Alternate for serial port debug messages

[Vikram Narayanan]

Hi,

I am using a DELL laptop. The superio used is 
"Found Nuvoton WPCE775x / NPCE781x (id=0x03, rev=0x06) at 0x4e".

Now the thing is there are no serial ports exposed outside in my laptop.
Is there any other way out to see the debug messages of coreboot.(If at
all coreboot supports my motherboard, or if I am planning to try if its
not there)

Thanks,
Vikram

[Corey Osgood]

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 2:10 PM, Vikram Narayanan  wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am using a DELL laptop. The superio used is
> "Found Nuvoton WPCE775x / NPCE781x (id=0x03, rev=0x06) at 0x4e".
>
> Now the thing is there are no serial ports exposed outside in my laptop.
> Is there any other way out to see the debug messages of coreboot.(If at
> all coreboot supports my motherboard, or if I am planning to try if its
> not there)

Check lspci -v, you probably have a USB port that has debug port
capability. You'll then need a USB debug cable.

-Corey

[Vikram Narayanan]

On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 12:55 AM, Corey Osgood  wrote:
> On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 2:10 PM, Vikram Narayanan  wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am using a DELL laptop. The superio used is
> > "Found Nuvoton WPCE775x / NPCE781x (id=0x03, rev=0x06) at 0x4e".
> >
> > Now the thing is there are no serial ports exposed outside in my laptop.
> > Is there any other way out to see the debug messages of coreboot.(If at
> > all coreboot supports my motherboard, or if I am planning to try if its
> > not there)
>
> Check lspci -v, you probably have a USB port that has debug port
> capability. You'll then need a USB debug cable.

I have an USB port that has debug capabilities (according to the lspci output)
Should I buy the one mentioned in this page
http://www.coreboot.org/EHCI_Debug_Port
or can I use a normal cable to debug?

-
Thanks
Vikram

[Andrew Goodbody]

Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> I have an USB port that has debug capabilities (according to the lspci output)
> Should I buy the one mentioned in this page
> http://www.coreboot.org/EHCI_Debug_Port

Yes
> or can I use a normal cable to debug?

There is no normal cable to connect two host ports together and doing so 
would be a bad idea anyway.
> Thanks
> Vikram

Andrew

[Gregg Levine]

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Andrew Goodbody
 wrote:
> Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> > I have an USB port that has debug capabilities (according to the lspci
> > output)
> > Should I buy the one mentioned in this page
> > http://www.coreboot.org/EHCI_Debug_Port
>
> Yes
> > or can I use a normal cable to debug?
>
> There is no normal cable to connect two host ports together and doing so
> would be a bad idea anyway.
> > Thanks
> > Vikram
>
> Andrew

Hello!
Andrew is right. Don't do that. Track down and buy one of the devices
described on that Wiki page. Further along, it happens that the gadget
chips were originally used for a cable that enabled "simple file
transfer methods" for sending files from one computer to the other,
and I asked about them.

Turns out that the cable might have been perfect, except that it also
isn't the right one.

Naturally I am also looking for the classic USB gadget cable or in
this case card, as described in the 2.4.33.3 USB area.
-----
Gregg C Levine [e-mail]
"This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

[Vikram Narayanan]

On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 8:35 AM, Gregg Levine  wrote:
> On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Andrew Goodbody
>  wrote:
> > Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> > > I have an USB port that has debug capabilities (according to the lspci
> > > output)
> > > Should I buy the one mentioned in this page
> > > http://www.coreboot.org/EHCI_Debug_Port
> >
> > Yes
> > > or can I use a normal cable to debug?
> >
> > There is no normal cable to connect two host ports together and doing so
> > would be a bad idea anyway.
> > > Thanks
> > > Vikram
> >
> > Andrew
>
> Hello!
> Andrew is right. Don't do that. Track down and buy one of the devices
> described on that Wiki page. Further along, it happens that the gadget
> chips were originally used for a cable that enabled "simple file
> transfer methods" for sending files from one computer to the other,
> and I asked about them.
>
> Turns out that the cable might have been perfect, except that it also
> isn't the right one.
>
> Naturally I am also looking for the classic USB gadget cable or in
> this case card, as described in the 2.4.33.3 USB area.

ok. I am planning to buy one. Please share your thoughs on which one to buy.
In the links(in wiki page), it is mentioned that,
=== from the link (http://www.ajaystech.com/net20dc.htm)
System Requirements

Target Computer: Windows Vista and later OS
    Host Computer: Windows 2000 and later OS
===
Does this mean anything? or this stuff can also be used for boot time
debugging (coreboot) ?

