AMD Open-Source Firmware is Coming, openSIL will Replace AGESA by 2026

[Easo]

Almost all software more than a decade old has security holes more than a decade old, the important thing is in open source eventually they are found.

Sure, but so are they in closed source software. It is not like AMD or Microsoft or whatever are not working on that daily. Also one difference is that for bunch of people that is just a hobby in free time, for others it is full time paid job - I can take a guess which one has more dedicated high level people and let's be honest - there will be very few persons out in the wild who understand firmware code for something this complicated and specific. Obvious issues might be caught quicker, I can agree with that, though.

 

[Solaris17]

I can take a guess which one has more dedicated high level people

You must think everyone here is a gamer.

For the record when you get paid at this level your tasks are dictated by jira board not bug report and those jira boards are populated by TAMs that want you to push new features they can charge for not security issues in C++. That’s what lawyers are for.

 

[N3utro]

That depends on what community we're talking about. Open-source can also lead to a mess of infinite versions from various different communities. Take Linux, for example. There are so many distros that there's no way of telling which one is good for you unless you know a lot about Linux in general - it's what I like to call "open source, closed community".

Redhat/centos for professionnal server usage, debian for home server usage, ubuntu for desktop usage. Nothing hard to understand here. The others distributions are more niche oriented.

 

[R-T-B]

You must think everyone here is a gamer.

I'm a hybrid gamer-IT frog.

 

[Imouto]

That depends on what community we're talking about. Open-source can also lead to a mess of infinite versions from various different communities. Take Linux, for example. There are so many distros that there's no way of telling which one is good for you unless you know a lot about Linux in general - it's what I like to call "open source, closed community".

That is, unless AMD takes the open source route to include the best community fixes in official versions, which I'll welcome.

You can't go wrong with any distro unless you think you are better than everyone else and pick the most obscure and/or outright shady one out there instead of typing "best linux distros" in your favorite search engine. If anything, you should take Mesa as an example. So good it's better than the proprietary alternative.

 

[L'Eliminateur]

to be fair that is likely not how this will work.

they may end up using there own platform svn if they don’t use git.

in either case they would be the branch owners. Not sure if you have ever used git before but I’m guessing not.

they would do what many other open source friendly companies/divisions do and host the source public while maintaining and owning the repo.

anyone can work on it and create a pull request which they as a company would look over and then merge.

at such a point they deem the repo code meets the next milestone they will make it, compile, host, sign and distribute.

yes i'm familiar with git, my point is that the "end users" will not be able to patch/hack anything by themselves, it will still depend on AMD to check the pull requests/issues and commit them, and then wait for the MB manufacturers to integrate it into their bios file and distribute it.

That last part will still be the weakest and slowest

 

[Solaris17]

That last part will still be the weakest and slowest

Of that process probably. But that would be after the fact. Going open source will speed up development as a whole which I am willing to bet is easily the slowest part of the process now.

 

[dgianstefani]

Of that process probably. But that would be after the fact. Going open source will speed up development as a whole which I am willing to bet is easily the slowest part of the process now.

Judging by how it's taking weeks to push a relatively simple fix of "limit voltage so AM5 CPU/Mobos don't kill themselves", I'd agree.

 

[L'Eliminateur]

Of that process probably. But that would be after the fact. Going open source will speed up development as a whole which I am willing to bet is easily the slowest part of the process now.

ah yes totally, having the chance to see for ourselves how the "agesa" code works at the source code level will be excellent opposed to the current opaque black box blob with scant public info, for tinkerers/overclockers and for software developers for diagnostics tools like hwinfo and the like will have more tools at their disposal.

 

[dgianstefani]

ah yes totally, having the chance to see for ourselves how the "agesa" code works at the source code level will be excellent opposed to the current opaque black box blob with scant public info, for tinkerers/overclockers and for software developers for diagnostics tools like hwinfo and the like will have more tools at their disposal.

They don't even release changelogs or open issues lists with AGESA, as of this date I'd consider AM4 about 95% production ready in terms of my own and others whose systems I manage, experience with the platform.

 

[Solaris17]

ah yes totally, having the chance to see for ourselves how the "agesa" code works at the source code level will be excellent opposed to the current opaque black box blob with scant public info, for tinkerers/overclockers and for software developers for diagnostics tools like hwinfo and the like will have more tools at their disposal.

I’m not going to lie I’m pretty excited to see the template docs they put out regarding how to submit changes. It’s a good view into there process imo.

 

[AusWolf]

Redhat/centos for professionnal server usage, debian for home server usage, ubuntu for desktop usage. Nothing hard to understand here. The others distributions are more niche oriented.

You know that if you know Linux. Personally, I've heard about debian, but the only ones I have experience with are Ubuntu and Mint.

You can't go wrong with any distro unless you think you are better than everyone else and pick the most obscure and/or outright shady one out there instead of typing "best linux distros" in your favorite search engine. If anything, you should take Mesa as an example. So good it's better than the proprietary alternative.

You can search for it, but you won't know what's really good and why. That only comes with experience.

To be fair, "just google it" is a favourite answer coming from any Linux fan. Literally every single conversation I have with Linux fans goes like this:
Me: "I don't know how to do X. Can you help?"
Linux fan: "Sure. Just open the terminal and use the commands."
Me: "What commands?"
Linux fan: "Just google it."

This is why I don't use Linux (open source, closed community).

