# FreeBSD friendly Motherboard compatible with Coreboot



## altern (Nov 24, 2018)

Hello,

from this list:
https://coreboot.org/status/board-status.html

and from column "F":
"Board supported by [http://www.flashrom.org flashrom] (Y/N)?"
only the ones which say "Y" ( so that i can flash the BIOS via software using flashrom),

what are the best freebsd friendly boards?


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## Sevendogsbsd (Nov 24, 2018)

I have no idea  what coreboot is but my MSI Z270A Pro is running FreeBSD 11.2 P4 perfectly. I do get a few sound device errors at boot but they don't appear to affect anything. Running an Intel i7 7700 and using the on-chip 630HD for video. This is a workstation and I have had no issues so far (build is about 1 month old).


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## k.jacker (Nov 24, 2018)

There isn't really something like FreeBSD (not freebsd) friendly.
As long as you go with AMD64 or i386, there isn't really anything that's not supported.
It's important to know, that most problems with hardware, e.g. won't boot, won't suspend, are mostly caused by buggy acpi, BIOS and UEFI implementations. The hardware itself, is usually well supported.

You will of course find (mostly) dedicated graphics card, wifi devices and shiny blinking gaming keybords with their own brains, that do not work.
Stuff soldered to a mainbaord, should work regardless age or model.

The PCengines APUs come with coreboot installed by the manufacturer and several people here on the forum, got the one or the other model of it, including me. They work very well. Still, when I bought it, I couldn't boot FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE on it, but 10.4 worked. So I had to install that first, and upgraded it later.
The APU is probably not the workstation type of device you are looking for. I used it just as an example.

Hardware notes for 11.2-RELEASE

Graphicscard support wiki
Not 100 percent up to date, but it looks like, as if KabyLake support has been added recently.
Searching the forum for graphics card models is your best option at the moment.


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## altern (Nov 25, 2018)

so, 
globally speaking not freebsd friendly which are considered the best performance boards with a normal budget from that list with column "F" marked "Y"?
(some ppl argue that ASUS and ASRock are Linux friendly, i guess these would be FreeBSD friendly too)

Thanks


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## Phishfry (Nov 25, 2018)

What you should have said is Footnote 4 = "Y" from that site.

Well if it were me I would pick up a used IvyCreek or Haswell board off that list.
It is old enough to have it in many developers hands but not too old.
Paired with a 3770T or Xeon E3-1265LV2 would be my choice. Using onboard graphics.
I like Gigabyte for desktops. Both of these use a server chipset and I like that.(EDIT:That site is wrong on this-NOT C216)
GA-B75M-D3H
GA-B75M-D3V
Both of these use Realtek LAN which is not good.

I dislike ASRock but their H81M-HDS board with Socket 1150/C216 is viable too.
Realtek LAN as well. Barf

OK after surveying every board that is LGA1155 almost all use Realtek LAN. That is not good on FreeBSD.
One except is:
ASUS MAXIMUS_IV_GENEZ-M
This one has Intel LAN but that "switchable graphics" sounds dodgy. Could be problems on FreeBSD. Unknown.
https://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/MAXIMUS_IV_GENEZ/
when I look up these on Ebay they are real expensive for something so old (~$170USD)
Looks like Sandy Bridge so your talking 2012 Vintage.  It uses a Core processor though.
I would not go any lower than Sandy Bridge LGA1155 and the 2500T for a CPU choice. Xeon 1260L or 1265L works too.
I am unfamiliar with AMD chips so I can't recommend anything there.

The reason I would use a cheap used board is I feel there is probably a good chance at bricking the board if you get it wrong.
Used board for cheap migrates that risk some.
You are looking at a highly risky maneuver putting this on an existing board.

I too love my APU2 and APU3 with coreboot. So anything that ships with coreboot is my answer for best new board.
Be advised things like Audio and Video may be crippled on coreboot. It is a work in progress.

The Purism machines are pretty nifty. They have been doing this a while now and have some variety.
https://puri.sm/products/

MinnowBoard3 is also a contender, Though not for performance but low power. So not what you are looking for.


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## Phishfry (Nov 25, 2018)

One minefield I found while researching this was motherboard revision numbers.
All the Gigabyte boards had several versions of the PCB. For example Revision 1.0, Revision 1.1, ect.
This is bad as manufacturers sometimes change major components on these revisions.
So even if you match up the model number from coreboot table you still have the unknown factor of the board revision.
The coreboot site should also list the board revison, chances are these need to match up exactly too.
Wrong flash because of board revision/changes could mean=BRICK.


