coreboot March 2018

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62 participants
103 discussions

Re: [coreboot] ENE KB3940Q-A1 embedded controller custom firmware
by Paul Kocialkowski 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

Hi, Le vendredi 16 février 2018 à 14:09 -0500, Youness Alaoui a écrit : > > > Sure, you can trust hardware flashing more than software flashing, > > > but > > > I really need software flashing. If it was just for me, yeah, I > > > could > > > fiddle with it to flash it by hardware for my personal needs, but > > > when > > > it's about deploying it to all our customer base, that's another > > > story, the only solution is software flashing. Obviously, it would > > > have to work in coreboot, so whatever coreboot is doing wrong (or > > > AMI > > > is doing right.. my guess is that it's probably something with the > > > EC > > > ACPI code), we'd have to figure that out first in order to get the > > > read/write support. > > > > Either way, since the EC firmware resides in the SPI flash, it'll be > > no > > issue to reflash it both by software and hardware. > > On the librems, the EC firmware resides in a separate 64KB SPI flash, > it's not shared with the bios, and I haven't found a way to access it. Is it really only 64 KiB? The chip definitely supports more and it seems a bit small to fit the whole firmware. > The 'ectool' is able to read it (ram idx reads if i remember > correctly) but it only worked with AMI BIOS. So there will definitely > be some work to be done there. You probably know a lot more about this > already, like what this 'ram idx' is, and why it didn't work in > coreboot, or if it's possible to read/write the flash using this EDI > interface, etc... > > > > > > > Latest status update for Origami-EC firmware: > > > > https://www.mail-archive.com/coreboot@coreboot.org/msg50646.html > > > > > > Thanks! Good to see the status update on that. > > > > In order to kickstart the development of the Origami-EC firmware, I > > am > > designing evaluation boards for both the KB9012 and the KB3930 that > > will expose most of the I/O ports with headers, LEDs, buttons, > > connectors, etc. The design is done with KiCAD and will be released > > under the GPLv3+ as part of the Origami-EC project. I am also > > preparing > > a debug board to reflash the EC on the G505s from the keyboard > > connector. > > > > There is also ongoing work on the emulator and the SerialICE-like > > library for relatying and tracing I/O on the device via UART. Also, > > note that the emulator can now emulate a virtual console so it's > > already possible to build and interract with the firmware! > > > > That's some really great news. A dev board will definitely be useful > for testing/debugging/developing Origami-EC! > > > Cheers, > > > > Paul > > > > > > On Mon, Feb 5, 2018 at 9:47 PM, Youness Alaoui > > > > <kakaroto(a)kakaroto.homelinux.net> wrote: > > > > > Hi Marty, > > > > > > > > > > Unfortunately, the EC firmware on the Librems is not open and > > > > > we > > > > > have > > > > > someone working on that aspect, but with everything we have to > > > > > handle, > > > > > I think it's only being done part time. > > > > > We found something similar to you with the private submodule > > > > > for > > > > > the > > > > > PS/2 module on the OLPC code. > > > > > More specifically : > > > > > http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/openec/2011-January/000158.h > > > > > tml > > > > > And http://dev.laptop.org/git/users/rsmith/ec-1.75/tree/?h=393 > > > > > 0-A > > > > > 1 > > > > > > > > > > I had opened a ticket a while ago here : > > > > > https://tracker.pureos.net/T178 which mentions Origami-EC. I > > > > > don't > > > > > know the status of that project, maybe you can contact the > > > > > developer > > > > > (Paul Kocialkowski) and see where he's at with his development > > > > > of > > > > > that > > > > > project (which, I need to mention, hasn't been publicly > > > > > launched > > > > > yet, > > > > > as far as I know) and he might benefit from your help if you > > > > > are > > > > > interested in doing that. > > > > > The last time we spoke he said : > > > > > "The OLPC code is nowhere close to usable on any other > > > > > platform. > > > > > Additionally, it is so poorly written that I don't think it is > > > > > a > > > > > suitable codebase for any future development. On the other > > > > > hand, > > > > > my > > > > > Origami-EC project (that I will publicly launch soon) should > > > > > provide a > > > > > flexible codebase to add support for new devices." > > > > > > > > > > Note that the tracker ticket above is quite outdated, we know > > > > > how > > > > > to > > > > > dump the EC (the problem was that it can't be done via > > > > > hardware > > > > > because the EC is on the same power rail as the 64KB flash > > > > > chip, > > > > > so > > > > > when we power the flash via hardware, the EC boots and takes > > > > > control > > > > > of the SPI lines) but for some reason, we could only dump it > > > > > via > > > > > software (using ectool) through the AMI BIOS firmware, with > > > > > coreboot, > > > > > we only get 0xFF returned, I don't believe we had time to > > > > > investigate > > > > > the cause for that. > > > > > > > > > > Sorry for not having any better news for you, but I hope this > > > > > helps a > > > > > little you at least. > > > > > > > > > > Good luck, > > > > > Youness. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 10:17 AM, Marty E. Plummer > > > > > <hanetzer(a)startmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Greetings, > > > > > > > > > > > > Currently working on a port for the hp g7-2247us laptop, > > > > > > which > > > > > > features > > > > > > an ene kb3940q ec, which hopefully should be very similar to > > > > > > the kb3930 > > > > > > ec, which has a datasheet available to the public in a few > > > > > > places. > > > > > > > > > > > > Said similar ec is used in some OLPC devices, as well as > > > > > > some > > > > > > purism > > > > > > devices, and I was hoping someone in the list would have > > > > > > some > > > > > > contacts > > > > > > with those guys so as to be able to use their ec firmware as > > > > > > a > > > > > > bit of a > > > > > > reference design, but the OLPC ec firmware repo has a > > > > > > 'private' > > > > > > submodule which I cannot access and I simply cannot find a > > > > > > repo > > > > > > for the > > > > > > purism ec firmware to reference. > > > > > > > > > > > > Any assistance you could provide on this matter would be > > > > > > greatly > > > > > > appreciated. > > > > > > > > > > > > Marty E. Plummer > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > coreboot mailing list: coreboot(a)coreboot.org > > > > > > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > coreboot mailing list: coreboot(a)coreboot.org > > > > > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot > > > > > > > > -- > > > > coreboot mailing list: coreboot(a)coreboot.org > > > > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot > > > > -- > > Paul Kocialkowski, developer of free digital technology and hardware > > support > > > > Website: https://www.paulk.fr/ > > Coding blog: https://code.paulk.fr/ > > Git repositories: https://git.paulk.fr/ https://git.code.paulk.fr/ > > -- > > coreboot mailing list: coreboot(a)coreboot.org > > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot -- Paul Kocialkowski, developer of free digital technology and hardware support. Website: https://www.paulk.fr/ Coding blog: https://code.paulk.fr/ Git repositories: https://git.paulk.fr/ https://git.code.paulk.fr/

