Libreboot Gets Support For An Older Core 2 Desktop Motherboard

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Libreboot Gets Support For An Older Core 2 Desktop Motherboard

While the Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L is a motherboard from nearly a decade ago and is powered by the Intel G41 + ICH7 chipset combination, as of today it now has support in Libreboot for being able to initialize the hardware without any binary blobs...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Libreboot-GA-G41M-ES2L

[tigerroast]

God tier.

[rabcor]

So then libreboot, is it actually working and stable for the motherboards it does support and safe to install?

And while I love the concept of a FOSS BIOS, won't it be rather void of features compared to existing bioses?

I somehow get the impression that using libreboot is neither safe nor offers any particular benefit over using the official bios for any given motherboard.

[Brane215]

So then libreboot, is it actually working and stable for the motherboards it does support and safe to install?

And while I love the concept of a FOSS BIOS, won't it be rather void of features compared to existing bioses?

I somehow get the impression that using libreboot is neither safe nor offers any particular benefit over using the official bios for any given motherboard.

I just managed to copy libreboot to my local repository , so I can't say anything definitive about it, ohter than it contains wqhole coreboot ( minus binary blobs), memtest, grub etc.

But coreboot, while it is far from finalized product, can be optimal solution for boards where it does work. I am working toward support for a couple AM1 boards that interest me.

Those things are great, painfully needed component for many machines, old as well as modern ones.

[devius]

According to the hardware compatibility list this is the only supported desktop motherboard. However, a Core2 dual or quad core with 8GB of RAM should be enough for most users anyway.

[starshipeleven]

Amazing, that's a board that should fit 99% of the PC userbase.

Being Gigabyte, I'd ask if board revision matters (there are 5 or so for this board).

I am working toward support for a couple AM1 boards that interest me.

Is supporting AMD boards only a matter of "working on it" or does it require "crazy magic" like the more modern Intel boards?

Anyway, is it possible to make a libreboot that allows the use of ECC memory on the AM1 boards? the SoC can use ecc ram, but in all boards apart maybe from one from Asus (unconfirmed) the firmware disables the function.

[aht0]

Anyway, is it possible to make a libreboot that allows the use of ECC memory on the AM1 boards? the SoC can use ecc ram, but in all boards apart maybe from one from Asus (unconfirmed) the firmware disables the function.

Asus AM1M-A?
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AM1MA/specifications/ states
2 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 1600/1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
but online manual in English at http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...004_AM1M-A.pdf states following at page 1-8
You may install 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB unbuffered ECC DDR3 DIMMS into the DIMM sockets

Go figure.. anyway, bought the board and Athlon5350. Also couple of Hynix ECC rams past summer. System worked without issues but I could not get the ECC recognizably work. It would be awesome if libreboot fully support that hardware including ECC.

[starshipeleven]

yes, it's that board. I've seen other threads where people do things to try to get an answer but don't reach a conclusion.

All AM1 SoCs (the "processor" is in fact an all-in-one chip with nearly all stuff that is on that board) have ECC ram controllers in hardware specs.

But the boards don't seem to let it work, probably because cost reasons (to sell ECC-capable boards at higher prices).

In general the whole ECC thing is completely ridicolous, as the only reliable way to know that it is operational is physically taping some RAM pins to cause (obvious and repeatable) RAM errors.

And this not on cheapo jury-rigged boards, nono, I'm talking of workstations and servers. They might as well sell non-ecc as ecc and none will notice at all

[aht0]

Correct me if I happen to have it wrong but majority of AMD CPU's newer than AM2 (or thereabouts) have ECC capability built-in, but the issue lays with the motherboard makers. Mostly only Asus does add the ECC capability into their consumer motherboards.

[starshipeleven]

FM1 and FM2 (and +) versions, the desktop APUs basically, can't run ECC ram due to socket limitations (don't know about actual controllers).

The BGA APUs for laptops support ECC. But none is giving a damn about ECC support in laptops for obvious reasons (I'm probably the only one that actually cares about that).

AM1 socket holds the only APU line that could THEORETICALLY run ECC but that is disabled in software (BIOS).

I REALLY hope that with zen we will see again the same story as with older AM2-3 sockets, cpu can run ECC, Asus allows ECC on their boards.