Coreboot 26.06 Brings Support for 31 New Boards
Coreboot 26.06 has been released, adding support for 31 new mainboards, including AMD Ryzen and Intel platforms. The open-source firmware project also continues to improve support for newer AMD and Intel hardware, along with various other enhancements and fixes.
Background
- Coreboot is a free, open-source firmware project intended as a lightweight, fast, and secure alternative to proprietary BIOS/UEFI firmware that ships on most PCs and motherboards.
- Firmware (BIOS/UEFI) is the low-level software that initializes hardware when a computer turns on and loads the operating system; coreboot prides itself on doing this in milliseconds rather than seconds.
- This release adds official support for 31 new "boards" (specific motherboards or devices), bringing the total to well over 300 supported platforms, including older Chromebooks, various x86 embedded/industrial boards, and select AMD/Intel consumer motherboards.
- Coreboot is developed and maintained by a volunteer community plus contributions from Google, Intel, AMD, and other hardware vendors; it is the firmware used in nearly all Chromebooks.
- For tech readers, coreboot matters because proprietary UEFI firmware is a large, opaque attack surface that vendors rarely update; coreboot is auditable, can reduce boot times drastically, and enables open-source firmware on otherwise locked-down hardware.