[coreboot] LPCflasher Project

[Ken.Fuchs at bench.com]

Joseph Smith wrote:

>> I think I am going to name this project the "LPCflasher".
>> So I added up all the stuff I ordered to build it and it
>> only came to $17.87.
>> Yah, that's what I am talking about, a excellent bios
>> development tool for under $20 dollars :-)

Corey Osgood wrote:

> So let me get this straight...you're building a tool to
> flash LPC/FWH using a connection over the parallel port,
> with the ability to use USB power? This sounds familiar:
>
http://www.mcumall.com/comersus/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=31
99
> http://willem.org/

I used a Willem programmer for my LinuxBIOS port to the
Nvidia CK8-04 (nForce 4) CRB over three years ago.  The
Willem programmer cost about US $40 full retail back then.
Willem has gone through numerous board versions.  It worked
great 3 years ago, although the debug cycle was almost 5
minutes, since I did an erase chip, followed by a write
with verify.  Although somewhat slow it is very reliable.

The Willem contains a set of 12 dip switches which must be
set for the device being programmed. The included program
shows a clear diagram of the dip settings for each supported
device, so programming a part is trivial, but not fool proof. 

The software for the Willem is MS Windows only.  I never
tried using Wine or Codeweavers' CrossOver Linux with it.
Native Linux support for the Willem programmers would be
nice though.

The Willem family of programmers support a wide range of
devices, and although the overlap is very broad, not all
versions support exactly the same set of devices.  So make
the Willem programmer you buy supports the device you plan
to program.  Each Willem contains numerous programming
ports which vary based on the Willem board version, so
quite often an adapter is not required (assuming you
buy the correct Willem board version).

I'm not sure that reimplementing a Willem programmer would
be a worthwhile commercial effort.  The Willem can program
a very long list of different devices.  I'm not sure that
anyone could match its broad support of various programmable
devices for under US $40.

Sincerely,

Ken Fuchs