== Damien Zammit - Coreboot ==
* Coreboot is a Free Software replacement for proprietary BIOS - really important project
* Coreboot does the minimal initialisation of hardware, hands off rest of the task to a "payload" program like GRUB or SeaBIOS
* sister project Flashrom handles complex task of writing to different flash ROM chips
* lots of manual work for Coreboot to support each new machine, even if similar components
* recent Intel machines require proprietary blob
* AMD have an agreement with Coreboot to provide full specs - yay!
* installing Coreboot on Lenovo Thinkpad T60
* T60 that Damien owns has about 5 different variations
* visually identify flashrom chip (get hands dirty)
* first time compiled Coreboot and flashed, machine was dead
* you need a recovery method first, eg. external flashing device
* always take a backup of existing BIOS with Flashrom
* was able to restore original BIOS with external clip and Rasberry Pi
* T60 had some unusual settings that reverse flash memory - challenging
* once installed relatively easy to upgrade
* Damien also working on replacing binary blob in modern Intel boards
* null modem cable to give serial output from Coreboot eg. printf
* EFI is just software with an agreed spec. - Coreboot replaces it
* Damien also tried Coreboot on a modern AMD AGESA HUDSON board and worked first time - F2A85-M ~ $70 for board
* Libreboot restricted subset of Coreboot without binary blobs
* Also started a [[http://me.bios.io/|wiki]] about why proprietary blobs in BIOS is bad and issues with Intel
* additional ARC CPU with RSA signed code that can control main CPU and talk to the Internet
* runs a real-time OS
* every model after T60/X60
* not an issue with AMD boards
== Gnews ==
[[https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20140407.txt|OpenSSL Heartbeat vulnerability]]
* affects both servers and clients
* upgrade Android 4.1 or greater
* not all TLS implementations, not GnuTLS
* not GPG related
* upgrade and replace private keys
* must also restart all services
* broken into mainstream, lots of confusion and bad reporting
* interesting issues relating to free software
* wouldn't have been discovered or fixed easily otherwise
* trolling about Free Software negatives
* interesting that two discovered at same time
[[https://action.sumofus.org/a/trade-sustainers/4/4/|TPP]]
* http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/large-crowds-fill-taipei-streets-in-protest-over-china-trade-bill/
* not much happening right now - that makes it hard to fight
* nebulous
* possibly get a talk on this some time from EFA
[[http://cloud.blender.org/gooseberry/|Project Gooseberry]]
* looking for more donations by this weekend
* feature length film
[[http://www.ted.com/talks/kirby_ferguson_embrace_the_remix|Embrace the Remix Ted video]]
* ted.com videos supported by free software without flash!
* very much worth a watch - touches on copyright and patent problems
[[http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop|Novena]]
* http://makezine.com/2014/04/02/the-worlds-first-open-source-laptop-makes-its-debut/
* support folks who are supporting open hardware
[[http://media.libreplanet.org/u/zakkai/m/free-software-for-freedom-surveillance-and-you/|Talk by Jacob Appelbaum at Libre Planet]]
* talks and shows a Novena
