flashrom and MacMini 2009

[Michael Schröder]

Dear folks,

i am interested in using coreboot with a MacMini 2007 (core2duo). It
uses the same chipset (GM945) as the macbook2.1 which supported yet.

I managed to read infos about the BIOS with flashrom.
The verbose output is in the appendix.

Is there a chance, that coreboot could be ported to MacMini2007?

Bye
Micha

[Nico Huber]

Hello Micha,

On 27.03.2017 13:58, Michael Schröder wrote:
> Dear folks,
>
> i am interested in using coreboot with a MacMini 2007 (core2duo). It
> uses the same chipset (GM945) as the macbook2.1 which supported yet.
>
> I managed to read infos about the BIOS with flashrom.
> The verbose output is in the appendix.
>
> Is there a chance, that coreboot could be ported to MacMini2007?

you're on the wrong mailing list here. I'll move this to coreboot :)

Anyway, looking at coreboot, it supports not only the Macbook2,1 but
also the Macbook1,1 and iMac5,2, all with nearly the same code. IMO,
it's very likely that the Macmini2,1 matches one of them or comes close
at least. So there wouldn't be much work on the software side.

Before installing coreboot the first time, however, you should have a
solution to flash your MacMini externally (i.e. with an extra flash
programmer that can flash your BIOS/coreboot in case the machine doesn't
boot any more). It's just too easy to brick a machine when trying a
coreboot build that hasn't been tested before.

It's not unlikely that you already have suitable hardware. Most single-
board computers (RaspberryPi and the like) have a native SPI interface.
Beside that you'd need some cables and either an SOIC clip matching your
flash chip or a soldering iron.

Nico