StarBook Horizon
Firmware, Linux, and ownership answers.
The short version: Horizon installs modern Linux from standard ISOs, receives signed LVFS updates, and exposes useful firmware controls. No vendor driver package or post-install patch set.
Quick answers
Check the thing you care about.
Start with installs, updates, battery behaviour, repairability, and security. The exact firmware controls sit below.
Can I install my own Linux distro?
Yes. Use the standard ISO for a modern Linux distribution and install normally. There is no Star Labs driver package and no post-install patch set.
Linux 6.2 or later is the clean baseline.
Can I repair or upgrade it?
Yes. Horizon has a user-replaceable battery, an accessible M.2 2280 SSD, and published disassembly guidance. It is designed to be maintained, not treated as sealed hardware.
The same service model also lets Star Labs offer generation-to-generation PCB upgrade paths where compatible parts are available. See the ownership overview.
How are firmware updates delivered?
Updates are signed by Star Labs and delivered through LVFS on Linux. The firmware checks the update before flashing and rejects unsigned or unauthorised updates.
StarLabsLtd/coreboot and StarLabsLtd/edk2 use monthly public branches. That keeps Horizon close to current upstream work, so CVEs, hardware fixes, and regressions can be handled in smaller regular updates.
What happens after five years?
Five years is the formal update commitment, not a forced end-of-life. Star Labs still publishes firmware for machines around nine years old where support remains useful and technically possible.
If official updates ever stop, the source remains available. You can build from source yourself, or have someone else audit, maintain, or adapt it for your machine.
Can I tune charging for battery life?
Yes. Horizon exposes firmware options for charging speed and maximum charge level. Use faster charging when you need a quick top-up, or 80% / 60% limits and slower charging when battery longevity matters more.
When the battery reaches the chosen target, the embedded controller stops charging and only resumes once it has dropped by roughly five percentage points: about 75% for the 80% limit, or about 55% for the 60% limit.
What about sleep, suspend, and boot behaviour?
Horizon exposes firmware controls for lid behaviour, S3/S0ix sleep selection, and power-on-after-failure. The defaults are set for the Star Labs Linux configuration, but the controls are visible if your distro or workflow needs something different.
Can the fan be disabled?
Yes. Horizon includes firmware fan controls, including a disabled mode for silent workloads. Active cooling remains available when sustained workloads need it.
Where are the physical privacy features?
The webcam cover, wireless hardware switch, and privacy screen protector are physical features, so they are covered on the product overview rather than listed as firmware settings. View the Horizon overview.
Can I use Secure Boot, Measured Boot, and TPM?
Yes. Horizon supports Secure Boot, Measured Boot, and dTPM 2.0. Secure Boot can be used when your operating system supports it, including distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora.
Measured Boot records boot stages into the TPM so security tools can compare the boot path with the expected state and flag unexpected changes.
What protects my data?
Horizon supports TCG Opal 2.0 for hardware-backed disk encryption with compatible self-encrypting NVMe drives, so you can secure your data without needing to reinstall.
Total Memory Encryption protects data while it is in RAM, including running programs and suspended state. It helps protect a real-world risk: a laptop stolen while still powered on or suspended.
Is Intel ME disabled?
Yes. Horizon ships with Intel ME disabled. The firmware also exposes the ME state as a visible firmware control rather than hiding it.
What does BIOS Lock protect?
BIOS Lock is the user-facing name for low-level firmware write protection. It helps stop unauthorised software from rewriting system firmware directly, keeping updates on the signed and authorised update path.
Where is the source code?
The Horizon firmware source and build configuration are public.
Configurable firmware
The Horizon firmware controls.
These match the Horizon coreboot option categories, labels, help text, and default selections. Expand only the category you care about.
Audio/Video
Enable or disable the built-in microphone
Enable or disable the built-in webcam
Battery
Set the maximum speed to charge the battery. Charging faster will increase heat and battery wear.
Set the maximum level the battery will charge to.
Automatically turn on after a power failure
Debug
Set the verbosity of the coreboot console output.
Keyboard
Swap the functions of the [Fn] and [Ctrl] keys
Set the amount of time before the keyboard backlight turns off when un-used
LEDs
Control the maximum brightness of the charge LED
Control the maximum brightness of the power LED
PCIe Power Management
Controls the Active State Power Management for PCIe devices. Enabling this feature can reduce power consumption of PCIe-connected devices during idle times.
Enables or disables power management for the PCIe clock. When enabled, it reduces power consumption during idle states. This can help lower overall energy use but may impact performance in power-sensitive tasks.
Controls deeper power-saving states for PCIe devices. Enabling this feature allows supported devices to achieve lower power states at the cost of slightly increased latency when exiting these states.
Performance
Adjust the fan curve to prioritize performance or noise levels.
Enable or Disable the Gaussian & Neural Accelerator
Configure the speed that the memory will run at. Higher speeds produce more heat and consume more power but provide higher performance.
Select whether to maximize performance, battery life or both.
Security
Enable BIOS write protection in SMM. When enabled, the boot media (SPI flash) is only writable in System Management Mode, preventing unauthorized writes through the internal controller.
Enable TME (Total Memory Encryption). When enabled, all data stored in system memory is encrypted to prevent unauthorized access or data theft. Disabling TME decreases boot time by around 100ms
Enable or disable the Intel Management Engine
Suspend & Lid
Configure what opening or closing the lid will do.
Enabled: Use S0ix for device sleep. Disabled: Use ACPI S3 for device sleep. Requires Intel ME to be enabled.
Virtualization
Enable or disable Intel VT-d (virtualization)
Wireless
Enable or disable the built-in Bluetooth
Enable or disable Bluetooth power optimization. Recommended to disable when booting Windows.
Enable or disable the built-in WiFi
Continue the buying path.
Go back to the visual overview, compare full specifications, or configure StarBook Horizon.