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% Canoeboot 20240510 released!
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% Leah Rowe
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% 10 May 2024
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Introduction
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============
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Canoeboot is a [free/libre](https://writefreesoftware.org/) BIOS/UEFI replacement
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on x86 and ARM, providing
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boot firmware that initialises the hardware in your computer, to then load an
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operating system (e.g. GNU+Linux). It is specifically a *coreboot distribution*,
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in the same way that Trisquel is a GNU+Linux distribution. It provides an automated
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build system to produce coreboot ROM images with a variety of payloads such as
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GNU GRUB or SeaBIOS, with regular well-tested releases to make coreboot as easy
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to use as possible for non-technical users. From a project management perspective,
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this works in *exactly* the same way as a GNU+Linux distro, providing the same type
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of infrastructure, but for your boot firmware instead of your operating system.
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It makes use of [coreboot](https://www.coreboot.org/) for hardware initialisation,
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and then a payload such as [SeaBIOS](https://www.seabios.org/SeaBIOS)
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or [GNU GRUB](https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/) to boot your operating
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system; on ARM(chromebooks), we provide *U-Boot* (as a coreboot payload).
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Canoeboot provides many additional benefits such as fast boot speeds, greater
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security and greater customisation, but the *primary* benefit
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is [software freedom](https://writefreesoftware.org/learn). With use of GRUB
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in the flash, you can make use of many advanced features such as the ability
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to [boot from an encrypted /boot partition](../docs/gnulinux/)
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and [verify kernel GPG signature at boot time](../docs/gnulinux/grub_hardening.md).
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If you're fed up of the control that proprietary UEFI vendors have over you,
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then Canoeboot is *for you*. Although many would agree that it is a major step
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forward for most users, it's actually a very old idea. Old is often better. It used to
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be that computers were much more open for learning, and tinkering. Canoeboot
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implements this old idea in spirit and in practise, helping you wrest back control.
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Unlike the hardware vendors, Canoeboot does not see *you* as a *security threat*;
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we regard the ability to use, study, modify and redistribute software freely to
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be a human right that everyone *must* have, and the same is true of hardware.
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Your computer is *your property* to use as you wish. Free Software protects you,
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by ensuring that you always have control of the machine.
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*This* new release, Canoeboot 20240510, released today 10 May 2024, is
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a new *stable* release of Canoeboot. The *previous* release was
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Canoeboot 20240504, just *6 days ago*. This is a minor release, with minimal
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changes; if you already installed Canoeboot 20240504, you probably don't need
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to update, but the *SeaBIOS* revision was updated, and has some fixes.
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Changes in this release
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=======================
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*Extensive* changes have been made to the documentation and website, which you
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may or may not notice. I won't say what they are. You'll just have to review the
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git log yourself :)
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There was originally a long-winded article about these changes, which could
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have sparked a major international incident. They very nature and purpose of
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those changes means that direct discussion of them, even in the most diplomatic way
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possible and with the most amount of brevity, would completely defeat the purpose
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of said changes. I've deleted that article, prior to publishing.
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Said article will never be published. I will never discuss it. I will ignore
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all questions, provocations or praise pertaining to said changes.
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Not making reference to them in any way would also be bad; making
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cryptic reference to it is optimal, so that is what I've done, now.
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If you now go and look at said changes, I will say only one thing further:
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Probably nothing will happen, but I'm leaving everything open to interpretation.
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Who knows what will happen? Stay tuned to find out. Or not. Again, it could be
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that *nothing* happens. In fact, it's extremely likely that *nothing* will
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happen; we shall see.
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The gravity of this change means that I *must* make reference to it, albeit
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indirectly. What I will say is this: my opinions have not changed at all. I
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remain resolute and steadfast in my resolve. I'm simply taking a completely
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different approach from now on. It is an approach that those familiar with the
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history of Canoeboot probably never expected I'd ever take.
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ALSO:
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Build system changes
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-------------------
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The following improvements have been made, most of them not affecting the
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final build (the actual code that goes in-flash):
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* bump seabios (payload) to the latest upstream revision as of today
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* main `build` script: exit (with non-zero status) if not running it from the
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main cbmk work directory (the design of cbmk makes this mandatory)
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* merge `script/build/serprog` into `script/build/roms` - now you
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run e.g. `./build roms serprog rp2040` instead of `./build serprog rp2040`
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* merge `include/err.sh` into `include/option.sh`
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* build/roms: more code cleanup in general
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* build/roms: split up `main()` into smaller functions
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* build/roms: allow status search by mismatch (e.g. list all targets that
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are *not* stable, instead of only being able to list ones that are)
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* Update the `README.md` file, applying the same change as described
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above (adopt a neutral/concilliatory tone toward FSF/GNU, and don't tell
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everyone Libreboot is a superior project that everyone should use).
