The same ROM images that you flash on Intel GPU variants,
are now flashed on Nvidia models. The same ROM will work
on both. If an Intel GPU variant is present, libgfxinit
is used, and the VGA ROM is used if an Nvidia GPU variant;
however, release ROMs will scrub the nvidia option ROM,
so release ROMs will only work on Intel GPUs unless you
run the blobutil inject command.
I decided to no longer have this under WIP, but to put
it in master. The issue with it pertains to video drivers,
which is not Libreboot's problem.
Nouveau crashes under Linux, so use "nomodeset" if it does.
The "nv" drivers in BSD systems work very well.
The nvidia model of E6400 isn't recommended for other
reasons, namely: poor thermal cooling (thermal pad on
the GPU) and that Nvidia GPU doesn't get very good
performance on any libre drivers anyway. The Intel GPU
variant is better, in terms of power efficiency and
software support; the intel variant also works with
native graphics initialisation in coreboot.
This board port already only enables SeaBIOS, which will
simply execute the VGA ROM. Blobutil already supports
reading the config, detecting that a VGA ROM is needed,
because that part of the WIP E6400 branch was already
merged in lbmk master.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
they are fundamentally the same, in an lbmk context.
they are downloaded in the same way, and compiled in
the same way!
(Kconfig infrastructure, board-specific code, the way
submodules are used in git, etc)
~200 sloc reduction in resources/scripts
the audit begins
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
coreboot revision:
d86260a134575b083f35103e1cd5c7c7ad883bce
from 2 August 2023
The patches were updated. HP 8300 USDT has now been merged upstream,
so that patch is no longer included in lbmk.
SD card fix for E6400 merged upstream, so now it's removed in lbmk.
The nvidia E6400 patch (devicetree.cb) has not yet merged upstream.
The ifdtool --nuke option has been rebased.
Patches as follow-ups to earlier patches removed; for example, patches
that set VRAM to 352MB on GM45 have been removed, and replaced with
patches that just set 256MB in the first place (this is more stable).
This was mostly a clean rebase, of all the patches. It went smooth.
I haven't updated cros/haswell yet; the 4.11_branch revision used
on fam15h will also remain, for now.
The coreboot configurations have been updated, for this new
revision of coreboot.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
From now on, the following rules are available for all
mainboards, in resources/coreboot/boardname/board.cfg:
* blobs_required="n" or "y"
* microcode_required="n" or "y"
The blobs setting, if set to "n", simply renames filename.rom to
filename_noblobs.rom.
The microcode setting, if set to "n", copies the ROM (with or
without _noblobs) to filename_nomicrocode.rom (if blobs="n",
it would be filename_noblobs_nomicrocode.rom).
Where "nomicrocode" is set, ROMs with microcode will still be
provided by lbmk and in relesase, but ROMs will also be provided
alongside it that lacks any microcode updates.
If the *original* ROM already lacks microcode updates, then the
original ROM will be *renamed* to include "nomicrocode" in the name.
This is done on images for ARM platforms, for instance, where
microcode is never used whatsoever.
Example filenames now generated:
seabios_e6400_4mb_libgfxinit_corebootfb_noblobs_nomicrocode.rom
seabios_e6400_4mb_libgfxinit_corebootfb_noblobs.rom
seabios_withgrub_hp8300usdt_16mb_libgfxinit_corebootfb_colemak_nomicrocode.rom
seabios_withgrub_hp8300usdt_16mb_libgfxinit_corebootfb_colemak.rom
uboot_payload_gru_kevin_libgfxinit_corebootfb_noblobs_nomicrocode.rom
A vocal minority of people were not happy with some of the changes
made in Libreboot last year, including on existing supported
hardware from before those changes were made. I did this before the
last release, out of respect:
https://libreboot.org/news/gm45microcode.html
(re-add mitigations for no-microcode setup on GM45)
This new change is done as an further, extended courtesy. Tested
and works fine. (testing using cbfstool-print)
Actual Libreboot policy about binary blobs is nuanced. See:
https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html (reduction policy) and:
https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html (implementation)
Well, the status page talks about descriptor vs non-descriptor
on Intel platforms, and where me_cleaner is used (on platforms
that need Intel ME firmware), it regards the descriptored setups
to be blob-free if coreboot does not require binary blobs.
In this paradigm, microcode updates are not considered to be
binary blobs, because they aren't technically software, they're
more like config files that just turn certain features on or off
within the CPU.
However, for lbmk purposes, "noblobs" means that, after the ROM
is fully ready to flash on the chip, there will be no blobs in
it (except microcode). So for example, an X200 that does not
require ME firmware is considered blob-free under this paradigm,
even though Libreboot policy regards X230 as equally libre when
me_cleaner is used; in this setup, ROMs will not contain "blobfree"
in the filename, for X230 (as one example).
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
This reverts commit fe2b72035f.
The GRUB patch to fix the E6400 broke other systems and has been
reverted. As a result, GRUB needs to be disabled again on the E6400
until a better fix has been created.
This introduces a patch to grub which disables the coreboot
specific handling, allowing PS/2 keyboards to be handled the
same as i386-pc. However this alone breaks the keyboard in
Linux, requiring coreboot to perform PS/2 initialization.
I think GRUB may be restoring the original configuration of
the PS/2 controller once it exits, and if coreboot doesn't
initialize the controller then it's restored to the default
state which Linux doesn't seem to like. I think the emulated
keyboard interface provided by the EC on the E6400 behaves
in a non-standard way that is incompatible with the old
coreboot specific handling.
ps/2 internal keyboard faulty in grub target
i386-coreboot, according to nic3-14159
normal i386-pc grub (bios grub) is fine,
booted from seabios
it is being investigated
Tested the 4MiB ROMs but not the 8 or 16 MiB ones. This uses the same
board.cfg as the GM45 ThinkPads with an IFD+GBE from ich9gen.
Known issues:
- The internal keyboard does not work properly in GRUB. It seems like
the keyboard controller is outputing set 1 (XT) scancodes, but GRUB
is interpreting them as set 2 (AT) scancodes. This may also have
something to do with scancode translation. However, the keyboard works
fine in SeaBIOS and Linux. USB keyboards also work properly.
- The subsystem IDs in the GBE region are hardcoded for a Thinkpad in
ich9gen, though this doesn't seem to cause issues in Linux. The vendor
IFD and GBE region do have some differences from the generated
binaries, though they do not appear to be critical.
Leah Rowe