[thudson]

With LinuxBoot you can use any filesystem that Linux supports, not just FAT.

You can update boot entries by editing shell scripts, rather than manipulating opaque NVRAM variables.

You can run Linux applications straight from the ROM if you want to do that.

You can avoid legacy partitions entirely and use LVM for flexible volume management.

And...

You can build it yourself and verify that the reproducible build matches what others have built to ensure that the firmware is clean.

You can have the firmware attest to you via TOTP that it hasn't been changed.

You can have a fully encrypted disk, with secrets sealed in the TPM and only unsealed if the firmware is unmodified.

You can include device drivers for things that UEFI doesn't support.

You can use external hardware tokens like a Yubikey to sign the OS install and have the firmware validate the GPG signature.

Or what ever else you might want to do...

[Annatar]

All very good and very valid points. Just wouldn’t want to do that with Linux. OpenBSD or FreeBSD, yes; illumos, yes; Linux - out of the question.

[pferde]

You're probably getting downvoted because you did not follow up with "...because $reasons", so your post comes off as petty Linux hate (is there such word as "anti-fanboyism"?).

[Annatar]

Thanks for the clarification.

In the context, most other posts here contain no technical detail whatsoever either and are nothing more than unsubstantiated opinions (same as mine); they just really dislike that there is someone out there who doesn’t think that Linux is phenomenal. In the days of Microsoft dominance, we called that monoculture.

Volumes have been written and videos filmed on all the inadequacies of the GNU/Linux kernel, far more than I could cram into one “Hacker News” post. I for example get a painful reminder of just how unfit the Linux kernel is as firmware every time I turn on my television set which runs it (ARM V7 Linux for the curious). After that, I don’t want any more. That is not an isolated scenario.

Apropos petty, my hate of GNU/Linux is epic.

[nickik]

Can you actually link to these resources?

Because people have been doing it since the 90s. Google use this on their Chromebook. Some of the people working on Coreboot, Heads, NERF have been doing it for a long time and they all seem to agree with each other.

Also, please tell me why the Linux kernel is so bad, but the BSDs are not? They are not that different and its hard to argue that they are much saver in terms of bugs (just look at the BSD talk at 34C3).

You actually clarified nothing in your post.

[Annatar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6XQUciI-Sc - watch it to the end.

How long "people have been doing it" has nothing to do with the quality, it's a fallacy. They can't code if they can't even get the basics like polling or startup / shutdown correctly.

[diegocerdan]

People ask for sources about your harsh claims and you share various multiple hour podcasts that "you have to watch it to the end".

Some people may not be able to code but others are not even able to argue.

[gkya]

So Linux (there is no GNU/Linux kernel, but a GNU/Linux OS) is more popular than how much you'd like it to be, and is that the problem? I for one am glad GPL-licenced free software is running on as much platforms as possible. In those cases Linux is basically a library they pick for their work. You can well say the same thing for glibc, gcc, apache, nginx etc. But in the end-user space nobody is forcing you to use Linux, and that's what monoculture is, not the choices regarding firmware with which the end user is not meant to ever interact.

[Annatar]

So Linux (there is no GNU/Linux kernel, but a GNU/Linux OS) is more popular than how much you'd like it to be, and is that the problem?

That's a huge problem for me, because I get stuck dealing with problems solved in traditional UNIX operating systems anywhere from 30 to 20 years ago. It's extremely depressing to have to regress. If the future is Linux, then I want no part of such future.

But in the end-user space nobody is forcing you to use Linux

No? Then why do most companies today force me to work on Linux by insisting on running it? Why am I told in interviews "nah, they don't want to try ZFS or SmartOS... they're Linux people".

[O_H_E]

I seriously would be interested to learn more about that, can you point me to some resources

[Annatar]

Why certainly! This is as good of a place to start as any:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTVfAMRj-7E

[Fnoord]

A 4h40m interview on YouTube is considered a source these days. How about written text? Makes it much easier to read and quote.

[Fnoord]

Literally nobody cares that you don't wanna do that with Linux. That's like your problem. The world needs practical solutions; not *NIX wars or zealotry.

[Annatar]

There are practical solutions: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, SmartOS. Linux for firmware is not one of those, but if you think it is, good luck with using it for that. Don't bother to let me know how it worked out for you.