Documentation: update/improve distribution listing
- improve descriptions of Purism and ChromeOS hardware - add entry for Libretrend Librebox - improve description of Mr Chromebox and John Lewis' 3rd party ChromeOS firmware offerings Change-Id: I66bd1a3701091e499d88738a7c06126de66e58ff Signed-off-by: Matt DeVillier <matt.devillier@gmail.com> Reviewed-on: https://review.coreboot.org/c/31252 Tested-by: build bot (Jenkins) <no-reply@coreboot.org> Reviewed-by: Patrick Georgi <pgeorgi@google.com> Reviewed-by: Philipp Deppenwiese <zaolin.daisuki@gmail.com>
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@ -5,42 +5,57 @@ to build boot firmware for all kinds of purposes. These third-parties can be
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broadly separated in two groups: Those shipping coreboot on their hardware,
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and those providing after-market firmware to extend the usefulness of devices.
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## Shipping coreboot on hardware
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## Hardware shipping with coreboot
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### Purism
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[Purism](https://www.puri.sm) sells laptops with a focus on privacy and
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part of that is their push to remove as much unaccounted code (that is,
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binary only) from their devices as possible.
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[Purism](https://www.puri.sm) sells laptops with a focus on user privacy and
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security; part of that effort is to minimize the amount of proprietary and/or
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binary code. Their laptops ship with a blob-free OS and coreboot firmware
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with a neutralized Intel Management Engine (ME) and SeaBIOS as the payload.
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### Chromebooks
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### ChromeOS Devices
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All Chromebooks (and related devices) that hit the market after 2013 are
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using coreboot as their main firmware. And even the Embedded Controller,
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a small microcontroller to support various peripherals (like battery
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management or the keyboard) is running open source firmware.
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All ChromeOS devices (Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, Chromebit, etc) released from
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2012 onward use coreboot for their main system firmware. Additionally, starting
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with the 2013 Chromebook Pixel, the firmware running on the Embedded Controller
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(EC - a small microcontroller which provides functions like battery management,
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keyboard support, and sensor interfacing) is open source as well.
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### Libretrend
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[Libretrend](https://libretrend.com) sells the Librebox, a NUC-like PC which
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ships with coreboot firmware.
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## After-market firmware
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### Libreboot
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[Libreboot](https://libreboot.org) is a project that provides ready-made
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binaries for platforms where those can be built entirely from source
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code. Their copy of the coreboot repository is therefore stripped of
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all devices that require binary components to boot.
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[Libreboot](https://libreboot.org) is a downstream coreboot distribution that
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provides ready-made firmware images for supported devices: those which can be
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built entirely from source code. Their copy of the coreboot repository is
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therefore stripped of all devices that require binary components to boot.
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### Mr. Chromebox
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### MrChromebox
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[Matt Devo](https://mrchromebox.tech/) provides replacement firmware for
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various Chromebooks. Why replace coreboot with coreboot? You might want
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to do different things than what the Google engineers prepared for the
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mass market, that's why. This firmware is "with training wheels off".
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[MrChromebox](https://mrchromebox.tech/) provides upstream coreboot firmware
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images for the vast majority of x86-based Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, using
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Tianocore as the payload to provide a modern UEFI bootloader. Why replace
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coreboot with coreboot? Mr Chromebox's images are built using upstream
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coreboot (vs Google's older, static tree/branch), include many features and
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fixes not found in the stock firmware, and offer much broader OS compatibility
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(i.e., they run Windows as well as Linux). They also offer updated CPU
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microcode, as well as firmware updates for the device's embedded controller
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(EC). This firmware "takes the training wheels off" your ChromeOS device :)
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### John Lewis
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[John Lewis](https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware) also
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provides replacements for Chromebook firmware, for the same reasons
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as Mr. Chromebox. It's a somewhat different set of devices, and with
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different configurations, so check out both if Chromebooks are what
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you're dealing with.
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[John Lewis](https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware) also provides
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replacement firmware for ChromeOS devices, for the express purpose of
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running Linux on Chromebooks. John Lewis' firmware supports a much smaller
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set of devices, and uses SeaBIOS as the payload to support Legacy BIOS booting.
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His firmware images are significantly older, and not actively maintained or
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supported, but worth a look if you need Legacy Boot support and is not
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available via Mr Chromebox's firmware.
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