{"slug": "coreboot", "name": "coreboot", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 12, "warners": 2, "score": 4.931, "rising": 3.02, "first": "2025-11-17", "latest": "2026-10-28", "why": "I love coreboot, openbmc, etc. as much as the next guy", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 4, "compare": 1, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 2], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I love coreboot, openbmc, etc. as much as the next guy", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "coreboot.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.coreboot.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["coreboot", "Coreboot"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 804402672, "item_id": 50275167, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50275167", "by": "FuriouslyAdrift", "date": "2026-10-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Not one single mention of coreboot in this thread? sad...", "excerpt": "Not one single mention of coreboot in this thread? sad... https://www.coreboot.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "open-source boot firmware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Code-execution flaw in UEFI firmware threatens most servers on planet Earth"}, {"id": 801627617, "item_id": 50101726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50101726", "by": "alias_neo", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a Protectli box running Coreboot and OPNSense and haven't looked back", "excerpt": "Step one is not to buy TP-Link routers. I know people have limited budgets, but having seen the code that sits on these devices and how poor quality and easily exploited it is, time and time again, I'll never buy TP-Link (amongst others) again. For a while I collected a graveyard of routers that had been abandoned by the manufacturers (and contained serious vulnerabilities), with the intention of writing them all up ", "context": "", "use_case": "router firmware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wanted to download an ISO, ended up writing a kernel exploit"}, {"id": 798345072, "item_id": 49896567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49896567", "by": "rrego", "date": "2026-09-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it was a fantastic linux device", "excerpt": "Yeah pretty much this. Google had a pretty successful effort to sell these devices as part of a managed solution: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/technology/google-education-chromebooks-schools.html Im guessing it was pretty easy for teachers (who they reached out to bypassing school procurement officers) or IT to manage. Honestly, I used use a cheap chromebook throughout college since it was a fantastic linux dev", "context": "used a cheap chromebook throughout college", "use_case": "firmware on a cheap Chromebook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google ending ChromeOS support two years early"}, {"id": 796986385, "item_id": 49811649, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811649", "by": "zir_blazer", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Coreboot in desktops is perhaps in the best shape it has been in more than a decade", "excerpt": "Yes, I know that there are examples in the wild of that kind of AI modding: https://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2026/08/fixing-an-emachines-el1200-bios-bug-with-claude/ https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/modder-uses-claude-ai-to-rewrite-bios-so-they-can-boot-unsupported-12-p-core-bartlett-lake-cpu-in-windows-on-a-z790-motherboard Coreboot in desktops is perhaps in the best shape it has been in more than a ", "context": "", "use_case": "Open-source BIOS replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "ReBarUEFI: Resizable BAR for almost any UEFI system"}, {"id": 757569312, "item_id": 47348082, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47348082", "by": "M95D", "date": "2026-03-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "U-boot and coreboot are free (ring -2 if they include ACPI / SMM, else still ring 0).", "excerpt": "I appreciate your detailed reply. I think we are looking from different perspectives. You are correct in an item-by-item way, but you need to put them all together and see the bigger picture. In my comment, it may have made a mess confusing technologies and their capabilities, but I was looking at the forest, not the trees. There are only two viable firmware alternatives in the world right now: ring 0 U-boot* or the ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Never Bet Against x86"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 779251217, "item_id": 48703201, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703201", "by": "jjmarr", "date": "2026-06-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Neither is Coreboot which has blobs for many other things.", "excerpt": "Technoethical sells a refurbished T400 with GNU Boot. https://tehnoetic.com/laptops/tet-t400s Libreboot actually isn't free anymore by FSF standards because it has binary blobs for the Intel Management Engine. Neither is Coreboot which has blobs for many other things. Most modern computers cannot boot without binary blobs for ME, which is why GNU Boot was created. If you want a modern/new computer, Purism sells them ", "context": "", "use_case": "Laptop firmware replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "Previewing GPT\u20115.6 Sol: a next-generation model"}, {"id": 735251541, "item_id": 45953221, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45953221", "by": "udev4096", "date": "2025-11-17", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "coreboot doesn't have BIOS password feature", "excerpt": "Using luks to encrypt all partitions (incl. /boot) and it's only unlocked using yubikey. I have secureboot enabled (sbctl to enroll keys) and TPM PCR values to avoid tampering. systemd-boot (a lot more secure than grub) doesn't have password to lock the kernel editor so I have disabled the