Antonio Russo <[email protected]> writes: > On 3/1/26 5:31 AM, Simon Josefsson wrote: >> I can buy a lot more laptops, desktops, servers that works without >> non-free firmware today than I could 10 or 20 years ago. >> My current NV41 laptop is one example (although it is a couple of >> years >> old). I recently bought a Protectcli VP2440 to use as a firewall, and >> it is another example. My MSI Z790P desktop is another example. > > I looked up this motherboard because of what you said---I am in fact very > interested in purchasing hardware that does not require non-free firmware. > > I went to the MSI page for that motherboard: > > https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-Z790-P/support#bios > > I see the recent UEFI/BIOS there, but neither a claim that the firmware is > free, nor a download link to the source. > > Where is the free firmware for this board?
MSI's BIOS is not free software. The motherboard works fine without use of any non-free firmware in the OS, so you don't need a free BIOS in order to use the machine with Debian without non-free firmware. You can install a coreboot port on the motherboard: https://docs.dasharo.com/variants/msi_z790/releases/ That's what I'm using, to get hardware verified microcode updates etc. But, as far as I know, it is not required in order to use the machine with an OS that doesn't contain any non-free firwmare. If you are in the EU, shop.3mdeb.com provides the devices easily (I'm not affiliated with them but only a happy customer). /Simon
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