Error Compiling Coreboot v1 for Acer WT300

[Holden Hao]

Hello.

I am trying to build a Coreboot v1 BIOS with an Etherboot payload for
an Acer WT300 thin client.  Somebody was already successful in running
LinuxBIOS with etherboot on it. (
http://spritesmods.com/?art=wtcluster ).  I have tried to contact the
person on the website already but he has not replied to me.  So I am
trying out Coreboot myself.

The Acer WT300 has a board similar in specifications to a Supertek
ST3WT.  The chips on the board are CS5530A and PC973717. My build
system is Debian Etch and CentOS 5.  I have tried building sample
images using default config files but all my efforts failed.  I was
able to run the python script but I did not get far running make.  I
get the errors below:

----------------------
cp /home/holden/src/coreboot-v1/src/arch/i386/config/crt0.base crt0.S
gcc -x assembler-with-cpp -DASSEMBLY -E ... crt0.S > crt0.s
/bin/sh: -c: line 0: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `''
/bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file
make: *** [crt0.s] Error 2
----------------------

I get the same errors in Debian and CentOS for all config files I have
tried.  The error above is the same as the one reported on the link
below:

http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2007-June/022422.html

I hope somebody can help me with the problem.  I have about 10 of the
Acer WTs that I hope to use as Linux Thin Clients.  The units will be
used for our organization's (a LUG called DabaweGNU) computer lab.

Regards,

Holden

[Corey Osgood]

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 12:59 AM, Holden Hao  wrote:
> Hello.
>
> I am trying to build a Coreboot v1 BIOS with an Etherboot payload for
> an Acer WT300 thin client.  Somebody was already successful in running
> LinuxBIOS with etherboot on it. (
> http://spritesmods.com/?art=wtcluster ).  I have tried to contact the
> person on the website already but he has not replied to me.  So I am
> trying out Coreboot myself.
>
> The Acer WT300 has a board similar in specifications to a Supertek
> ST3WT.  The chips on the board are CS5530A and PC973717.

Coreboot-v1 is VERY old, IIRC it requires gcc 2.xx to compile. Perhaps I
could talk you into using coreboot-v2 instead? I see that the Axus TC320 and
Bcom WinNet 100 share the same hardware as your board, so porting your board
shouldn't require much work. You can find a build tutorial here:
http://www.coreboot.org/AXUS_TC320#Building_a_LinuxBIOS_image and various
other resources by exploring around coreboot.org. If you need a hand, let us
know!

-Corey
> My build
> system is Debian Etch and CentOS 5.  I have tried building sample
> images using default config files but all my efforts failed.  I was
> able to run the python script but I did not get far running make.  I
> get the errors below:
>
> cp /home/holden/src/coreboot-v1/src/arch/i386/config/crt0.base crt0.S
> gcc -x assembler-with-cpp -DASSEMBLY -E ... crt0.S > crt0.s
> /bin/sh: -c: line 0: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `''
> /bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file
> make: *** [crt0.s] Error 2
>
> I get the same errors in Debian and CentOS for all config files I have
> tried.  The error above is the same as the one reported on the link
> below:
>
> http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2007-June/022422.html
>
> I hope somebody can help me with the problem.  I have about 10 of the
> Acer WTs that I hope to use as Linux Thin Clients.  The units will be
> used for our organization's (a LUG called DabaweGNU) computer lab.
>
> Regards,
>
> Holden

[Holden Hao]

> Coreboot-v1 is VERY old, IIRC it requires gcc 2.xx to compile. Perhaps I
> could talk you into using coreboot-v2 instead? I see that the Axus TC320 and
> Bcom WinNet 100 share the same hardware as your board, so porting your board
> shouldn't require much work. You can find a build tutorial here:
> http://www.coreboot.org/AXUS_TC320#Building_a_LinuxBIOS_image and various
> other resources by exploring around coreboot.org. If you need a hand, let us
> know!

Thank you very much.  I will try it and report back.

Holden

[Holden Hao]

> Coreboot-v1 is VERY old, IIRC it requires gcc 2.xx to compile. Perhaps I
> could talk you into using coreboot-v2 instead? I see that the Axus TC320 and
> Bcom WinNet 100 share the same hardware as your board, so porting your board
> shouldn't require much work. You can find a build tutorial here:
> http://www.coreboot.org/AXUS_TC320#Building_a_LinuxBIOS_image and various
> other resources by exploring around coreboot.org. If you need a hand, let
> us know!

I have already compiled an Coreboot rom and have burned it into a chip using
a PROM burner.   However, I could not see any output from the console.
Reading the article from the other person who has successfully compiled
Coreboot + Etherboot, the com port of the Acer WT 300 is in com 2 and not
com 1.  As I understand it, the default com port for coreboot is ttyS0. What
option can I use to change the default console port to ttyS1?  There seems
to be no options for this from the Wiki page which lists the available
options for Coreboot V2.  My config file is below:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
target tc320
mainboard axus/tc320

option ROM_SIZE = 256 * 1024

## Enable VGA with a splash screen (only 640x480 to run on most monitors).
## We want to support up to 1024x768@16 so we need 2MiB video memory.
## Note: Higher resolutions might need faster SDRAM speed.
option CONFIG_GX1_VIDEO = 1
option CONFIG_GX1_VIDEOMODE = 0
option CONFIG_SPLASH_GRAPHIC = 1
option CONFIG_VIDEO_MB = 2

option DEFAULT_CONSOLE_LOGLEVEL = 6
option MAXIMUM_CONSOLE_LOGLEVEL = 6

romimage "normal"
    option USE_FALLBACK_IMAGE = 0
    option COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION = ".0Normal"
    payload /home/holden/src/images/eb-5.4.3-pcnet32.elf
end

#romimage "fallback"
#    option USE_FALLBACK_IMAGE = 1
#    option COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION = ".0Fallback"
#    payload ../../../../../../../images/etherboot.elf
#end

buildrom ./coreboot.rom ROM_SIZE "normal"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for the assistance.

Holden

[Uwe Hermann]

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 05:20:56PM +0800, Holden Hao wrote:
> > Coreboot-v1 is VERY old, IIRC it requires gcc 2.xx to compile. Perhaps I
> > could talk you into using coreboot-v2 instead? I see that the Axus TC320 and
> > Bcom WinNet 100 share the same hardware as your board, so porting your board
> > shouldn't require much work. You can find a build tutorial here:
> > http://www.coreboot.org/AXUS_TC320#Building_a_LinuxBIOS_image and various
> > other resources by exploring around coreboot.org. If you need a hand, let
> > us know!
>
> I have already compiled an Coreboot rom and have burned it into a chip using
> a PROM burner.   However, I could not see any output from the console.
> Reading the article from the other person who has successfully compiled
> Coreboot + Etherboot, the com port of the Acer WT 300 is in com 2 and not
> com 1.  As I understand it, the default com port for coreboot is ttyS0. What
> option can I use to change the default console port to ttyS1?  There seems
> to be no options for this from the Wiki page which lists the available
> options for Coreboot V2.  My config file is below:

Try the attached patch, something like that should work (untested).

HTH, Uwe