Dear all,
given the sad fact that a contribution to coreboot.org is considerably beyond the skillset and/or available timeframe for self-education of the average computer enthusiast, I thought that a lower entry hurdle might pay off. This should attract 16-24 year olds, the retired, the unemployed (maybe you can come up with a cash back for an accepted patch scheme?) and also the middle-agers with some space in their shelves.
Would it be feasible for you to specify a series of 20 $/€ to 200 $/€ birthday/Xmas presents (books/external hardware) that one could use as a start into coreboot / prepare the mind for it without the omnipresent risk to brick one's (or the parent's) desktop? You'd need to break down http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools for that into smaller success stories.
To prepare for a contribution or not, it is not possible for consumers to distinguish between more or less cooperative producers. While you have a nice list of hardware you are already supporting, a respective buyers' guide would be of tremendous help.
I could help drafting the HTML for such a site, but would need respective input.
Many thanks and regards
Steffen