Documentation is now handled by the same processes we use for code: Add something to the Documentation/ directory in the coreboot repo, and it will be rendered to https://doc.coreboot.org/. Contributions welcome!
See Supported_Motherboards#Laptops
The remaining issue with supporting netbooks may be open firmware support for the Embedded controller (EC). These ECs used to support keyboard scan, lid open/closed, battery charging, power management, etc.
coreboot should work with the "stock" EC firmware. This may still be a challenge because "we don't know what we don't know". Behavior at runtime is fairly standardized, but we don't know what we need to do for initialization - do we need to set up registers, put in tables, kick things, or will it all Just Work (TM)?
This is not a list of coreboot supported laptops but rather chipsets, Super I/Os, flash chips, and especially embedded controllers used in a few laptops, just for reference purposes.
| Vendor | Model | CPU | Chipset NB | Chipset SB | Super I/O | EC | Flash Chip | Flash Size | Flash S. | Flash T. | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS | S96F/Z96F | Intel Core™2 Duo T7400 | Intel i945 | Intel ICH7 | ITE IT8510E | in Super I/O | ? | ? | ? | ? | macavity |
| Acer | Aspire One ZG5 | Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz | Intel 82945GME | Intel NH82801GBM ICH7-M | Winbond WPCE775LA0DG | in Super I/O | Winbond 25x80AVSIG | 8Mb | no | SOIP/DIP | XVilka |
| Acer | Aspire 3613LC | Intel Celeron M 370 1.5GHz L2: 1MB | Intel 82910GML | Intel FW82801FBM SL7W6 ICH6-M | ? | ? | PMC 0537 PM39LV040-70JCE | 1Mb | no | SOIP/DIP | XVilka |
| Dell | Latitude CPi A366XT | PII, 360 MHz | Intel 440BX | SMSC FDC37N958FR | in Super I/O | AMD AM29F040B | 512KB | yes | PLCC | UH | |
| Dell | Latitude C610 | PIII, 1.2 GHz | Intel i830 | SMSC LPC47N252 | in Super I/O | SST SST49LF004A | 512KB | no | PLCC | CybFr | |
| Dell | Dell Vostro V13 | Intel Celeron 743 1.2GHz, L2: 1MB (Ultra Low Voltage) | Mobile Intel GS45 Express GHMC | Intel 82801IEM ICH9M-E | none | ITE IT8502E | Winbond 25Q16BVSIG | 2Mb | no | SOIP/PDIP | XVilka |
| Dell | XPS M1530 | Intel Core™2 Duo T7700 | Intel PM965 | Intel ICH8 | none | Winbond WPC8763L | Winbond 25X16VSIG | 16Mb | ?? | SPI | Corey Osgood |
| Fujitsu-S. | Lifebook S-4572 | PIII, 750 MHz | Intel 82440MX | SMSC FDC37N769 | ? | Fujitsu MBM29F400T1 | ? | no | TSOP(?) | UH | |
| Fujitsu-S. | Lifebook S7110 | Intel Core™2 Duo T7200 | Intel i945 | Intel ICH7 | SMSC LPC47N217 | Fujitsu MB90378 | Spansion S25FL008A2 | 1024 kB | no | SO8 / SPI | twice11 |
| Gateway | W730-K8X | Socket 754 | ?? | ?? | ?? | SST 39VF040 | ?? | yes | PLCC | Juri | |
| Gateway | 6020GZ | Celeron M 1.4Ghz | Intel 855GME | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | no | ?? | Juri | |
| Gericom | Webboy 340S2 | PIII | SiS630 | NSC PC87393VJG | NSC PC87570 | Winbond 29C020 | 256 kB | yes | PLCC | NS | |
| Getac | P470 | Intel® Core 2 Duo Mobile | Intel 945 | Intel ICH7 | ? | ? | ? | 8Mb | no | SPI / SOIC8 | Stefan Reinauer |
| Highscreen | XD 14-C1700 | Intel Celeron 1.7 GHz | SiS650 | NSC PC87391(?) | ? | EON EN29F040(A) | 512 kB | yes | PLCC | UH | |
| HP/Compaq | nc6320 | T7200 | 945GM | ICH7-M | SMSC LPC47N217 | SMSC KBC1021-MT | M25PE80 | 1024 kB | yes | SOIC-8 | GNUtoo |
| HP | Omnibook XE3(L) | PIII, 750 MHz | Intel 82371MB | Intel PIIX4M | SMSC FDC37N869 | NSC PC87570 | SST 28SF040A | 512 kB | no | PLCC | UH |
| IBM | Thinkpad T30 | Intel P4 Mobile, 1.8 GHz | Intel i845 | Intel ICH3-M | NSC PC87392 | Renesas H8S 64F3169ATE10 | ST M50FW080N5 | 1024 kB | no | TSOP40 / FWH | edgecase |
| IBM | Thinkpad X60s | Intel Core Duo CPU L2300 | Intel i945GM | Intel ICH7-M | NSC PC87392 (in Ultrabase) | Renesas H8S2161B | MX25L1605D | 2048 kB | no | SOIC-8 | Sven Schnelle |
| MSI | Wind U100 | Intel Atom N280 1.66Ghz | Intel 945GSE | Intel ICH7-M | ? | ENE KB3310 | SST MX25L8005 | 8 Mb | no | TSOP40 / SPI | ? |
| One | A110 | VIA C7-M ULV 1.0 GHz | VIA VX800 | none | ENE KB3310 | ? | ? | no | ? | UH | |
| Panasonic | Toughbook CF-25 | P166MMX | FW82439TX (430TX) | FW82371AB | NSC PC87336VJG | Renesas 3886 | SST SST29EE020 | 256 kB | no | ? | Miernik |
| Roda | Rocky III+ RK886EX | Intel® Core 2 Duo Mobile T5500 | Intel 945 | Intel ICH7 | SMSC® LPC47N227 | Renesas M38859 | SST SST49LF080 | 8Mb | yes | PLCC | Stefan Reinauer |
| Roda | Rocky II+ RT686 | Intel Pentium III | Intel 430BX | Intel FW82371EB | SMSC® FDC37N769 | Renesas M38867M8A | SST SST29LE020 | 256KB | yes | PLCC/parallel | UH |
| Sony | Vaio Picturebook PCG-C1XD | P2 400 | 443ZX | ? | ? | ST M29W004BT | 512 kB | no | Miernik | ||
| Sony | Vaio Picturebook PCG-C1X | P266MMX | 430TX | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Miernik | |
| Toshiba | Libretto 50M PA1243CM | P133 | custom FPGA | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Miernik | |
| Toshiba | Satellite A80-117 | Intel Celeron | Intel 915GM | Intel ICH6 | SMSC LPC47N217 | ENE KB910 | ? | 1024 kB | no | TSOP (?) | UH |
1 According to the vendor BIOS update tool.
2 Nice thing: EC/Flash is not shared, so you can erase the whole flash during system operation (this was tested).
Further links:
A few earlier coreboot discussions on laptops are linked here, you might get useful information out of them:
There are several various brands of laptops, but there are only a few actual laptop makers.
Name brand companies like Hewlet Packard, Compaq, IBM, Dell, Gateway, Sony, Micron, Toshiba and others; including Alienware and Voodoo do not make their own laptops. The exceptions are Asus and Apple, and even Apple doesn't make all of their laptops.
Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) make the laptops for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). They in turn, add their preloaded hard drives and sell them to consumers. This is why a laptop is a bit more complicated to support with coreboot. The OEM's may not even have all the specifications for the laptop since the ODM has done all the design and assembly.
Some laptop ODMs are:
Further links: