diff --git a/README b/README index 94c95a26e0..af5d176946 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,37 +1,27 @@ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Coreboot README +coreboot README ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Coreboot is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary +coreboot is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS you can find in most of today's computers. It performs just a little bit of hardware initialization and then executes -one of many possible payloads, e.g. a Linux kernel. +one of many possible payloads, e.g. a Linux kernel or a bootloader. Payloads -------- After the basic initialization of the hardware has been performed, any -desired "payload" can be started by coreboot. Examples include: +desired "payload" can be started by coreboot. - * A Linux kernel - * FILO (a simple bootloader with filesystem support) - * GRUB2 (a free bootloader; support is in development) - * OpenBIOS (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation) - * Open Firmware (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation) - * SmartFirmware (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation) - * GNUFI (a free, UEFI-compatible firmware) - * Etherboot (for network booting and booting from raw IDE or FILO) - * ADLO (for booting Windows 2000 or OpenBSD) - * Plan 9 (a distributed operating system) - * memtest86 (for testing your RAM) +See http://www.coreboot.org/Payloads for a list of supported payloads. Supported Hardware ------------------ -Coreboot supports a wide range of chipsets, devices, and mainboards. +coreboot supports a wide range of chipsets, devices, and mainboards. For details please consult: @@ -39,6 +29,37 @@ For details please consult: * http://www.coreboot.org/Supported_Chipsets_and_Devices +Build Requirements +------------------ + + * gcc / g++ + * make + * python + * perl + +Optional: + + * doxygen (for generating/viewing documentation) + * iasl (for targets with ACPI support) + * gdb (for better debugging facilities on some targets) + + +Building coreboot +----------------- + +Please consult http://www.coreboot.org/Documentation for details. + + +Testing coreboot Without Modifying Your Hardware +------------------------------------------------- + +If you want to test coreboot without any risks before you really decide +to use it on your hardware, you can use the QEMU system emulator to run +coreboot virtually in QEMU. + +Please see http://www.coreboot.org/QEMU for details. + + Website and Mailing List ------------------------ @@ -58,7 +79,7 @@ Copyright and License The copyright on coreboot is owned by quite a large number of individual developers and companies. Please check the individual source files for details. -Coreboot is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). +coreboot is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). Some files are licensed under the "GPL (version 2, or any later version)", and some files (mostly those derived from the Linux kernel) are licensed under the "GPL, version 2". For some parts, which were derived from other projects,