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Regarding SeaBIOS, the following upstream changes have been merged into
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this Canoeboot release:
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```
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* e5f2e4c6 pciinit: don't misalign large BARs
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* 731c88d5 stdvgaio: Only read/write one color palette entry at a time
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* c5a361c0 stdvga: Add stdvga_set_vertical_size() helper function
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* 22c91412 stdvga: Rename stdvga_get_vde() to stdvga_get_vertical_size()
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* 549463db stdvga: Rename stdvga_set_scan_lines() to stdvga_set_character_height()
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* c67914ac stdvga: Rename stdvga_set_text_block_specifier() to stdvga_set_font_location()
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* aa94925d stdvga: Rework stdvga palette index paging interface functions
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* 8de51a5a stdvga: Rename stdvga_toggle_intensity() to stdvga_set_palette_blinking()
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* 96c7781f stdvga: Add comments to interface functions in stdvga.c
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* 2996819f stdvga: Rename CGA palette functions
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* 91368088 stdvgamodes: Improve naming of dac palette tables
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* 70f43981 stdvgamodes: No need to store pelmask in vga_modes[]
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* 1588fd14 vgasrc: Rename vgahw_get_linesize() to vgahw_minimum_linelength()
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* d73e18bb vgasrc: Use curmode_g instead of vmode_g when mode is the current video mode
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* 192e23b7 vbe: implement function 09h (get/set palette data)
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* 3722c21d vgasrc: round up save/restore size
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* 5d87ff25 vbe: Add VBE 2.0+ OemData field to struct vbe_info
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* 163fd9f0 fix smbios blob length overflow
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* 82faf1d5 Add LBA 64bit support for reads beyond 2TB.
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* 3f082f38 Add AHCI Power ON + ICC_ACTIVE into port setup code
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* 3ae88886 esp-scsi: terminate DMA transfer when ESP data transfer completes
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* a6ed6b70 limit address space used for pci devices.
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```
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And that's all. If you installed Canoeboot 20240504, you probably don't need
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to update to today's release. If you *didn't* install 20240504, then you may
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aswell update to today's release (Canoeboot 20240510).
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Hardware supported in this release
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==================================
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This release supports the following hardware:
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### Servers (AMD, x86)
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- [ASUS KFSN4-DRE motherboard](../docs/hardware/kfsn4-dre.md)
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- [ASUS KGPE-D16 motherboard](../docs/hardware/kgpe-d16.md)
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### Desktops (AMD, Intel, x86)
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- [Acer G43T-AM3](../docs/hardware/acer_g43t-am3.md)
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- [Apple iMac 5,2](../docs/hardware/imac52.md)
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- [ASUS KCMA-D8 motherboard](../docs/hardware/kcma-d8.md)
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- [Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard](../docs/hardware/ga-g41m-es2l.md)
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- [Intel D510MO and D410PT motherboards](../docs/hardware/d510mo.md)
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- [Intel D945GCLF](../docs/hardware/d945gclf.md)
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### Laptops (Intel, x86)
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- [Apple MacBook1,1 and MacBook2,1](../docs/hardware/macbook21.md)
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- [Dell Latitude E6400, E6400 XFR and E6400 ATG, with Intel
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GPU](../docs/hardware/e6400.md)
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- [Lenovo ThinkPad R400](../docs/hardware/r400.md)
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- [Lenovo ThinkPad R500](../docs/hardware/r500.md)
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- [Lenovo ThinkPad T400 / T400S](../docs/hardware/t400.md)
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- [Lenovo ThinkPad T500](../docs/hardware/t500.md)
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- [Lenovo ThinkPad W500](../docs/hardware/t500.md)
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- [Lenovo ThinkPad X200 / X200S / X200 Tablet](../docs/hardware/x200.md)
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- Lenovo ThinkPad X301
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- Lenovo ThinkPad X60 / X60S / X60 Tablet
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### Laptops (ARM, with U-Boot payload)
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- [ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 (gru-bob)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)
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- [Samsung Chromebook Plus (v1) (gru-kevin)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)
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Again, very minor release. I wasn't fully happy with the last one, specifically
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the last Canoeboot release, so I decided to another quick one.
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That is all.
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Leah Rowe