cbwww/site/other.md

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title: Other coreboot distributions
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Introduction
============

Canoeboot is a *coreboot distribution* or *coreboot distro*, in the same way
that Debian is a *Linux distro*. Its purpose is to provide free/opensource boot
firmware, replacing proprietary BIOS/UEFI firmware, and it
supports [many machines](docs/install/#which-systems-are-supported-by-canoeboot).

It is a coreboot distro precisely because of its [design](docs/maintain/).
Canoeboot's build system automatically downloads, patches and builds all the
various upstream sources such as coreboot, GRUB, SeaBIOS, U-Boot and so on.
This automation is used to provide [binary releases](download.md), which the
user can [easily install](docs/install/). Coreboot is notoriously difficult
to configure and install, for most people, and you need a high degree of
technical skill to use it; distros like Canoeboot bridge this gap, making
coreboot accessible to non-technical users.

Coreboot is highly flexible for many configurations. It is quite possible build
to [your own coreboot image](https://doc.coreboot.org/getting_started/index.html)
but most non-technical users should probably use a coreboot distro.

It's thanks to the various coreboot distros that many people use coreboot today;
without them, many otherwise non-technical users might not use coreboot at all.

Why list other distros?
-----------------------

Over the years, several other coreboot distros have come and gone. It has been
decided that this page will be written, to document some of them. Not every
distro is listed; only those of high quality, or otherwise of interest, will
be listed. Quality over quantity.

Canoeboot tries to support as much hardware as possible, and focuses on providing
the easiest possible experience for non-technical users; it's also
highly [configurable](docs/maintain/) for power users.
Several other projects exist that target different kinds of users, and support
different types of hardware; for example, Canoeboot mostly doesn't target
Chromebooks, except for a few.

Canoeboot's main priority is to provide users with free/opensource boot
firmware, to help more users achieve a higher level
of [software freedom](https://writefreesoftware.org/learn).

Well, Canoeboot is great but it may be that Canoeeboot isn't for
you; these other projects may support features and mainboards that Canoeboot
doesn't, that you may find preferable.

We in the Canoeboot project greatly admire and respect the other distros, and
will gladly work with them.

Without further ado,

List of coreboot distros
========================

In alphabetical order:

Chultrabook
-----------

Website: <https://docs.chrultrabook.com/>

Git repositories: <https://github.com/chrultrabook>

Provides a tailored EDK2(UEFI) payload on supported *Chromebooks*. You can use
this to replace ChromeOS with a regular Linux distro or BSD system - even
Windows - if you wish.

The benefit of using *Chultrabook* is that it provides up to date EDK2, unlike
proprietary vendors who often provide old, CVE-ridden versions of EDK2 forks
such as InsydeH2O.

With Chultrabook's guidance, you can have a completely up to date UEFI firmware
on your machine, and get good use out of your Chromebook for many more years,
with regular security updates.

One of Chultrabook's maintainers, Elly, did this talk at 37C3 conference,
demonstrating Chultrabook:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HFIQi835wY> - and also did this more general
talk about coreboot at 38C3: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD9tOcf4OkA>. It's
very good reference material if you want to know more about coreboot, and
coreboot distros more generally.

Elly also did this interview with Brodie Robertson, about coreboot, and
explains the concept of a coreboot distro in more detail in one part of
the interview:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Am_1MzJ6ZA>

Dasharo
-------

Website: <https://docs.dasharo.com/>

Git repositories: <https://github.com/dasharo>

Supports many machines, with a choice of EDK2(UEFI) or Heads(Linuxboot)
payload in the flash. Some older machines may provide a SeaBIOS payload
instead. A lot of work that goes into the upstream coreboot project came
from the Dasharo developers.

Dasharo provides their own fork of coreboot, with a specific tree *per board*.
Several coreboot ports (e.g. MSI Z690-A PRO) were implemented directly by
the Dasharo project, and later upstreamed into the regular coreboot project.

Dasharo has a special emphasis on commercial application, providing tailored
coreboot images for each supported mainboard, with an emphasis on stability.

Heads
-----

Website: <https://osresearch.net/>

Git repositories: <https://github.com/linuxboot/heads>

Heads provides a LinuxBoot payload using U-Root, and has many advanced features
such as TPM-based MeasuredBoot. With combined use of a FIDO key, you can easily
and more reliably determine whether you boot firmware has been tampered with.

The Linux-based payload in flash uses kexec to boot another Linux kernel. It
provides an easy to use boot menu, highly configurable and supports many
Linux distros easily.

If you're the sort of person who needs full disk encryption and you have a
focus on security, Heads is for you. Perfect for use with something like Qubes.

Another focus of the heads project is on *reproducible builds*. Its build
system bootstraps a toolchain that then compiles everything else, including
the coreboot crossgcc toolchain. The purpose of this is to provide matching
ROM hashes on every build; for this purpose, it also auto-downloads vendor
files such as Intel ME at build time, instead of requiring you to dump from
the original boot firmware.

