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Coreboot author calls for a Linux Foundation-like organization(ENP Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ENP Newswire - 26 September 2014 Release date- 23092014 - Longmont, Colo.-For the good of the code base and the good of computing as a whole, Ron Minnich believes coreboot needs a stronger organization supporting the open source community. 'That's really what's missing from this effort - we need a coreboot consortium that serves the coreboot community like the Linux Foundation serves the Linux community,' said Minnich, coreboot's initial author. 'When you get to a certain level of usage you really need that level of professionalism.' That idea also resonates with Scott Hoot, president of Sage Electronic Engineering, a company that specializes in coreboot solutions. Hoot pointed out that the Linux Foundation actually has dual roles: To maintain the open source, GPL-based source code and also to ensure that Linux remains a commercially viable platform for the future. 'The Linux Foundation creates a value for the technology beyond that of the open source code itself,' Hoot said. 'With the explosive growth of ARM and x86 Chromebooks, all of which use coreboot, it's time to create a consortium that will work toward that commercially viable future.' A legal open source organization would allow for funding from strong commercial interests, such as Google, Intel, AMD and Sage, Hoot noted, which could fund efforts in maintaining code integrity, enabling training and promoting the technology. Promotion of the technology includes speaking with one voice when dealing with OEMs about including coreboot as the primary boot or an option. Minnich, who is currently a software engineer at Google, said the fact that all new Chromebooks are required to use coreboot was a great development for the community. A streamlined coreboot solution can be as small as 512 kilobytes and get to the initialization of the operating system in as little as 800 milliseconds, creating boot times and small footprints that are unmatched by most PC and laptop manufacturers. Coreboot has been used extensively in data center applications, high performance computing, as well as in military, aerospace and networking embedded solutions; it has been used for years in the iRobot PackBot, for example. It is also used in many commercial network switches that need fast startup time and flexibility. Minnich said Software Defined Networks and the IoT are destined to create huge markets for embedded development and the fast-boot, small-footprint solutions that coreboot makes readily available. Coreboot was funded by the DOE for five years, from 1999 to 2004. A number of companies contributed to the development as well, including Linux NetWorX, iRobot, AMD, and Google. While coreboot development today is sponsored by companies such as AMD, Intel, Google and Sage, there is not a funding vehicle, for instance, for providing training, hosting events and staffing an official office. As a legal nonprofit organization, the Linux Foundation receives membership fees totaling about $6.2 million year, most of it from Platinum Members - currently including Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm, and Samsung - each of which pays a half million dollars a year. Some quick facts about coreboot Coreboot, an open source alternative to proprietary BIOS and UEFI, is now required on all Chromebooks. Coreboot supports over 100 different reference boards - a number growing almost weekly - including x86 processors from Intel and AMD, and ARM Chromebooks Completely open source solutions are available for many AMD and ARM processors Intel FSP and AMD Agesa binaries support coreboot development for newer x86 processors Coreboot has been selected seven times for the Google Summer of Code One Laptop per Child included coreboot Payloads can be written for coreboot using the libpayload helper-library, but it is not required. Existing payloads include: SeaBIOS, a tiny implementation of x86 BIOS, written mostly in 16-bit C using the GNU C compiler. It is able to boot traditional PC operating systems. TianoCore, a free and open-source implementation of UEFI. OpenBIOS, a free and open-source implementation of Open Firmware. GNU GRUB, a bootloader FILO, a GRUB-like bootloader with USB boot support. Etherboot, it can boot an operating system over the network gPXE/iPXE, the successor to Etherboot, works when run under SeaBIOS. Linux or other operating system kernels (a kernel and initial RAM file system can be embedded in FLASH) Branch of Das U-Boot used by Google for Chromium OS Embedded kernels, including Linux, VXWorks, and RTOS (c) 2014 Electronic News Publishing - |