It seems like we are indeed closer to having coreboot on this laptop. Recently I noticed a patch on coreboot’s Gerrit for one of those 3 non-bootguarded framework laptops that were sent out. (I guess we now know 2 of the 3 people those were sent out to). Apparently that patch has been up since March, but I guess it must have gotten buried in the further pages of Gerrit’s dashboard and not noticed for a while.
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I think this can be the reason for the commits: “With open source Embedded Controller firmware and coreboot BIOS, the underlying system software is open too.” this holds for the Chromebook edition that I just got an email about. Should be quite easy to backport it to other 12th gen and probably also to 11th gen (with a bit more difficulty). Of course this still requires Framework to sign the firmware. Framework | Introducing the Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition
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Here is nrp’s answer to the question “What’s the difference from original?” on the Hacker News thread about the Framework Laptop ChromeOS version. The coreboot is mentioned there too.
ChromeOS! Specifically, the Mainboard is custom-designed for ChromeOS. This mean... | Hacker News
ChromeOS! Specifically, the Mainboard is custom-designed for ChromeOS. This means it uses coreboot instead of a proprietary BIOS and has Google’s Titan C security chip.There are some other smaller differences. To keep the cost down, the top cover is aluminum-formed instead of CNCed, for compatibility reasons we weren’t able to bring our fingerprint module in, and we were able to improve both audio quality and speaker loudness with an improved audio CODEC and louder transducers.
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“It is technically possible to, and we’ve provided development systems to a few coreboot developers. This is something we’ll be putting more energy into next year as we grow the Framework team.”
Yeah…a timeline, at last!
(Though I do read it as “more energy doesn’t necessarily means it’ll be delivered / released quality to the public in that year”…but I’m hopeful)
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Google’s Titan C security chip
Is it just me or does this basically sound like Google’s equivalent of Pluton? That’s… not exactly ideal, but it’s interesting that it’s present even with coreboot.
The longer this takes, the more doubts I have concerning, whether FrameWork’s original philosophy lasts longer or not.
Open, how much open?
Helpful, how much helpful?
Turning the table the opposite direction when a company reaches certain fame, is not really a surprise at this day and age.
I love FrameWork.
Really hope they won’t be ‘yet another company who said … instead did …’
Really hope they also provide 15inch+ variant (with Numpads) in near future.
Hope Coreboot doesn’t become a pipe dream.
I’d also be willing to pay extra/contribute to campaign supporting development of coreboot.
Sorry for being blunt, but having closed uefi on platform like this - totally defeat it’s purpose and CEO should be at least a little bit ashamed not putting much effort to make it happen,
for many reasons:
1st - having open uefi would target whole new group of clients (system76 main client base - hardware hackers, security enthusiasts, developers etc)
2nd - it would align with (alleged) frame.work’s mission, right now closed uefi contradicts their “openness” and “reusability”
3rd - it would gain “respect” of clients/potential clients and gain their trust (always more open is more trusted)
4th- open platform could be more peer reviewed and afterall more secure - alot of embedded developers all-over-the-world could check and audit the codebase, also contribute good functions to it.
One of the earlier post also made a great explanation why closed platform sucks especially for new company like frame.work - somebody already has a system that run out of warranty, and he doesn’t have any control over “his” computer, again also - frame.work is a startup - sorry for being realist also but it can go “down” after few years, and without opensource uefi etc - everybody will be left without any support, while having at least open uefi could be supported by some opensource folks.
I’m still waiting for corebooted frame.work, but my(and probably others) patience is limited. will not wait for-ever and go to buy something else.
Dear framework team - please also understand - that this thread is not an only “measure” of how this is important, we - who are writing here, are probably more enthusiastic and stubborn than other clients, please do believe me, that there are alot of potential customers which are going to your www - checking the specs , looking if you’re stating that u have open uefi - if not - they’re closing the tab and not giving a f* afterwards.
