Re: [coreboot] Lenovo G505S and Coreboot LTS Candidates list

[Vladimir]

Yes, in addition to A10-5750M based G505S there are also A8 and A6 ones.
But there are some possible problems regarding them:
1) their price is just slightly lower than with A10 - as result,
price/performance ratio seems to be worse for these models
2) I'm not sure if it is possible could upgrade their APU from A6/A8 to
A10-5750M after purchase
3) most importantly: some parameters inside a coreboot source code for
G505S could be A10-specific ;
I am not sure if a current "A10-inclined build" would run on A8/A6 out of
the box, without additional tweaking

A question from my last letter - about compatibility of G505S coreboot
build with various graphics solutions found in different modifications, is
not addressed yet... to remind, there are three groups of modifications:
*) only 8650G (no dual graphics)
*) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics)
*) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster)

P.S. Below is an =incomplete= list of SKUs for A10 G505S models that I was
able to find. If there is a shortage in your country, maybe this list could
assist you in search (those mods with windows 8 are about $50 more
expensive and support evil M$, please dont get them ;-) )

1) only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 4GB + FreeDOS = 59-410323
2) only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 8GB + FreeDOS = 59-405169
3) only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 4GB + Windows 8 = 59-380131
4) only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 6GB + Windows 8 = 59-373010 / 59-406417
5) only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 8GB + Windows 8 = 59-403088
6) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 4GB + FreeDOS = 59-405168
7) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 6GB + FreeDOS = 59-409773
8) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 8GB + FreeDOS = 59-380146 /
59-387536
9) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 4GB + Windows 8 = 59-407135 /
59410966
10) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 6GB + Windows 8 = 59-382102
11) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 8GB + Windows 8 = 59-401209
12) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster) + 4GB + FreeDOS =
59-410881
13) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster) + 8GB + FreeDOS =
59-410885
14) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster)  + 4GB + Windows 8
= 59-408604
15) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster)  + 8GB + Windows 8
= 59-410883

On 6 April 2015 at 14:20, Emilian Bold  wrote:
> I can confirm I'm still able to buy a G505S in my country but it seems to
> have the quad core A8-4500M (not the A10) with a dedicated Radeon HD 8570M.
>
> It's a decent machine and it would be great to have it on the official LTS
> list.
>
> Speaking of the list, I cannot find any store selling the Toshiba
> Satellite C50D-A mentioned in the wiki.
>
> --emi
>
> On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 1:45 PM, Vladimir  wrote:
> > Dear coreboot developers,
> >
> > Francis Rowe (main Libreboot developer) has hinted an idea about adding
> > Lenovo G505S to Coreboot LTS Candidates list of laptops, which is hosted at
> > MrNuke's User talk coreboot wiki page. I believe it is an excellent idea,
> > because:
> >
> > *1)* Lenovo G505S contains AMD APU, so there is no need to deal with
> > Intel ME/AMT so-called "features"
> > *2)* this APU has Richland architecture: as result (unlike the more
> > recent AMD offerings) it doesn't have "AMD Secure" feature -- based on ARM
> > Trustzone technology which already has some exploits against it; there are
> > security concerns about ARM Trustzone that are similar to concerns about
> > Intel vPro "feature" (remote management etc.)
> > *3)* this APU is A10-5750M, the most powerful mobile APU among Richland
> > designs - as result, this laptop is still very competitive regarding its
> > performance, and also price/performance
> > *4)* Unlike the older HP M6-1035DX amd laptop, Lenovo G505S seems to be
> > a very popular model: even now, more than 1.5 years after its'
> > introduction, there are >200 Internet shops in my large city still selling
> > it new in box - not used/refurbished
> > *5)* Lenovo G505s works without microcode updates, and already has a
> > working Coreboot build (although Video BIOS and SMU firmware have blobs
> > that are still not reverse-engineered; and some minor issues - e.g. ACPI
> > not perfect yet )
> >
> > These great points are making me wonder, why this interesting laptop
> > still haven't been added to that LTS Candidates list? Does it fail to meet
> > some requirement for LTS candidates in a not-obvious way
> > (RYF-certifiable,Sturdy,Long shelf-life,Cool factor) or there is some
> > not-listed AMD laptop that could be a better candidate?
> >
> > By the way, I have discovered that there are many modifications of Lenovo
> > G505S, which could be divided into three primary groups by their major
> > difference - GPU *(minor differences, such as different size of RAM or
> > hard drive, are not interesting)*
> > GPU modification groups:
> > *1)* only 8650G, which is built-in into APU (no dual graphics)
> > *2)* 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics)
> > *3)* 8650G + AMD R5 M230 ( dual graphics, slightly more powerful than
> > "2)" )
> > Are these modifications all supported by Coreboot? And would be there any
> > additional difficulties regarding modifications with dual graphics?
> >
> > Your answers and opinions will be very welcome
> > Best regards,
> > Vladimir Shipovalov