Coreboot Lands Support For The MSI PRO Z790-P Motherboards

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Coreboot Lands Support For The MSI PRO Z790-P Motherboards

Upstreamed into the Coreboot Git repository this week is the ability to run on the MSI PRO Z790-P DDR4 and DDR5 motherboards for enjoying a latest-generation Intel desktop motherboard that is readily available as an alternative to using the proprietary BIOS implementations...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/MSI-Z790-P-Coreboot-Mainline

[scratchi]

That's cool! 3mdeb and NitroPC also recently announced a prebuilt desktop: https://shop.nitrokey.com/shop/product/nitropc-pro-523

[schmidtbag]

Nice to see Coreboot released for such a modern desktop motherboard.

[royce]

Why wouldn't manufacturers ship coreboot from the factory and save themselves the trouble of maintaining their own EFI?

[Snaipersky]

Why wouldn't manufacturers ship coreboot from the factory and save themselves the trouble of maintaining their own EFI?

Pretty sure they outsource the bulk of the work to Phoenix or American Megatrends or whoever.

[jonkoops]

Pretty sure they outsource the bulk of the work to Phoenix or American Megatrends or whoever.

I feel like there could be so much to gain from having a common basis for the BIOS that is open-source, and having the manufacturers just add some magic sauce on top for their own branding. It would also mean that these boards could receive much more attention in terms of features for end-users.

[ehansin]

I feel like there could be so much to gain from having a common basis for the BIOS that is open-source, and having the manufacturers just add some magic sauce on top for their own branding. It would also mean that these boards could receive much more attention in terms of features for end-users.

I would love to see something like this, but I also wonder that without a larger commercial entity behind it, the motherboard/computer manufacturers might prefer the status quo where they can hold someone responsible when things go wrong. Also, in contracting this work, they are looking for the big providers to do the work. They would need some sort of guarantees the same could happen under the model you propose.

Don't get me wrong, I like what you are saying here. But taking these issues into account, and then adding in the power of inertia (things tend often roll with what they have been rolling with, until there is a concerted effort to change), it might not be an easy sell. But in time, who knows? Get a few parties on board, that resistance to change can change real fast!

[BenTheTechGuy]

Why wouldn't manufacturers ship coreboot from the factory and save themselves the trouble of maintaining their own EFI?

Many already do, it's just in the form of Chromebooks. Unfortunately, the Tianocore payload is not yet ready for the mainstream market of Windows users, missing some important features (like Secure Boot) that are required by Windows 11. The only other viable payloads are SeaBIOS which, not being UEFI, would be seen as outdated, and baremetal GRUB, which can't boot Windows at all. Chromebooks are the perfect place for mainstream manufacturers to use Coreboot because it provides an open source, predictable boot environment that goes straight into Linux without any unnecessary bells and whistles (but it could have them being as modular as it is; see https://mrchromebox.tech).

[RejectModernity]

Not AMD again. Who the hell buys intel heaters in 2023???

[Termy]

Not AMD again. Who the hell buys intel heaters in 2023???

Well, as much as i salute AMD for their 3D-V-Cache and resulting efficiency, it's not like the Intel "Heaters" can't be even more efficient, depending on the workload. Sure, full blast is ridiculous and they should really overhaul their TDP-Schema. But they aren't bad processors, even if some superficial benchmarks might indicate that.

And imho every modern consumer-board with coreboot is a win, no matter the platform.

Anyway, i would really love to see some performance comparison again - hopefully they gap got smaller ^^