[coreboot] Feedback On Coreboot: the Solution to the Secure Boot Fiasco

[David Hubbard]

On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 11:04 AM, ron minnich <rminnich at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 9:58 AM, Andrew Goodbody <ajg4tadpole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I am sure that it is the old story, most testing will be done against
> > Windows. Anything more will be the exception. This is where the pressure
> > needs to be put on the platform vendors as this is the part that they are
> > responsible for.
>
> Sorry, vendors don't have a pattern of paying attention to end user
> sales issues such as "won't boot Linux". They are selling into a
> market in which Linux is about 1% at best of sales. That's been the
> common experience anyway, even at very large companies: BIOS issues
> just don't get fixed.
>
>
Andrew, Ron, what's your take on http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/20916.html ?

Specifically:
"This is part of Windows 8's fast boot support - the keyboard may not be
initialised until after the OS has started."

So the logic goes:
1. Secure Boot enabled and Win8 installed by the OEM

2. To access the BIOS, press F2/F8/DEL/whatever

3. "Fast boot" (hey! coreboot delivered on that first!) skips keyboard init

4. User is thus *forced* to use Win8's "hold down shift and restart"
feature -- adding another barrier before a user can boot her own OS.

I think the biggest problem here is that the entire BIOS is made
inaccessible, and only if Windows gives permission can you change that.

Regards,
David
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