Coreboot-Based Dasharo Firmware Updated For MSI Z690/Z790 Motherboards

For those wanting to use an open-source Coreboot-based firmware on your desktop with modern hardware, a rare and leading option is 3mdeb's Coreboot-based "Dasharo" firmware on select MSI Z690/Z790 motherboards.

As I noted in that aforelinked review, it's easy to get the MSI Z690-A WiFi (and now Z790-P too) flashed and running this Coreboot downstream. It's great for having a modern and affordable desktop motherboard option for those wanting to get involved with Dasharo/Coreboot development or just wanting a more-free desktop and not wanting to run a sharply outdated and/or over-priced platform to do so.

The 3mdeb firmware consulting firm has continued to enhance their Dasharo firmware for these MSI Intel motherboards and today published a new release.

The new firmware for the Z690-A and Z790-P now provides automatic fan control support, experimental RAM disk support, XMP profiles for memory overclocking, Raptor Lake Refresh CPU support, Resizable BAR (ReBAR) enabling option, support for taking screenshots in the firmware page, Microsoft and Windows 2023 UEFI Secure Boot certificates, and a variety of other improvements. These are quite significant improvements especially with now supporting the new Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs and all of the other features being wired up for this open-source firmware. This latest Dasharo firmware is based on the upstream Coreboot 4.21.

As 3mdeb is self-funded and needing to be able to continue working on this project, the new version is initially for Dasharo entry subscription users. A one year Dasharo entry subscription for desktops is 60 EUR. Or buying one of the MSI motherboards from 3mdeb already flashed with Dasharo comes with this entry subscription. In time the new releases will then be made available to the community at large. At least 60 EUR for one year of updates for these modern Intel Alder Lake / Raptor Lake motherboards from MSI remain a much better option and value than the price of some outdated (Opteron!) server motherboards flashed with Coreboot or alternatives continue to re-sell for elsewhere.

More details on the new Dasharo firmware releases for the MSI Z690/Z790 boards can be found via Dasharo.com.