[coreboot] POWER9 / Talos II coreboot support?

[Timothy Pearson]

As of late last week:

W have the processor user guide, full register documentation, and a
smattering of other resources released publicly [1].  The PHB
documentation is still in process and still moving forward, along with
the electrical datasheet.

If you are interested in documentation that isn't already available and
isn't on the to-do list, please let me know.  My understanding is that
the list above should be pretty much everything needed for firmware work.

[1] https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Category:Documentation

On 06/07/2018 08:05 PM, ron minnich wrote:
> where are we on the docs at this point
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jun 7, 2018 at 5:59 PM Timothy Pearson
> <tpearson at raptorengineering.com <mailto:tpearson at raptorengineering.com>>
> wrote:
> 
> For anyone wanting a more affordable development platform for POWER9,
> check out the Talos II Lite:
> 
> https://raptorcs.com/TALOSIILITE/
> 
> Hopefully we're getting down to a price point where coreboot development
> becomes more practical (if still a bit painful)?
> 
> Looking forward to seeing coreboot on ppc64el systems!
> 
> On 05/29/2018 03:45 PM, Timothy Pearson wrote:
>> Sorry, can't add today....it's a little over 6,000 pages of new
>> documentation.  Still, hardly light reading!
> 
>> On 05/29/2018 03:39 PM, Timothy Pearson wrote:
>>> Register documentation was published today.  Links to the three
> volumes
>>> (over 7000 pages of documentation!)
> 
>>>
> https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_Registers_vol1_version1.1_pub.pdf
> 
>>>
> https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_Registers_vol2_version1.2_pub.pdf
> 
>>>
> https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_Registers_vol3_version1.2_pub.pdf
> 
>>> That leaves only the PHB documentation in process at this point. 
> Almost
>>> there....
> 
>>> On 05/12/2018 02:34 AM, Timothy Pearson wrote:
>>>> On 05/03/2018 06:02 PM, ron minnich wrote:
> 
> 
>>>>> On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 1:20 PM Timothy Pearson
>>>>> <tpearson at raptorengineering.com
> <mailto:tpearson at raptorengineering.com>
> <mailto:tpearson at raptorengineering.com
> <mailto:tpearson at raptorengineering.com>>>
>>>>> wrote:
> 
>>>>>     -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>>>>     Hash: SHA256
> 
>>>>>     I think I was being a bit pessimistic / too careful here. 
> We're close
>>>>>     to getting the docs publicly released, but that doesn't
> help anyone
>>>>>     wanting access right now, which is why I mentioned the
> other route.
>>>>>     IBM's committed to getting the documentation released,
> they're just
>>>>>     making sure that what they release is actually correct for
> the products
>>>>>     it covers.
> 
>>>>>     It might make sense to get our "working group" together
> over the next
>>>>>     few weeks, by which time the documentation should be
> available in public
>>>>>     form.
> 
>>>>>     Are you interested in joining? :-)
> 
> 
>>>>> of course, but not until those docs are freed up.
> 
> 
>>>> We're getting there.  First manual to be released is the
> processor user
>>>> guide.  More to follow, including register documentation, in
> around a week.
> 
>>>> Users guide:
> 
>>>>
> https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:POWER9_um_OpenPOWER_v20GA_09APR2018_pub.pdf
> 
>>>>> Context: I've been trying for 2 years now to get OPAL released
> under
>>>>> dual gpl2 licensing with the current apache2 license, apache2
> and gpl2
>>>>> are not compatible, so we'd be in a bit of a mess should we use
> OPAL
>>>>> code in coreboot, and it would be easiest if we were able to
> use some of
>>>>> that code.
> 
>>>>> The first response from IBM was "why do you think you need
> coreboot?" I
>>>>> worked through that, and there was agreement in the end it ought to
>>>>> happen, said agreement reached about 2 years ago. Stuff Would
> Happen, I
>>>>> was told. After that, silence.
> 
>>>> We've reignited this.  It's underway. :-)
> 
>>>>> This is pretty much par for the course with Power. In 1990 I
> spent two
>>>>> years getting an agreement that would allow me to .... get more
> agreements.
> 
>>>> We've plowed through this already and are at the action point. 
> For the
>>>> most part, just let me know what you need and I'll see if we can
> get it
>>>> published.
> 
>>>>> So close doesn't count. Once I see the kind of docs I need to
> see, not
>>>>> requiring a clickwrap, and covering all aspects of every chip
> on your
>>>>> board, I'm in: I'll order a board. Until then, I can't really
> do much.
> 
>>>> Is the NIC an issue?  There are several people working on REing the
>>>> hardware with some great progress [1][2], but there's really no
> way to
>>>> get Broadcom to ever release official documentation.  Everything
> else on
>>>> the libre-friendly non-SAS version either has docs available or
> we are
>>>> close to getting them published.
> 
>>>>> Thanks for your efforts on Power!
> 
>>>> No problem!  We still consider Power the best path forward for
> powerful
>>>> libre systems at this point, getting really tired of the other
> vendors
>>>> actively working against efforts to create open firmware (this
> includes
>>>> SiFive at this point).
> 
>>>> Will keep you posted as we get more docs published online, but
> thought
>>>> you and the others here might at least be interested in the
> users guide.
> 
>>>>> ron
> 
> 
> 
>>>> [1] https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/BCM5719
>>>> [2] IRC discussions on #talos-workstation
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Timothy Pearson
Raptor Engineering
+1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line)
+1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard)
https://www.raptorengineering.com