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## altern (Jan 3, 2019)

Phishfry said:


> What you should have said is Footnote 4 = "Y" from that site.
> 
> Well if it were me I would pick up a used IvyCreek or Haswell board off that list.
> It is old enough to have it in many developers hands but not too old.
> ...



*Phishfry,*
can you write all Mainboard names options so that i can check on the list?

this option:
ASRock H81M-HDS seems interesting do you know if there is a ASUS equivalent board? what about Gigabyte?

Thanks


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## Phishfry (Jan 3, 2019)

### Minnowboard Max Turbot ####
This board ships with Intel EFI firmware but there is coreboot for it too.
This is much more of an experimenters board so it is good for this purpose.
It also has SPI breakout header so you really can't brick it.
Open hardware and coreboot. That is a good combo.

### PCEngines APU ###
The only pre-built box I can recommend is PCEngines APU1/2/3.
Straight out of the box they use coreboot.
For around ~$150 bucks you can have a headless coreboot experience.
https://pcengines.ch/apu2.htm
You need board, chassis, power supply and their SD cards are of good quality.
If more space is needed then you have to pick a mSATA drive.
They will assemble it for you too for a small fee. USB to serial cords are cheap there too.

There are Minnowboard Turbots on ebay for $78
https://www.ebay.com/itm/253973019954?
You will also need a chassis, but it is an excellent little computer. It has HDMI and SATA.

The rest looks like a gamble to me. Even the instructions for the Minnowboard look intimidating to me.
https://3mdeb.com/firmware/building-coreboot-on-minnowboard/

You need to be an expert with `flashrom` and you need to interface SPI..
echo 00500000:007fffff cb-region > 8mb ; flashrom -p dediprog:voltage=1.8v -l 8mb -i cb-region -w coreboot.rom


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## Phishfry (Jan 3, 2019)

It might not hurt to ask around the coreboot mailing lists about boards for sale with coreboot already installed..
Let someone else deal with flashing nuances who knows what they are doing.
For $45 this guy will flash certain laptops/motherboards:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/283067353923?


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## altern (Jan 14, 2019)

*Phishfry,*

from https://www.coreboot.org/Buyers_Guide

there is:
F2A85-M
F2A85-M LE

but these are AMD, do you the equivalent for INTEL?

Thanks


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## Phishfry (Jan 15, 2019)

I was looking at the Minnowboard coreboot work again and noticed this user has a page up with some supported boards:
https://www.coreboot.org/User:MartinRoth
This IvyCreek board stood out to me: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H
It does use Realtek LAN which is not the best in my opinion.

Why not email or contact MartinRoth and ask details? He sounds like a coreboot guru.


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## rigoletto@ (Jan 17, 2019)

My usual answer for this kind of question is: Get a Supermicro. Or if you are really looking for something trully open sourced you could get a Raptorcs POWER9 bundle and enjoy.


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## Phishfry (Jan 17, 2019)

I have only used coreboot/SeaBIOS on APU1/2/3 and this is a serial console-only platform.
Take a looksie at what VGA on coreboot requires.
https://www.coreboot.org/VGA_support
Not for the faint of heart.
All that work for an open bios and then you add blobs back in?


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## altern (Apr 17, 2019)

*Phishfry*,

using flashrom if you type:
*-L | --list-supported              print supported devices*

it says:
*Supported flash chips (total: 391):*

can you check output and tell which are the best boards?

Thanks


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## altern (Apr 29, 2019)

BUMP,

can someone answer last message?

Thanks


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## altern (May 21, 2019)

*Phishfry*.

from ASRock H81M-HDS and Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H which is the best option and the easiest to flash?

Thanks


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## Phishfry (May 21, 2019)

I am not trying to ignore you but I have no knowledge here. I simply use coreboot on APU2.
Gigabyte is preferable to me over Asrock.


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## altern (May 22, 2019)

Phishfry said:


> I am not trying to ignore you but I have no knowledge here. I simply use coreboot on APU2.
> Gigabyte is preferable to me over Asrock.



what about this?

using flashrom if you type:
*-L | --list-supported print supported devices*

it says:
*Supported flash chips (total: 391):*

can you check output and tell which are the best boards?


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## Phishfry (May 29, 2019)

I am not ignoring you it is just that all my Coreboot APU boxes are in service. All with NanoBSD installed.
The disk is at 103% and I cannot install any software.
Otherwise I would gladly do this for you. Can't you get this out of the flashrom source code?

