugh, I'm not really comfortable doing that with the OS running...

why not? afraid that os will do another bios update at the same time? your vendor provides windows tool for firmware update, it is no better than flashrom

[FireBurn]

Coreboot.org? rather than .rog?

[cb88]

I really wish the x131e AMD version was supported... I have 5 of them excellent durable throw around laptops. The stock firmware has a wifi whitelist though.

[wdb974]

Ehm, you generally shouldn't do Coreboot "just like that". Do not use Coreboot (if you're a first timer) on productive systems. Make yourself familiar with Coreboot, Seabios, board and chip support. Get around to handle flashrom. Have some exchange flash chips at hand - with the original manufacturer's firmware. (And be sure the chip is socketed, of course.)

Thank you for the warning! Although, I wasn't going to flash it just like that. I'm very careful about these things — unless I'm dealing with a P4 era machine or anything older.

If you have another PC you can/should use an external SPI chip flasher, maybe with a SOIC clip of the right size if you can't remove the chip.

If you are talking of your AM1 system then the chip is removable afaik.

An extremely cheap flasher supported by flashrom (0.9.9 and later) is " CH341A", just look for that on ebay.

Having an external flasher also allows you to recover or reflash stock firmware in case of issues (and the board does not boot). This is VERY important because Coreboot is not guaranteed to work and to be 100% good for you. In most cases you will have some kind of issues.

That's extremely helpful. Thanks a lot! I just hope I'll find enough time to do this now. xD

why not? afraid that os will do another bios update at the same time? your vendor provides windows tool for firmware update, it is no better than flashrom

No, I just don't like to have many things running when I'm dealing with firmware level stuff. It's all about isolating things, really. But yeah, I agree that flashrom can't be worse than the manufacturers' own tools.

[GreatEmerald]

Oh, sweet. I just recently bought a Stoney Ridge laptop. Not that it would ever be supported, but hey, y'know...

[torsionbar28]

Coreboot.org? rather than .rog?

No, it's .rog, this is the Republic of Gamers edition we're talking about. It's super l33t.