[coreboot] Are any Chromebooks able to run fully libre?

[mrnuke]

On Friday, January 03, 2014 12:37:34 AM Sam Kuper wrote:
> Thank you, but unfortunately, I don't own a Samsung Series 5 550 or a
> Series 3 Chromebox, nor any other CrOS device from which to extract a
> stock coreboot.rom.
> 
There was some guide somewhere on how to download the stock ROM.

> I freely admit I'm not terribly well-informed on the subject. That's
> why I'm reading to learn as much as I can and asking questions here to
> fill in the gaps.
> 
The presence of CPU microcode should be the least of your concerns. Really. 
How about an out-of-band processor with full DMA access, and networking access 
transparent to the OS?
Seriously, the CPU microcode is nothing. Besides, nobody cares if an internal 
PLL is configured properly so that the CPU can switch to its highest clock 
without hanging.

> - Server: x86, not necessarily Intel, with Core Solo performance or
> better, that supports 16GB+ of RAM with double bit error correction
> (e.g. Chipkill).

AMD is your best bet, but be prepared to get your feet wet. Server boards are 
hard to find, and you'll most likely need to port it.

> - Laptop/netbook: not necessarily x86, with Core Solo performance or
> better, that supports 2GB+ of RAM.
> 
Chromebook, if you actually want to vote on free firmware. If you want to stick 
it to Intel (which I think you should), there are ARM models available. I also 
hear rumours of an octa-core coming soon. There are also some well-supported 
Lenovos, but getting one counts as not voting.

> Some Trisquel folks are running without microcode updates.[2]
> 
Sounds like a foul's paradise. Their firmware most likely installs some 
microcode updates.

> Anyhow, since I've managed inadvertently to generate a couple of
> slightly tetchy replies here since I started this thread (i.e. yours
> and the earlier one from Gregg Levine), maybe that's a hint that I'm
> asking too many questions or something, and that I should take my
> leave for now?
> 
Ask away, but please keep Stallmanism out of it. CPU microcode is better 
compared to a hardware descriptor than a set of instructions, and it's 
probably a mix of both. It's definitely not software in the normal sense of the 
word.

Alex