editor altogether. I use fapolicy for \"whitelisting\" apps. Unfortunately, coreboot doesn't have BIOS password feature so it's unl", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Runit Linux: Complete Guide to Unix Init Scheme with Service Supervision"}]}], "who": [{"by": "rrego", "context": "used a cheap chromebook throughout college", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49896567", "date": "2026-09-29"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["open-source boot firmware", "router firmware", "firmware on a cheap chromebook", "open-source bios replacement", "laptop firmware replacement", "laptop firmware"], "compared": [{"slug": "heads", "name": "Heads", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "libreboot", "name": "Libreboot", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "linux", "name": "Linux", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265393", "title": "Code-execution flaw in UEFI firmware threatens most servers on planet Earth", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50102923", "title": "Libreboot 26.10 \"Ominous Olive\" released with UEFI, Chromebook support", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50070625", "title": "Wanted to download an ISO, ended up writing a kernel exploit", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49937718", "title": "GrapheneOS has fixed the Android 17 QPR1 kernel performance regression", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49893653", "title": "Google ending ChromeOS support two years early", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49781862", "title": "ReBarUEFI: Resizable BAR for almost any UEFI system", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2, "compare": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 804402672, "item_id": 50275167, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50275167", "by": "FuriouslyAdrift", "date": "2026-10-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Not one single mention of coreboot in this thread? sad...", "excerpt": "Not one single mention of coreboot in this thread? sad... https://www.coreboot.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "open-source boot firmware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Code-execution flaw in UEFI firmware threatens most servers on planet Earth"}, {"id": 801666657, "item_id": 50104166, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104166", "by": "versooth", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Coreboot just ships source.", "excerpt": "Libreboot is not a fork of Coreboot. It's a distribution. That is, they build and distribute firmware images. Coreboot just ships source. Coreboot's docs lists the variety of distributions: https://doc.coreboot.org/distributions.html", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Libreboot 26.10 \"Ominous Olive\" released with UEFI, Chromebook support"}, {"id": 801627617, "item_id": 50101726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50101726", "by": "alias_neo", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a Protectli box running Coreboot and OPNSense and haven't looked back", "excerpt": "Step one is not to buy TP-Link routers. I know people have limited budgets, but having seen the code that sits on these devices and how poor quality and easily exploited it is, time and time again, I'll never buy TP-Link (amongst others) again. For a while I collected a graveyard of routers that had been abandoned by the manufacturers (and contained serious vulnerabilities), with the intention of writing them all up ", "context": "", "use_case": "router firmware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wanted to download an ISO, ended up writing a kernel exploit"}, {"id": 799229698, "item_id": 49951856, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49951856", "by": "fsflover", "date": "2026-10-04", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My Qubes laptop runs coreboot with Heads", "excerpt": "> mainstream security How is this mainstream security, if GrapheneOS are the only ones offering it? Cutting edge, maybe. Except Qubes OS of course. > Do you have source code of the BIOS, firmware and microcode of your chosen Qubes OS pc? :D My Qubes laptop runs coreboot with Heads with disabled and neutralized Intel ME. It does not offer the full user freedom, but it comes as close as possible. > or a statement that ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS has fixed the Android 17 QPR1 kernel performance regression"}, {"id": 798345072, "item_id": 49896567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49896567", "by": "rrego", "date": "2026-09-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it was a fantastic linux device", "excerpt": "Yeah pretty much this. Google had a pretty successful effort to sell these devices as part of a managed solution: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/technology/google-education-chromebooks-schools.html Im guessing it was pretty easy for teachers (who they reached out to bypassing school procurement officers) or IT to manage. Honestly, I used use a cheap chromebook throughout college since it was a fantastic linux dev", "context": "used a cheap chromebook throughout college", "use_case": "firmware on a cheap Chromebook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google ending ChromeOS support two years early"}, {"id": 796986385, "item_id": 49811649, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811649", "by": "zir_blazer", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Coreboot in desktops is perhaps in the best shape it has been in more than a decade", "excerpt": "Yes, I know that there are examples in the wild of that kind of AI modding: https://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2026/08/fixing-an-emachines-el1200-bios-bug-with-claude/ https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/modder-uses-claude-ai-to-rewrite-bios-so-they-can-boot-unsupported-12-p-core-bartlett-lake-cpu-in-windows-on-a-z790-motherboard Coreboot in desktops is perhaps