coreboot, formerly known as LinuxBIOS, is a software project aimed at replacing proprietary firmware found in most computers with a lightweight firmware designed to perform only the minimum number of tasks necessary to load and run a modern 32-bit or 64-bit operating system.
Hacking coreboot at Denver 2008 summit.
SeaBIOS payload running on a Lenovo ThinkPad X60
In computing, firmware is software that provides low-level control of computing device hardware.
For a relatively simple device, firmware may perform all control, monitoring and data manipulation functionality.
For a more complex device, firmware may provide relatively low-level control as well as hardware abstraction services to higher-level software such as an operating system.
Firmware is commonly stored in an EEPROM, which makes use of an I/O protocol such as SPI.
ROM BIOS firmware on a Baby AT motherboard
Updating the firmware of a Fuji Instax camera