Hi,
I have access to an old GA-6BXC motherboard (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID...) which I'll probably use for my first steps with LinuxBIOS.
I see that FreeBIOSv1 had support for this motherboard, but not v2. Is there some technical reason for this? I'll probably try v1 first, but I'd like to move to v2 sooner or later. Should I get another motherboard or can I try to port the code to v2? How much effort does that require, usually?
Thanks, Uwe.
Uwe Hermann wrote:
Hi,
I have access to an old GA-6BXC motherboard (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID...) which I'll probably use for my first steps with LinuxBIOS.
I see that FreeBIOSv1 had support for this motherboard, but not v2. Is there some technical reason for this?
The looser that did that work dropped off the planet and hasn't been heard from for quite some time. ;-)
I'll probably try v1 first,
Be careful. The ram init is hard coded to support only 2 ram configurations. I don't recall what other limitations may exist. That is some VERY old work from a much earlier time in LinuxBios history.
but I'd like to move to v2 sooner or later. Should I get another motherboard or can I try to port the code to v2? How much effort does that require, usually?
You might be better off with v2 but using some of the v1 code as a reference.
Cheers! Ty
The looser that did that work dropped off the planet and hasn't been heard from for quite some time. ;-)
But a 2nd looser picked it the codebase and continued on.
I'll probably try v1 first,
Be careful. The ram init is hard coded to support only 2 ram configurations. I don't recall what other limitations may exist. That is some VERY old work from a much earlier time in LinuxBios history.
You missed all my re-work then. I reworked the 440bx ram init code. It _should_ work for whatever you plug in.
That was all done for the Bitworks/IMS board which was a custom board we made but its essentially a stock 440bx reference design. So I suggest you start there. Its been a _long_ while since I've looked at the code but I'll try to help.
As for V2.. I have a set of patches that adds all the framework for 440bx into V2. Its gets as far as trying to read the SPD. But for some reason I get back all zeros. We don't use any of that anymore so I stopped working on it.
I still have the hardware though and I'd love to have to work on V2. There are lots of 440bx boards out there. I just don't have the time. I'll send you the patches if you want to play with them. If you can get ram up then the rest shoud knock out pretty quickly.
Hi,
On Thu, Jul 13, 2006 at 04:14:00PM -0500, Richard Smith wrote:
That was all done for the Bitworks/IMS board which was a custom board we made but its essentially a stock 440bx reference design. So I suggest you start there. Its been a _long_ while since I've looked at the code but I'll try to help.
OK, so I've installed a Linux on the computer, and fixed some unrelated hardware issues. Then, I burnt my first BIOS, in the truest sense of the word. I practised removing and inserting the BIOS chip a few times yesterday, and it seems I inserted it the wrong way the last time before I went to bed (I _do_ know how to insert it correctly, usually).
Today I started the PC in order to install the LinuxBIOS software and tools, but nothing happened. Soon I noticed that the BIOS was pretty darn hot, the label on the BIOS was literally melting. Yay!
I have ordered a replacement BIOS. I hope that's the only part that died and the rest of the board is ok.
I still have the hardware though and I'd love to have to work on V2. There are lots of 440bx boards out there. I just don't have the time. I'll send you the patches if you want to play with them.
Yes, please do. It'll probably take a while until I get v1, then v2, working, though.
I have a W49F002U and a AM-29F040B chip to work with. Both seem to be supported, and both are rewritable (so I can flash them multiple times), correct?
I also have a 32pin ZIF socket, but I'm afraid it's useless for this board. It's bigger than the BIOS chip, and the space is so limited, I'd have to rip away 2-3 PCI sockets and other mainboard parts to be able to insert it. So I'll probably try without the ZIF socket, and pray that I don't get fried in the process ;)
Cheers, Uwe.
I have ordered a replacement BIOS. I hope that's the only part that died and the rest of the board is ok.
You should be ok. Typically that just frys the part thats in backwards. Do you have access to a oscope? If so then watch the chip select line in the bios socket you should see several transitions (typically 8) when you hit reset. If you get those then your motherboard is probably still ok.
There are lots of 440bx boards out there. I just don't have the time. I'll send you the patches if you want to play with them.
Yes, please do. It'll probably take a while until I get v1, then v2, working, though.
I'll update my framework to the latest SVN rev and push it up this weekend.
Don't spend too much time on V1. Its a deadend street. Once we fix the SPD data issue from the RAM with what I already have the rest of V2 should knock out really quickly.
Sweet. I'm stoked that someone is going to work on this.
I have a W49F002U and a AM-29F040B chip to work with. Both seem to be supported, and both are rewritable (so I can flash them multiple times), correct?
Correct. You can re-flash them many times. I've yet to exhaust a flash parts erase-write cycles under even heavy development work. You have to have some really repetitive program hitting it over and over to reach that >100k cycle number.
What size part was in the mainboard to begin with? A 2Mbit or 4Mbit part? If its a 2Mbit part the you can use a 4Mbit part but you may need to duplicate the data in the upper 256k of the part since you don't really know if the extra address line at the socked is grounded or floating. If it was a 4Mbit part then you should be able to use a 2Mbit part as long as you have the size correct (2Mbit) in the config file.
One thing you do need to pay attention to is the speed of the parts you are using. I know for a fact that 90nS or faster should work. However there has been at least one report on the list where some one had what looked (based on datasheet) like a compatible replacement but did not work. I don't remember what platform it was on.
I've personaly used loads of both ST and AM 90nS 29F040B's with the Bitworks/IMS board so I'm quite sure the 440BX works fine with both of those mfgs.
Uwe Hermann wrote:
Hi,
I have access to an old GA-6BXC motherboard (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID...) which I'll probably use for my first steps with LinuxBIOS.
I see that FreeBIOSv1 had support for this motherboard, but not v2. Is there some technical reason for this? I'll probably try v1 first, but I'd like to move to v2 sooner or later. Should I get another motherboard or can I try to port the code to v2? How much effort does that require, usually?
It probably won't be a lot, modulo the steep linuxbios V2 learning curve.
ron
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Richard Smith -
Ronald G Minnich -
Tyson Sawyer -
Uwe Hermann