[coreboot] Coreboot on X230 and Dualboot / How to make it work

[Peter Stuge]

One7two99 via coreboot wrote:
> From a newbie perspective I'd like to get this information from one or two locations:
> 1) How to get Coreboot running (general part)
> 2) How to flash the X230

Sure thing - and I think it's great that you are working on more
concise docs!

The 1) is quite a large topic.


> > So you flash only the last third of the CBFS, and ignore the beginning.
> > I think it is just luck that your system boots at all. If you used a
> > larger payload such as a kernel then your method will likely cut the
> > payload in half and end up writing incomplete junk to your flash.
> 
> I've followed the howto in the coreboot wiki:

Sure, but what do the steps in the howto actually mean? Why are you
sure that they are correct?


> honestly I was also wondering why this is working and even more,
> why I am skipping the first 8MB of the file.

Perfect! Please also *answer* those questions; they are important.


> Honestly I am trying to understand as much as I can,

Good stuff!


> I am happy to contribute to the documentation to make it easier for
> the next newbie who might not be interested in how his CPU works,
> but wants to reduce possible entry points which might break his
> privacy :-)

Documentation contributions are just as important as code, and again
I really appreciate that you are working on this.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say study the CPU (though that's also relevant
for privacy; see AMD microcode paper with modified instruction exploit
to leak crypto key) - I meant study what's going on with these two
flash chips, since you want to change the contents of one or both.

What do the 12 MB flash contain, what is the structure, what determines
the structure, what can you change, how do you change, what *can't* you
change, why, and so on.

My point is that if you want to create documentation with exact steps
which can be repeated by the next newbie, then you will have to make
a whole bunch of very specific decisions, so that they don't have to.

Just saying to hang in there, continue understanding.


//Peter