Hi, I'm curious about a few things about LinuxBIOS. First off, is LinuxBIOS usable (or intended to be) in a standard desktop environment, or aimed solely at embedded/cluster application? If the answer to that question is the latter, ignore the rest of this post.
I'm looking to use linuxbios on an intel bi440zx, a P3 mobo with a 440zx chipset. I'm wondering if anyone has worked on support for this motherboard, or even this chipset, or if the code for the 440BX chipset works as a drop-in replacement.
Info as requested in FAQ: CPU: I'm currently using this mobo with a 466MHz Celeron (Mendocino core) due to BIOS limitations. The chipset (440zx) supports 100MHz FSB, and I have a P3 1.0GHz (133*7.5), would it be possible to use this chip with linuxbios and run it at 750MHz (100*7.5)? The current BIOS doesn't allow this. This is one of my main reasons for looking at linuxbios, the other being that it will be a fileserver, and the faster the boot time the better.
Other: 40gb hard drive and ATAPI cdrom connected to built-in IDE, and possibly a PCI IDE controller with a 250GB hard drive (this wouldn't matter at boot time, only after the kernel loads). Computer will most likely be controlled mainly through ssh once it's completely set up. ISA support is not needed, nor is the built-in ES1371 audio controller.
root[~]# lspci -v 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64 Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M] Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 1.0
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64 I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff Memory behind bridge: f6a00000-f6afffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: dc800000-de8fffff
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01) (prog-if 80 [Master]) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64 I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10 I/O ports at ef80 [size=32]
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02) Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
00:0c.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 04) Subsystem: Intel Corporation ES1371, ES1373 AudioPCI On Motherboard BI440ZX Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11 I/O ports at ef00 [size=64] Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1
00:0e.0 VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 4 / Voodoo 5 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA]) Subsystem: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo5 AGP 5500/6000 Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel, IRQ 11 Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M] Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M] I/O ports at e800 [size=256] Expansion ROM at febf0000 [disabled] [size=64K] Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
00:10.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RT8139 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10 I/O ports at e400 [size=256] Memory at febefc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 5c) (prog-if 00 [VGA]) Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc Rage Pro Turbo AGP 2X Flags: stepping, medium devsel Memory at dd000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [disabled] [size=16M] I/O ports at d000 [disabled] [size=256] Memory at f6a00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=4K] Expansion ROM at dc800000 [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: [50] AGP version 1.0
If either the Rage or the Voodoo work, I'm happy, but I have no need for both, I just installed had to flash the voodoo's bios to get it working, and haven't removed the rage yet.
Super I/O: I think this is the right chip: SMSC FDC37B807
BIOS info: Intel E28F200 2Mbit Flash bios (info in mobo docs)
Online documentation: Motherboard: http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/bi440zx/ Northbridge: http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/440zx/ Southbridge (although this appears to be already supported): http://www.intel.com/design/intarch/datashts/290562.htm
Thanks for any help you can offer in giving this old system a new life ;)
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Hi,
On Thu, Sep 07, 2006 at 08:06:22PM -0700, Bario wrote:
I'm curious about a few things about LinuxBIOS. First off, is LinuxBIOS usable (or intended to be) in a standard desktop environment, or aimed solely at embedded/cluster application?
Yes, it's usable on desktops too. I think the main focus of most developers is currently cluster-related stuff, though (please correct me if I'm wrong).
I'm looking to use linuxbios on an intel bi440zx, a P3 mobo with a 440zx chipset. I'm wondering if anyone has worked on support for this motherboard, or even this chipset, or if the code for the 440BX chipset works as a drop-in replacement.
The 440BX code is not yet fully working AFAIK, but work is being done to improve things. I have a similar board and will probably help testing, maybe coding...
Super I/O: I think this is the right chip: SMSC FDC37B807
I'll take care of that, there's a datasheet. I don't have the hardware, though, so I won't be able to test.
Uwe.
Hey, thanks for the info everyone.
I'm looking to use linuxbios on an intel bi440zx,
a P3
mobo with a 440zx chipset. I'm wondering if anyone
has
worked on support for this motherboard, or even
this
chipset, or if the code for the 440BX chipset
works as
a drop-in replacement.
The 440BX code is not yet fully working AFAIK, but work is being done to improve things. I have a similar board and will probably help testing, maybe coding...
Afaik, the Asus P2B has a 440BX, unless you have one of the variants (I had the same board at one time, along with a Celeron 300A@ungodly speeds). Also, I need to correct something with the chipset, it's actually a 440ZX-66, which seems to be designed only to run celerons, according to intel (http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/440zx/66.htm), so my P3 won't work (I'm not giving up though!).
Super I/O: I think this is the right chip: SMSC FDC37B807
I'll take care of that, there's a datasheet. I don't have the hardware, though, so I won't be able to test.
I'm more than willing to test. This computer isn't being used on a daily basis yet, because the 250gb hard drive is still in another machine, so a litte breakage isn't a big deal.
Online documentation: Motherboard:
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/bi440zx/
Northbridge: http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/440zx/
I'll try to take a quick look. Does it have a
socketed bios part?
No, it (unfortunately) doesn't, it's a TSOP. However, I have another of the exact same board that, if necessary, the bios chip can be scavenged off and sodiered to the first board (the other board has a broken handle on the zif socket). Has anyone ever tried installing a switch for easy swapping back and forth between bios chips?
Thanks, Corey
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On Fri, Sep 08, 2006 at 01:48:03PM -0700, Bario wrote:
I'll try to take a quick look. Does it have a socketed bios part?
No, it (unfortunately) doesn't, it's a TSOP. However, I have another of the exact same board that, if necessary, the bios chip can be scavenged off and sodiered to the first board (the other board has a broken handle on the zif socket). Has anyone ever tried installing a switch for easy swapping back and forth between bios chips?
The simplest way would be to just piggyback all pins of chip 2, except /CE, onto chip 1, then lift chip 1 /CE from the mainboard and have a switch for selecting either chip 1 /CE or chip 2 /CE to connect to the mainboard, possibly with pull-up resistors on both chips. (ideally only the one not selected)
Beware that TSOP packages demand very skilled soldering.
//Peter
Hi, just thought I'd drop a line to say that I've gotten a "new" board, an Intel D815EEA, which will support my P3 and more ram, but unfortunately the new board uses a totally different TSOP for the BIOS, so it won't be running linuxbios, at least not for the moment. However, if you would like to work on the code for the super i/o and/or chipset support for the BI440ZX, please send me an email, I'm more than willing to test (having a full PC running without a case on my bench drives my old lady nuts :D ). I've already removed the bios chip from the second motherboard and have it half-sodiered onto the first one, just need to finish it up and find an appropriate switch.
-Corey
--- Uwe Hermann uwe@hermann-uwe.de wrote:
I'm looking to use linuxbios on an intel bi440zx, a P3 mobo with a 440zx chipset. I'm wondering if anyone has worked on support for this motherboard, or even this chipset, or if the code for the 440BX chipset works as a drop-in replacement.
The 440BX code is not yet fully working AFAIK, but work is being done to improve things. I have a similar board and will probably help testing, maybe coding...
Super I/O: I think this is the right chip: SMSC FDC37B807
I'll take care of that, there's a datasheet. I don't have the hardware, though, so I won't be able to test.
Uwe.
Uwe Hermann http://www.hermann-uwe.de http://www.it-services-uh.de | http://www.crazy-hacks.org http://www.holsham-traders.de | http://www.unmaintained-free-software.org
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linuxbios mailing list linuxbios@linuxbios.org http://www.openbios.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios
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Bario -
Corey
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Uwe Hermann