in the best shape it has been in more than a ", "context": "", "use_case": "Open-source BIOS replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "ReBarUEFI: Resizable BAR for almost any UEFI system"}, {"id": 779251217, "item_id": 48703201, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703201", "by": "jjmarr", "date": "2026-06-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Neither is Coreboot which has blobs for many other things.", "excerpt": "Technoethical sells a refurbished T400 with GNU Boot. https://tehnoetic.com/laptops/tet-t400s Libreboot actually isn't free anymore by FSF standards because it has binary blobs for the Intel Management Engine. Neither is Coreboot which has blobs for many other things. Most modern computers cannot boot without binary blobs for ME, which is why GNU Boot was created. If you want a modern/new computer, Purism sells them ", "context": "", "use_case": "Laptop firmware replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "Previewing GPT\u20115.6 Sol: a next-generation model"}, {"id": 768640272, "item_id": 48040017, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48040017", "by": "puzzlingcaptcha", "date": "2026-05-06", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'd have hoped with the coreboot upstreaming effort they would keep official releases coming", "excerpt": "I suppose that depends on how recent is what you consider recent. I'd have hoped with the coreboot upstreaming effort they would keep official releases coming a bit longer. You can see the last release for Starlite Mk IV is from 2024: https://fwupd.org/lvfs/search?value=starlite These seem to be the SKUs they are building roms for: https://github.com/StarLabsLtd/firmware/tree/capsules/roms", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "StarFighter 16-Inch"}, {"id": 757569312, "item_id": 47348082, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47348082", "by": "M95D", "date": "2026-03-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "U-boot and coreboot are free (ring -2 if they include ACPI / SMM, else still ring 0).", "excerpt": "I appreciate your detailed reply. I think we are looking from different perspectives. You are correct in an item-by-item way, but you need to put them all together and see the bigger picture. In my comment, it may have made a mess confusing technologies and their capabilities, but I was looking at the forest, not the trees. There are only two viable firmware alternatives in the world right now: ring 0 U-boot* or the ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Never Bet Against x86"}, {"id": 754158256, "item_id": 47134891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47134891", "by": "alias_neo", "date": "2026-02-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "It replaces a proprietary component of your system with an open source one. Reading https://libreboot.org/#why-use-libreboot might provide further enlightenment.", "context": "", "use_case": "Laptop firmware", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Ported Coreboot to the ThinkPad X270"}, {"id": 751400784, "item_id": 46962549, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46962549", "by": "bubblethink", "date": "2026-02-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love coreboot, openbmc, etc. as much as the next guy", "excerpt": "All that is fine and well, and I love coreboot, openbmc, etc. as much as the next guy, but how is this a business with growth or scale? In particular, you are not going to sell to the large clouds as they do a similar thing in house, you are not going to sell to the large LLM labs as there isn't much of a story with NVIDIA here. All you are selling to is on-prem deployments for old(er) school workloads, which to me i", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oxide raises $200M Series C"}, {"id": 748684305, "item_id": 46792769, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46792769", "by": "fsflover", "date": "2026-01-28", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "(with coreboot with Heads)", "excerpt": "Laptops can already have TPM based on FLOSS (with coreboot with Heads). It works well with Qubes btw, and is recommended by the developers: https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/qubes-certified-novacustom-v54-and-v56-series-laptops-now-available-with-heads-firmware/34015", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lennart Poettering, Christian Brauner founded a new company"}, {"id": 737297377, "item_id": 46081086, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46081086", "by": "mindslight", "date": "2025-11-28", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "but the coreboot code has been updated", "excerpt": "My main desktop has 256GB, and my \"router\" has 128GB. Mostly used for software builds (I use NixOS as a source distribution) and VMs (which themselves are mostly used for web browsing, surprise surprise). The desktop had been fine at 112GB because that was the max that coreboot could train, but the coreboot code has been updated and used DDR3 sticks are cheap. The goals of the new 192GB machine are more of that exist", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "DRAM prices are spiking, but I don't trust the industry's why"}, {"id": 735251541, "item_id": 45953221, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45953221", "by": "udev4096", "date": "2025-11-17", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "coreboot doesn't have BIOS password feature", "excerpt": "Using luks to encrypt all partitions (incl. /boot) and it's only unlocked using yubikey. I have secureboot enabled (sbctl to enroll keys) and TPM PCR values to avoid tampering. systemd-boot (a lot more secure than grub) doesn't have password to lock the kernel editor so I have disabled the editor altogether. I use fapolicy for \"whitelisting\" apps. Unfortunately, coreboot doesn't have BIOS password feature so it's unl", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Runit Linux: Complete Guide to Unix Init Scheme with Service Supervision"}]}