The latest version of the open source BIOS alternative Coreboot lets you play DOOM from your motherboard’s firmware. Coreboot 4.17 adds the game as a so-called ‘load’.
Coreboot is minimalist firmware for motherboards. It is an alternative to BIOS and UEFI. The purpose of coreboot is to boot a computer or laptop as quickly as possible by starting only the necessary hardware and then executing a load such as the Linux kernel or bootloader. Coreboot is used by ChromeBooks, among others.
So version 4.17 adds DOOM as a burden. It is related to coreDOOM which is a port of doomgeneric. Doomgeneric is a project that makes porting the original 1993 DOOM easy, but it has one drawback: the sound doesn’t work.
And that’s not the only limitation of coreDOOM. The game only supports PS/2 keyboards (so playing on your ChromeBook won’t take it). It is also not possible to save and your computer freezes after closing the game.
The first version of Coreboot was released in 1999. Firmware is still supported by several motherboards. Since 2012, all ChromeOS devices such as ChromeBooks and ChromeBoxes use Coreboot firmware.
Screenshot from the original DOOM (1993).
Source: Coreboot
Source: Hardware Info
