January 2004 - coreboot - mail.coreboot.org

LinuxBIOS questions
by Armijn Hemel Jan. 26, 2004

Jan. 26, 2004

hello all, for the Dutch Linux Magazine (http://www.linuxmag.nl/) I'm writing an article about open source hardware and LinuxBIOS is one of the projects I will mention. I have a question which does not seem to be answered in the FAQ. Do I really need to remove the normal BIOS from a machine, insert a ZIF socket, etc.? I read an article (British Linux Magazine) which suggests that you always have to, but when I read the LinuxBIOS pages I start to wonder... If it's not the case, any chance that LinuxBIOS will work for a Dell Optiplex GX1 system (Intel 440BX PIIX4e chipset)? I already took a look and you can't remove the BIOS, which I'd like to have replaced, because it freaks me out and has wasted hours of precious time. armijn -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- armijn(a)uulug.nl | http://www.uulug.nl/ | UULug: Utrecht Linux Users Group ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: ASUS A7N8X
by ron minnich Jan. 24, 2004

Jan. 24, 2004

unfortunately, nvidia is not interested in helping with linuxbios, so I am afraid your board is not supported. ron

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ASUS A7N8X
by Carlos Silva Jan. 24, 2004

Jan. 24, 2004

Hi, i've just found the LinuxBIOS project and waht it does. i'ts really nice. i was going to download it when i remebered to check if my MOBO was supported. guess what? it's not! i tried the link "Help me!" but it looks like the submit button link is broken, so here i am posting to the mailling list. here's my lspci: 00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?) (rev a2) 00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2) 00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2) 00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2) 00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2) 00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2) 00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a3) 00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2) 00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a3) 00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a3) 00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a3) 00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev a1) 00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge (rev a3) 00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev a2) 01:06.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11) 01:06.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11) 01:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) 01:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 03) 01:08.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy MIDI/Game port (rev 03) 01:08.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs SB Audigy FireWire Port 03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1) if you need something more... just mail to me or to the mailing list. Keep up the good work, Carlos Silva

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How to use Filo as a payload ?
by Peter Fox Jan. 22, 2004

Jan. 22, 2004

I'm trying to get the STPC Elite development board to use linuxbios with Filo, but after elfboot announces itself the board reboots: ---------------------- ..... Welcome to elfboot, the open sourced starter. January 2002, Eric Biederman. Version 1.2 LinuxBIOS-1.0.0 Thu Nov 6 16:13:37 GMT 2003 starting... Copying LinuxBIOS to ram. .... ------------------------ My config file looks like this: target /home/fox/build/freebios1/stpc mainboard stpc/elite biosbase 0xffff0000 option CONFIG_COMPRESS=0 option SERIAL_CONSOLE=1 option TTYS0_BAUD=38400 option DEFAULT_CONSOLE_LOGLEVEL=9 option DEBUG=1 # option ROM_IMAGE_SIZE=131072 option ROM_SIZE=131072 option USE_ELF_BOOT=1 option PAYLOAD_SIZE=65536 payload /home/fox/build/filo-0.4/filo.elf Any ideas as to what I've missed ? -- Peter Fox <peter.fox(a)aeroflex.com> Aeroflex Test Solutions Principal Design Engineer Stevenage Any opinions expressed above are http://www.aeroflex.com/ not necessarily those of Aeroflex. Tel: + 44 (0) 1438 742200

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Bit banging SPD code
by Peter Fox Jan. 22, 2004

Jan. 22, 2004

I would like to make the STPC elite ram initialisation use SPD info. I notice that all the existing SDRAM initialisation that uses SPD seems to use some kind of SPD controller. Is this true ? The STPC elite only provides a bit banging SPD interface, has anyone implemented smbus_read_byte etc with a bit banging interface ? -- Peter Fox <peter.fox(a)aeroflex.com> Aeroflex Test Solutions Principal Design Engineer Stevenage Any opinions expressed above are http://www.aeroflex.com/ not necessarily those of Aeroflex. Tel: + 44 (0) 1438 742200

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IRQ-Tables once again
by Stefan Reinauer Jan. 22, 2004

