coreboot is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS (firmware) found in most of today's computers. coreboot performs the required hardware initialization and then executes a payload to extend features. Some of the many possible payloads are: a Linux kernel, FILO, GRUB2, OpenBIOS, Open Firmware, SmartFirmware, GNUFI (UEFI), Etherboot, SeaBIOS (for booting Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, NetBSD and Linux), ADLO (for booting Windows 2000 and OpenBSD), Plan 9, or memtest86. As well as the payloads, coreboot relies on critical systems tools like flashrom.

Flashrom is a utility for identifying, reading, writing, verifying and erasing flash chips. It is designed to flash BIOS/EFI/coreboot/firmware/optionROM images on mainboards, network/graphics/storage controller cards, and various programmer devices.

The initial motivation for the project was for the maintenance of large clusters, but unsurprisingly, interest and contributions have come from people with varying backgrounds. The latest version of coreboot can be used in a wide variety of scenarios including clusters, embedded systems, desktop PCs, servers, and more.