Here is a very fresh mailing list post with higher level Coreboot discussion. This guy tells of some working boards:


			FreeBSD and Coreboot
		

Note that he has ruined CPU's because of ACPI and fan speed issues with coreboot.

There are other 'Coreboot Working' platforms sprinkled thru this long thread.


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## altern (Aug 22, 2019)

Phishfry said:


> I am not ignoring you it is just that all my Coreboot APU boxes are in service. All with NanoBSD installed.
> The disk is at 103% and I cannot install any software.
> Otherwise I would gladly do this for you. Can't you get this out of the flashrom source code?
> 
> ...



what about for hardware supplier based in EU to buy these boards? which ones you recommend?


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## Phishfry (Aug 22, 2019)

PCEngines is based in the EU. Here is their sales info:





						PC Engines sales
					

PC Engines sales



					pcengines.ch
				






> apu2d0 = 2 i211AT LAN / AMD GX-412TC CPU / 2 GB DRAM (stripped down board)








						PC Engines apu2d0 product file
					

PC Engines apu2d0



					pcengines.ch
				




For something like Asrock E350M1 it is EOL so you will have to find used.
ASUS KGPE-D16 Is also very old and EOL.

If you want the cheapest experience try the APU2 with only 2 ethernet interfaces and 2GB of memory.
Those are $100USD for me and you can't buy a cheaper coreboot experience.

Don't forget system76 is constantly developing new models.


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## altern (Aug 26, 2019)

Phishfry said:


> PCEngines is based in the EU. Here is their sales info:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


that board you mentioned seems AMD based, there is no alternative for INTEL?

for "Asrock E350M1" where can i find refurbished hardware supplier?
do you know if there is any official hardware supplier listed on FreeBSD or Coreboot website?


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## rootbert (Aug 26, 2019)

just for info: https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2019/8/7/open-source-firmware-future/


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## altern (Sep 3, 2019)

does anyone know about specific markets to buy this HW?

there is any hardware swap market based in EU?

Thank you


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## rootbert (Sep 6, 2019)

not really ... still unemployed hehe     so I need some time to pull the trigger - but I will watch this thread and post if I find out


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## rigoletto@ (Sep 6, 2019)

rootbert said:


> not really ... still unemployed hehe     so I need some time to pull the trigger - but I will watch this thread and post if I find out



I see you are in Vienna, you could do some search at Wrocław (PL), there is the place for IT jobs in Poland and they are always looking for people. Every year dozens of people from my country (Brazil) are contracted by corporations in there; however the vastly majority don't finish the year due to beign unable to adapt to the weather.


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## altern (Oct 31, 2019)

*Phishfry*,

just posted on the FreeBSD mailing list:




__





						INTEL board compatible with Coreboot
					





					lists.freebsd.org
				




posted on Coreboot mailing list:




__





						Looking for INTEL board compatible with Coreboot - coreboot - mail.coreboot.org
					






					mail.coreboot.org
				




Thanks


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## toorski (Oct 31, 2019)

rigoletto@ said:


> Or if you are really looking for something trully open sourced you could get a Raptorcs POWER9 bundle and enjoy.





			https://static.raptorcs.com/TL2B02/images/boardlarge.png
		


Only if I was much younger, I'd go for it, right now. And then, I'd ask my friend who owns small fabrication and machine shop to build a nice  custom 1U- like enclosure for me. I'd do the rest - PSU, fans, wiring, storage devices ... etc.

I have Lenovo's Think Server RS140, that I host my friend's (from Anotherland) OS and the rest inside it. The server has crappy CPU and 16GB of RAM. So I might be tempted to clear the inside and see if I can stick that Raptor guts in the RS140's enclosure with the original PSU. I just like the thin and slim 1U enclosure of the RS140's, for some reason.  I'm an old nerd, so I also like my vintage gear, even my 1.5 SATA-3.5 inch spinners that still work and serve me well as a backup storage media. But, if my friend agrees to split the cost of buying the Raptor's guts and if the original PSU in RS140's case can be (somehow) re-used than I would get the rest to for the FreeBSD test.

Yo'll have to stop agitating me with the links to those cewl gadgets 

"if the original PSU in RS140's case can be (somehow) re-used"  bad idea - it won't work


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## rigoletto@ (Oct 31, 2019)

toorski said:


> https://static.raptorcs.com/TL2B02/images/boardlarge.png
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Why so big? There is the Blackbird too[1]. 

I would really like to fit everything (including some drawer) in a 12-16U rack and keep it at the side of my desk, but there is the noise to be dealt. I would probably need to make everything water-cooled (which is nice but costly, specially for servers) . 

