Schematics and PCB design for ASMB4 (Was: There are ASMB5's on fleabay right now for $30/ea (firmware storage module required for OpenBMC on the KGPE-D16/KCMA-D8))
Hi,
On Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 12:10:25AM +0100, Angel Pons wrote:
Is it me, or is that thing a SPI flash chip on a PCB plus a few transistors? It seems like copying the PCB design is rather doable, or am I missing something?
Indeed, very doable, but tedious work ;)
Here you go:
https://github.com/DanielG/asmb4 https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/jZLoDQ3Y
I had the schematics lying around on paper for a while now but I was too lazy to digitize them until now. The design is completely untested, I just ordered some boards though so we'll see.
FWIW if anyone is interrested in getting some assembled boards I might do a small production run.
--Daniel
Dear Daniel,
Please see my comments inline...
On 03/11/2018 04:32, Daniel Gröber wrote:
On Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 12:10:25AM +0100, Angel Pons wrote:
Is it me, or is that thing a SPI flash chip on a PCB plus a few transistors? It seems like copying the PCB design is rather doable, or am I missing something?
Indeed, very doable, but tedious work ;)
Here you go:
https://github.com/DanielG/asmb4 https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/jZLoDQ3Y
This is fantastic, thank you!!
I've been intending to do something very similar to this. So far I have spent most of 2018 on my career change -- thankfully this is now done, and should be more benefectial in the long run.
Cloning these modules would be very liberating, based on my experiences so far. Thank you for your work. Please keep me in the loop for future developments. Nevertheless, I'll continue to follow your work, and I will be available to contribute financially if appropriate.
I have some ASMB4- and ASMB5-iKVM modules, on which I have been doing OpenBMC experiments for the D16 and D8. This is now music to my ears :-)
I had the schematics lying around on paper for a while now but I was too lazy to digitize them until now. The design is completely untested, I just ordered some boards though so we'll see.
If there's any possibility that you might have one or two spare prototypes or clones to send me for evaluation, please let me know :-)
I'm happy to cover costs, plus some extra money to contribute to further development or your time and labor. This is an important project and I am prepared to put money on the table to help move it forward.
FWIW if anyone is interrested in gettingd some assembled boards I might do a small production run.
Yes. As I already mentioned, I can contribute financially to support libre-friendly designs. I am also keen to help to verify designs and actual prototypes, conduct formal(?) methods for testing, and to help to load these modules in UAT, STAGING, or PROD environments.
Kind regards,
Andrew
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On 11/03/2018 12:20 AM, Andrew Luke Nesbit wrote:
Dear Daniel,
Please see my comments inline...
On 03/11/2018 04:32, Daniel Gröber wrote:
On Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 12:10:25AM +0100, Angel Pons wrote:
Is it me, or is that thing a SPI flash chip on a PCB plus a few transistors? It seems like copying the PCB design is rather doable, or am I missing something?
Indeed, very doable, but tedious work ;)
Here you go:
https://github.com/DanielG/asmb4 https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/jZLoDQ3YThis is fantastic, thank you!!
I've been intending to do something very similar to this.
Very nice work! I too had been intending to work on this at some nebulous date in the future, great to see it actually done and boards ordered!
Quick question -- how are you handling MAC allocation? Each module comes with the MAC address on a sticker; the mainboard itself doesn't have a MAC allocated to the BMC port until the module is installed.
In any case, we'll probably be switching away from the proprietary modules for future work; great to see KiCad used here as well.
- -- Timothy Pearson Raptor Engineering +1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line) +1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard) https://www.raptorengineering.com
On Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 01:28:06PM -0500, Timothy Pearson wrote:
Very nice work! I too had been intending to work on this at some nebulous date in the future, great to see it actually done and boards ordered!
I did it as soon as I got a KGPE-D16 which included the module as a surprise :). I had been trying to get just the module for my KCMA-D8 for a while too.