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Re: [coreboot] $7 cheap FT232H board as EHCI debug dongle for coreboot - would it work?
by Kyösti Mälkki 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

On Mon, Mar 5, 2018 at 6:13 PM, Mike Banon <mikebdp2(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Thank you for your results, Georg! Although this "adafruit board" > costs twice more ( $15 ) and has a microUSB instead of a sturdy > full-sized one, your report gives me more confidence in the success of > the idea. With the male-A type connector, FTxxxx PCB will end up hanging aside the laptop with no designed mechanical flex. Bump it, and with bad luck you break the female-A connector on the DUT PCB. To avoid it you would need A-A extension cables. Overall, I would say setup is less fragile with micro-USB. Also that PCB is wider than the USB male-A connector, it will block neighbouring connectors on a desktop boards' IO shield. Again, A-A extension needed. Kyösti

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Re: [coreboot] $7 cheap FT232H board as EHCI debug dongle for coreboot - would it work?
by Nico Huber 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

On 05.03.2018 17:06, Vadim Bendebury wrote: > Did you consider one of these: > > https://www.digikey.com/products/en/cable-assemblies/smart-cables/468?k=ftd… > > there are many options, it is important to match the cable's VDD to your > board's (1.8V vs 3.3V), the rest of the parameters is way less important. Wait, these are RS232 parts. Nobody was talking about RS232 here. What do you want to fry with them? Nico