Now, a funny thing. ARMv8 is in better state than POWER8/9 (we need to switch to little endian to really improve the things, but first we need to make it build with LLVM instead of that super old GCC - both involve a lot of work) but we have more ports building sucessifully on POWER9 than on ARMv8.

[1] I was advised the Blackbird installation should be done very carefully because this is very easy to damage some pins, including some at the back of the board.


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## toorski (Oct 31, 2019)

rigoletto@ said:


> Why so big? There is the Blackbird too[1].


B'cause, I'm brainwashed by USBS tech - 2 is better than 1, and bigger is better 
For me, small server is a good laptop, big server is 2xCPU, plus (at least) 2x of everything else - heh


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## toorski (Oct 31, 2019)

What kind of a Redneck setup is this? 





						Dual 92mm fan CPU - RCS Wiki
					






					wiki.raptorcs.com


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## toorski (Oct 31, 2019)

rigoletto@ said:


> Why so big? There is the Blackbird too[1].


One can go small too, I guess, for a big price. And, this is just the beginning. My shopping cart, including SAS controller. Because, I have to test my SAS Super/HD somehow


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## rigoletto@ (Oct 31, 2019)

toorski said:


> What kind of a Redneck setup is this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Some dirty decisions were made on that building.  



toorski said:


> One can go small too, I guess, for a big price. And, this is just the beginning. My shopping cart, including SAS controller. Because, I have to test my SAS Super/HD somehow



Oh, you are getting the 8 cores processor model, that will give you 32 threads. 

I would get an aftermarket Noctua heatsink. IIRC POWER9 are compatible with LGA2011.

Also, have a look if starting with one of the available bundles don't get the things cheaper at the end.


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## Phishfry (Nov 1, 2019)

altern said:


> using flashrom if you type:
> *-L | --list-supported print supported devices*
> 
> it says:
> ...



I see you asking this on the mailing list too.
Just because flashrom will flash to these devices does not mean coreboot will work on them.
flashrom can be used to flash a stock firmware to a motherboard.
This is useful for opensource operating systems where most motherboard manufacturers only supply a Windows compatible flasher.

Just for kicks I checked flashrom source code and /usr/ports/sysutils/flashrom/work/flashrom-1.0/print.c contains the list you are asking about, but it is not a coreboot support list, only a flashrom support list.


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## mikeb2 (Nov 1, 2019)

altern said:


> there is:
> F2A85-M
> F2A85-M LE
> 
> but these are AMD, do you the equivalent for INTEL?


 Why are you considering only Intel boards? coreboot supports plenty of AMD boards which don't contain ME/PSP and don't suffer from Meltdown + some other Intel-only vulnerabilities, for which the performance-crippling patches are required.
IMHO, AMD seems to be a wiser choice for a coreboot board, unless you already have some Intel-supported board _(so no additional expenses for getting one) _

Best regards,
Mike, a coreboot'er


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## altern (Nov 11, 2019)

*Phishfry*,

what do you think of these?:
ga-g41m-es2l
ga-b75m-d3h

they support internal flash?

Thanks


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## Phishfry (Nov 11, 2019)

altern said:


> ga-b75m-d3h








						Board:gigabyte/ga-b75m-d3h - coreboot
					






					www.coreboot.org
				



This should be the newer of the two choices as B75 chipset is IvyCreek and G41 being older Socket 775


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## altern (Jan 12, 2022)

Hey, 

refreshing this thread a bit..
any new tested motherboards or new motherboards?

might need some help..
any member can provide some refurbished hardware for free?
what are the best vendors for new and refurbished? 
possible to get discount or cheap,low-cost from some member or service?

Thanks


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## Phishfry (Jan 12, 2022)

Are you very persistent? I bought a Chromebox that needs coreboot flashed to it.
Right now it has custom digital signage app embedded.
I don't have time to learn coreboot and SeaBIOS.
That might be a cheap learning experience for you. Take a 30 dollar chromebox and install coreboot.




__





						MrChromebox.tech
					

MrChromebox.tech : Custom coreboot firmware and firmware utilities for your Chromebook/Chromebox



					mrchromebox.tech
				




I really think you need good flashing 'sense' when it come to coreboot. It is not for inexperienced bios flashers.





						MrChromebox.tech
					

MrChromebox.tech : Custom coreboot firmware and firmware utilities for your Chromebook/Chromebox



					mrchromebox.tech
				



Have you ever bricked a motherboard. Hot swapped a BIOS chip?
Tweakers are willing to take a risk blowing money for their hobby. Are you?
The tools needed are even Linux based. Gasp.




