2e98da9688
Surprisingly, SeaBIOS VGA output works (coreboot documentation says it doesn't). I'm using a static CMOS option table currently (like most other boards supported in libreboot), but maybe it would be better to switch to the CBFS file option table. The default option table enables hyperthreading, overriding the compile-time setting. I'm also using a ME/SPS image extracted from the official BIOS update for this board. Unfortunately, https://www.supermicro.com/Bios/* is excluded from crawlers in robots.txt so it's not in archive.org, so I haven't been able to find a backup download URL. I also needed to set the user-agent for fetching the update to "curl/8.6.0" because the default user-agent override used by lbmk resulted in a 403 error. deguard is not required (there's no bootguard on this board). SPS does not implement CPU replacement detection which means that the MRC cache does not work and RAM training needs to happen on every boot. To avoid this it may be possible to run ME instead of SPS on this board, but I tried both the ME image used on the OptiPlex 3050 Micro in libreboot and one from the ASRock C236 WSI and they both hung at "[INFO ] POST: 0x92" (POSTCODE_FSP_MEMORY_INIT). The memtest86+ build included with libreboot doesn't work with USB keyboards and this board doesn't have a PS/2 port, which is annoying.
Libreboot
Documentation: libreboot.org
Support: #libreboot on
Libera IRC
Libreboot provides libre boot firmware on supported motherboards. It replaces proprietary vendor BIOS/UEFI implementations, by
- Using coreboot to initialize the hardware (e.g. memory controller, CPU, etc.) while minimizing unwanted functionality (e.g. backdoors such as the Intel Management Engine)
- ... which runs a payload such as SeaBIOS, GRUB, or U-Boot
- ... which loads your operating system's boot loader (BSD and Linux-based systems are supported).
Why use Libreboot, and what is coreboot?
A lot of users who use libre operating systems still use proprietary boot firmware, which often contain backdoors and bugs, hampering user freedom and right to repair.
coreboot provides libre boot firmware by initializing the hardware then running a payload. However, coreboot is notoriously difficult to configure and install for most non-technical users, requiring detailed technical knowledge of hardware.
Libreboot solves this by being a coreboot distribution (in the same way that Alpine Linux is a Linux distribution). It provides a fully automated build system that downloads and compiles pre-configured ROM images for supported motherboards, so end-users could easily fetch images to flash onto their devices.
Libreboot also produces documentation aimed at non-technical users and excellent user support via IRC.
Contribute
You can check bugs listed on the bug tracker.
You may use Codeberg pull requests to send patches with bug fixes or other improvements. This repository hosts the code for the main build system. The website lives in a separate repository.
Development is also done on the IRC channel.
License for this README
It's just a README file. It is released under Creative Commons Zero, version 1.0.