[coreboot] ENE KB3940Q-A1 embedded controller custom firmware

Sun Mar 4 10:50:00 CET 2018

Hi,

Le vendredi 16 février 2018 à 14:09 -0500, Youness Alaoui a écrit :
> > > Sure, you can trust hardware flashing more than software flashing,
> > > but
> > > I really need software flashing. If it was just for me, yeah, I
> > > could
> > > fiddle with it to flash it by hardware for my personal needs, but
> > > when
> > > it's about deploying it to all our customer base, that's another
> > > story, the only solution is software flashing. Obviously, it would
> > > have to work in coreboot, so whatever coreboot is doing wrong (or
> > > AMI
> > > is doing right.. my guess is that it's probably something with the
> > > EC
> > > ACPI code), we'd have to figure that out first in order to get the
> > > read/write support.
> > 
> > Either way, since the EC firmware resides in the SPI flash, it'll be
> > no
> > issue to reflash it both by software and hardware.
> 
> On the librems, the EC firmware resides in a separate 64KB SPI flash,
> it's not shared with the bios, and I haven't found a way to access it.

Is it really only 64 KiB? The chip definitely supports more and it seems
a bit small to fit the whole firmware.

> The 'ectool' is able to read it (ram idx reads if i remember
> correctly) but it only worked with AMI BIOS. So there will definitely
> be some work to be done there. You probably know a lot more about this
> already, like what this 'ram idx' is, and why it didn't work in
> coreboot, or if it's possible to read/write the flash using this EDI
> interface, etc...
> 
> > 
> > > > Latest status update for Origami-EC firmware:
> > > > https://www.mail-archive.com/coreboot@coreboot.org/msg50646.html
> > > 
> > > Thanks! Good to see the status update on that.
> > 
> > In order to kickstart the development of the Origami-EC firmware, I
> > am
> > designing evaluation boards for both the KB9012 and the KB3930 that
> > will expose most of the I/O ports with headers, LEDs, buttons,
> > connectors, etc. The design is done with KiCAD and will be released
> > under the GPLv3+ as part of the Origami-EC project. I am also
> > preparing
> > a debug board to reflash the EC on the G505s from the keyboard
> > connector.
> > 
> > There is also ongoing work on the emulator and the SerialICE-like
> > library for relatying and tracing I/O on the device via UART. Also,
> > note that the emulator can now emulate a virtual console so it's
> > already possible to build and interract with the firmware!
> > 
> 
> That's some really great news. A dev board will definitely be useful
> for testing/debugging/developing Origami-EC!
> 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> > Paul
> > 
> > > > On Mon, Feb 5, 2018 at 9:47 PM, Youness Alaoui
> > > > <kakaroto at kakaroto.homelinux.net> wrote:
> > > > > Hi Marty,
> > > > > 
> > > > > Unfortunately, the EC firmware on the Librems is not open and
> > > > > we
> > > > > have
> > > > > someone working on that aspect, but with everything we have to
> > > > > handle,
> > > > > I think it's only being done part time.
> > > > > We found something similar to you with the private submodule
> > > > > for
> > > > > the
> > > > > PS/2 module on the OLPC code.
> > > > > More specifically :
> > > > > http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/openec/2011-January/000158.h
> > > > > tml
> > > > > And http://dev.laptop.org/git/users/rsmith/ec-1.75/tree/?h=393
> > > > > 0-A
> > > > > 1
> > > > > 
> > > > > I had opened a ticket a while ago here :
> > > > > https://tracker.pureos.net/T178 which mentions Origami-EC. I
> > > > > don't
> > > > > know the status of that project, maybe you can contact the
> > > > > developer
> > > > > (Paul Kocialkowski) and see where he's at with his development
> > > > > of
> > > > > that
> > > > > project (which, I need to mention, hasn't been publicly
> > > > > launched
> > > > > yet,
> > > > > as far as I know) and he might benefit from your help if you
> > > > > are
> > > > > interested in doing that.
> > > > > The last time we spoke he said :
> > > > > "The OLPC code is nowhere close to usable on any other
> > > > > platform.
> > > > > Additionally, it is so poorly written that I don't think it is
> > > > > a
> > > > > suitable codebase for any future development. On the other
> > > > > hand,
> > > > > my
> > > > > Origami-EC project (that I will publicly launch soon) should
> > > > > provide a
> > > > > flexible codebase to add support for new devices."
> > > > > 
> > > > > Note that the tracker ticket above is quite outdated, we know
> > > > > how
> > > > > to
> > > > > dump the EC (the problem was that it can't be done via
> > > > > hardware
> > > > > because the EC is on the same power rail as the 64KB flash
> > > > > chip,
> > > > > so
> > > > > when we power the flash via hardware, the EC boots and takes
> > > > > control
> > > > > of the SPI lines) but for some reason, we could only dump it
> > > > > via
> > > > > software (using ectool) through the AMI BIOS firmware, with
> > > > > coreboot,
> > > > > we only get 0xFF returned, I don't believe we had time to
> > > > > investigate
> > > > > the cause for that.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Sorry for not having any better news for you, but I hope this
> > > > > helps a
> > > > > little you at least.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Good luck,
> > > > > Youness.
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 10:17 AM, Marty E. Plummer
> > > > > <hanetzer at startmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > > Greetings,
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Currently working on a port for the hp g7-2247us laptop,
> > > > > > which
> > > > > > features
> > > > > > an ene kb3940q ec, which hopefully should be very similar to
> > > > > > the kb3930
> > > > > > ec, which has a datasheet available to the public in a few
> > > > > > places.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Said similar ec is used in some OLPC devices, as well as
> > > > > > some
> > > > > > purism
> > > > > > devices, and I was hoping someone in the list would have
> > > > > > some
> > > > > > contacts
> > > > > > with those guys so as to be able to use their ec firmware as
> > > > > > a
> > > > > > bit of a
> > > > > > reference design, but the OLPC ec firmware repo has a
> > > > > > 'private'
> > > > > > submodule which I cannot access and I simply cannot find a
> > > > > > repo
> > > > > > for the
> > > > > > purism ec firmware to reference.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Any assistance you could provide on this matter would be
> > > > > > greatly
> > > > > > appreciated.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Marty E. Plummer
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > --
> > > > > > coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
> > > > > > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
> > > > > 
> > > > > --
> > > > > coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
> > > > > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
> > > > 
> > > > --
> > > > coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
> > > > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
> > 
> > --
> > Paul Kocialkowski, developer of free digital technology and hardware
> > support
> > 
> > Website: https://www.paulk.fr/
> > Coding blog: https://code.paulk.fr/
> > Git repositories: https://git.paulk.fr/ https://git.code.paulk.fr/
> > --
> > coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
> > https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
-- 
Paul Kocialkowski,

developer of free digital technology and hardware support.

Website: https://www.paulk.fr/
Coding blog: https://code.paulk.fr/
Git repositories: https://git.paulk.fr/ https://git.code.paulk.fr/
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