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Re: [coreboot] $7 cheap FT232H board as EHCI debug dongle for coreboot - would it work?
by Mike Banon 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

> Not likely those PCBs have gone through much testing on assembly line, how about 4... >From about 100-200 reviews for these cheap " aliexpress boards " so far I've found just one negative that's quality related and not shipping related ( FTDI chip was badly soldered ) - quite a low failure rate. These boards are very simple and their failure rate mostly depends on the failure rate of FTDI chips and their soldering quality > It writes just the same you get with cbmem -c utility, assuming you can reach OS on the DUT. Didn't know that, but its' too late ;) Best regards, Mike Banon On Mon, Mar 5, 2018 at 1:36 PM, Kyösti Mälkki <kyosti.malkki(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Mar 5, 2018 at 12:18 PM, Mike Banon <mikebdp2(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi Kyosti, Thank you very much for your reply! >> >> I will try to get a couple of these FT232H boards: perhaps just 1 is >> required for the successful setup, but these boards are not common >> (just 15 or 20 search results) so maybe its' a good idea to take 2 ;) >> > > Not likely those PCBs have gone through much testing on assembly line, > how about 4... > >> If this FT232H board works, it would be an ideal replacement both for >> commercial AMIDebug Rx / Ajays NET20DC (because much cheaper) and >> FX2LP (because no DIY will be required). Maybe this info could even be >> added to the official coreboot wiki, but I don't have an account there >> and it seems hard to get, so I'm using the DangerousPrototypes wiki >> > > It won't become a compatible replacement, as you would need to modify > the (proprietary) software of both device-under-test and the host. > FT232H could be made to work with linux kernel early_printk=dbgp but I > don't think anyone has done that. > > FX2LP approach was able to mimic the net20dc USB descriptors, > including the special response of debug feature and endpoint number > assignment. > >> Will write an update when I'd get the boards and test them with AMD >> G505S laptop. I'm curious what Lenovo G505S is writing to the coreboot >> log while it boots > > It writes just the same you get with cbmem -c utility, assuming you > can reach OS on the DUT. > > Kyösti

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Re: [coreboot] $7 cheap FT232H board as EHCI debug dongle for coreboot - would it work?
by Georg Wicherski 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

On 03/05/2018 11:36 AM, Kyösti Mälkki wrote: > Not likely those PCBs have gone through much testing on assembly line, > how about 4... Have a couple of these: <https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264> and none of them failed me thus far. Also using them successfully for Coreboot early debugging, thanks to Kyösti's help!

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Re: [coreboot] $7 cheap FT232H board as EHCI debug dongle for coreboot - would it work?
by Mike Banon 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

These digikey cables do not explicitly mention that they have FT232H chip, also they cost $23.5 minimum while aliexpress board costs $7 - 3x times less expensive On Mon, Mar 5, 2018 at 7:06 PM, Vadim Bendebury <vbendeb(a)chromium.org> wrote: > Did you consider one of these: > > https://www.digikey.com/products/en/cable-assemblies/smart-cables/468?k=ftd… > > there are many options, it is important to match the cable's VDD to your > board's (1.8V vs 3.3V), the rest of the parameters is way less important. > > -vb > > > On Sat, Mar 3, 2018 at 5:27 AM, Mike Banon <mikebdp2(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Good day! I am looking for the dirt cheap EHCI debug dongle. Initially >> I found these instructions for FX2LP - >> https://www.coreboot.org/DIY_EHCI_debug_dongle - but they require a >> lot of manual soldering/mods which depend on your boards revision and >> I am not sure if the currently produced boards are 100% compatible >> with the wiki instructions >> >> But then I noticed a coreboot has USBDEBUG_DONGLE_FTDI_FT232H option: >> " Use this with FT232H usb-to-uart. Configuration is hard-coded to use >> 8n1, no flow control " >> >> Kyösti Mälkki tested it " with gizmosphere/gizmo1 Explorer add-on >> board, which exposes the following device: >> 0x0403 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd >> 0x6014 FT232H Single HS USB-UART/FIFO IC " >> but gizmo1 is expensive and I am not a fan of the single board >> computers (SBCs) : they all require the binary blobs which could >> contain the scary backdoors >> >> However, there are $7 cheap FT232H boards with USB available at >> AliExpress: >> >> >> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NEW-CJMCU-FT232H-Multifunction-High-Speed-U… >> >> I plan to get a couple of these boards, connect them to each other >> with 1P 2.54mm wires, plug the 1st board into master PC >> (coreboot-PC-under-debug) USB 2.0 port and the 2nd board into slave PC >> (another coreboot PC which will be logging the debug info) >> >> Please tell me: could this setup work in theory, or there are obvious >> shortcomings that could prevent it from working? >> >> Best regards, >> Mike Banon >> >> -- >> coreboot mailing list: coreboot(a)coreboot.org >> https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot > >

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AMD Geode LX800
by Wolfgang Kamp - datakamp 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

Hi, I know the AMD Geode LX is a very old platform but still active. When SeaBIOS looks for a PCI VGA device to run a Video-BIOS option ROM (AMD), it looks for i/o and memory enabled in PCI command register. But it finds only memory enabled and i/o disabled. So the option ROM will never be executed. Could anyone help with an idea to find the problem in coreboot nothbridge LX PCI initialization? Best regards, Wolfgang Kamp

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Re: [coreboot] $7 cheap FT232H board as EHCI debug dongle for coreboot - would it work?
by Vadim Bendebury 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

Did you consider one of these: https://www.digikey.com/products/en/cable-assemblies/smart-cables/468?k=ftd… there are many options, it is important to match the cable's VDD to your board's (1.8V vs 3.3V), the rest of the parameters is way less important. -vb On Sat, Mar 3, 2018 at 5:27 AM, Mike Banon <mikebdp2(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Good day! I am looking for the dirt cheap EHCI debug dongle. Initially > I found these instructions for FX2LP - > https://www.coreboot.org/DIY_EHCI_debug_dongle - but they require a > lot of manual soldering/mods which depend on your boards revision and > I am not sure if the currently produced boards are 100% compatible > with the wiki instructions > > But then I noticed a coreboot has USBDEBUG_DONGLE_FTDI_FT232H option: > " Use this with FT232H usb-to-uart. Configuration is hard-coded to use > 8n1, no flow control " > > Kyösti Mälkki tested it " with gizmosphere/gizmo1 Explorer add-on > board, which exposes the following device: > 0x0403 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd > 0x6014 FT232H Single HS USB-UART/FIFO IC " > but gizmo1 is expensive and I am not a fan of the single board > computers (SBCs) : they all require the binary blobs which could > contain the scary backdoors > > However, there are $7 cheap FT232H boards with USB available at AliExpress: > > https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NEW-CJMCU-FT232H- > Multifunction-High-Speed-USB-to-JTAG-UART-FIFO-SPI-I2C- > Module/32818305310.html > > I plan to get a couple of these boards, connect them to each other > with 1P 2.54mm wires, plug the 1st board into master PC > (coreboot-PC-under-debug) USB 2.0 port and the 2nd board into slave PC > (another coreboot PC which will be logging the debug info) > > Please tell me: could this setup work in theory, or there are obvious > shortcomings that could prevent it from working? > > Best regards, > Mike Banon > > -- > coreboot mailing list: coreboot(a)coreboot.org > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot

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Re: [coreboot] ARM Veyron Speedy - Replacing 11.6 inch display for 15 inch
by Nico Huber 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

