Notices by Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot (libreleah@mas.to)

@sertonix @janethemotherfucker I could always just retroactively rename older release tarballs / announcements.

E.g. Libreboot 20160907 would be renamed to Libreboot 16.09 - and to keep things sane, I'd simply delete the 20160902 archive, which wasn't all that different anyway. Ditto Libreboot 20160818.

I've been meaning to clean up the rsync server anyway. Move some of the old (and I mean really old. Like, 2016 and earlier) off of it, and onto another, "archive" site.

@solosolador oh, yeah i guess you're pulling it out of lbmk and putting it in your own image. you have to add it to cbfs as a flat binary at a specific offset; look at include/rom.sh to see how it's added

libreboot executes it from seabios but you could add it standalone if you wish

coreboot's own build system doesn't yet support 64-bit u-boot. please make sure to use the x86_64 one from lbmk and add it manually, with your coreboot config specifying "no payload" prior to manual insertion

I've decided to make the recent Libreboot decision official, with this article:

https://libreboot.org/news/schedule.html

It defines Libreboot's new April/October testing releases and June/December stable releases schedule.

It defines Libreboot's new release version numbers from April 2025 onward: Libreboot YY.MM instead of Librebooat YYYYMMDD.

It defines Libreboot's new decision to use codenames on each new release.

A lot of work is planned for April 2025.

*tl;dr* 2025 is the year of the libreboot thinkpad

@jana @MagicLike The irony is that initial versions of the T480 port didn't work properly with coreboot's native Intel graphics code either. It was quickly fixed; so quickly that I reverted the above patch adding Intel's VGA ROM, like within 1 hour.

Anyway, if you're using SeaBIOS, you just insert that Nvidia ROM properly into CBFS.

It probably won't work on FreeBSD - and I don't remember if it was tested under Linux with Nvidia's binary driver. Perhaps @mkukri can tell you more, he tested it.

@jana @MagicLike I'd be hesitant to support it, due to Libreboot's Binary Blob Reduction Policy:

https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html

Under this policy, it says: if a blob can be avoided, avoid it.

It makes a special exception for dGPU ROMs though. Anyway, you need to extract a VGA ROM and insert it in flash, to use the dGPU. Also, relevant commit:

https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=9dc3c86ae37db781b6bc4e745a57217c3511074b

You could adapt a reverse of this diff, to handle the Nvidia ROM; kinda works with nouveau on linux 6.8 to 6.9, but very very buggy.

@jana @MagicLike To be more specific: dGPU can work with specific Linux kernel versions but it was buggy as hell and thus disabled.

If your T480 has Nvidia dGPU, note that the intel GPU is also still present; Libreboot configures that, exclusively.

So, for Libreboot purposes, the Nvidia dGPU doesn't exist. On models that lack the dGPU, the same board is used but with an empty dGPU footprint. Might be useful for modboard adding 2nd nvme ssd!

https://libreboot.org/docs/install/t480.html

Info available there.

Further to my other recent post regarding a change in Libreboot release number scheme, the next Libreboot release is:

Libreboot 25.04 "Corny Calamity"

That's the codename for the first codenamed release to come in April 2025, a homage to Fedora's erstwhile "Beefy Miracle" release.

Other codenames have already been thought up for the June/October/December releases too.

Libreboot YY.MM "Codename Here" <- that's the rule.

Codenames must be two words with the same first letter. That's the rule!

@janethemotherfucker I know what you're thinking, those of you who see the future: for Y2.1k compliance, releases in the year 2100 onward will not reset to 0; for example, the April 2100 release will be Libreboot 100.04.

Release numbers therefore relative to y2k. E.g.

Libreboot release in October 2069 will be Libreboot 69.10

I realise this is conceitful, assuming that Libreboot/I will still exist in the year 2100 but with advances in modern medicine and possibly robotics, anything's possible.

Speaking of Libreboot. I had a rivetting discussion with @janethemotherfucker recently who advised me, and I've decided:

Libreboot YYYYMMDD releases are now dead; new release numbers will be Libreboot YY.MM.

I'm planning a formalised release schedule for 2025 onward: April/October testing releases and June/December stable releases.

