leahlibre

this IRC client is entirely vibe-coded

He was a great man. He will be missed.

A world of software freedom is possible. Please attend, if you can!

If passed, this bill will spread and lead the way to a world where everyone can use libre software, exclusively, if they wish to.

As someone who I respect once told me:

Freedom isn't free.

A hearing for a bill will take place in New Hampshire on February 16th, 2023, for a bill that, if passed, will require state agencies to accommodate libre software users in public-facing applications, so that people do not have to use proprietary software to access state services on the internet.

Your help is needed. More information is available in the linked article.

these machines have osboot, based on coreboot, that replaces proprietary bios/uefi firmware, and a libre OS like linux/bsd with full driver support. encrypted ssd by default. secure, private laptops for people who need it. no proprietary bloatware, just freedom. sales fund osboot development

It's on my TODO.

The FSF must decide whether to endorse a product, and it must be requested by the supplier. So if a product could be endorsed, but isn't, it's either being reviewed or has not been submitted by the vendor.

In fact, I'm interested in their product commercially for Minifree, and also interested in terms of Libreboot. You can replace the default uboot firmware with coreboot, which offers many more features and there's where my company could really offer some nice custom services.

It has been on TODO for Libreboot since May 2021: https://libreboot.org/tasks/#investigate-u-boot

It is mentioned here, in the context of u-boot specifically, but I'm aware that coreboot also supports it.

However, those other companies that advertise neutered ME are shipping newer Intel platforms where actual x86 hardware initialization is handled by binary blobs (e.g. Intel FSP).

Sandybridge and Ivybridge platforms (e.g. X220/X230) in coreboot are all free software for the x86 part, and that's the majority of it. It's only the ME that isn't. With me_cleaner used, it's very close to Libreboot.

X230 used to be worse in coreboot; for instance, it previously had non-free raminit. Nowadays, it's all GPL code.

Yeah it's possible to know the format by reading the Intel datasheets (sandybridge/ivybridge ones). Certain parts are "reserved" but have been reverse engineered like you see in ifdtool.

In Libreboot there is a tool that I wrote called ich9gen, which can entirely generate ich9 ifd+gbe from scratch. This does not exist yet for sandy/ivy i think, but yes there is that --dump option in ifdtool.

By the way:

bincfg is a nice tool in coreboot, and you can write a spec file for that, based on intel datasheet, to generate gbe/ifd images. I actually have this on my todo list, as I've been studying it. The datasheets are very confusing especially for the Gbe NVM region, making it look like it's not even documented, but it is, poorly.

My finances are really good these days. I had temporary difficulties in early 2020, as did many people at the start of the covid pandemic, but those are long behind me now. The company has existed since 2014.

The company is doing extremely well these days. I'm very grateful for everyone's support!

PS:

New Libreboot release soon.

The current Libreboot 20210522 testing release (from May 2021) is more or less complete, and the most major issue (the reset bug) is now fixed in libreboot Git.

I'm polishing the current Git and aiming for a new stable release.

yeah but that's not software. It's configuration data, in a binary format that's well-documented. There is also a tool for managing it in coreboot, called ifdtool.

There is also the GbE NVM (non-volatile memory) region, which configures the onboard ethernet chipset.

These configure the hardware, and the format is fully documented by datasheets.

Coreboot is actually 100% free software on Intel sandybridge and Ivybridge laptops, such as the X230.

The Intel ME still performs minor power management functions and minimal init functions via the BUP (BringUp) module.

For all intents and purposes, osboot-preinstalled X230 is 99% as free as a Libreboot system, and I would argue that it is equally secure.

However, the Libreboot X200 is also sold on the website, and Libreboot is fully endorsed by the Free Software Foundation.

My response: https://libreboot.org/news/resignations.html

I wish [name redacted] all the best. Their work is fully preserved in the Git repository, should they wish to continue it in their own repositories.