Mainline Linux on ARM Chromebooks
Open firmware and standards-based boot for Mediatek MT818x/MT819x based devices
If we want to truly own our computing devices, ARM Chromebooks with Mediatek CPUs have much potential for liberation. Unlike most other personal computers (such as laptops with Intel CPUs), the software and firmware for these devices is user-replaceable. There's no need to worry about manufacturer firmware being able to control the entire computer: the TrustZone firmware can be replaced with an audited version the owner trusts.
While Chromebooks are shipped with ChromeOS, a system intimately tied to a single proprietary vendor, we can bring a standards-based boot to these devices by adding support for them to u-boot. Then, booting a standard Linux distribution becomes easy - so we'll co-operate with distributions like postmarketOS to provide the needed drivers. We will release better coreboot firmware for the Mediatek "Kompanio" families of SoC, found in Chromebooks from various manufacturers (MT8183, MT8186, MT8195, MT8196 and MT8188.
Firmware is also software, and equally deserves to be free. While this effort is pragmatically focused on bringing basic, reliable functionality to as many laptops as we can, we also keep an eye on freeing more low-level firmware. Perhaps it'll be the RAM initialization, or power management. Regardless, those laptops could push the envelope of user freedom.
This project was funded through the NGI0 Commons Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101135429. Additional funding is made available by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
