Coreboot + AMD openSIL Powered Firmware Published For The Gigabyte MZ33-AR1
We have been longing for this milestone ever since AMD announced openSIL back in 2023 as their open-source CPU silicon initialization library to ultimately succeeded their AGESA software. While openSIL won't be reaching production status until Zen 6, the firmware consulting firm 3mdeb has been working on an experimental port of openSIL and Coreboot to the Gigabyte MZ33-AR1. The MZ33-AR1 is an AMD EPYC 9004/9005 server motherboard that can be easily found at a variety of Internet retailers.
3mdeb announced late last year they were working on this Coreboot+openSIL port to the MZ33-AR1 motherboard and now they have managed to deliver. The Dasharo v0.9 release is UEFI compatible, supports booting either Linux or Windows 11, is Secure Boot capable, supports TPM Measured Boot for security, and supports other typical system BIOS/firmware functionality. Quite a milestone for 3mdeb -- and this is without the official support by either Gigabyte or AMD.
3mdeb's Dasharo firmware allows easily switching over from the proprietary BIOS to Dasharo using the convenient web BMC interface of this Gigabyte motherboard, rather than needing to resort to using flashrom or similar.
3mdeb for their part are funding this work by selling Dasharo pre-loaded MZ33-AR1 servers from their web shop. From there you can get a working server already loaded with the Dasharo firmware.
Those interested in learning more about this initial firmware for the Gigabyte MZ33-AR1 motherboard can do so via docs.dasharo.com.
In anticipation of this major open-source milestone, I already purchased this motherboard for testing. Next week I should have up my thoughts on the experience and some initial performance benchmarks looking at the default proprietary system firmware compared to openSIL/Coreboot-powered Dasharo. More details in Gigabyte MZ33-AR1: A Uniquely Positioned AMD EPYC 9005 Motherboard For Open-Source Firmware.
In addition to this EPYC server motherboard port, 3mdeb is also working on bringing Coreboot/openSIL Dasharo to the MSI PRO B850-P WIFI motherboard. That port has yet to be published.
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