Just google a little bit around how huge is coreboot fandom, check on reddit how much people looks for opennes in laptops, and check how much clients companies like system76 or starlabs etc has.
open your eyes that you’re loosing alot of customers.
actually making coreboot “happen” is not “That much effort” in financing terms and also procurement-wise (to agree on not fusing cpu), and this is a really “low hanging fruit” to gain alot of new customers.
just my strong opinion.
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I believe we’ve noted this elsewhere, but of the three unfused units we provided to coreboot devs, all three managed to get bricked in development. We’ll be preparing another set of unfused units for additional (or maybe the same) coreboot developers. In addition, we’ve provided a Chromebook Edition unit early to a community member who has expertise in alternative firmware for Chromebooks. As noted previously, Chromebooks use coreboot already.
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Hoepfully we will have coreboot soon? Could it be possible to modify the coreboot for chromebook edition and be reused?
Where? This is the first I’ve heard of this. If you posted it to Twitter, I didn’t see it. I pretty much exclusively check the Forum for FW news.
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Think what’s needed here is a set of procedure and the correct tools provisioned to those developers to self-service the bricked units. Otherwise you end up in endless loops of additional bricked laptops.
Unless, of course, it’s because Framework wants to keep that knowledge in-house.
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Maybe, here: We've handed three systems that can boot unsigned bootloaders to folks in the co... | Hacker News
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Think he’s talking about this specifically: " all three managed to get bricked in development.".
It’s the first time I’m hearing about this outcome.
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Ah, I see. OK. I couldn’t understand the sentence due to my English challenge. But now I understood it as “all three didn’t work in development”.
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That doesn’t sound right. If you check coreboot repos, you will see that someone did port it to the framework.
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Would that be for the Framework Chromebook, or the Framework Laptop?
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Normal one
I understand that you have tried the “open approach” towards few guys from opensource (and I’m really thankful that you did), but also few guys here from this thread tried to give you a “hint” how to do it proper way - i. eg using 3rd party development company which will professionally port coreboot for you (without bricking stuff or having external flashers and tools to deal with f** ups).
for example https://3mdeb.com/
or anyone from coreboot consulting services list
As mentioned before we’d be glad to support it financially via crowd source or sth.
from what I see - your (frameworks) actions are sheer indolence on on this subject, which says alot about your approach - and for me the new upcoming platform from Starlabs will be probably a computer i’ll buy next month ( Star Labs unveils AMD/Intel-powered StarFighter Linux laptop - NotebookCheck.net News )
I wish you well as a company but from my personal point of view - you’re investing time in projects(chromebook) which probably won’t give you as much of return and respect in community you try to address, when you could support openness and right to repair movement which would build your position on the market as a reliable and trustworthy company.
I know the laptop market really well, I’m watching the market and used the laptops which has been intel 286 ;), also I have built myself and contributed (2 times CEO, 1 time CTO) to building three hardware/software product companies - so i understand all procurement / development and subcontracting issues that you have. I’m still really impressed how you manage your development and that you’re trying basically to “fight the dragons” with your product - which is impressive, but in my humble opinion “not enough” 
if you do something open you must to go “all in” or you loose credibility.
again - just my opinion. Good luck.
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I was thinking that the partnership with Google brings in Google expertise without really investing much for coreboot etc as well as Google’s perspective on certain design philisophies.
I would think that would kinda trickle down to the current owners (which I guess is coreboot and speakers), is a roundabout way but I would think it doesn’t burn so much cash. It definitely takes longer though. That being said, I am not sure if Framework’s team is big enough to maintain coreboot on their own (at least for now).
I do agree that I wouldn’t mind to be part of the crowd funding effort to pay for coreboot porting like I mentioned above.
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in the companies like Frame.work - the cash need is not a primary issue - the issue is rather on managemen focus - which is being burnt on unnecessary partnerships imo. also i could only assume that partnership with google is “time intensive” because small company like Frame.work must adhere to certain “workmanship” standards of google. so it certainly burns alot of time.
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