Commerical support for Linux BIOS

[Phani Babu Giddi]

Hello All,

Are there companies which are providing BIOS Firware based on "Linux BIOS"

Regards,
Phani

[Peter Stuge]

Hello!

On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 12:00:07PM -0800, Phani Babu Giddi wrote:
> Are there companies which are providing BIOS Firware based on
> "Linux BIOS"

Note that it's not really legally possible to sell you a firmware
based on coreboot - since coreboot is GPL you are always entitled
to receive the source code free of charge. You can however always
purchase consulting services that are related to the code from
anyone who offers them.

I know of two companies that provide consulting services related to
coreboot; Coresystems GmbH (Germany) run by Stefan Reinauer and my
own consulting company Konsult Stuge. (Sweden)

Maybe there are more - how does everyone feel about a wiki page that
lists companies offering commercial support? Bad idea?

//Peter

[Corey Osgood]

Peter Stuge wrote:
> Hello!
>
> On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 12:00:07PM -0800, Phani Babu Giddi wrote:
> > Are there companies which are providing BIOS Firware based on
> > "Linux BIOS"
>
> Note that it's not really legally possible to sell you a firmware
> based on coreboot - since coreboot is GPL you are always entitled
> to receive the source code free of charge. You can however always
> purchase consulting services that are related to the code from
> anyone who offers them.
>
> I know of two companies that provide consulting services related to
> coreboot; Coresystems GmbH (Germany) run by Stefan Reinauer and my
> own consulting company Konsult Stuge. (Sweden)
>
> Maybe there are more - how does everyone feel about a wiki page that
> lists companies offering commercial support? Bad idea?

Yeah, it sounds good, as long as anyone can add their company to it (ie 
we need to make sure we're not denying people wiki accounts).

-Corey
> //Peter

[Ward Vandewege]

On Tue, Jan 15, 2008 at 02:58:07AM +0100, Peter Stuge wrote:
> Note that it's not really legally possible to sell you a firmware
> based on coreboot

That's not correct. It's perfectly possible and allowed. It's just that the
source also needs be provided (as per the requirements of the GPL), and that
nobody can stop you - the customer - from redistributing that source code
under the GPL.

So what Peter is saying here, I think, is that it is difficult to charge for
software under the GPL because your price point can be undercut quite easily.
Most companies build business models around support or some sort of other
added value (like, say, providing rom chips preprogrammed with a copy of
coreboot).
> since coreboot is GPL you are always entitled
>
> to receive the source code free of charge.

That is actually not 100% correct - see section 6 of the GPL
(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html). In a nutshell, it's ok to charge a
small amount for the source, as long as it is no more than the cost required
to provide the copy. In the case of a downloadable copy, that cost should be
zero (see 6b). If you want to receive physical media, a small charge is
allowed.
> You can however always
> purchase consulting services that are related to the code from
> anyone who offers them.
>
> I know of two companies that provide consulting services related to
> coreboot; Coresystems GmbH (Germany) run by Stefan Reinauer and my
> own consulting company Konsult Stuge. (Sweden)
>
> Maybe there are more - how does everyone feel about a wiki page that
> lists companies offering commercial support? Bad idea?

Good idea. List away.

Thanks,
Ward.

[Peter Stuge]

Hi!

On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 09:26:27PM -0500, Ward Vandewege wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 15, 2008 at 02:58:07AM +0100, Peter Stuge wrote:
> > Note that it's not really legally possible to sell you a firmware
> > based on coreboot
>
> That's not correct. It's perfectly possible and allowed. It's just
> that the source also needs be provided (as per the requirements of
> the GPL), and that nobody can stop you - the customer - from
> redistributing that source code under the GPL.

Thanks for the correction!
> So what Peter is saying here, I think, is that it is difficult to
> charge for software under the GPL because your price point can be
> undercut quite easily.

Well, no, but that is a good point.

I should have been more clear - what I tried (but failed) to explain
is that it's not possible to sell a coreboot firmware under any terms
like those that traditional BIOS vendors use since their source code
uses a different license.

I also meant to say that the practical way to "purchase" a coreboot
firmware is to hire someone to write the neccessary code, and that
code will most likely automatically be GPL and so it should be
contributed back into the project repository - meaning that the
paying customer will not get much exclusive in the purchase, except
of course bragging rights and whatever customization benefits that
come from running coreboot on the particular hardware platform.
> > since coreboot is GPL you are always entitled
> >
> > to receive the source code free of charge.
>
> That is actually not 100% correct - see section 6 of the GPL

Again - thanks for correcting! I only think online distribution and
shall go and sleep now. :)

//Peter

[Phani Babu Giddi]

Hello All,

Thanks for your response. Yes I am aware of GPL and I would assume the
commerical Linux BIOS distribution would submit the code back to the repo
for any fixes/enhancements.

Regards,
Phani

On Jan 14, 2008 7:48 PM, Peter Stuge  wrote:
> Hi!
>
> On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 09:26:27PM -0500, Ward Vandewege wrote:
> > On Tue, Jan 15, 2008 at 02:58:07AM +0100, Peter Stuge wrote:
> > > Note that it's not really legally possible to sell you a firmware
> > > based on coreboot
> >
> > That's not correct. It's perfectly possible and allowed. It's just
> > that the source also needs be provided (as per the requirements of
> > the GPL), and that nobody can stop you - the customer - from
> > redistributing that source code under the GPL.
>
> Thanks for the correction!
> > So what Peter is saying here, I think, is that it is difficult to
> > charge for software under the GPL because your price point can be
> > undercut quite easily.
>
> Well, no, but that is a good point.
>
> I should have been more clear - what I tried (but failed) to explain
> is that it's not possible to sell a coreboot firmware under any terms
> like those that traditional BIOS vendors use since their source code
> uses a different license.
>
> I also meant to say that the practical way to "purchase" a coreboot
> firmware is to hire someone to write the neccessary code, and that
> code will most likely automatically be GPL and so it should be
> contributed back into the project repository - meaning that the
> paying customer will not get much exclusive in the purchase, except
> of course bragging rights and whatever customization benefits that
> come from running coreboot on the particular hardware platform.
> > > since coreboot is GPL you are always entitled
> > >
> > > to receive the source code free of charge.
> >
> > That is actually not 100% correct - see section 6 of the GPL
>
> Again - thanks for correcting! I only think online distribution and
> shall go and sleep now. :)
>
> //Peter

[Uwe Hermann]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 09:26:27PM -0500, Ward Vandewege wrote:
> > I know of two companies that provide consulting services related to
> > coreboot; Coresystems GmbH (Germany) run by Stefan Reinauer and my
> > own consulting company Konsult Stuge. (Sweden)
> >
> > Maybe there are more - how does everyone feel about a wiki page that
> > lists companies offering commercial support? Bad idea?
>
> Good idea. List away.

There's http://www.coreboot.org/Products which can be used. Maybe needs
some updating, it's been a while since the last change to that page.

Uwe.