On 6 Oct 2018, at 22:17, ron minnich rminnich@gmail.com wrote:
It depends on what you mean by fully. If there is a so-called Mask ROM (i.e. initial boot program that's part of the chip itself, not replaceable, you can disassemble it however) and the rest of the chip is fully open, does that count?
That's a good start. In my experience, these are what I've mostly seen.
Ideally I mean one where the boot loader (and payload?) are not proprietary. Or that an open source boot loader could be used, preferably without added blobs.
For my money the ARM chromebooks are still one of the best bets out there for messing about with ARM firmware.
Yes, I've been looking at getting one for this very purpose, especially as it's already a whole, usable system. Have you any particular recommendations?
On Sat, Oct 6, 2018 at 12:30 PM Andrew Luke Nesbit ullbeking@andrewnesbit.org wrote:
On 6 Oct 2018, at 17:42, ron minnich rminnich@gmail.com wrote:
[...]
if you really want 100% open, the only real options at this point are power 9, RISCV and some ARM CPUs.
Ron, thanks for your reasoned reply and the contextual background. I believe this is important when embarking on any project with a legacy.
I know of libre-friendly POWER9 and RISC-V options. For example, I am currently learning my way around the Talos II (which is excellent). ARM-based systems have been elusive to me.
Could you please give some examples of fully libre-friendly ARM-based boards or systems? Thanks!!
Kind regards,
Andrew
There are people on this list who know better than I what the most "open" one is.
Anyone out there have some advice?
On Sat, Oct 6, 2018 at 3:17 PM Andrew Luke Nesbit < ullbeking@andrewnesbit.org> wrote:
On 6 Oct 2018, at 22:17, ron minnich rminnich@gmail.com wrote:
It depends on what you mean by fully. If there is a so-called Mask ROM (i.e. initial boot program that's part of the chip itself, not replaceable, you can disassemble it however) and the rest of the chip is fully open, does that count?
That's a good start. In my experience, these are what I've mostly seen.
Ideally I mean one where the boot loader (and payload?) are not proprietary. Or that an open source boot loader could be used, preferably without added blobs.
For my money the ARM chromebooks are still one of the best bets out there for messing about with ARM firmware.
Yes, I've been looking at getting one for this very purpose, especially as it's already a whole, usable system. Have you any particular recommendations?
On Sat, Oct 6, 2018 at 12:30 PM Andrew Luke Nesbit < ullbeking@andrewnesbit.org> wrote:
On 6 Oct 2018, at 17:42, ron minnich rminnich@gmail.com wrote:
[...]
if you really want 100% open, the only real options at this point are
power 9, RISCV and some ARM CPUs.
Ron, thanks for your reasoned reply and the contextual background. I believe this is important when embarking on any project with a legacy.
I know of libre-friendly POWER9 and RISC-V options. For example, I am currently learning my way around the Talos II (which is excellent). ARM-based systems have been elusive to me.
Could you please give some examples of fully libre-friendly ARM-based boards or systems? Thanks!!
Kind regards,
Andrew
-
Andrew Luke Nesbit -
ron minnich