RPi4 8 GB UEFI/ACPI v1.17 boot improvements w.r.t. SD card presence

[Paul Mather <bsd-lists%gromit.dlib.vt.edu@localhost>]

I've been using versions 1.14 to 1.16 of the UEFI/ACPI firmware (https://github.com/pftf/RPi4/releases) on my 8 GB Raspberry Pi 4 to boot from an external USB3 device, but have been having various problems with SD card interference in the boot process.  I've also been unable to boot from the external USB Mass Storage Device (MSD) with the SD card slot empty.

I'm happy to report that the latest release of the UEFI/ACPI firmware, v1.17 (https://github.com/pftf/RPi4/releases/tag/v1.17) successfully allows me to boot without needing to have an SD card present!  I just thought folks might be interested to know.

Cheers,

Paul.