In other words, releases in 2025:

Libreboot 25.04, Libreboot 25.06, Libreboot 25.10, Libreboot 25.12

Releases will have codenames. This was JaneMF's idea!

FYI to Minifree customers: I recently said I have a backlog of orders. It's nearly done. I'll have everyone's orders ready for the weekend, ready to ship out on Monday - all but a few. A few stragglers will ship on Tuesday/Wednesday next week.

I was backlogged because of the just over 2 weeks I spent creating the Libreboot 20241206rev8 release of January 6th:

https://libreboot.org/news/libreboot20241206rev8.html

I'll email you all individually too, but I know lots of people read my Mastodon, so putting it here too.

also a separate set depicting olives

can a graphics artist please make me a mascot-like character depicting corn. corn-related

no context will be given - yet

corn. you know. also known as Maize. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize

make a bunch of different graphics. the more the merrier - including from multiple artists.

i need something corny for an upcoming project

FYI to MInifree customers, I'm *nearly done* answering emails. And I've got orders shipping all week starting January 13th-17th.

I've been dealing with a backlog, after I took time to do the January 6th update release of Libreboot:

https://libreboot.org/news/libreboot20241206rev8.html

I should be all caught up by next weekend starting January 18th. I wasn't 100% happy with the December 6th release hence the January 6 update, which was about 2 weeks of work.

I'm launching new Alderlake machines after I clear the backlog.

@vaclav ThinkPad T480 and T480s are both supported. Please read:

https://libreboot.org/docs/install/t480.html

Please note that they use different build targets in Libreboot, so you should make sure to choose the right ROM image.

The discrete Nvidia graphics are unsupported. Machines that have it, also have Intel graphics, and Libreboot configures all such machines to use only the Intel graphics. Errata is documented on that page.

Keep that in mind when flashing. Libreboot only configures the Intel GPU.

Libreboot is a coreboot distro like Debian is a Linux distro, but replaces proprietary BIOS/UEFI. It provides an automated build system (source-based package manager), providing easy to use releases.

I posted a link to this page earlier:

https://libreboot.org/other.html

Between them all, a substantial portion of coreboot is covered. I've asked the other projects to link to other distros as I have to them. This is part of my general desire to promote free boot firmware.

Federation of coreboot distros.

@SuperDicq It says: "Not every distro is listed; only those of high quality, or otherwise of interest, will be listed. Quality over quantity."

FUN FACT: Libreboot was the first coreboot distro, starting in December 2013. It provides free boot firmware, replacing proprietary BIOS/UEFI.

It's a coreboot distro like Debian is a Linux distro. It provides a fully automated build system (source-based package manager) for compiling upstream sources.

Other coreboot distros have existed for a few years now.

https://libreboot.org/other.html

I've decided to promote them on Libreboot's website, as part of my general desire to promote free boot firmware.

@aaisp it's my docsis provider that was unreliable recently. i route my traffic through l2tp and my tunnel rouuter is configured to auto-switch between the docsis provider, and a backup LTE provider. i document my setup here:

https://fedfree.org/docs/router/debian-l2tp-aaisp-redundant.html

however, my docsis provider gave me a usb lte dongle to plug into their router, so i actually have *2* LTE backups. that is what kicked in.

4 days of downtime on docsis. this is unforgivable so i'm switching main internet to more reliable a&a vdsl

still a few internet hiccups at the lab last night. seems to have resolved itself.

outages suck. so does lte. lte as backup internet sucks. i've contacted @aaisp - i'll be setting up vdsl at the lab. slower than my docsis provider but lower latency and more reliable.

i actually use a&a's l2tp service already, and will continue doing so but move it to my home lab. their vdsl offers l2tp backup too. i'll downgrade docsis to 200/20 to match vdsl upload speed (16-20mbps), and use docsis as backup.

The good news is I mainly only host text, on my own network. I outsource binary hosting to outside networks that are much faster. Sort of a do-it-yourself CDN-like setup.

So in practise, nobody should notice any issues; in other words, I could have just not said anything publicly at all, and nobody would notice any issues.