81 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
81 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: BSD operating systems
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x-toc-enable: true
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...
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This section is largely x86-centric, pertaining to use of BSD operating systems.
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Although not as popular, BSD systems are also (in most cases) *Free Software*,
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but they are non-copyleft.
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Libreboot is capable of booting many BSD systems. This section mostly documents
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the peculiarities of Libreboot as it pertains to BSD; you can otherwise refer to
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the official documentation for whatever BSD system you would like to use.
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Video modes
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===========
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For BSD systems, it is desirable that you boot in *text mode*. ROM images
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with `txtmode` in the file name, on x86 systems, boot up with int10h text mode
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in use. This is the most "compatible" option, and BSD operating systems have
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excellent support for text-mode startup. Many of them also support *kernel mode
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setting* (KMS) nowadays, which you *need* if you want a graphical desktop on
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the X window system. The reason is that Libreboot does not currently implement
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int10h VGA modes on x86 systems. However, basic video initialization is
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provided on all platforms (int10h text mode, or coreboot framebuffer).
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Combined with the use of SeaBIOS payload, BSD systems (and any other OS that
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can boot in text mode) will *just work*. If your BSD system supports kernel
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mode setting, it can set up a framebuffer without making use of int10h VGA
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modes. In this case, the driver (e.g. Intel video driver) will set modes
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directly, and implement its own framebuffer.
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Booting with a coreboot framebuffer will also work well on most BSD systems.
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These ROM images have `corebootfb` in the filename, on recent Libreboot releases.
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In this setup, you should make sure that your BSD system has a `corebootfb`
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driver (to make use of the coreboot framebuffer), but when switching to X, your
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video driver (e.g. Intel video driver) may already support kernel mode setting
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which means that the coreboot framebuffer will no longer be used at that point.
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Booting BSD
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===========
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On x86 platforms, Libreboot currently provides the choice of GNU GRUB and/or
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SeaBIOS payload. You can use *either* payload, to boot BSD operating systems.
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SeaBIOS payload
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---------------
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It is highly recommended that you use the SeaBIOS payload. ROM images are
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available in the latest Libreboot release, which start with the SeaBIOS payload.
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The ROM images with GNU GRUB *also* have SeaBIOS available in the boot menu.
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GNU GRUB, when compiled as a coreboot payload, runs on *bare metal* and it can
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boot any other coreboot payload if you use the `chainloader` command.
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The way to use SeaBIOS is fairly self-explanatory. SeaBIOS functions the way
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you would expect on a typical computer. Libreboot currently lacks any sort of
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documentation for SeaBIOS, but you can refer to their
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website: <https://seabios.org/SeaBIOS>
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SeaBIOS is *especially* recommended if you're doing an encrypted installation.
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The benefit to using SeaBIOS is that it's basically more reliable. For example,
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ZFS support is less reliable in GRUB, but a FreeBSD system booted in SeaBIOS
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would work just fine because you'd be using FreeBSD's own bootloader in that
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instance.
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GNU GRUB payload
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----------------
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GRUB can directly boot many BSD kernels, but support for this is quite unreliable
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compared to its support for booting Linux kernels. However, you *can* use GRUB.
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When you use GNU GRUB directly, in this way, the various BSD bootloaders are
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bypassed entirely.
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We have separate pages for each BSD system:
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* [How to install NetBSD on x86 GNU GRUB payload](netbsd.md)
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* [How to install OpenBSD on x86 GNU GRUB payload](openbsd.md)
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* [How to install FreeBSD on a x86 GNU GRUB payload](freebsd.md)
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