Open Source Firmware on TigerLake platforms - part 1

Published at April 14, 2022 ·  9 min read

This post describes efforts of building open source firmware for Tiger Lake UP3 RVP platform and the problems faced in the process. Tiger Lake is one of the newest Intel processors for which the FSP and EDK2 MinPlatform has been recently released....

Categories: firmware

ASUS KGPE-D16 Dasharo testing update

Published at March 23, 2022 ·  3 min read

This blog post describes the updates in the validation process of Dasharo for ASUS KGPE-D16. You will read about new tests and newly detected issues....

Categories: firmware

A new source of trust for your platform - Dasharo with Intel TXT support

Published at March 17, 2022 ·  9 min read

Do you trust the firmware on your system? No? Then this post is a must-read for you. Get to know what Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) is and how it may help you securely measure and attest your operating system and software running on your machine. You will also hear about open-source implementation of Intel TXT for Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge platforms including Dell OptiPlex 7010 / 9010....

Categories: firmware security

KGPE-D16 open-source firmware status

Published at February 3, 2022 ·  6 min read

This post covers the struggles and efforts behind the revival of KGPE-D16. Something that community was waiting for a long time. With Dasharo firmware the platform obtained a new life and sees a new daylight with more security features and improvements....

Categories: firmware security

Dasharo for Dell OptiPlex 7010 / 9010

Published at November 26, 2021 ·  8 min read

Open source firmware may be hundreds of times better than the proprietary one. On the example of Dell OptiPlex 7010 / 9010 we will show you the advantages of Dasharo firmware on this machine....

Categories: firmware

Fobnail vs other boot security projects

Published at October 28, 2021 ·  11 min read

Have you ever thought about securing the boot process of your computer? No? This post will compare the available open source boot process hardening projects and explain the importance of signing and protection the software/operating system you launch. You will also get to know how the boot process may be secured even further and with the incoming Fobnail security token....

Categories: firmware security

Open Source Firmware on AMD Milan server processors

Published at September 9, 2021 ·  6 min read

There were times where AMD was actively supporting open source firmware ecosystem by providing silicon initialization code. With a few years break AMD is now trying to support open source firmware again with the mobile platform like Chromebooks. However, the recent achievements have made everybody think that open source firmware is also possible on servers....

Categories: firmware

Dell OptiPlex and coreboot - a story about porting cursed hardware (part 2)

Published at June 1, 2021 ·  10 min read

This post is a second part of the series which tells a story about porting Dell OptiPlex 9010 workstation to open-source firmware - coreboot. What was simple is long past us in the first part of the series. This time we are taking a deeper dive into the technical aspects of Environmental Controller reverse engineering and locating the problem with machine not booting after AC loss....

Categories: firmware

Booting coreboot on Intel Comet Lake S RVP8

Published at August 31, 2020 ·  10 min read

This blog post shows the procedure of building coreboot for a Comet Lake S platform. Also it describes problems occurred when building and booting the image. As a bonus, few tips and tricks will be shown how to fix/workaround these kind of problems....

Categories: firmware security

Dell OptiPlex and coreboot - a story about porting cursed hardware (part 1)

Published at June 24, 2020 ·  6 min read

This post begins a new series telling a story of a stubborn firmware engineer who overcame never-ending amount of obstacles to create a Dell OptiPlex 9010 workstation as open as possible. In this series, you will not only read about the adventures which accompanied the work on the hardware but also you will have a chance to learn the way of BIOS developer....

Categories: firmware