New subject: Some problems with graphic display when using coreboot + seabios.

15 Mar 2020

...
  SeaBIOS is a legacy BIOS implementation, so no it
can't boot UEFI boot media. Likewise, Tianocore is a pure UEFI implementation, and
doesn't boot legacy boot media / legacy installed OSes. There should be a way to use
SeaBIOS as a CSM for Tianocore, but currently it's not working / not implemented (I
tried briefly awhile back but didn't have any luck). 
I tried to follow the steps to build tianocore for
SeaBIOS https://www.coreboot.org/TianoCore But I get these errors. It says it can't
found nmake.exe... Is this should be build on Windows? How to setup the environment?

[dalao@pc tianocore2018]$ git clone --branch UDK2018
https://github.com/tianocore/edk2                  
Cloning into 'edk2'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 66, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (66/66), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (43/43), done.
remote: Total 342725 (delta 35), reused 31 (delta 23), pack-reused 342659
Receiving objects: 100% (342725/342725), 286.48 MiB | 436.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (247240/247240), done.
Updating files: 100% (15636/15636), done.
[dalao@pc tianocore2018]$ cd edk2/
[dalao@pc edk2]$ cd BaseTools
[dalao@pc BaseTools]$ export EDK_TOOLS_PATH=$(pwd)
[dalao@pc BaseTools]$ cd ../
[dalao@pc edk2]$ . ./edksetup.sh BaseTools
WORKSPACE: /home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2
EDK_TOOLS_PATH:
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/BaseTools
CONF_PATH: /home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Conf
Copying $EDK_TOOLS_PATH/Conf/build_rule.template
     to
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Conf/build_rule.txt
Copying $EDK_TOOLS_PATH/Conf/tools_def.template
     to
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Conf/tools_def.txt
Copying $EDK_TOOLS_PATH/Conf/target.template
     to
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Conf/target.txt
[dalao@pc edk2]$ build -p DuetPkg/DuetPkgIa32.dsc
Build environment: Linux-5.4.22-1-MANJARO-x86_64-with-glibc2.2.5
Build start time: 11:48:18, Mar.15 2020

WORKSPACE        =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2
ECP_SOURCE       =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/EdkCompatibilityPkg
EDK_SOURCE       =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/EdkCompatibilityPkg
EFI_SOURCE       =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/EdkCompatibilityPkg
EDK_TOOLS_PATH   =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/BaseTools
CONF_PATH        =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Conf
POSTBUILD        =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/DuetPkg/PostBuild.bat
-p DuetPkg/DuetPkgIa32.dsc -b DEBUG -a IA32 -t MYTOOLS
--conf=/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Conf all

Architecture(s)  = IA32
Build target     = DEBUG
Toolchain        = MYTOOLS

Active Platform          =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/DuetPkg/DuetPkgIa32.dsc
Flash Image Definition   =
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/DuetPkg/DuetPkg.fdf

Processing meta-data ......... done!
Building ...
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/MdePkg/Library/BasePcdLibNull/BasePcdLibNull.inf
[IA32]
Building ...
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/MdePkg/Library/BaseDebugLibNull/BaseDebugLibNull.inf
[IA32]
Building ...
/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/MdePkg/Library/BaseMemoryLib/BaseMemoryLib.inf
[IA32]
/bin/sh: Vcbinnmake.exe: command not found

build.py...
: error 7000: Failed to execute command
        Vc\bin\nmake.exe /nologo tbuild
[/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Build/DuetPkgIA32/DEBUG_MYTOOLS/IA32/MdePkg/Library/BasePcdLibNull/BasePcdLibNull]

build.py...
: error 7000: Failed to execute command
        Vc\bin\nmake.exe /nologo tbuild
[/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Build/DuetPkgIA32/DEBUG_MYTOOLS/IA32/MdePkg/Library/BaseDebugLibNull/BaseDebugLibNull]

build.py...
: error 7000: Failed to execute command
        Vc\bin\nmake.exe /nologo tbuild
[/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/Build/DuetPkgIA32/DEBUG_MYTOOLS/IA32/MdePkg/Library/BaseMemoryLib/BaseMemoryLib]

build.py...
: error F002: Failed to build module

/home/dalao/T440pCorebooting/tianocoreAsSeabiosPayload/tianocore2018/edk2/MdePkg/Library/BasePcdLibNull/BasePcdLibNull.inf
[IA32, MYTOOLS, DEBUG]

