October 2016 - coreboot - mail.coreboot.org

Adapting Linux kernel documentation setup with Sphinx and reStructuredText
by Paul Menzel Oct. 3, 2016

Oct. 3, 2016

Dear coreboot folks, The Linux kernel switched to Sphinx and reStructuredText [1] for its documentation [2][3][4]. Would it make sense to also use that for coreboot? I would see the following benefits. 1. It’s easier to import code like drivers from the Linux kernel to coreboot. 2. Developers familiar with the Linux kernel have it easier to work on coreboot. 3. The coreboot project could import all improvements the Linux kernel documenation gets. Thanks, Paul [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText [2] https://static.lwn.net/kerneldoc/index.html [3] https://lwn.net/Articles/692704/ "Kernel documentation with Sphinx, part 1: how we got here" [4] https://lwn.net/Articles/692705/ "Kernel documentation with Sphinx, part 2: how it works

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How to pass custom defined data from Coreboot to GRUB2
by Mohan Shanmuga Sundaram Oct. 3, 2016

Oct. 3, 2016

Hi! I have a requirement to pass the state value of a GPIO (on Intel ATOM Baytrail SoC) from Coreboot to GRUB2. Based on this GPIO state, I would script the GRUB2 to configuration to select an alternative OS from the GRUB menu list. Is there a facility to pass this custom defined data from Coreboot to GRUB2? Regards, Mohan "DISCLAIMER: This message is proprietary to Aricent and is intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged or confidential information and should not be circulated or used for any purpose other than for what it is intended. If you have received this message in error, please notify the originator immediately. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that you are strictly prohibited from using, copying, altering, or disclosing the contents of this message. Aricent accepts no responsibility for loss or damage arising from the use of the information transmitted by this email including damage from virus."

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Fwd: Support for Gigabyte ga-ma78gm-us2h?
by Mike Banon Oct. 3, 2016

Oct. 3, 2016

Get a hardware programmer for BIOS chips (e.g. cheap CH341A) together with SOIC8 test clip (if your type of BIOS chip is indeed SOIC8, I just looked at some photos of your board online...) and do In-System Programming with a flashrom. Thanks to a test clip you will not need to solder your board in order to flash a BIOS. Nothing can stop a hardware programmer ;) You could backup both of your current BIOSes and replace everything with coreboot to get rid of original BIOS warnings/checksums , and if you would like to restore the original BIOS back it will be really easy. Now, what could be tried if a current revision of coreboot does not work for you? 1) Check what is the date of last successful board status report. At your case, I see that nobody submitted a report for your board, so you probably need to choose this day as the day of support addition ( Aug 17 13:22:40 2010 ) and test if it worked at this time or maybe 1 month after this time (if a full support has been added gradually) 2) You divide the time between current date and "1)" date by 2 - to get a "test date" - then download a coreboot/seabios repositories at this "test date", build and test it. If it works --> you go forward in time, if it does not work --> you go back in time; again, dividing the remaining range by two. You have to go through a long history in your case, 2000 days, but if you are always dividing by two its less than 2048 = 2^11 so you could find the last day it worked in 11 tries 3) So you found the last day, and then the last commit when it worked. Now you see what commit broke a support for your board, and could either live with old coreboot stuff, or figure out what changes need to be made to newer coreboot - so that your board works, while not breaking a support for other boards (IMPORTANT) Best regards, Mike Banon > > Thanks a lot for the help, but now I don't even get to the black screen. > Whenever I flash coreboot and reboot the computer, after a few seconds of > black-screen the backup BIOS complains about a checksum fail from the main > bios chip and resets the contents to the original BIOS. I have a few ideas > to try tonight, so I'll try that. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve > something. > > Cheers, > Alberto > 2016-09-28 15:10 GMT-03:00 Zoran Stojsavljevic < zoran.stojsavljevic at gmail.com>: > *"Приветствую!* > *Если я правильно понял, то у меня была схожая проблема, когда я пытался > запустить coreboot на Asus m4a785-m. Я потратил 2 месяца на ее решение, а > решение оказалось простым.* > *Проблема в вызовах printk() до инициализации консоли. Видимо > переполняется кэш процессора."* > > Translation for the above is the following (maybe this also can help): > > Hello, > > If I correctly understand, I had very similar problem, when I > struggled/tried to bring up Coreboot on Asus m4a785-m. I lost two months > for solution finding, and solution appeared to be simplistic. > Problem is by calling printk() before console init. Apparently CPU cache > is overloading. > > (love Russian language, could not resist)! > > Zoran > > On Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 5:54 PM, Alexey Borovikov via coreboot < > coreboot at coreboot.org> wrote: > >> Hi! >> May be the problems in call printk() before console_init(). Two way: >> 1. To comment printk in function which call before console_init. >> 2. Call console_init first in function cache_as_ram_main. >> May be this help. >> >> /* >> Приветствую! >> Если я правильно понял, то у меня была схожая проблема, когда я пытался >> запустить coreboot на Asus m4a785-m. Я потратил 2 месяца на ее решение, а >> решение оказалось простым. >> Проблема в вызовах printk() до инициализации консоли. Видимо >> переполняется кэш процессора. >> Для решения два пути: >> 1. Закомментировать все вызовы printk до вызова console_init >> 2. Попробовать вызвать console_init как можно раньше в функции >> cache_as_ram_main (файл romstage.c). >> Возможно это поможет. >> */ >> >> >> *From:* Alberto Simón Francés <alberto at simon.ph> >> *Sent:* Sunday, September 25, 2016 6:07 PM >> *To:* coreboot at coreboot.org >> *Subject:* [coreboot] Support for Gigabyte ga-ma78gm-us2h? >> >> >> Hello, >> >> I've been trying to make this board boot and I haven't had much success. >> Sometimes I've been able to get it to POST, but it's not something that >> happens consistently. Since I can't find much info other than it being >> listed, I'm asking here to see if by any chance there's something that I'm >> missing, because I feel like I'm just trying random things to see what >> sticks. >> >> Thankfully the board has dual bios, so it's easy to go back if I mess >> something up. Please, help. >> >> Best regards, >> Albert >> >> ------------------------------ >> -- >> coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org >> https://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot >> >> >> -- >> coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org >> https://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot >> > >

