System76 Will Begin Shipping 2 Linux Laptops With Coreboot-Based Open Source Firmware (forbes.com) 29
System76, the Denver-based Linux PC manufacturer and developer of Pop OS, has some stellar news for those who prefer their laptops a little more open. Later this month the company will begin shipping two of their laptop models with its Coreboot-powered open source firmware. From a report: Beginning today, System76 will start taking pre-orders for both the Galago Pro and Darter Pro laptops. The systems will ship out later in October, and include the company's Coreboot-based open source firmware which was previously teased at the 2019 Open Source Firmware Conference. (Coreboot, formerly known as LinuxBIOS, is a software project aimed at replacing proprietary firmware found in most computers with a lightweight firmware designed to perform only the minimum number of tasks necessary to load and run a modern 32-bit or 64-bit operating system.) What's so great about ripping out the proprietary firmware included in machines like this and replacing it with an open alternative? To begin with, it's leaner. System76 claims that users can boot from power off to the desktop 29% faster with its Coreboot-based firmware.
[...] Both of these laptops can be kitted out with 10th-Generation Intel CPUs (specifically the i5-10210U and the i7-10510U), and both have glare-resistant matte 1080p IPS displays. Beginning at $949, the Galago Pro features an all-aluminum chassis, a wealth of connectivity options including HDMI, DisplayPort to USB-C and Thunderbolt, and can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 6TB of storage space. The Darter Pro, meanwhile, can be built out with 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage, and features up to 10 hours of battery life.
[...] Both of these laptops can be kitted out with 10th-Generation Intel CPUs (specifically the i5-10210U and the i7-10510U), and both have glare-resistant matte 1080p IPS displays. Beginning at $949, the Galago Pro features an all-aluminum chassis, a wealth of connectivity options including HDMI, DisplayPort to USB-C and Thunderbolt, and can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 6TB of storage space. The Darter Pro, meanwhile, can be built out with 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage, and features up to 10 hours of battery life.
Using a coreboot version that can dual boot (Score:2)
Re:Using a coreboot version that can dual boot (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been dual-booting only a couple of weeks myself, but it's GRUB that gives me a choice between Kubuntu and FreeBSD. The ROM has nothing to do with that part.
Re: (Score:3)
Can coreboot load the FreeBSD kernel directly? IIRC Grub added the option years ago allowing you to bypass the FreeBSD bootloader if you wanted.
Re:Using a coreboot version that can dual boot (Score:5, Informative)
Can coreboot load the FreeBSD kernel directly? IIRC Grub added the option years ago allowing you to bypass the FreeBSD bootloader if you wanted.
Coreboot can carry a number of payloads, usually Grub2, or SeaBIOS. FreeBSD can be booted via coreboot using either. [coreboot.org]
If only ... (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
If only they were made with AMD to avoid all this speculative execution vulnerabilities.
All very well, but how about a thin / portable machine but with a decent screen resolution? The OLED screens only seem to be on higher end models without coreboot. Build an XPS-13 equivalent and I'll actually buy it.
GFX (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Intel® UHD Graphics
TECH SPECS section in
https://system76.com/laptops/d... [system76.com]
Re: (Score:1)
Intel ME (Score:5, Interesting)
What about the Intel Management Engine? .Intel is actively working on making its removal harder. In recent years Intel went as far as shaving the CPU shut down after 30 minutes if this rootkit was deleted.
This deep-seated piece of proprietary software has a long history of security vulnerabilities
I applaud System76 for doing their best to bring a computer with free firmware to the market, but as long as Intel ME is in place, it's hard to trust such a machine.
By the way it is possible to (largely) remove Intel ME on older systems: https://github.com/corna/me_cl... [github.com]
Re:Intel ME (Score:5, Informative)
What about the Intel Management Engine?
On every Tech Spec page for every product System76 sells:
"Security - Disabled ME"
Granted, I haven't seen any details on what that actually entails, so YMMV.
Ryzen Processors (Score:4, Interesting)
Wake me up when they start offering AMD ryzen processors as options.
Re: Ryzen Processors (Score:2)
Correct. At this point nearly everybody who cares about Coreboot and IME is done with Intel parts. That said, maybe this design started a year ago and an AMD model is still in the pipeline.
I hope low sales don't persuade them that nobody wants a Coreboot machine.
Re: (Score:2)
Frankly, in this power domain, Intel is the choice if you're trying to sell performance.
In the power domains that don't have 10nm Ice Lake offerings, I suspect AMD will be the favored CPU.
Oryx Pro laptop breakdown (Score:1)
Super thin aluminum alloy design
Switchable NVIDIA and Intel GPUs
Performance 9th Gen CPUs
16.1 and 17.3 FHD display options
Up to 64 GB of memory
Re: (Score:2)
>9th gen CPU
>performance
>missing hyperthreading so you lose ~40% of performance off the bat.
I love advertising when it fucks itself in the ass.
No trackpoint? (Score:2)
Why go to all this effort and forget to put in a decent mouse?
Re: (Score:2)
Both of you who want one are drastically outnumbered by the people who fat finger the trackpoint while trying to type G, H, B, or GHB. (Or BHG, I guess. Ba-ba ba ba ba-ba ba bump one night...)
Re: (Score:3)
If a pointing stick is a high priority for you, then please consult a list of current brands [wikipedia.org]. The short list of usual suspects would be Dell, HP, Toshiba, and of course Lenovo.
It'll be hacked (Score:1)
This Helps (Score:1)
Where are the Ryzen lappies? KDE Pop_OS! version? (Score:1)