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AMD Provides Fusion Support For Coreboot
An anonymous reader writes "AMD has done a big code drop providing Fusion support for Coreboot, the project that once was called LinuxBIOS for providing an open source BIOS implementation."
A lack of vendor support has long made the task of the coreboot developers difficult. Support for what is slated to be a common chipset is pretty encouraging, and will hopefully make it easier to run an entirely Free Software system for diehards like RMS.
What's this? A Phoronix article where I _don't_ have to click through eleven other articles to find the source?
Other than that: Hopefully this will make coreboot's future brighter, by a lot.
Open source altruism aside, i want a stable, flexible, fast-booting BIOS. The standard BIOS that comes with most motherboards is awful, and is frequently missing important features.
I think even just the willingness to contribute something to an open BIOS implementation is very commendable.
Additionally, it could be a smart move for AMD. A FOSS BIOS could give them a competitive advantage in sales, as the only/first manufacturer of modern high-end chipsets enabling personal computer products where a full code audit or replacement with user-trusted secure code would be practical.
Compare this to Intel, which includes support for remote administration in the chips, BIOS, and network adapter firmware - as a "feature". This runs under the OS, invisible to it if desired and unstoppable, and provides a hardware man-in-the-middle that can completely control the system - even "phoning home" when traveling or at an IP address not previously known to the "remote administrator".
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
That's very nice. Of course, there's more to motherboard support than the chipset and CPU, but they are two major hurdles.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It may come as a surprise, but right now, someone else owns your entire platform. The BIOS/EFI do not merely boot the system, they also provide run time services in the form of System Management Mode.
That's right, your system is running black box code at runtime. The TPM already lives there, and if you are "lucky", the future malware will be limited to DRM which can't be circumvented, or systems that only run signed code. The implications for security are staggering, and considering that modern systems even have access to your network from this code, the opportunity for abuse is truly frightening. (How trivial would it be for your government--or the manufacturers in China--to install backdoors, remote key logging facilities, or root kits and such?)
Support Coreboot, so that we may retain control of our own systems. Many thanks to its authors for their persistence, and AMD for their generous contributions. For further information, there was also an interesting google talk a while back.