[coreboot] Motivating AMD to libreboot and RYF Re: [libreplanet-discuss] GNU Libreboot, version 20160818 released

[Logan Streondj]

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Leah, thanks for the great news!
GNU Libreboot team, good work! :-D

I saw a few AMD motherboards on the list.
So it really got me motivated and
I opened a discussion on AMD developers forum entitled:
When will XDMA compatible motherboards support Libreboot and-or RYF?

For clarification XDMA are motherboards which have multiple PCIe3
slots, and allow for multiple GPU's to run in parallel together.

It allows for vast amount of cheap processing power to be used.
Remember that a GPU FLOP is 100 times cheaper than a CPU FLOP.
1 GPU GFLOP ~= $0.05, 1 CPU GFLOP ~= $5.

I'm hoping that you could comment in support of either AMD helping to
make Libreboot RYF compatible software stacks, or XDMA in particular.

Feel free to note the Libreboot versions of AMD hardware that are
available, as well as what would be required to make them top notch.
As well as anything that might be necessary to make AMD RYF compliant.

here is the forum thread:
https://community.amd.com/thread/204611

Thanks!
Logan

On 08/18/16 18:59, Leah Rowe wrote:
> GNU Libreboot 20160818
> 
> This is a brand GNU release. Libreboot joined the GNU project on
> 14 May 2016. This 18 August 2016 release is the first GNU release
> of libreboot.
> 
> Get it from https://libreboot.org/download/
> 
> NEW BOARDS ADDED: * ASUS Chromebook C201 (ARM laptop) (thanks to 
> Paul Kocialkowski) * Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard (desktop) 
> (thanks to Damien Zammit) * Intel D510MO motherboard (desktop) 
> (thanks to Damien Zammit) * ASUS KCMA-D8 motherboard (desktop) 
> (thanks to Timothy Pearson) * ASUS KFSN4-DRE motherboard (server) 
> (thanks to Timothy Pearson) * ASUS KGPE-D16 motherboard (server) 
> (thanks to Timothy Pearson) For details development history on 
> these boards, refer to the git log and documentation.
> 
> For boards previously supported, many fixes from upstream have
> been merged.
> 
> Other changes (compared to libreboot 20150518), for libreboot in 
> general or for previously supported systems: (this is a summary. 
> For more detailed change list, refer to the git log)
> 
> 256MiB VRAM allocated on GM45 (X200, T400, T500, R400) instead of 
> 32MiB. This is an improvement over both Lenovo BIOS and Libreboot 
> 20150518, allowing video decoding at 1080p to be smoother. (thanks 
> Arthur Heymans) To clarify, GM45 video performance in libreboot 
> 20160818 is better than on the original BIOS and the previous 
> libreboot release.
> 
> 64MiB VRAM on i945 (X60, T60, MacBook2,1) now supported in 
> coreboot-libre, and used by default (in the previous release, it 
> was 8MiB allocated). Thanks to Arthur Heymans.
> 
> Higher battery life on GM45 (X200, T400, T500, R400) due to higher 
> cstates now being supported (thanks Arthur Heymans). C4 power 
> states also supported.
> 
> Higher battery life on i945 (X60, T60, MacBook2,1) due to better 
> CPU C-state settings. (Deep C4, Dynamicl L2 shrinking, C2E).
> 
> Text mode on GM45 (X200, T400, T500, R400) now works, making it 
> possible to use MemTest86+ comfortably. (thanks to Nick High from 
> coreboot)
> 
> Dual channel LVDS displays on GM45 (T400, T500) are now 
> automatically detected in coreboot-libre. (thanks Vladimir 
> Serbinenko from coreboot)
> 
> Partial fix in coreboot-libre for GRUB display on GM45, for dual 
> channel LVDS higher resolution LCD panels (T400, T500). (thanks 
> Arthur Heymans)
> 
> Massively improved GRUB configuration, making it easier to boot 
> more encrypted systems automatically, and generally a more useful 
> menu for booting the system (thanks go to Klemens Nanni of the 
> autoboot project). Libreboot now uses the grub.cfg provided by the
>  installed GNU/Linux distribution automatically, if present, 
> switching to that configuration. This is done across many 
> partitions, where libreboot actively searches for a configuration 
> file (also on LVM volumes and encrypted volumes). This should make 
> libreboot more easy to use for non-technical users, without having
> to modify the GRUB configuration used in libreboot.
> 
> Utilities archives is now source only. You will need to compile
> the packages in there (build scripts included, and a script for 
> installing build dependencies in Trisquel 7). (binary utility 
> archives are planned again in the next release, when the new build
>  system is merged)
> 
> SeaGRUB is now the default payload on all x86 boards. (SeaBIOS 
> configured to load a compressed GRUB payload from CBFS
> immediately, without providing an interface in SeaBIOS. This way,
> GRUB is still used but now BIOS services are available, so you get
> the best of both worlds). Thanks go to Timothy Pearson of coreboot
> for this idea.
> 
> crossgcc is now downloaded and built as a separate module to 
> coreboot-libre, with a universal revision used to build all 
> boards.
> 
> Individual boards now have their own coreboot revision and
> patches, independently of each other board. This makes maintenance
> easier.
> 
> Updated all utilities, and modules (coreboot, GRUB, etc) to newer 
> versions, with various bugfixes and improvements upstream.
> 
> RTC century byte issue now fixed on GM45 in coreboot-libre, so the 
> date should now be correctly displayed when running the latest 
> linux kernel, instead of seeing 1970-01-01 when you boot (thanks
> to Alexander Couzens from coreboot)
> 
> Build system now uses multiple CPU cores when building, speeding
> up building for some people. Manually specifying how many cores
> are needed is also possible, for those using the build system in a
>  chroot environment. (thanks go to Timothy Pearson from coreboot)
> 
> In the build system (git repository), https:// is now used when 
> cloning coreboot. http:// is used as a fallback for GRUB, if git://
> fail s.
> 
> New payload, the depthcharge bootloader (free bootloader maintained
> by Google) for use on the ASUS Chromebook C201. (thanks go to Paul
> Kocialkowski)
> 
> Various fixes to the ich9gen utility (e.g. flash component density
>  is now set correctly in the descriptor, gbe-less descriptors now 
> supported)
> 
> The official documentation included in the release in provided in 
> texinfo format, instead of HTML; this was one of the requirements 
> for joining GNU. (the other requirement is a new build system, to 
> comply with GNU standards, e.g. Makefiles, and common Makefile 
> entries present in all GNU software. As of Libreboot 20160818, this
> new build system is not yet merged, but will be in the release
> afterwards) ChangeLog and NEWS files are included in the release,
> to comply with GNU standards (they are dumps of the git-log
> output)
> 
> 

- -- 
Logan Streondj,
A dream of Gaia's future.
blog: http://joyfullifestyle.ca
twitter: https://twitter.com/streondj

Speakable Programming for Every Language:
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