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Re: [coreboot] Support for Gigabyte ga-ma78gm-us2h?
by Mike Banon Oct. 2, 2016

Oct. 2, 2016

First of all, I recommend that you get a hardware programmer for BIOS chips (e.g. cheap CH341A) together with DIP8 test clip (if your type of BIOS chip is indeed DIP8 according to Supported Motherboards wiki page) to do In-System Programming with a flashrom. Thanks to a test clip you will not need to solder your board in order to flash a BIOS. Backup a current BIOS image from your AM1ML board, then replace it with coreboot rom, and if it doesn't work - you could restore your original BIOS to make your board boot again and submit some bug reports and/or investigate personally (e.g. using POST card, serial console, etc.) About GA-MA78GM-US2H IOMMU support: 1) Official BIOS: Sadly it seems to be unknown whether official BIOS supports IOMMU, tried searching it online and everyone whom I found seems to be running it with IOMMU disabled ("Please enable the IOMMU option in the BIOS setup" in kernel log). Maybe it doesn't have 2) Coreboot: Probably the easiest way of determining what coreboot boards have iommu support is running these commands: cd ./coreboot/ find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep "iommu" find . -type f -name "cmos.layout" -print0 | xargs -0 grep "iommu" For example, could see " /src/mainboard/biostar/am1ml/ " there. By not seeing " /src/mainboard/gigabyte/ma78gm/ " , " /src/southbridge/amd/rs780/ " and " /src/southbridge/amd/sb700/ " I think that this board does not have IOMMU support currently. However, when running " find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep "iommu" " after building a coreboot for GA-MA78GM-US2H : Binary file ./build/coreboot.rom matches Binary file ./build/cbfs/fallback/romstage.elf matches Binary file ./build/cbfs/fallback/romstage.debug matches Binary file ./build/cbfs/fallback/ramstage.debug matches Binary file ./build/generated/ramstage.o matches Binary file ./build/ramstage/arch/x86/acpi.o matches Binary file ./build/romstage/mainboard/gigabyte/ma78gm/romstage.o совпадает Binary file ./build/coreboot.pre matches Strangely, a few mentions of IOMMU inside the compiled files could be found with okteta hex editor. In addition, I am not sure if this SB700 / RS780 supports IOMMU on hardware level. Could please someone clarify this? If you are looking for other AMD boards supported by coreboot which have a guaranteed support of IOMMU, you could run a command above (almost all results are AMD). Just don't forget to check Supported Motherboards wiki page to see their current status, many of them are red (unknown if they work, since no one submitted a coreboot report for them). I personally tested that my Lenovo G505S AMD board supports IOMMU, but this is a laptop so you might be not interested if you want to use desktop graphic cards BTW please submit a board status report if you will successfully boot a coreboot on your Biostar AM1ML. Currently it has a yellow status, last report is one year ago... On 10/02/2016 01:15 AM, Taiidan wrote: > I am curious, does the default bios properly support IOMMU with graphics forwarding? > > And does coreboot support that as well? the wiki page doesn't say > > What blobs do you need to make it work? > > I am looking to purchase a new coreboot compatible motherboard and that is a must have, although if CB doesn't work out I still want a working motherboard. > I hope you are able to figure it out. > > On 09/25/2016 11:07 AM, Alberto Simón Francés wrote: > > Hello, > > > > I've been trying to make this board boot and I haven't had much success. > > Sometimes I've been able to get it to POST, but it's not something that > > happens consistently. Since I can't find much info other than it being > > listed, I'm asking here to see if by any chance there's something that I'm > > missing, because I feel like I'm just trying random things to see what > > sticks. > > > > Thankfully the board has dual bios, so it's easy to go back if I mess > > something up. Please, help. > > > > Best regards, > > Albert > > > > > >

