Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

libreboot.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 69 posts

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#41

Post by anc84 »

pmarreck wrote: post #37
DashRattlesnake wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was actually thinking of giving LibreBoot a try until all this drama broke. Now it just seems like the personal soapbox of a particular individual, which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in its viability (especially given how ambitious it is).

I love how "free software" rails against the anti-freedom of "open source software" and then fails to carry that libertarian spirit through letting people decide for themselves what to do with their own bodies and not judging them for it. On the other hand, the problem with claiming "I'm being biased against!" is of course twofold: One, any noncisgendered-white-male employee can claim it even if the main problem was…

No one cares about the private lives of people behind nicknames unless they drag their issues into the project, which is what happened here.

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#42

Post by mamon »

nextos wrote: post #16
HisGraceTheDuck wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the list of compatible laptops: https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/index.html#supported_laptops_... Nothing recent but on the plus side, you should be able to pick one up without spending too much.

Chromebook C201 is very recent (currently sold new), supercheap (<$200), and can run not only Libreboot, but completely blob-free. Not even CPU microcode is needed.

Is it possible to put bigger hard drive in it? 16GB is very limiting.

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#43

Post by cryptarch »

aq3cn wrote: post #33

I was reading about buying a laptop with libreboot bootloader but then I saw a whole section to screw paywall. https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-t400/ https://minifree.org/paypal/ Their laptops are cheap and with good configuration except for CPU and graphics card. I will have hard time running Matlab on such a machine, so I cannot make that investment. Better CPU please especially when your laptop is 2.2 kg in…

I would not recommend their services at all, although I own one of their products.

Leah is extremely unresponsive, when I ordered mine it took over 2 months for it to be shipped with no prior indication of this (it should've taken at most 3 weeks to arrive at my home), and any email response from Minifree took at least 3 weeks.

Oh, and Leah billed me UK taxes instead of Dutch taxes as per the EU webshop rules, so that was a lot of fun when I had to file my taxes.

The shittiest customer experience I've had in years.

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#44

Post by yenda »

akerro wrote: post #36

After the latest drama I think libreboot is driven be oversensitive and irresponsible developer. Prove me wrong?

I don't quite understand why it is making the front page again we should stop giving publicity to this drama queen, SJW or whatever she should be called. If there was discrimination this should be taken to court instead of trying to get mob justice by wrongfully using a platform that is not meant for that and doxxing people without proof.

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#46

Post by aq3cn »

davorb wrote: post #38
aq3cn wrote: post #33

I was reading about buying a laptop with libreboot bootloader but then I saw a whole section to screw paywall. https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-t400/ https://minifree.org/paypal/ Their laptops are cheap and with good configuration except for CPU and graphics card. I will have hard time running Matlab on such a machine, so I cannot make that investment. Better CPU please especially when your laptop is 2.2 kg in…

> It is extremely unlikely that any post-2008 Intel hardware will ever be supported in libreboot, due to severe security and freedom issues; so severe, that the libreboot project recommends avoiding all modern Intel hardware. If you have an Intel based system affected by the problems described below, then you should get rid of it as soon as possible. https://libreboot.org/faq/#intel

You are right. I did not read the whole part. There is more to it though.

> Intel is only going to get worse when it comes to user freedom. Libreboot has no support recent Intel platforms, precisely because of the problems described above. The only way to solve this is to get Intel to change their policies and to be more friendly to the free software community. Reverse engineering won't solve anything long-term, unfortunately, but we need to keep doing it anyway. Moving forward, Intel hardware is a non-option unless a radical change happens within Intel.

> Basically, all Intel hardware from year 2010 and beyond will never be supported by libreboot. The libreboot project is actively ignoring all modern Intel hardware at this point, and focusing on alternative platforms.

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#47

Post by tdkl »

cryptarch wrote: post #43
aq3cn wrote: post #33

I was reading about buying a laptop with libreboot bootloader but then I saw a whole section to screw paywall. https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-t400/ https://minifree.org/paypal/ Their laptops are cheap and with good configuration except for CPU and graphics card. I will have hard time running Matlab on such a machine, so I cannot make that investment. Better CPU please especially when your laptop is 2.2 kg in…

I would not recommend their services at all, although I own one of their products. Leah is extremely unresponsive, when I ordered mine it took over 2 months for it to be shipped with no prior indication of this (it should've taken at most 3 weeks to arrive at my home), and any email response from Minifree took at least 3 weeks. Oh, and Leah billed me UK taxes instead of Dutch taxes as per the EU webshop rules, so tha…

I've read the "PayPal" [1] section of the website (linked at the top as "Screw PayPal" and got the impression that its a work of individuals with childlike tantrum prone personality and not someone you'd do business with professionally.

Your description of the experience only nodded in the same direction.

[1] https://minifree.org/paypal/

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#48

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

orionblastar wrote: post #23
colejohnson66 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who've worked at the FSF say it is very progressive and open to transgenders. The idea that they would fire someone for being trans is just outrageous.

It makes no sense. FSF treats employees better than most companies and are very open minded as well. It is very progressive and open to GLBT people, etc. I think it is some sort of politics, like trying to attack Linus because he rejected some SJW's contributions to the Linux Kernel because it caused a Kernel panic and asked if she bothered to test the code before submitting it. Then he is accused of being sexist tow…

That seems unlikely. For one thing, Linus and all that would have been mentioned.

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#49

Post by 56245623456 »

userbinator wrote: post #25
JonathonW wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of their supported machines (including at least a few of the Thinkpads they support) look like they can't be flashed "online" from the OEM firmware. For that hardware, their documentation says you'd have to disassemble the machine and flash the firmware externally. Obviously, this requires specialized hardware, but it's not completely insurmountable if you're really determined to run the thing.

The laptop repair shops I've seen in Shenzhen offer a BIOS reflashing service that involves using a long cable with a small clip on the end that connects to the BIOS chip. They usually reflash to OEM, to fix "hard bricks", but might be willing to flash an image you provide.

All you need is a Raspberry Pi and a 15 dollar POMONA 5250 SOIC clip.

Re: Libreboot – A free BIOS or UEFI replacement

#50

Post by 56245623456 »

DashRattlesnake wrote: post #9
BafS wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it is more about that: https://libreboot.org/gnu/

I was actually thinking of giving LibreBoot a try until all this drama broke. Now it just seems like the personal soapbox of a particular individual, which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in its viability (especially given how ambitious it is).

Try coreboot, it supports more boards and is the actual upstream project. Libreboot is just a set of patches that removes support for boards that require Intel Management Engine and rips out microcode updates.
Post reply on HN