__





						GalliumOS – A fast and lightweight Linux distro for ChromeOS devices
					






					galliumos.org


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## Phishfry (Jan 12, 2022)

My PC Engines APU2 recommendation was spot on. SeaBIOS with support.
For $100 you get a work platform with exposed SPI just in case you flashing goes sideways.

Unfortunatly APU2/3/4 got supply issues and dried up. No more cheap boxes.
I would give you one of mine but they are now rare. Its not a desktop rig either.

Chromebox would be my suggestion today.
That or old IBM Notebook known to work.


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## Phishfry (Jan 12, 2022)

altern
Can I ask what is it that draws you to Coreboot? Is it the open source?

It takes a certain sickness to take working hardware and attempt to modify it for philosophical reasons.
Just my read on it as a hardware guy. I like the principal but it has its place.
I too have a hardware sickness. I buy computers and try and make them run FreeBSD.
So I understand it.
But you have to recognize the challenge you are trying tackle and know the subject matter well or it will cost you dearly.


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## Phishfry (Jan 12, 2022)

Since you are obviously on a tight budget why not consider learning U-Boot on Arm.
Many Armv7 boards are still viable and cheap.

I must say Uboot is also an open source BIOS replacement and a great tool for learning boot procedures.

It is very hard to brick a device using uboot. If you mess up just rebuild your microSD card.


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## Jose (Jan 12, 2022)

I'm not altern, but I'll answer anyway. I'm interested in Coreboot because I don't think the lock the "Independent" BIOS Vendors have on PC firmware is healthy. Some things I've read recently that confirm my dislike:




__





						Thoughts dereferenced from the scratchpad noise.  | Dasharo for Dell OptiPlex 7010 / 9010
					





					blog.3mdeb.com
				







__





						Thoughts dereferenced from the scratchpad noise.  | Open Source Firmware on AMD Milan server processors
					





					blog.3mdeb.com
				




Also, wouldn't it be nice to be able to upgrade your BIOS from Freebsd?




__





						Thoughts dereferenced from the scratchpad noise.  | fwupd on FreeBSD - Status Update
					





					blog.3mdeb.com


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## JohnnySorocil (Jan 12, 2022)

Phishfry said:


> It is very hard to brick a device using uboot. If you mess up just rebuild your microSD card.


It is not impossible 
Bricking ARM device is usually writing wrong u-boot to some bootable memory media (microSD, eMMC, SPI flash).
I manage to write u-boot to my RK3399 board to eMMC instead to microSD (eMMC has greater boot priority). Unbricking was little disassembly and connecting one wire from GND to tiny tiny resistor near eMMC flash while powering it up.
Buy UART adapter before any experimentation, it cost a few bucks but it will of great help.

ThinkPads (T430/X230 are the last supported models IIRC) but not sure about price.
Bricking CoreBoot means unbootable PC, but easy (after some practice) fixable with reflashing SPI flash (where BIOS is stored) with external programmer (few dollars, you can make your own from STM32 $2 board). And that SPI flash is not that accessible - laptop disassembly was needed in my case.

Personally, playing with u-boot was much more fun than playing with CoreBoot.


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## JohnnySorocil (Jan 12, 2022)

Jose said:


> Also, wouldn't it be nice to be able to upgrade your BIOS from Freebsd?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Updating coreboot was possible with `flashrom` utility before. But you need first to replace OEM BIOS with coreboot (with external programmer).

Another benefit of CoreBoot: Buy cheaper laptop with (forgotten) BIOS password, flash u-boot and have usable cheap laptop with free software


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## altern (Dec 7, 2022)

Hi,

does anyone test new boards?
please discuss here or start private conversation

Thank you


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## Jose (Dec 7, 2022)

I'm going to try one these if they every become available:








						Mainboard (12th Gen Intel® Core™) - Chromebook
					






					frame.work


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## astyle (Dec 8, 2022)

If I were looking for a board like that, I'd probably phrase the question a bit differently: Are there Coreboot-compatible boards that are known to be NOT compatible with FreeBSD? Most of the stuff listed at https://coreboot.org/status/board-status.html, it looks like it'll play with FreeBSD just fine. Also, FreeBSD doesn't care about the BIOS anyway, it will use just about anything with impunity to boot. 

Some VPS vendors do allow access into a bios via a special software-based console that runs on Windows... I'm not aware of an Open Source equivalent, though.


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