[coreboot] coreboot ported to the ASUS KGPE-D16 (Libreboot: blobless, fully functional!)

[Timothy Pearson]

On 04/29/2015 04:30 PM, Timothy Pearson wrote:
> All,
>
> I have successfully ported coreboot to the relatively modern ASUS
> KGPE-D16 server board (dual AMD socket G34, 16 DDR3 DIMMs,
> https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/KGPED16/)! This
> port uses native Family 10h initialization (_not_ AGESA or CIMX).
>
> The Libreboot folks will be interested to know that this board can run
> blob-free and still retain full functionality!
>
> Port specifications:
> CPU: Dual AMD G34 Magny-Cours (Family 10h)
> RAM: 16 DDR3 DIMM slots with ECC support (tested with x4 4G DDR3-1333
> unbuffered DIMMs)

Just a quick update on this.  Work has continued internally, and as of 
this message the KGPE-D16 port has two additional options available: 
full S3 support and native (non-AGESA) support for Family 15h 
processors.  When all of the options are combined the KGPE-D16 is able 
to use the most modern Opterons available with no apparent issues; as a 
result, there should be very little development work remaining on this 
system.

The new Family 15h initialisation is integrated into the native Family 
10h codebase; the two processors are similar enough overall (though 
still quite different on a more local scale) that this was feasible. 
The memory controllers are quite different between the two processor 
families; much of the additional work was related to updating the 
processor-independent mct_ddr3 code to handle the modified MCT design 
and training procedures.  During this process the mct_ddr3 codebase has 
also been cleaned up significantly, and if the entire proposed patchset 
is merged the cleanup work will continue under Raptor's normal (free) 
open source development model.

Family 15h port specifications:
Opteron 6200 processors: tested, fully functional
Opteron 6300[P] processors: theoretically supported, not yet tested
Dual packages: theoretically supported, not yet tested

Unbuffered DDR3 DIMMs: tested, fully functional
Registered DDR3 DIMMs: theoretically supported, not yet tested
Load-Reduced DDR3 DIMMs: incomplete support [1]
Reduced DIMM voltage: tested, fully functional

ACPI object generation: tested, fully functional
PowerNow!: tested, fully functional
S3 suspend/resume: tested, fully functional

As mentioned before, this port was done for internal purposes to give 
Raptor Engineering a competitive advantage in certain markets.  However, 
Raptor Engineering is willing to upstream the code if funded.  The offer 
is currently broken up into three parts, with each part being dependent 
on the previous part:

1.) Full KGPE-D16 support as described in previous message, Family 10h 
only w/o S3: $35,000 USD

2.) Family 10h S3 support: $15,000 USD

3.) Native Family 15h support with S3 and MCT modifications: $40,000 USD

The port is broken up into these sections specifically so that the 
community can decide what is important enough to fund.  Ideally the 
entire patch set would be funded, but if the community does not have 
sufficient interest in the most current Opteron processors I don't want 
to block the potential upstreaming of the other two sections.

Items marked as "theoretically supported" above should work but have not 
been tested; if they do not function Raptor Engineering would fix any 
observed failures as part of the quoted costs.

Thank you for your consideration!

1. These are not generally relevant to the KGPE-D16 on a technical basis 
due to the design of the G34 socket, and even less so given the 
extremely high cost of LRDIMM modules.  However, if LRDIMM support is 
desired Raptor Engineering would be willing to add support as part of 
the quoted cost after the rest of the code is upstreamed.

-- 
Timothy Pearson
Raptor Engineering
+1 (415) 727-8645
http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com