Help for motherboard

Hi All,

I wanted to build a new Desktop workstation with currently available
CPU and motherboard that is supported by Coreboot bios, I have
searched few links for it

e.g.
  Ubuntu-certified hardware http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/
  Zareason http://zareason.com/shop/home.php
  AMD Processors - Recommended Motherboards
  http://products.amd.com/pages/recommendedmbfilter.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieS...

But these site mention hardware where gnu/linux could run easily, but
they do not inform about coreboot bios compatibility.

And checked
http://www.coreboot.org/Supported_Motherboards for searching suitable
motherboard, seen coreboot related video in youtube.

But I did not found here new Intel and AMD cpu for motherboards in
Desktop/Workstation section (except Laptop)
mentioned for e.g.
  Intel Core 7i
  Intel Core 3i and similar AMD's latest.

So finally I like to know do these newer CPU's any motherboard going
to be supported in near future, So I will purchase that motherboard.

I want to find it out as it will be difficult to change hardware than
software later. Please suggest which CPU/motherboard combination is
good with coreboot.

[Alex G.]

On 02/19/2011 01:39 PM, [e-mail] wrote:
> But I did not found here new Intel and AMD cpu for motherboards in
> Desktop/Workstation section (except Laptop)
> mentioned for e.g.
>   Intel Core 7i
>   Intel Core 3i

Won't happen because Intel won't tell us how to initialize that
hardware. So just stay away.
> and similar AMD's latest.

Support for AMD Fam 14h just got added a few days ago. There are only
two AMD boards that are currently supported. It's a very new product, so
we don't have the boards (yet?).
> So finally I like to know do these newer CPU's any motherboard going
> to be supported in near future, So I will purchase that motherboard.

Your board will be supported if you do the port yourself, or are lucky
enough to have the same board as someone who has already ported (is
doing the port).

I'm working on the VIA VX900, so you could expect that to be supported
in a couple of months (or earlier, depending on how difficult the
chipset is).
> I want to find it out as it will be difficult to change hardware than
> software later. Please suggest which CPU/motherboard combination is
> good with coreboot.

What do you want to do with your computer?
For HTPC, VIA Nano is pretty good.
For regular desktop, we have a few good AM3 boards supported.
For workstation/server, you can get your hands dirty, get a
single/dual-socket G34 board, and start porting. We have most
infrastructure code for that, so it shouldn't be too hard. :)

And someone wiser may give you a more complete answer.

Alex

[Scott Duplichan]

-----Original Message-----
From: [e-mail] [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Alex G.
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 08:17 AM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: [coreboot] Help for motherboard

]On 02/19/2011 01:39 PM, [e-mail] wrote:
]> But I did not found here new Intel and AMD cpu for motherboards in
]> Desktop/Workstation section (except Laptop)
]> mentioned for e.g.
]>   Intel Core 7i
]>   Intel Core 3i 
]
]Won't happen because Intel won't tell us how to initialize that
]hardware. So just stay away.
]
]> and similar AMD's latest.
]>   
]Support for AMD Fam 14h just got added a few days ago. There are only
]two AMD boards that are currently supported. It's a very new product, so
]we don't have the boards (yet?).

I found two AMD family 14h boards on sale at newegg.com:

1) ASRock E350M1 - US$ 109.99
2) GIGABYTE GA-E350N-USB3 - US$ 149.99

I ordered #1 because it has a serial port header. I will try to
get coreboot working on it in my spare time.

Board #2 looks interesting. It apparently has no serial port. But 
underneath is the pad for a jtag debugging header. I think soldering
a header would allow the Sage SmartProbe (http://se-eng.com/) to work.

Thanks,
Scott

]> So finally I like to know do these newer CPU's any motherboard going
]> to be supported in near future, So I will purchase that motherboard.
]>
]Your board will be supported if you do the port yourself, or are lucky
]enough to have the same board as someone who has already ported (is
]doing the port).
]
]I'm working on the VIA VX900, so you could expect that to be supported
]in a couple of months (or earlier, depending on how difficult the
]chipset is).
]
]> I want to find it out as it will be difficult to change hardware than
]> software later. Please suggest which CPU/motherboard combination is
]> good with coreboot.
]> 
]What do you want to do with your computer?
]For HTPC, VIA Nano is pretty good.
]For regular desktop, we have a few good AM3 boards supported.
]For workstation/server, you can get your hands dirty, get a
]single/dual-socket G34 board, and start porting. We have most
]infrastructure code for that, so it shouldn't be too hard. :)
]
]And someone wiser may give you a more complete answer.
]
]Alex

On Sat, Feb 19 2011, Alex G. wrote:
> On 02/19/2011 01:39 PM, [e-mail] wrote:
> > But I did not found here new Intel and AMD cpu for motherboards in
> > Desktop/Workstation section (except Laptop)
> > mentioned for e.g.
> >   Intel Core 7i
> >   Intel Core 3i
>
> Won't happen because Intel won't tell us how to initialize that
> hardware. So just stay away.

