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-------- Original Message --------
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Subject: </th>
<td>Re: [Other] Free BIOS on ThinkPenguin hardware</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:54:34 -0500</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>Christopher Waid <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:chris@thinkpenguin.com"><chris@thinkpenguin.com></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Reply-To:
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<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:chris@thinkpenguin.com">chris@thinkpenguin.com</a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:tobias@platen-software.de">tobias@platen-software.de</a></td>
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<pre>No.
None of our hardware supports coreboot unfortunately. coreboot is only one
piece of the puzzle that makes a system not completely free. There are
other pieces of microcode within the system that will never be free. That
is not to say we don't want to port coreboot. This however is a
non-trivial project requiring significant resources. With an ever-changing
hardware environment it is unlikely to occur without a major player making
the effort.
At this time a system with an AMD processor is the most likely candidate
that you will see supporting coreboot in the near future. This however
isn't the ideal situation as AMD ties its processors and graphics chipsets
together. AMD's graphics chipsets are not free. While AMD has put forward
specifications and documenation for free software graphics drivers to be
written the firmware remains non-free. As a result we can only ship with
Intel graphics. This excludes us from selling AMD/ATI computers.
Chris
> Is coreboot supported by ThinkPenguin hardware.
> Coreboot is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary
> BIOS
> (firmware) found in most computers.
> You will find more information about a free BIOS at
> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/supportlinuxbios.html">http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/supportlinuxbios.html</a>
>
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