[coreboot] POWER9 / Talos II coreboot support?

[Timothy Pearson]

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We've been kicking around the idea for some time of getting a coreboot
port to the POWER9 Talos II systems going.  We don't have the resources
available / free at the moment to work on this independently, but it
might be possible to get something going if there are other community
members interested in helping out.

In a nutshell, Talos II is a completely owner controllable machine that
is in the same general performance class as AMD and Intel [1].  We
provide all of the data needed to create a port, including the
schematics, with each system sold.  We can also offer direct assistance
and access to hardware for contributors to this project at no charge.

The motivation for this port is to clean up the "IPL" (Initial Program
Load) process.  Right now a chunk of open software called hostboot runs
FSP routines on the main processor.  This is slow and very bloated
compared to how coreboot does things.  We'd like to replace hostboot
with coreboot, keeping for now the initial SBE and later skiboot
software intact.

There are several challenges with a project of this magnitude.  While
the SBE brings up the basic CAR and loads hostboot into the CAR space,
the processors are completely uninitialized beyond that point.
Documentation is scarce, not because it is restricted per se, but mostly
because the FSP routines are the main documentation.  There is no
simulator available for working on hostboot, either, and the initial
POWER8 toolchain work still needs to be updated for POWER9 as well.

Advantages to the project include showing that coreboot, or more
specifically a completely open, blob-free coreboot, can actually start a
modern platform, essentially proving that the concept of an open
coreboot remains viable given vendor cooperation.  Being able to shave a
significant amount of time out of the IPL would also show that
coreboot's model provides advantages over a more standard vendor flow.

Is anyone interested in signing on for a long term project of this size?

[1] https://raptorcs.com/TALOSII/

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