or NVISEN Y-MU01 NVISEN Y-MU01 (i7-10510U) Testbericht are the same, that is, they are the same Chinese manufacturer. Correct me if I’m wrong, it would be better if there are links or comparison tables.
That is, it turns out that this is the same device in terms of hardware, but the price may differ by half, for example NitroPC 670 euros and Purism Librem Mini 700 $ versus 300 $
The Purism Librem Mini is based on the NitroPC 1, similar to the Purism Librem Key being based on the Nitrokey Pro 2. Looking closely at the NVISEN Y-MU01, it does seem to bear a strong resemblance, although I am not certain if flashing Coreboot or PureBoot (Basic) will work.
Hello . Thanks for the answer . If you look closely, this is the same motherboard MUO1_MB, it is installed on Librem Mini on NitroPC 1 on NVISEN Y-MU01.
As for the software, you can use PureBoot or you can use Coreboot, I think this is a separate topic, what is the difference and what is more free from the point of view of blobs…
Basically, they are both boot firmware. Pureboot gives you the option of a trusted boot path / detects the Evil Maid Attack. Coreboot has a traditional BIOS payload i.e. just boot but without boot integrity check.
I wanted to understand the difference not in bootloaders, but in terms of hardware.
Do I understand correctly that this is the same motherboard as for Librem Mini, NitroPC1 or NVISEN Y-MU01?
If we talk about Pureboot or Coreboot, it seems to me that you can set a password for Grub and sign the kernel; this will have the same effect from a security point of view as Pureboot.
OK, sorry, I completely misunderstood your question then. I can’t answer your actual question as I have no familiarity with those other devices (NitroPC1 / NVISEN Y-MU01).
What you propose won’t provide integrity for the firmware itself.
Putting that another way … you (someone?) can sign the kernel but what code is checking the signature?
There are (at least) two ways of doing it.
The root-of-trust way where you hand over control of your computer to Intel and Microsoft.
The Purism way. (In particular, Purism wants to avoid the situation where instead of handing over control of your computer to Intel and Microsoft, you hand over control of your computer to Purism. Purism only ever wants you to be in control of your computer.)
Librem Mini wasn’t based on NitroPC 1 (nor was Mini v2 based on NitroPC v2, etc.), as far as I know. While they share board designs, as far as I can tell the Minis came first, and the respective NitroPCs ship Mini firmware modified with Nitrokey’s configuration. (See e.g. the NitroPC firmware builder, the NitroPC v2 configuration is CONFIG_BOARD_PURISM_LIBREM_MINI_V2 with the vendor name set to Nitrokey, etc.: coreboot-builder/nitropc-defconfig at main · Nitrokey/coreboot-builder · GitHub)
I can’t say for sure whether it will work. Designs like this often have many options and can be populated in different ways. Some of the obvious ones you can see in the photo are the optional COM port headers, the option for a second Ethernet interface instead of the rear USB 2.0 ports - but those are just the obvious things. The design may support alternative parts for any number of internal components that wouldn’t impact end-user functionality, but allow the vendor to adapt to fluctuating component availability. The EC firmware may change, possibly requiring corresponding changes in the system firmware. If so, it should come with matching vendor firmware, but work in coreboot might be needed to interact with the EC in the right way.
When we ship devices, we ensure that everything works, either by ensuring they have the same components where it matters or by adding the necessary support to coreboot for the variations that we have shipped. For example, Librem 14 recently gained support for new Comet Lake steppings, and Librem 11 added a second set of HDA verbs for an alternate audio codec.
So I can’t know for sure whether a device from another vendor will work with our firmware. You’re always welcome to try it, and contributions upstream to coreboot to support more variations are appreciated.
Right, it is the other way around. The Librem Mini v2 was announced three months before the NitroPC 1.
They both have the same hardware, as stated by Jan Suhr in the comments. Jan also mentions about them being based off OEM hardware manufactured in Asia.
Thank you very much for your answer.
If I knew for sure that the motherboard for Librem Mini, NitroPC1, NVISEN Y-MU01 is from the same manufacturer, then I could experiment)) But as you correctly noted, for example, the Purism company could buy these boards and then adapt them for certain software and this could differ from the same NitroPC1 board.
I’ll try to read more and study who the manufacturer of these boards is.
I wonder if it is secret information from which manufacturer Purism orders the motherboard for the Librem Mini, where can you find the technical information?
Actually my point is that ODMs like this often vary components in the devices both for configuration options and component availability, like I discussed above. So even if they are from the same manufacturer, there isn’t a firm guarantee whether firmware from Purism or Nitrokey will work, work partially, or not boot at all.
You will have to estimate the likelihood that the firmware will work acceptably (depending on what is acceptable to you) and weigh that against the difference in cost
I can’t really characterize that likelihood, but I can give examples of things could vary that require changes to firmware, like the Librem 14 and Librem 11 examples above. Hope that helps
I agree with your idea, but still, if you know who the manufacturer of the motherboard for Librem Mini (v1, v2) is, I would be grateful for the information.
I would like to buy this board and then flash Pureboot and then Coreboot and compare the performance.
I hope Purism does not hide this information from users))
I also wanted to understand if, after purchasing Librem Mini 2, I could install Coreboot and then return Pureboot again