I was not aware.
> > and similar AMD's latest.
>
> Support for AMD Fam 14h just got added a few days ago. There are only
> two AMD boards that are currently supported. It's a very new product, so
> we don't have the boards (yet?).
> > So finally I like to know do these newer CPU's any motherboard going
> > to be supported in near future, So I will purchase that motherboard.
>
> Your board will be supported if you do the port yourself, or are lucky
> enough to have the same board as someone who has already ported (is
> doing the port).
>
> I'm working on the VIA VX900, so you could expect that to be supported
> in a couple of months (or earlier, depending on how difficult the
> chipset is).
> > I want to find it out as it will be difficult to change hardware than
> > software later. Please suggest which CPU/motherboard combination is
> > good with coreboot.
>
> What do you want to do with your computer?
> For HTPC, VIA Nano is pretty good.
> For regular desktop, we have a few good AM3 boards supported.
> For workstation/server, you can get your hands dirty, get a
> single/dual-socket G34 board, and start porting. We have most
> infrastructure code for that, so it shouldn't be too hard. :)

I wanted general purpose regular desktop for programming, internet,
GNU/Linux with common servers dovecote, tomcat, apache etc
> And someone wiser may give you a more complete answer.

[Alex G.]

On 02/19/2011 06:58 PM, [e-mail] wrote:
> I wanted general purpose regular desktop for programming, internet,
> GNU/Linux with common servers dovecote, tomcat, apache etc

Probably a socket AM2+ board will be best for you if you want to run
coreboot.

The Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H is the only AM3 board supported. Someone
recently had a problem getting it to run, but at worst, it needs a bit
of tweaking. It has a COM port header, so we can use that to debug if
something may not be working. It doesn't include the adapter for the com
port, but that should be cheap to get.

http://www.coreboot.org/GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H

The board has 4 hardware versions, so you may encounter issues depending
on which version you get. I'd definitely suggest AM3 versus the older
AM2/AM2+.

You can also pick your favorite board and port it (which we'd all love :p ).

Alex

On Sat, Feb 19 2011, Alex G. wrote:
> On 02/19/2011 06:58 PM, [e-mail] wrote:
> > I wanted general purpose regular desktop for programming, internet,
> > GNU/Linux with common servers dovecote, tomcat, apache etc
>
> Probably a socket AM2+ board will be best for you if you want to run
> coreboot.
>
> The Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H is the only AM3 board supported. Someone
> recently had a problem getting it to run, but at worst, it needs a bit
> of tweaking. It has a COM port header, so we can use that to debug if
> something may not be working. It doesn't include the adapter for the com
> port, but that should be cheap to get.
>
> http://www.coreboot.org/GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H
>
> The board has 4 hardware versions, so you may encounter issues depending
> on which version you get. I'd definitely suggest AM3 versus the older
> AM2/AM2+.
>
> You can also pick your favorite board and port it (which we'd all love :p ).

I have inquired here in shop they have told me newer 
board in
      GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-US2H
than
      GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H

(change in one letter `D' to `S')

So I wanted to know if I have to purchase `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-US2H'
as `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H' is not available, Could it be easy
to get coreboot in it as `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H' have been already
supported, might be it is a newer version of `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H'?

Thanks Alex, Scott and Coreboot for detailed answers.

Working on support for the Tolapai

[Noé Rubinstein]

Hi,

I'm currently working on improving the support in Coreboot for the Intel Truxton, which is an EVB for Intel EP80579 (codename Tolapai). I'm trying to make it more agnostic with regards to which RAM modules can be used. Right now, it supports only some ECC modules.

I was able to get the board running with a Hynix HYMP564P72BP8-Y5 module, but I got into strange behaviour, as I only got the boot to work after adding two print statements in the RAM init (!). When trying to make modifications to support other boards, I got into similarly seemingly undeterministic failures: that is Coreboot failing during or little before the raminit, at random points (including during the execution of print statements). I'm not currently aware of where the problem comes from; I suppose it might be a compiler problem, or a cache problem, or something else entirely. Any idea about this problem? I don't understand the coreboot build process very well yet; is this part compiled with GCC?

It might not be related, but I have been able to get to the end of the before-ram code by adding the following to enable_smbus in src/southbridge/intel/i3100/early_smbus.c:
        // Taken from the i82801ex code
        /* clear any lingering errors, so the transaction will run */
        outb(inb(SMBUS_IO_BASE + SMBHSTSTAT), SMBUS_IO_BASE + SMBHSTSTAT);

With the info I have at disposition, I will probably be able to get a better support for the RAM init part. As it has been based on DDR1 init code and is used for DDR2, I think it is a good idea to rewrite it or to replace it with something derived from the i945 raminit code. Any thought on the matter?

Thanks,
--
Noé Rubinstein
Proformatique (groupe Avencall) - XiVO IPBX OpenHardware
10 bis, rue Lucien VOILIN - 92800 Puteaux
Tél. : [phone] ext 123
Fax. : [phone]

Working on support for the Tolapai

[Noé Rubinstein]

> When trying to make modifications to support other boards,
> I got into similarly seemingly undeterministic failures

This was to be read "When trying to make modification to
support other *RAM modules*".