Since it was unobtainium at the time I figured I'd just do it quickly so I can copy it for myself. It really just took an afternoon or so to do the physical probing and component identification.
Quick question -- how are you handling MAC allocation? Each module comes with the MAC address on a sticker; the mainboard itself doesn't have a MAC allocated to the BMC port until the module is installed.
Full disclosure: I haven't actually looked at the software side of the BMC yet, so I wouldn't mind some pointers to what coreboot patches are required these days etc.
Generally speaking it's always possible to just allocate "locally administered" MAC addresses either randomly on first boot-up or by having the user do it at flash time so it's not really a big deal IMO.
I hadn't intended to pre-flash these modules since it's just another SPI flash for which coreboot user are likely to already have a programmer anyways. If enough people are interested in it I could look into that though.
--Daniel
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On 11/03/2018 01:51 PM, Daniel Gröber wrote:
On Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 01:28:06PM -0500, Timothy Pearson wrote:
Very nice work! I too had been intending to work on this at some nebulous date in the future, great to see it actually done and boards ordered!
I did it as soon as I got a KGPE-D16 which included the module as a surprise :). I had been trying to get just the module for my KCMA-D8 for a while too.
Since it was unobtainium at the time I figured I'd just do it quickly so I can copy it for myself. It really just took an afternoon or so to do the physical probing and component identification.
Quick question -- how are you handling MAC allocation? Each module comes with the MAC address on a sticker; the mainboard itself doesn't have a MAC allocated to the BMC port until the module is installed.
Full disclosure: I haven't actually looked at the software side of the BMC yet, so I wouldn't mind some pointers to what coreboot patches are required these days etc.
Generally speaking it's always possible to just allocate "locally administered" MAC addresses either randomly on first boot-up or by having the user do it at flash time so it's not really a big deal IMO.
I hadn't intended to pre-flash these modules since it's just another SPI flash for which coreboot user are likely to already have a programmer anyways. If enough people are interested in it I could look into that though.
--Daniel
Since Raptor has the ability to allocate official MACs (non-local), which can be useful at the enterprise level via DHCP pinning, I might see if we can reactivate our existing BMC flash offering, but based on your hardware if that's OK with you. Those are preflashed modules for plug+play use; we only stopped offering them because of the prior scarcity of the ASMB4 modules and lack of a replacement.
- -- Timothy Pearson Raptor Engineering +1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line) +1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard) https://www.raptorengineering.com
On Sun, Nov 04, 2018 at 02:21:10PM -0600, Timothy Pearson wrote:
Since Raptor has the ability to allocate official MACs (non-local), which can be useful at the enterprise level via DHCP pinning, I might see if we can reactivate our existing BMC flash offering, but based on your hardware if that's OK with you.
Yeah, sure. I'm just making these to scratch my own itch. Didn't think there'd be enough demand for you guys to bother producing them though?
--Daniel
On 11/05/2018 03:44 PM, Daniel Gröber wrote:
On Sun, Nov 04, 2018 at 02:21:10PM -0600, Timothy Pearson wrote:
Since Raptor has the ability to allocate official MACs (non-local), which can be useful at the enterprise level via DHCP pinning, I might see if we can reactivate our existing BMC flash offering, but based on your hardware if that's OK with you.
Yeah, sure. I'm just making these to scratch my own itch. Didn't think there'd be enough demand for you guys to bother producing them though?
--Daniel
We have some internal demand still; not looking high volume at all but maybe whip up a few spares while we're at it? :-)
Would also be interested in ordering some.
On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 4:46 PM Timothy Pearson < tpearson@raptorengineering.com> wrote:
On 11/05/2018 03:44 PM, Daniel Gröber wrote:
On Sun, Nov 04, 2018 at 02:21:10PM -0600, Timothy Pearson wrote:
Since Raptor has the ability to allocate official MACs (non-local), which can be useful at the enterprise level via DHCP pinning, I might see if we can reactivate our existing BMC flash offering, but based on your hardware if that's OK with you.