Jan. 22, 2004

Hi, I'm trying to factor the IRQ Table generation a bit, since the current way to write an IRQ Table plain sucks. This means * gather all information before actually generating the table * gather information in a readable and adjustable way. I juggled with the Arima Hdama irq table, since this one seems to work. (See attachment) Currently I have a couple of defines that are hardcoded into the file. This should maybe be moved to the motherboard configuration files. (At least I would move them and the IRQ_SLOT_COUNT together) #define IRQ_ROUTER_BUS 1 #define IRQ_ROUTER_DEVFN PCI_DEVFN(4,3) #define IRQ_ROUTER_VENDOR 0x1022 #define IRQ_ROUTER_DEVICE 0x746b #define AVAILABLE_IRQS 0xdef8 Then I substituted the longish irq table entries with a macro IRQ_SLOT which takes the following arguments: * slot number * bus,dev,fn * 4* irq link line id Example: /* PCI Slot 1 */ IRQ_SLOT (1, 3,1,0, 2,3,4,1 ), /* Let Linux know about bus 1 */ IRQ_SLOT (0, 1,4,3, 0,0,0,0 ), If there are no objections, I am going to make this change in the code. Who else is having IRQ Table trouble here? Stefan -- Stefan Reinauer, SUSE LINUX AG Teamleader Architecture Development

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EPIA V-series tv out questions
by Paul de Bruin Jan. 20, 2004

Jan. 20, 2004

Hi all, I am working on a project involving an epia-v box (the 533MHz, fanless ones). For our application it is important that the tv out is disabled during the booting sequence and enabled at a later point. Unfortunately, the machine's bios does not have an option to disable tv out. Enter LinuxBios. A bios saviour is on order, and in the mean time I am hoping that someone here can point me in the right direction or has experience with the following: 1. If the original vgabios is not included with linuxbios, is it possible to initialise the graphics card and tv out after booting using tridentfb/epiafb and the tvtool from http://epiafb.sourceforge.net ? 2. If the original vgabios is included, will it automatically enable tv out at boot time? 3. With the vgabios, is it possible to use vesafb? 4. Does anyone have experience with "tweaking" the vgabios, for example to disable the automatic tv detection? Any help and/or info is greatly appreciated, Regards, Paul -- --------------------------------------------------------------- | ir. P.W. de Bruin, Delft University of Technology | | Faculty of Information Technology and Systems | | http://visualisation.tudelft.nl/~paul PGP-ID:CD36D25B | ---------------------------------------------------------------

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答复: IRQ-Tables once again
by YhLu Jan. 20, 2004

Jan. 20, 2004

Good, it's more readble. -----邮件原件----- 发件人: Stefan Reinauer [mailto:stepan@suse.de] 发送时间: 2004年1月20日 4:58 收件人: linuxbios(a)clustermatic.org 主题: IRQ-Tables once again Hi, I'm trying to factor the IRQ Table generation a bit, since the current way to write an IRQ Table plain sucks. This means * gather all information before actually generating the table * gather information in a readable and adjustable way. I juggled with the Arima Hdama irq table, since this one seems to work. (See attachment) Currently I have a couple of defines that are hardcoded into the file. This should maybe be moved to the motherboard configuration files. (At least I would move them and the IRQ_SLOT_COUNT together) #define IRQ_ROUTER_BUS 1 #define IRQ_ROUTER_DEVFN PCI_DEVFN(4,3) #define IRQ_ROUTER_VENDOR 0x1022 #define IRQ_ROUTER_DEVICE 0x746b #define AVAILABLE_IRQS 0xdef8 Then I substituted the longish irq table entries with a macro IRQ_SLOT which takes the following arguments: * slot number * bus,dev,fn * 4* irq link line id Example: /* PCI Slot 1 */ IRQ_SLOT (1, 3,1,0, 2,3,4,1 ), /* Let Linux know about bus 1 */ IRQ_SLOT (0, 1,4,3, 0,0,0,0 ), If there are no objections, I am going to make this change in the code. Who else is having IRQ Table trouble here? Stefan -- Stefan Reinauer, SUSE LINUX AG Teamleader Architecture Development

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Article
by Pedro M. Jan. 19, 2004

Jan. 19, 2004

I send an interesting article about BIOS and videocard. Suggestions wellcome ( use the wiki-edit ). http://wiki.debian.net/index.cgi?XFreeCommon Regards.

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82845GV DDR SDRAM initialization
by Jia Jianwei Jan. 19, 2004

Jan. 19, 2004

I'm now working on linux bios with 82845gv/82801db chipset. When I initialize DDR RAM, It's always hangs. When I enable NOP command and issue a memory read instruction, It hangs. Anyone can tell me if I missed something? Any advice would be appreciated. Best Regards, Jianwei

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