[coreboot] Most compatible laptop

[Paul Menzel]

Dear anonymous,


Am Freitag, den 24.10.2014, 07:59 +0000 schrieb corebootlaptop at yopmail.com:
> Which $300 to $500 laptop would be the topmost pick for CoreBoot
> compatibility?

first, please note that the official spelling of coreboot is all
lowercase. (At least never CamelCase.)

> I need CoreBoot to Just Work as I cannot afford the risk or time for
> development. So the unit needs solid reliable support. The laptop will
> boot into Linux if you're wondering

You need to do a lot more research yourself! A lot depends on your stand
towards binary BLOBs [2].

> but I guess CoreBoot also does Windows.

It needs to be tested, but (on x86 based systems) it often works.

> Can be new or slightly used. I'm happy to buy one or two generations
> old. Yet it needs HDMI output to drive a second 27-in. screen (as either
> (a) added pixel space, "Virtual Xdim Ydim" under X11, or (b) just as
> primary monitor with laptop's screen off). So video might need to be
> decent. I don't really care about the size of the laptop screen itself.

That’s mostly dependent on the graphics stack in the operating system.

> I prefer AMD and/or Radeon over Intel, but only found one such laptop on
> the support list. The Pavilion m6 1035dx overheats say the reviews.

If you do not want to use BLOBs, you should get an Acer Chromebook 13
using the Nvidia Tegra K1 processor [1]. Note, it is ARM based. The
coreboot based firmware does not use any binary BLOBs to my knowledge.
But you have to research yourself, how good the free drivers in
GNU/Linux are. I heard, that Chromium OS is using the binary driver due
to deadlines, but that the free driver should work too.

> I'd like to buy off-the-shelf retail. I'd love a CoreBoot guru to scour
> the offerings on retail websites (BestBuy, Walmart, the usual suspects).
> But mail-order warehouse vendors (NewEgg, TigerDirect) are OK. The main
> need is total CoreBoot compatibility.

Sorry, no time for that and it is very blunt to expect that from anyone
for free.

[…]


Thanks,

Paul


[1] http://www.cnet.com/products/acer-chromebook-13/
[2] http://www.coreboot.org/Binary_situation
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