Yeah, sure. I'm just making these to scratch my own itch. Didn't think there'd be enough demand for you guys to bother producing them though?
--Daniel
We have some internal demand still; not looking high volume at all but maybe whip up a few spares while we're at it? :-)
-- Timothy Pearson Raptor Engineering +1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line) +1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard) https://www.raptorengineering.com
-- coreboot mailing list: coreboot@coreboot.org https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
Dear Daniel and Timothy,
I hope you don't mind me coming into the middle of your conversation and taking this offline.
See below for comments...
On 05/11/2018 21:45, Timothy Pearson wrote:
On 11/05/2018 03:44 PM, Daniel Gröber wrote:
Yeah, sure. I'm just making these to scratch my own itch. Didn't think there'd be enough demand for you guys to bother producing them though?
We have some internal demand still; not looking high volume at all but maybe whip up a few spares while we're at it? :-)
The background to my attempt is as follows. I had a similar intention, i.e., to make some to scratch my own itch. At the time I was starting work on coreboot and OpenBMC, but unfortunately I fell very ill over New Year 2017/2018. After that, during any time that I wasn't at work, I was looking for a new job. I finally have found one that has been good. It's been only a couple of weeks so far, and we're hoping it stays this good.
During that time I had to stop work on coreboot and OpenBMC and focus on my health, family, and (paid!) work. Now, finally, I am starting to get freed up enough to resume this project.
Timothy: I was intending on writing to you during that time to ask for some advice. I hope still to do so in the near future, and I hope you won't mind.
Daniel: Please could you add me to your list of "interested people"? I am very keen to go in with a community order.
In one of my previous emails I offered to contribute financially to help offset out-of-pocket costs. FYI, I am not representing anybody except myself. There were no ulterior motives to my offer. I have no agenda.
I'm able to offer you a few ASMB5-iKVM modules to help you continue your experiments if this is helpful. (And possibly one ASMB4-iKVM if I can find a spare.) Gratis, of course. And to keep.
I mentioned in that previous message that I wanted to do something almost exactly the same as what you have produced earlier this year. Including releasing the designs in a libre-friendly way. The D16 I had at the time was insufficient for methodical, analytical experimentation. Thank you for all your work in making this happen sooner rather than later.
From my experience and the messages I received when I was working on
OpenBMC, there are indeed a lot of people who would be interested in good quality clones of these modules.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Kind regards,
Andrew
On 11/03/2018 12:32 AM, Daniel Gröber wrote:
Hi,
On Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 12:10:25AM +0100, Angel Pons wrote:
Is it me, or is that thing a SPI flash chip on a PCB plus a few transistors? It seems like copying the PCB design is rather doable, or am I missing something?
Indeed, very doable, but tedious work ;)
Here you go:
https://github.com/DanielG/asmb4 https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/jZLoDQ3YI had the schematics lying around on paper for a while now but I was too lazy to digitize them until now. The design is completely untested, I just ordered some boards though so we'll see.
FWIW if anyone is interrested in getting some assembled boards I might do a small production run.
Holy crap awesome you are the best dude!
I asked about this awhile ago and I wish you had replied :D
I have boards without it so I would love to buy some if they are priced lower than the official one - Do you have an estimate?
Might be a way for you to make a bit of extra cash as you could peddle them to the various core/libreboot D8/D16 sellers plus leah/minifree, the fsf, raptor (for integricloud x86) etc.
It is still quite important to have these boards as propriatary-equivilant-functional for applications that don't yet run on POWER (talos 2/blackbird) and this is a great step considering the D8 and many D16's even new don't come with that chip and they sell for IMO too much on ebay. (my linky is $30 plus a silly $30 shipping for tiny chip - so $60)
-
Andrew Luke Nesbit -
Daniel Gröber -
Taiidan＠gmx.com -
Thierry Laurion -
Timothy Pearson