Libreboot has released a new issue of its firmware, Libreboot 20240612, which is now available for download. The project builds on the work of Coreboot, an open-source firmware that replaces proprietary UEFI and BIOS firmware responsible for initializing CPU, memory, and peripheral devices with minimized binary inserts.
Libreboot aims to create a complete system environment free of proprietary components, not only at the operating system level but also in the firmware used for booting. It simplifies the use of Coreboot for end users by providing a ready-made distribution that does not require specialized skills.
This latest update, like previous releases, is stable and primarily focuses on bug fixes identified over the past month and incorporates changes from the auditing process of the build system. A new experimental branch is scheduled to be created in July, laying the foundation for the next stable release expected in the spring of the following year.
The assembly script size has been reduced by 12%, and a driver for GRUB has been added to support booting from NVMe drives. For systems with Intel Haswell CPUs, such as ThinkPad T440P, W541, Dell Optiplex 9020 MT, and Dell Optiplex 9020, a free implementation of Raminit is now used instead of a blob to initialize (MRC).
Supported hardware in Libreboot includes server motherboards like Asus KFSN4-DRE and Asus KGPE-D16, desktop systems such as Gigabyte GA-G41M-SES2L, Acer G43T-AM3, and more, as well as laptops like Lenovo ThinkPad X60, T60, X200, X220, T400, T530, and HP Elitebook models.
For a full list of equipment supported by Libreboot, you can visit their website here. Another project, Canoeboot, has also released its latest issue, Canoeboot 20240612.