Libreboot, a project that provides free loading firmware, has released version 20230319. The project is based on Coreboot, which replaces proprietary firmware UEFI and BIOS, responsible for initializing CPU, memory, peripheral devices, and other equipment components. The new version contains minimized binary inserts.
The project aims to create a completely proprietary software-free environment, not only at the operating system level but also at the firmware level. Libreboot cleanses Coreboot of non-free components and provides means to simplify usage for all users, even those without special skills.
Supported equipment includes desktop systems such as Gigabyte GA-G41M-SE2L, Intel D510MO, Intel D410pt, Intel D945GCLF, and Apple IMAC 5.2. Laptops like ThinkPad X60/X60S/X60 Tablet, ThinkPad T60, Lenovo ThinkPad X200/X200S/X200 Tablet/X220/X230, Lenovo Thinkpad R400, Lenovo Thinkpad T400/T400S/T420/T420s/T420i, ThinkPad W500/W530, Lenovo ThinkPad R500, Apple MacBook1 and MacBook2, as well as various Chromebook devices from ASUS, Samsung, Acer, and HP are also supported.
With the new version, support for Lenovo ThinkPad W530 and T530 laptops has been added. Additionally, standing support for ASUS P2B_LS and P3B_F has been included. The Memnit initialization code (Raminit) has been adapted for boards with processors based on the Haswell microarchitecture. Issues with transition to sleeping mode (S3) on laptops ThinkPad T440P and ThinkPad W541 have been resolved.
The compulsory console output mode (GRUB_TERMINAL=CONSOLE) has been included in the console for improved display of the loading menu of installation media for some Linux distributions. Synchronization with Coreboot code base as of February 2023 has been performed for most of the X86 boards, along with improvements for devices with chips based on the Haswell microarchitecture.
The waiting time in grub.cfg has been reduced from 10 to 5 seconds, while the size of released video memory has been reduced from 352MB to 256MB for ThinkPad GM45 laptops. Changes have also been made to GRUB and Seabios code bases, and the code base has been processed nvmutil.
The author of Libreboot has started development of a new minimalist Live District to restore systems after failures, similar to the distribution of heads.