Welcome!
Welcome!
This is a Lemmy community created to discuss all things Libreboot. As you can tell, it's quite empty here, so please feel welcome to fill it up with your experiences of Libreboot.
I've created this community to do my part and help the migration from Reddit to Lemmy. Lemmy isn't perfect, but it's closer to Libreboot's spirit than Reddit is. That's what I think, anyway.
Hi /u/piezoelectron, thank you for letting us know about this place. Libreboot: Across the Fedi-verse.
Thank you so much. Across the Fediverse!
I got a question. How likely am I to brick my laptop by flashing libreboot if it's not on the supported hardware list?
I'm a software guy, so I don't fully know the dangers of messing with firmware lol
My understanding is that you simply won't be able to flash libreboot on a non-supported laptop. Bear in mind, 'supported' here actually means 'a machine that happens not to have Intel Management Engine'.
To put it differently, Libreboot's maintainer hasn't consciously chosen supported hardware. It's just that newer generations of Intel and AMD chips make it impossible to flash libreboot on them. For these machines, the closest you can get is flashing coreboot, which disables/ringfences the problematic, privacy-threatening firmware (Intel ME, in the case of Intel) but doesn't eliminate it. Also, coreboot isn't free software -- libreboot was created as an alternative that's truly free (as in freedom, not beer, as the saying goes).
This is also why libreboot-compatible laptops tend to be really old Thinkpads and Chromebooks from between 2008-2012ish. If you want a more modern laptop, then I'd suggest coreboot, with the main caveat that strictly speaking, coreboot doesn't comprehensively eliminate the privacy problem the way libreboot does, and that it's also not free software.
Cool, welcome from another instance!
Hello hello, the award for first comment goes to you!