Aug 23, 2016 - Almost open: BIOS and firmware update tips for Linux users. I picked up a GIGABYTE BRIX based on a quad-core N3150 processor,.

I suppose I'm lucky in that for more than 10 years my primary work environment has been Linux-based, yet all too often I've been forced to dig out a DOS or Windows image because I need to patch some BIOS device firmware. These days I don't own anything that has a valid Windows license, and even my 2008 white MacBook has spent most of its life running either Ubuntu or Fedora. Luckily most hardware manufacturers have started to provide bootable images for patching system firmware, and for enterprise-grade hardware they even provide Linux-ready tools. In this article, I'll walk through my recent firmware update on Linux, and I'll share a few recommendations based on that experience.

In the consumer/prosumer landscape there has been a shift toward UEFI-based systems for desktops and laptops, and along the way many manufacturers appear to have removed the option for the BIOS to update from a USB Stick. Historically we'd only see firmware updates for enterprise-class spinning rust (hard drives), but many SSD manufacturers are also providing regular firmware updates for consumer-class devices. Whilst we often should stand by the old adage 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,' I'm a strong believer when standing up a new environment to make sure all my firmware is current.

So begins my journey. My update adventure For many years I've been involved with the (open source DVR), including at one point producing consumer-ready systems in New Zealand (). Recently I was after an Intel-based compact PC that could operate as a MythTV front-end, was capable of running (open source theater system), and could also be occasionally re-purposed as a hypervisor for my home lab. I picked up a GIGABYTE BRIX based on a quad-core N3150 processor, and re-purposed spare RAM and hard drives, for a simple and effective solution. The integrated Intel HD Graphics are capable of H265/HEVC at 24 frames/second, plus the CPU has VT for hardware accelerated virtualization (sadly only upgradable to 8GB RAM, but enough for a simple testbed). With any new equipment, my first step is to try a live USB image to test the hardware.

I have a number of bootable images on hand, including Fedora, Ubuntu, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and these days I tend toward a 64-bit image for testing as ultimately I'll be running a 64-bit operating system. I also confirmed that the system was set up with VT enabled for hardware accelerated virtualization as a surprising number of systems still ship with this setting disabled in BIOS or UEFI. Great tools at this point within a live image are dmidecode and lspci to pull firmware and hardware information: $ sudo dmidecode System Information Manufacturer: GIGABYTE Product Name: GB-BACE-3150 Version: 1.x Serial Number: To be filled by O.E.M. UUID: 0XXXXXXX-0XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX Wake-up Type: Power Switch SKU Number: To be filled by O.E.M.

Family: To be filled by O.E.M. Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes BIOS Information Vendor: American Megatrends Inc. Steven Ellis - Steven is an Open Source Advocate and Technologist working for Red Hat since they opened their New Zealand office in May 2011. Over the last 20+ year's he's helped numerous business see the benefit in adopting a wide range of Open Source technologies, and has spoken at a number of regional and international conferences including OSDC, linux.conf.au, OpenStack Summit, Linux World and OSCON. In his spare time he still hacks on MythTV, and debugging random new bits of hardware that really should. For more discussion on open source and the role of the CIO in the enterprise, join us at.

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As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site. Or read our to learn how to use this site. JohnC, Thank you for your interest. Sorry for delay; been trying to get a better handle on the behavior; seems to happen frequently during video playbacks like youtube; but sometime does it when nothing running except desktop. To answer your questions: Crtl + Alt + F1 does NOT return as a console with a prompt; BUT once out of 20 or so times the follow up with Ctrl + Alt + F7 returned a partially functioning desktop. I have run memtest for an hour with no failures.