Hello. Thank you for your email and the names of the required items and the links as well as the overview on which component is going to be connected with which other.

I've been looking for the equipment. Do you think I can use these items:

https://www.electronicloop.de/Original-Pomona-SOIC8-SOP8-Chip-IC-Test-Clip-Adapter-Board-Pruefklemme-TL866
https://www.conrad.de/de/p/joy-it-1717242-raspberry-pi-usb-hub-interface-konverter-1-st-2226394.html

It seems the connection of the jumper wire, that's going to be connected with the programmer, needs to be female (socket) because the programmer seems to have a male connection (pins) with the pin header already soldered on. I can't see on the pictures, whether the jumper wire really has got a female connection there. I also can't see, whether the boards shipped with the clip/wire, that fit to the jumper wire, have got female connections. Do you think I need an adapter and generally, is this equipment sufficient or do I need anything else, for example a USB extension cable?

Regards,

Bernd


-------- Originalnachricht --------
Betreff: [coreboot] Re: Installing coreboot with SeaBIOS
Von: Nicholas
An: bernd1-1@web.de
Cc: coreboot@coreboot.org


On Sun, Nov 21, 2021 at 7:46 AM bernd1-1@web.de wrote:
>
> Hi. I'd like to backup the chip of my ThinkPad X220 (notebook) and afterwards flash coreboot with SeaBIOS. I don't want to use a Raspberry Pi. I've got an old laptop. Which items could I use for reading/writing?

Hello again,

First, you need a programming clip to connect to the actual BIOS chip,
regardless of the actual programmer you use. You can usually find them
under the names "SOIC8 clip" or "Pomona clip" [1][2]. The Pomona ones
are blue and are supposedly higher quality, and have pins on the end
of the clip to connect jumper wires. Cheaper clips typically have
black plastic, and may or may not have wires already connected to
them. The ones without wires have pins on the end of them like the
Pomona ones, but the spacing is narrower and likely won't fit all the
jumper wires.

Next you need a programmer to actually communicate with the BIOS chip
to read/write it. The "CJMCU-2232H" [3] has previously been suggested
as a good choice, as it does not require as much configuration as
other solutions like a Raspberry Pi or STM32. Many of them seem to
have unsoldered pin headers, so you either need to have the ability to
solder them on yourself, get someone to solder it for you, or find a
version with the headers already soldered on.

You will also need some jumper wires to connect the clip to the
programmer. These can be found under the name "dupont wire" [4]. Many
of these sets come with male to male (pins on both ends), male to
female (pin on one end and a socket on the other) and female to female
(sockets on both ends). Depending on the actual programmer and clip
you buy, the type of wires you actually need might be different, but
it will likely be female to female or possibly female to male.

As a brief overview of how everything would be connected, the 2232h
board would connect to your old laptop over usb, then the board would
connect to the clip using the jumper wires, and the clip would connect
to the flash chip on your X220. Then you would use the flashrom
program (should be available on any Linux distribution) on your old
laptop to backup the flash chip on the X220 and then write the
coreboot rom onto it.

If you are unsure of whether a specific product listing would work,
feel free to ask on IRC or this mailing list thread with the links.

Regards,
Nicholas

Here are some listings for the items mentioned above, but consider
these as more of a reference of what they look like and feel free to
look at other sites/stores for similar products
[1] https://www.amazon.com/XLX-Motherboard-Universal-Connector-Programmer/dp/B081495VY7
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Pomona-Electronics-5250-Plated-Spacing/dp/B00JJ4G13I/
[3] https://www.amazon.com/FT2232HL-Module-Channel-RS232-CJMCU-2232HL/dp/B07Q4K31YB
[4] https://www.amazon.com/Yueton-Multicolored-Female-Breadboard-Jumper/dp/B01DDD1LXU
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