by 
UK-based Linux computer manufacturer Star Labs announced today that the long-anticipated Coreboot open-source firmware is now available for their Star LabTop Mk IV laptop.
After several months of development, Star Labs’ engineers finally managed to provide Coreboot support for owners of the Star LabTop Mk IV Linux laptop, providing them now only with an Open Source firmware, but also with a lightning-fast and more secure boot experience.
Formerly known as LinuxBIOS, Coreboot is a firmware platform designed to replace proprietary firmware in most computers. Coreboot is known to be a lightweight firmware that puts the user in full control of the hardw`are and is designed to perform only the minimum number of tasks necessary to load and run a modern Linux OS.
But Star Labs not only implemented Coreboot, they also added the TianoCore payload, a community supported open-source implementation of the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) standard, which in combination with Coreboot this delivers a fast, free, secure and familiar UEFI boot experience.
Coreboot support is now available for the Star LabTop Mk IV Linux laptop and users can install it via the LVFS (Linux Vendor Firmware Service) portal for hardware vendors. After installation, you’ll be able to easily switch between using Coreboot and AMI BIOS.
Of course, to install the Coreboot firmware, your GNU/Linux distribution will need to have the fwupd 1.5.6 or later firmware updater utility installed. Then, make sure you disable BIOS Lock and that your Linux laptop is connected to either an USB-C or DC Jack charger and that the battery is charged to at least 30 percent.
Full installation details are provided by Star Labs for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20.1, elementaryOS 5, and Manjaro Linux here. Once Coreboot is successfully installed, you will have to reboot your laptop, a process that could take up to 5 minutes so don’t interrupt it or disconnect the charger until it finishes.
Last updated 3 years ago
