Welcome to coreboot: Difference between revisions

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<small>There are many reasons for using coreboot.</small>
<small>There are many reasons for using coreboot.</small>
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<small>
* 100% Free Software (GPL), no royalties, no license fees!
* 100% Free Software (GPL), no royalties, no license fees!
* Fast boot times (3 seconds from power-on to Linux console)
* Fast boot times (3 seconds from power-on to Linux console)
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* Supports a wide variety of [[Supported Motherboards|mainboards]], [[Supported Chipsets and Devices|devices]], and [[payloads]]
* Supports a wide variety of [[Supported Motherboards|mainboards]], [[Supported Chipsets and Devices|devices]], and [[payloads]]
* Further features: netboot, serial console, remote flashing, ...
* Further features: netboot, serial console, remote flashing, ...
</small>
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|style="vertical-align:top"|
'''<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">[[Use Cases]]</span>''' &mdash;
'''<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">[[Use Cases]]</span>''' &mdash;
<small>coreboot can be deployed in a wide range of scenarios.</small>
<small>coreboot can be deployed in a wide range of scenarios.</small>
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<hr />
<small>
* Standard desktop computers and servers
* Standard desktop computers and servers
* [[Clusters]], high-performance computing
* [[Clusters]], high-performance computing
* Set-Top-Boxes, thin clients
* Embedded solutions, appliances, terminals
* Embedded solutions, appliances, terminals
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_form_factor Small form factor computers], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC Home-theater PCs] (HTPC)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_form_factor Small form factor computers], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC Home-theater PCs] (HTPC)
* No-moving-parts solutions (ROM chip as "hard drive")
* No-moving-parts solutions (ROM chip as "hard drive")
* Various non-standard scenarios (e.g. FPGA in Opteron socket)
* Various non-standard scenarios (e.g. FPGA in Opteron socket)
</small>
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Revision as of 01:29, 12 March 2008

coreboot (formerly known as LinuxBIOS) is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS (firmware) you can find in most of today's computers.

It performs just a little bit of hardware initialization and then executes a so-called payload, for example a Linux kernel, FILO, GRUB2, OpenBIOS, Open Firmware, SmartFirmware, GNUFI (UEFI), Etherboot, ADLO (for booting Windows, FreeBSD, or OpenBSD), Plan 9, or memtest86.

BenefitsThere are many reasons for using coreboot.


  • 100% Free Software (GPL), no royalties, no license fees!
  • Fast boot times (3 seconds from power-on to Linux console)
  • Avoids the need for a slow, buggy, proprietary BIOS
  • Runs in 32-Bit protected mode almost from the start
  • Written in C, contains virtually no assembly code
  • Supports a wide variety of mainboards, devices, and payloads
  • Further features: netboot, serial console, remote flashing, ...

Use Casescoreboot can be deployed in a wide range of scenarios.


  • Standard desktop computers and servers
  • Clusters, high-performance computing
  • Set-Top-Boxes, thin clients
  • Embedded solutions, appliances, terminals
  • Small form factor computers, Home-theater PCs (HTPC)
  • No-moving-parts solutions (ROM chip as "hard drive")
  • Various non-standard scenarios (e.g. FPGA in Opteron socket)


About
Find out more about coreboot.
News | Press | History | Screenshots & Videos | Contributors | Sponsors

Developers
Get involved! Help us make coreboot better.
Development Guidelines | Developer Manual | Reference Library | Doxygen | Browse Source | JTAG | EHCI Debug Port | Testsystem | GSoC | Ideas | Superiotool

Status
Find out whether your hardware is already supported.
Supported Motherboards | Supported Chipsets & Devices | Build Status | Flashrom support | Superiotool support

Vendors & Products
Find out in which products coreboot is used.
Products | Clusters | Laptop | Desktops

Getting Started
Download coreboot and get started.
Downloads | Documentation | Build Tutorials | Payloads | QEMU | AMD SimNow | Confirmed Working SVN Revisions | Buildrom | Flashrom | Misc

Support
Learn how to contact us and find help and support.
FAQ | Mailinglist | IRC | Issue Tracker | Glossary | corebootv2 Options
coreboot anatomy.


News

Contact