Judging by how it's taking weeks to push a relatively simple fix of "limit voltage so AM5 CPU/Mobos don't kill themselves", I'd agree.

Huh? The fixed BIOS for my motherboard was out two days before Gamer's Nexus' video on the issue.

What I would like AMD to do in the future is get rid of the chipset driver, and find a way to control everything from firmware.

 

[bug]

Of that process probably. But that would be after the fact. Going open source will speed up development as a whole which I am willing to bet is easily the slowest part of the process now.

If AMD's handling of compute on Linux is anything to go by, I wouldn't put much faith in the process

 

[Imouto]

You can search for it, but you won't know what's really good and why. That only comes with experience.

I just told you that you can't go wrong with any popular distro. That "really good" is a misunderstanding on your part. You can't pick a distribution and ruin your PC or your Linux experience forever. You can literally pick a pen drive, give any of them a test drive and repeat until you find your favorite flavor.

Too much to ask from a PC enthusiast, I know.

To be fair, "just google it" is a favourite answer coming from any Linux fan.

That's far better than being completely ignored which seems exactly what an entitled tourist like you deserves.

This is why I don't use Linux (open source, closed community).

Thank you. Now if you want to be a good citizen you could stop complaining about something you don't understand.

 

[bug]

To be fair, "just google it" is a favourite answer coming from any Linux fan. Literally every single conversation I have with Linux fans goes like this:
Me: "I don't know how to do X. Can you help?"
Linux fan: "Sure. Just open the terminal and use the commands."
Me: "What commands?"
Linux fan: "Just google it."

This is why I don't use Linux (open source, closed community).

No offense, but that sounds more like you don't want to learn. You just want somebody else to learn and just hand you the answers. There's a learning curve, if you don't want to put in the answer, Linux is not for you.

As for closed community... Most Linux users can be pricks*, at least in some aspects, that much is true. In spite of that, Ubuntu's or Arch's wiki would like to have a word with you.

*not necessarily a Linux exclusive, just look up a random TPU thread that mentions Intel or Nvidia.

 

[AusWolf]

No offense, but that sounds more like you don't want to learn. You just want somebody else to learn and just hand you the answers. There's a learning curve, if you don't want to put in the answer, Linux is not for you.

As for closed community... Most Linux users can be pricks*, at least in some aspects, that much is true. In spite of that, Ubuntu's or Arch's wiki would like to have a word with you.

*not necessarily a Linux exclusive, just look up a random TPU thread that mentions Intel or Nvidia.

To be fair, I'd like any Linux distro to work well enough through the GUI so I won't have to touch the terminal, ever. There have been steps in this direction, but it's still not perfect. The app store was a great addition, imo. What I absolutely don't want is try to remember code just to do simple things that could be done with a few clicks. I also miss executables. If this means Linux isn't for me, fair enough.

 

[dgianstefani]

To be fair, I'd like any Linux distro to work well enough through the GUI so I won't have to touch the terminal, ever. There have been steps in this direction, but it's still not perfect. The app store was a great addition, imo. What I absolutely don't want is try to remember code just to do simple things that could be done with a few clicks. I also miss executables. If this means Linux isn't for me, fair enough.

There's distros for beginners, see OSX.

You don't even need .exe files, handy little icon for everything, and a virtual assistant if you get lost.

 

[AusWolf]

There's distros for beginners, see OSX.

You don't even need .exe files, handy little icon for everything, and a virtual assistant if you get lost.

Osx? Isn't that Apple's thing?

 

[dgianstefani]

Osx? Isn't that Apple's thing?

Yep.

It goes upwards like this in terms of OS potential and requirements for user proficiency - OSX - Windows - Linux.

 

[N3utro]

You know that if you know Linux. Personally, I've heard about debian, but the only ones I have experience with are Ubuntu and Mint.

Which Linux Distribution Should I Use

For those who think it's easier to annoy you than to Google 'Which linux distribution should i use' themselves.

letmegooglethat.com

 

[bug]

To be fair, I'd like any Linux distro to work well enough through the GUI so I won't have to touch the terminal, ever. There have been steps in this direction, but it's still not perfect. The app store was a great addition, imo. What I absolutely don't want is try to remember code just to do simple things that could be done with a few clicks. I also miss executables. If this means Linux isn't for me, fair enough.

Yes, that means that Linux is not for you. Command interpreters are at the heart of Linux. Ok, the kernel is, but command interpreters are pretty darn close.
Ubuntu is the distribution that is most geared towards home users coming from Windows. It has all these graphical utilities to install extra codecs, that distros can't carry directly, install various drivers. If that didn't work for you, nothing will.

 

[Wirko]

ah yes totally, having the chance to see for ourselves how the "agesa" code works at the source code level will be excellent opposed to the current opaque black box blob with scant public info, for tinkerers/overclockers and for software developers for diagnostics tools like hwinfo and the like will have more tools at their disposal.

Half true, the other half is a vain hope. Chip and device manufacturers won't just open up their black boxes full of secrets to anyone who wants to peek in and understand the details of their operation and programming. Binary blobs will remain, although smaller and unencrypted, potentially easier to be analysed.

 

[bug]

Half true, the other half is a vain hope. Chip and device manufacturers won't just open up their black boxes full of secrets to anyone who wants to peek in and understand the details of their operation and programming. Binary blobs will remain, although smaller and unencrypted, potentially easier to be analysed.

He's right though, there would be at least academic value in that.