- Failed -
Build end time: 11:48:28, Mar.15 2020
Build total time: 00:00:10

[dalao@pc edk2]$

...
  Personally, given that it's 2020, I'd not
bother with legacy-installed OSes (or SeaBIOS) outside of use with emulation or if a
special use case demands it. Esp given that it's easy enough to migrate Windows from
legacy to UEFI. 
I tried the tianocore payload by selecting it and using all default settings. But I
can't see anything like the SeaBIOS for me to select the boot media. But it does boot
the archlinux in UEFI mode. I'm wondering is this the problem with my display (I have
tried both "Use libgfxinit" and "Run VGA Option ROMs" with tianocore)
or the tianocore has nothing to display to select boot media?

Mar 15, 2020, 10:08 by matt.devillier(a)gmail.com:

...
  On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 8:33 PM Dalao via coreboot
 &lt;coreboot(a)coreboot.org&gt; wrote:

 I have just corebooted T440p. Then I noticed some graphic display problems...

 Firstly I "Use libgfxinit" with "Legacy VGA text mode", insert a usb
disk with archlinux's latest install image iso. I can see a text mode of
archlinux's start screen.

 https://imgur.com/0QqQgJn

 But when I hit enter, it shows some log till "Triggering uevents" and then
there is no display...

 https://imgur.com/CHI9jeE

 Then I tried "Use libgfxinit" with "Linear "high-resolution"
framebuffer". I can see the graphic mode of archlinux's start screen, but again
after I hit enter and see some logs, there is no display... Also, the display is not
ideal, just at the top left corner not full screen.

 https://imgur.com/dvYLERu

 Also, under this setting, the nvramcui's display becomes bad.

 https://imgur.com/7YG0kOX

 unfortunately, many legacy bootloaders seem to assume a full array of
 VESA video modes will be available, and fail less than gracefully when
 that's not the case. With libgfxinit there is no ability to change
 video modes -- all that's available is either the native panel
 resolution (high resolution framebuffer) or VGA text mode.

  Next I included pci8086,0416.rom vbios and tried
"Run VGA Option ROMs" with "Legacy VGA text mode". This time, I
can't see the archlinux start screen as shown above, there is no display at the
beginning. But I can hit the enter blindly. Then after a while I can see archlinux is
booting and the first line I can see is "Probing EDD (edd=off to disable)...ok"
the archlinux starts ok.

 Lastly I also tried "Run VGA Option ROMs" with "Set framebuffer graphics
resolution" with the default "framebuffer graphics resolution (1024x768
16.8M-color (8:8:8))" (although my T440p's resolution is 1920x1080). Also the
Framebuffer mode is changed to "VESA framebuffer". I still can't see
archlinux's start screen...

 How to make everything work like the vendor BIOS? i.e., I can see both the
archlinux's start screen and it's booting.

 add the VGA BIOS. set the PCI IDs correctly. Set coreboot display init
 to none, and let SeaBIOS run the VBIOS.

  How to fix the nvramcui under
"high-resolution" framebuffer"?

 will work properly with above settings

  Also, as for now it appears seabios can't
boot UEFI media. Tianocore by default can't boot Linux/Windows installed by legacy
method (installed when using seabios). my goal is to add UEFI support through tianocore as
seabios payload (or through tianocore's CSM compatibility support module? ). So that
it can boot both UEFI installed Windows or legacy installed Windows like the vendor bios
can do. How to achieve this?

 SeaBIOS is a legacy BIOS implementation, so no it can't boot UEFI boot
 media. Likewise, Tianocore is a pure UEFI implementation, and doesn't
 boot legacy boot media / legacy installed OSes. There should be a way
 to use SeaBIOS as a CSM for Tianocore, but currently it's not working
 / not implemented (I tried briefly awhile back but didn't have any
 luck).

 Personally, given that it's 2020, I'd not bother with legacy-installed
 OSes (or SeaBIOS) outside of use with emulation or if a special use
 case demands it. Esp given that it's easy enough to migrate Windows
 from legacy to UEFI.

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Re: Some problems with graphic display when using coreboot + seabios.