-
Thanks,
Vikram

[Andrew Goodbody]

Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 8:35 AM, Gregg Levine  wrote:
> > On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Andrew Goodbody
> >  wrote:
> > > Vikram Narayanan wrote:
>
> ok. I am planning to buy one. Please share your thoughs on which one to buy.

NET20DC, it is the simplest, the cheapest by far and will work.
> In the links(in wiki page), it is mentioned that,
> === from the link (http://www.ajaystech.com/net20dc.htm)
> System Requirements
> Target Computer: Windows Vista and later OS
> Host Computer: Windows 2000 and later OS
>
> ===
> Does this mean anything? or this stuff can also be used for boot time
> debugging (coreboot) ?

It is only relevant for debugging Windows using the kernel debugger, as 
that is not what you are doing you can ignore those requirements.
As for debugging coreboot I believe that it is supposed to work but I 
have not tried it myself so cannot tell you how functional the support 
actually is.

Andrew

[Vikram Narayanan]

On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Andrew Goodbody
 wrote:
> Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> > On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 8:35 AM, Gregg Levine 
> > wrote:
> > > On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Andrew Goodbody
> > >  wrote:
> > > > Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> >
> > ok. I am planning to buy one. Please share your thoughs on which one to
> > buy.
>
> NET20DC, it is the simplest, the cheapest by far and will work.
> > In the links(in wiki page), it is mentioned that,
> > === from the link (http://www.ajaystech.com/net20dc.htm)
> > System Requirements
> >
> > Target Computer: Windows Vista and later OS
> >    Host Computer: Windows 2000 and later OS
> > ===
> > Does this mean anything? or this stuff can also be used for boot time
> > debugging (coreboot) ?
>
> It is only relevant for debugging Windows using the kernel debugger, as that
> is not what you are doing you can ignore those requirements.
> As for debugging coreboot I believe that it is supposed to work but I have
> not tried it myself so cannot tell you how functional the support actually
> is.
>
> Andrew

What should be done to get the debug messages via an USB-serial.?

How complex is that stuff?

-
Thanks,
Vikram

[Stefan Reinauer]

On 5/18/11 7:49 PM, Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> What should be done to get the debug messages via an USB-serial.?

For USB-serial adapters you need a full blown USB stack. By the time you 
get that up and running, you basically don't need debugging anymore.

Stefan

[Prakash Punnoor]

Hi,

On 12.05.2011 12:28, Andrew Goodbody wrote:
> Vikram Narayanan wrote:
> > I have an USB port that has debug capabilities (according to the
> > lspci output)
> > Should I buy the one mentioned in this page
> > http://www.coreboot.org/EHCI_Debug_Port
>
> Yes
> > or can I use a normal cable to debug?
>
> There is no normal cable to connect two host ports together and doing
> so would be a bad idea anyway.

Are you sure? I didn't try it yet, but according to
http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg32912.html
it should be possible to use a Linux machine as USB debug port device.

I haven't checked whether the patch (or something similar) landed in
mainline.

Once I find time I wanted to try it myself, as the Abit A-S78H I am
trying to port coreboot to, doesn't have serial ports, as well.

Cheers,

Prakash

[Stefan Reinauer]

On 5/14/11 3:17 AM, Prakash Punnoor wrote:
> Are you sure? I didn't try it yet, but according to
> http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg32912.html
> it should be possible to use a Linux machine as USB debug port device.

It might work if your controller has a USB device port. A USB host port 
won't work.

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Vikram Narayanan  [110510 20:10]:
> Hi,
>
> I am using a DELL laptop. The superio used is 
> "Found Nuvoton WPCE775x / NPCE781x (id=0x03, rev=0x06) at 0x4e".
>
> Now the thing is there are no serial ports exposed outside in my laptop.
> Is there any other way out to see the debug messages of coreboot.(If at
> all coreboot supports my motherboard, or if I am planning to try if its
> not there)

You can use USB Debug or a MiniPCIe serial card from StarTech

http://www.coreboot.org/EHCI_Debug_Port
http://www.coreboot.org/Serial_console

Both options are around 50-100$

Stefan