Libreboot
---------

Website: <https://libreboot.org/>

Git repositories: <https://libreboot.org/git.html>

Libreboot was the *first* coreboot distro ever, starting in December 2013.

Canoeboot is a *special fork* of Libreboot; both Canoeboot and Libreboot are
maintained in parallel by the same developer, Leah Rowe. Canoeboot supports
far less hardware than Libreboot, but provides a *pure* free software coreboot
distribution, due to its [blob extermination policy](news/policy.md). As
a result of Canoeboot's policy, it currently only supports very old hardware.

It otherwise has the exact same design as Libreboot, and is kept in relative
sync [at all times](about.html), often doing releases side by side on the same
days as Libreboot.

*Libreboot* supports more hardware than Canoeboot, due to its more
pragmatic [Binary Blob Reduction Policy](https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html)
adopted on 17 November 2022; Canoeboot is a continuation of Libreboot from prior
to this, since Libreboot initially used the same dogmatic policy as Canoeboot.
A small minority of users demanded it post-November 2022, so Canoeboot was born.

If you're an absolute Free Software fanatic, Canoeboot is for you. Otherwise,
if you want to use much newer hardware, Libreboot is a worthy choice. Since
Canoeboot only supports much older hardware, and uses Libreboot's *old* policy,
you could consider Canoeboot to be *legacy Libreboot*. Libreboot adopted the
Binary Blob Reduction Policy in November 2022, as part of a general desire to
support more - and newer - hardware.

Libreboot also [includes CPU microcode updates
by default](news/policy.md#more-detailed-insight-about-microcode), on any given
x86 machine that both Canoeboot and Libreboot support; these updates improve
system stability and fix security issues. It is for *this* reason that all users
are in fact advised to use *Libreboot*, not Canoeboot. Canoeboot is meant only
as a proof of concept, and/or for purists who absolutely wish to have the purest
free software experience possible, regardless of these facts.

MrChromeBox
-----------

Website: <https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/>

Git repositories: <https://github.com/MrChromebox/>

Provides a tailored EDK2(UEFI) payload on supported *Chromebooks*. You can use
this to replace ChromeOS with a regular Linux distro or BSD system - even
Windows - if you wish.

The benefit of using *MrChromebox* is that it provides up to date EDK2, unlike
proprietary vendors who often provide old, CVE-ridden versions of EDK2 forks
such as InsydeH2O.

With MrChromebox's guidance, you can have a completely up to date UEFI firmware
on your machine, and get good use out of your Chromebook for many more years,
with regular security updates.

Ownerboot
---------

Git repository: <https://codeberg.org/amjoseph/ownerboot>

Ownerboot is an interesting one; it uses the Nix package manager to compile
coreboot images, with a Linux-based payload on supported x86 and ARM64
devices. Similar conceptually to Heads, but with a *much* cleaner build system
design.

It comes with the LVM2 and cryptsetup sources included in builds by default, so
it can easily be used to create a fully encrypted system, much like Canoeboot's
own [hardened GRUB](docs/gnulinux/grub_hardening.md) setup.

Since it uses Nix, reproducible builds are quite feasible and this is one of
the project's primary goals. Interestingly enough, it also supports both the
gru kevin chromebook and the ASUS KGPE-D16 boards, which Canoeboot supports but
Canoeboot uses U-Boot and a combination of SeaBIOS/GRUB, respectively, on these
boards.

Ownerboot's build system can also cross compile everything, so it's quite
portable across various host CPUs. It also extends coreboot's normal/fallback
payload scheme. See: <https://codeberg.org/amjoseph/ownerboot/src/branch/master/doc/fallback.md>

All of this combined makes for a highly configurable boot setup, and the Linux
payload in flash (using kexec to boot another kernel) is highly flexible,
offering many opportunities for security hardening (like Heads).

Skulls
------

Git repositories: <https://github.com/merge/skulls>

Skulls provides simple coreboot images with SeaBIOS payload, on a handful of
Thinkpads. Libreboot *also* provides similar SeaBIOS configurations, on all
of the same machines, but Libreboot's design does mean that there are a few
additional steps for installation.

If you just want the simplest, most barebones setup, Skulls is a great choice.

Libreboot *also* provides U-Boot and GRUB, and has other ambitions. Libreboot
aims to provide ease of use while also providing great power and flexibility.
So Libreboot is aimed specifically at power users, while also trying to
accomodate non-technical users; Skulls largely targets the latter.

System76 Open Firmware
----------------------

Git repository: <https://github.com/system76/firmware-open>

Other repositories e.g. EC firmware: <https://github.com/system76>

System76 provides their own special coreboot fork, that they tailor for
specific machines that they sell; they also provide free EC firmware. Jeremy
Soller of System76 maintains this firmware, and the work is regularly
upstreamed into the regular coreboot project.

System76 provides the coreboot firmware, along with EDK2 UEFI payload. It can
boot Linux distros, BSD systems and even Windows perfectly.