New subject: POWER9 / Talos II coreboot support?

12 Jun 2018

As of late last week:

W have the processor user guide, full register documentation, and a
smattering of other resources released publicly [1].  The PHB
documentation is still in process and still moving forward, along with
the electrical datasheet.

If you are interested in documentation that isn't already available and
isn't on the to-do list, please let me know.  My understanding is that
the list above should be pretty much everything needed for firmware work.

[1] https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Category:Documentation

On 06/07/2018 08:05 PM, ron minnich wrote:
...
  where are we on the docs at this point

 On Thu, Jun 7, 2018 at 5:59 PM Timothy Pearson
 &lt;tpearson(a)raptorengineering.com <mailto:tpearson@raptorengineering.com >  wrote:

 For anyone wanting a more affordable development platform for POWER9,
 check out the Talos II Lite:

 https://raptorcs.com/TALOSIILITE/

 Hopefully we're getting down to a price point where coreboot development
 becomes more practical (if still a bit painful)?

 Looking forward to seeing coreboot on ppc64el systems!

 On 05/29/2018 03:45 PM, Timothy Pearson wrote:
  Sorry, can't add today....it's a little
over 6,000 pages of new
 documentation.  Still, hardly light reading!  
  On 05/29/2018 03:39 PM, Timothy Pearson wrote:
> Register documentation was published today.  Links to the three  volumes
 > (over 7000 pages of documentation!)  
 > 
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_Registers_vol1_version1.1_pub.pdf

 > 
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_Registers_vol2_version1.2_pub.pdf

 > 
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_Registers_vol3_version1.2_pub.pdf

 > That leaves only the PHB documentation in
process at this point.   Almost
 > there....  
 > On 05/12/2018 02:34 AM, Timothy Pearson
wrote:
>> On 05/03/2018 06:02 PM, ron minnich wrote:  

 >>> On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 1:20 PM
Timothy Pearson
>>> &lt;tpearson(a)raptorengineering.com 
<mailto:tpearson@raptorengineering.com>
 <mailto:tpearson@raptorengineering.com
 <mailto:tpearson@raptorengineering.com> >
 >>> wrote:  
 >>>     -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED
MESSAGE-----
>>>     Hash: SHA256  
 >>>     I think I was being a bit
pessimistic / too careful here.   We're close
 >>>     to getting the docs publicly
released, but that doesn't  help anyone
 >>>     wanting access right now, which
is why I mentioned the  other route.
 >>>     IBM's committed to getting
the documentation released,  they're just
 >>>     making sure that what they
release is actually correct for  the products
 >>>     it covers.  
 >>>     It might make sense to get our
"working group" together  over the next
 >>>     few weeks, by which time the
documentation should be  available in public
 >>>     form.  
 >>>     Are you interested in joining?
:-)  

 >>> of course, but not until those docs
are freed up.  

 >> We're getting there.  First manual to
be released is the  processor user
 >> guide.  More to follow, including
register documentation, in  around a week.

 >> Users guide:  
> > 
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_um_OpenPOWER_v20GA_09APR2018_pub…

 >>> Context: I've been trying for 2
years now to get OPAL released  under
 >>> dual gpl2 licensing with the current
apache2 license, apache2  and gpl2
 >>> are not compatible, so we'd be in
a bit of a mess should we use  OPAL
 >>> code in coreboot, and it would be
easiest if we were able to  use some of
 >>> that code.  
 >>> The first response from IBM was
"why do you think you need  coreboot?" I
 >>> worked through that, and there was
agreement in the end it ought to
>>> happen, said agreement reached about 2 years ago. Stuff Would  Happen,
I
 >>> was told. After that, silence. 

 >> We've reignited this.  It's
underway. :-)  
 >>> This is pretty much par for the
course with Power. In 1990 I  spent two
 >>> years getting an agreement that would
allow me to .... get more  agreements.

 >> We've plowed through this already and
are at the action point.   For the
 >> most part, just let me know what you need
and I'll see if we can  get it
 >> published.  
 >>> So close doesn't count. Once I
see the kind of docs I need to  see, not
 >>> requiring a clickwrap, and covering
all aspects of every chip  on your
 >>> board, I'm in: I'll order a
board. Until then, I can't really  do much.

 >> Is the NIC an issue?  There are several
people working on REing the
>> hardware with some great progress [1][2], but there's really no  way
to
 >> get Broadcom to ever release official
documentation.  Everything  else on
 >> the libre-friendly non-SAS version either
has docs available or  we are
 >> close to getting them published.  
 >>> Thanks for your efforts on Power!

 >> No problem!  We still consider Power the
best path forward for  powerful
 >> libre systems at this point, getting
really tired of the other  vendors
 >> actively working against efforts to
create open firmware (this  includes
 >> SiFive at this point).  
 >> Will keep you posted as we get more docs
published online, but  thought
 >> you and the others here might at least be
interested in the  users guide.

 >>> ron  

 >> [1]
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/BCM5719
>> [2] IRC discussions on #talos-workstation  

-- 
Timothy Pearson
Raptor Engineering
+1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line)
+1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard)
https://www.raptorengineering.com

Re: [coreboot] POWER9 / Talos II coreboot support?