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Necessary information to gather in order to start porting for new candidate platforms (This time a DFI-CA331-NR).
by persmule Oct. 2, 2016

Oct. 2, 2016

Hi all, Recently I have obtained a desktop/industrial motherboard DFI-CA331-NR (Manual <http://www.dfi.com/Upload/manual/ACP/CA331-NR-P-Manual.pdf>), which uses Intel GM45 and ICH9M-E as master bridges, and DDR3 ram modules, much like lenovo x200. Other than those, it uses a Winbond W83627UHG (which is already supported by coreboot) as superio, and has a pci-e 1 x16 socket export from the northbridge, a pci-e 1 x4 socket export from the southbridge, as well as a Realtek NIC attached, 2 32/33 pci socket export from the southbridge, with a IT8213 IDE Controller attached, all of which can be seen in the manual mentioned above, and some further reports obtained via a live system are attached. It has a socketed, easily removed 4MiB soic-8 spi flash chip (originally a SST25VF032B) to store its firmware, making brick-rescue easy, and all region is rw for CPU, making it possible to flash it internally. I am even curious whether its ME is active, since I can read the whole content of the flash internally with flashrom(1). I want to port coreboot to this motherboard, and I have read /Supporting a new board with the same cpu family, chipset but different superIO <https://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual#Supporting_a_new_board_with_the_s…>/. What further information should be gathered before I start porting? Best Regard. Persmule

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Necessary information to gather in order to start porting for new candidate platforms (This time a DFI-CA331-NR).
by persmule Oct. 2, 2016

Oct. 2, 2016

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Re: [coreboot] Support for Gigabyte ga-ma78gm-us2h?
by Taiidan＠gmx.com Oct. 2, 2016

Oct. 2, 2016

I am curious, does the default bios properly support IOMMU with graphics forwarding? And does coreboot support that as well? the wiki page doesn't say What blobs do you need to make it work? I am looking to purchase a new coreboot compatible motherboard and that is a must have, although if CB doesn't work out I still want a working motherboard. I hope you are able to figure it out. On 09/25/2016 11:07 AM, Alberto Simón Francés wrote: > Hello, > > I've been trying to make this board boot and I haven't had much success. > Sometimes I've been able to get it to POST, but it's not something that > happens consistently. Since I can't find much info other than it being > listed, I'm asking here to see if by any chance there's something that I'm > missing, because I feel like I'm just trying random things to see what > sticks. > > Thankfully the board has dual bios, so it's easy to go back if I mess > something up. Please, help. > > Best regards, > Albert > > >

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SHORT NOTICE: coreboot.berlin next weekend, Oct. 7-9
by Peter Stuge Oct. 1, 2016

Oct. 1, 2016

Hello all, I'm happy to *finally* have the information and registration page online: https://coreboot.berlin/ Yes, it's very late, but I hope that we will still be a good number of people meeting up next weekend. Quick feedback helps me make sure that everyone will get food. If you are interested in attending, but unable to register at the Community Registration Fee cost then please get in touch with me, so that we can try to work something out. Thank you very much, and hope to see you in Berlin on the 7:th! //Peter

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