Hello Mark, On 04.03.2018 11:45, Mark Wylde wrote: > The ASUS C201 comes with an 11.6inch EDP display. I was wondering if you > could simply swap it for a 15'' EDP display. I tried it, but as expected > it didn't work, however the backlight came on and I had the following > logs: > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- snip > Configuring PLL at ff760040 with NF = 1346, NR = 59 and NO = 4 (VCO = 547525KHz, output = 136881KHz) > requested signal parameters: lane 0 voltage 0.6V pre_emph 0dB > requested signal parameters: lane 1 voltage 0.6V pre_emph 0dB > using signal parameters: voltage 0.6V pre_emph 0dB > requested signal parameters: lane 0 voltage 0.8V pre_emph 0dB > requested signal parameters: lane 1 voltage 0.8V pre_emph 0dB > using signal parameters: voltage 0.8V pre_emph 0dB > requested signal parameters: lane 0 voltage 1.2V pre_emph 0dB > requested signal parameters: lane 1 voltage 1.2V pre_emph 0dB > using signal parameters: voltage 1.2V pre_emph 0dB > clock recovery reached max voltage > clock recovery failed > link train failed! > edp enable err > ---------------------------------------------------------------- This is the DP training sequence. DP has two communication channels to the display, 1. up to 4 data lanes for the picture data operating at GHz rates that have to be trained, 2. an AUX channel operating at MHz speed that is supposed to just work (it does here). Basically, your display keeps telling through the AUX channel "I can't hear you, speak louder!". Until the highest voltage is reached. > > It looks to me (as a complete noob) that the display > (http://www.yslcd.com.tw/docs/product/N156HGE-EAB.pdf) needs around 3.3 > volts. The 3.3V are the power supply voltage for the display. This is (usually) not configurable, but if it were, then likely not from coreboot but the EC. You should make sure that the electrical characteristics (4.3.1 in that datasheet) match those of the old display. If they don't, all bets are off. > > Looking at the code, it seems the ./src/soc/rockchip/common/edp.c > handles this part of the booting process. Line 38 seems to imply the > maximum voltage is 1.2v. This, however, is about the i/o voltage for the data lanes, and unre- lated to the 3.3V. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- static > const char *voltage_names[] = { "0.4V", "0.6V", "0.8V", "1.2V" }; > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > Is there a reason this is the maximum? Unfortunately there doesn't seem > to be much information on the specifications of the C201, I guess as > it's not really an open machine. Maybe the motherboard can only handle > that voltage? It's the maximum specified for DP. > > I'm extremely new to coreboot, and to be honest not even sure the C201 > can even handle a 15'' display. Does anyone know if I'm on the right > track, or if this is a pointless exercise? Your problem has nothing to do with coreboot, I guess. Though, that log is useful for debugging of course. If the electrical characteristics match those of the old display (i.e. we can expect that the new display is generally operational), it might be a signal integrity problem, or something is not connected correctly at all... The C201 generally shouldn't care about the size or the resolution of the display. At the eDP level, everything should be compatible. The power supply for the display, OTOH, is not part of the eDP specification and just has to match what the board supplies (or you have to build your own power supply). Hope that helps, Nico

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Re: [coreboot] $7 cheap FT232H board as EHCI debug dongle for coreboot - would it work?
by Kyösti Mälkki 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

On Mon, Mar 5, 2018 at 12:18 PM, Mike Banon <mikebdp2(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Kyosti, Thank you very much for your reply! > > I will try to get a couple of these FT232H boards: perhaps just 1 is > required for the successful setup, but these boards are not common > (just 15 or 20 search results) so maybe its' a good idea to take 2 ;) > Not likely those PCBs have gone through much testing on assembly line, how about 4... > If this FT232H board works, it would be an ideal replacement both for > commercial AMIDebug Rx / Ajays NET20DC (because much cheaper) and > FX2LP (because no DIY will be required). Maybe this info could even be > added to the official coreboot wiki, but I don't have an account there > and it seems hard to get, so I'm using the DangerousPrototypes wiki > It won't become a compatible replacement, as you would need to modify the (proprietary) software of both device-under-test and the host. FT232H could be made to work with linux kernel early_printk=dbgp but I don't think anyone has done that. FX2LP approach was able to mimic the net20dc USB descriptors, including the special response of debug feature and endpoint number assignment. > Will write an update when I'd get the boards and test them with AMD > G505S laptop. I'm curious what Lenovo G505S is writing to the coreboot > log while it boots It writes just the same you get with cbmem -c utility, assuming you can reach OS on the DUT. Kyösti

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coreboot March 2018