After further testing, I can confirm that the random failure
problem has *not* been fixed by my SMBus init change.

I still get random failures (i.e. no more serial output, POST
code 80) during the RAM init, and the behaviour changes when
adding or removing print statements.

The Truxton romstage is build with romcc. Is it very likely
that this is a bug with romcc? As it looks like support for
non-CAR might be dropped in the future, I might port the Truxton
romstage to gcc. Any directions/how-to on the matter?
I am not sure what exactly needs to be done, and how much time
it would take.

----- Mail original -----
De: "Noé Rubinstein" 
À: [e-mail]
Envoyé: Jeudi 3 Mars 2011 12:20:43
Objet: [coreboot] Working on support for the Tolapai

Hi,

I'm currently working on improving the support in Coreboot for the Intel Truxton, which is an EVB for Intel EP80579 (codename Tolapai). I'm trying to make it more agnostic with regards to which RAM modules can be used. Right now, it supports only some ECC modules.

I was able to get the board running with a Hynix HYMP564P72BP8-Y5 module, but I got into strange behaviour, as I only got the boot to work after adding two print statements in the RAM init (!). When trying to make modifications to support other boards, I got into similarly seemingly undeterministic failures: that is Coreboot failing during or little before the raminit, at random points (including during the execution of print statements). I'm not currently aware of where the problem comes from; I suppose it might be a compiler problem, or a cache problem, or something else entirely. Any idea about this problem? I don't understand the coreboot build process very well yet; is this part compiled with GCC?

It might not be related, but I have been able to get to the end of the before-ram code by adding the following to enable_smbus in src/southbridge/intel/i3100/early_smbus.c:
        // Taken from the i82801ex code
        /* clear any lingering errors, so the transaction will run */
        outb(inb(SMBUS_IO_BASE + SMBHSTSTAT), SMBUS_IO_BASE + SMBHSTSTAT);

With the info I have at disposition, I will probably be able to get a better support for the RAM init part. As it has been based on DDR1 init code and is used for DDR2, I think it is a good idea to rewrite it or to replace it with something derived from the i945 raminit code. Any thought on the matter?

Thanks,
--
Noé Rubinstein
Proformatique (groupe Avencall) - XiVO IPBX OpenHardware
10 bis, rue Lucien VOILIN - 92800 Puteaux
Tél. : [phone] ext 123
Fax. : [phone]

[bari]

[e-mail] wrote:
> So I wanted to know if I have to purchase `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-US2H'
> as `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H' is not available, Could it be easy
> to get coreboot in it as `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H' have been already
> supported, might be it is a newer version of `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H'?

Either board works with coreboot with minor tweaking. Compare the 
chipset, memory type and super IO on boards. If coreboot supports the 
devices then most of the work is already done. Gigabyte boards usually 
have the dual BIOS device circuit that make flash programming a bit more 
complicated. You might have to check if Flashrom ever was patched to 
support it.

-Bari

On Sat, Feb 19 2011, Alex G. wrote:
> On 02/19/2011 06:58 PM, sharad wrote:
> > I wanted general purpose regular desktop for programming, internet,
> > GNU/Linux with common servers dovecote, tomcat, apache etc
> Probably a socket AM2+ board will be best for you if you want to run
> coreboot.
>
> The Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H is the only AM3 board supported. Someone
> recently had a problem getting it to run, but at worst, it needs a bit
> of tweaking. It has a COM port header, so we can use that to debug if
> something may not be working. It doesn't include the adapter for the com
> port, but that should be cheap to get.
>
> http://www.coreboot.org/GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H
>
> The board has 4 hardware versions, so you may encounter issues depending
> on which version you get. I'd definitely suggest AM3 versus the older
> AM2/AM2+.
>
> You can also pick your favorite board and port it (which we'd all love :p ).
>
> Alex

On Fri, Mar 04 2011, bari wrote:
> Sharad wrote:
> > So I wanted to know if I have to purchase `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-US2H'
> > as `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H' is not available, Could it be easy
> > to get coreboot in it as `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H' have been already
> > supported, might be it is a newer version of `GIGABYTE_GA-MA785GMT-UD2H'?
> > Either board works with coreboot with minor tweaking. Compare the
> chipset, memory type and super IO on boards. If coreboot supports the
> devices then most of the work is already done. Gigabyte boards usually
> have the dual BIOS device circuit that make flash programming a bit
> more complicated. You might have to check if Flashrom ever was patched
> to support it.
> -Bari

Little more query as
  these are newer boards in market

GA-880GA-UD3H
  GA-880GMA-UD2H
  GA-880GM-UD2H

As GA-MA785GMT-UD2H already supported, Could its support would be
helpful for easily porting above 880 boards for me, if they have
something in common with GA-MA785GMT-UD2H.

Thanks