[OpenBIOS] Re: Installing OpenBIOS

[Stefan Reinauer]

Bernd,

Unlike OS/kernels, firmware requires a lot of learning (tens to hundreds of
hours) before you will get the desired results if you are not using
precompiled images. Make sure that you are prepared to make that investment
before continuing or you will most likely get frustrated. Be prepared to
understand how drivers on coreboot and OpenBIOS work, and how PC
architecture works on this low level.

I think it would be useful for you to try and understand how the kconfig
system in coreboot works. It lets you configure any ELF payload.

That said, your approach should be
- figure out why you specifically want openbios on your system. Chances are
that you got attracted by the name but that there are options that are
providing you a better experience
- get coreboot working with seabios or EDK2 as a payload first. Then try to
switch to OpenBIOS.
- get OpenBIOS working with coreboot on qemu next, then look into getting
it to work on actual hardware.
- once you are confident that you understand all the components that go
into your firmware stack, you can do the integration and get everything
working together.
- then you will have to figure out which pieces are missing and fix the
code. They're is a zero percent probability that this project will work for
you without writing code.
- While i personally find tutorials for specific hardware combinations less
useful, i would recommend that you document your progress and share the
challenges you faced and how you solved them, when you are done.

All the best and good luck
Stefan

On Fri, Nov 5, 2021, 1:44 AM [e-mail]  wrote:
> I took note of the concerns regarding the installation of OpenBIOS in my
> case.
>
> Possibly, OpenBIOS isn't the perfectly right choice for me but the wrong
> one would be to stay with my current BIOS.
>
> I turned to the coreboot mailing list and made clear I'd like to install
> coreboot with OpenBIOS. Finally that link was provided
> https://doc.coreboot.org/tutorial/part1.html. I followed the instructions
> until Step 5 - Configure the build > Check your configuration (optional
> step). As I didn't read anything on OpenBIOS in the commands I asked
> whether I was installing OpenBIOS at all. I've been told that I installed
> coreinfo, instead.
>
> What should I do now (delete the current installation which I made, yet?)
> if I'd like to use OpenBIOS (with coreboot; as OpenBIOS alone doesn't seem
> to work) and where do I find a tutorial or guide that really applies to
> what I intend to do?
>
> Regards,
>
> Bernd
>
> -------- Originalnachricht --------
> Betreff: Re: AW:[OpenBIOS] Re: Installing OpenBIOS
> Von: Mark Cave-Ayland
> An: [e-mail]
> Cc:
>
> On 24/10/2021 06:49, [e-mail] wrote:
> > Hi Mark. Thank you for providing the link
>
> https://www.coreboot.org/OpenBIOS. I'm
> > going to go through the instructions step by step.
> >
> > I use Ubuntu. When I do
> >
> > apt-get install fcode-utils
> >
> > I get something like the following response:
> >
> > E: Locked file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend couldn't be opened. - open
>
> (13: No Permission)
> > E: Reaching the lock for the Dpkg interface
>
> (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend) not
> > possible; are you root?
> >
> > Is that because I don't have root permissions? Should I put
> >
> > sudo
> >
> > in front of the command?
>
> Yes, that is correct.
>
> However I would strongly recommend asking the coreboot people first which
> would be
> the most suitable BIOS for your ThinkPad, since OpenBIOS these days is
> mostly used
> for emulators like QEMU for running older software. Once you've made a
> suitable
> choice, the coreboot project should be able to point you towards further
> reading to
> help get everything built and installed correctly.
>
> ATB,
>
> Mark.
>
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