2023-04-20 12:31:33 +00:00
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% Dell Latitude E6400 added (blob-free, no disassembly)
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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% Leah Rowe
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2023-04-19 19:22:12 +00:00
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% 19 April 2023
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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2023-05-09 07:13:15 +00:00
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**UPDATE (9 May 2023): Libreboot confirmed working on variants such as
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[E6400 XFR, and experiment Nvidia GPU variant support now
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available](e6400nvidia.md).**
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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Introduction
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============
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2023-04-20 06:27:07 +00:00
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Today, Libreboot gained the Dell Latitude E6400 laptop port. This is a
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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blob-less port, courtesy of Nicholas Chin (`nic3-14159` on Libreboot IRC).
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2023-04-19 19:00:09 +00:00
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Nicholas has worked extensively on this port, for several years, and it's in
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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a ready state for entry to Libreboot.
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The hardware platform is GM45, similar to ThinkPad X200, T400 and so on that
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Libreboot already supports.
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You can learn more on the E6400 [installation page](../docs/install/e6400.md)
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2023-04-19 19:07:03 +00:00
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and the [hardware info page](../docs/hardware/e6400.md).
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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2023-04-20 07:49:02 +00:00
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100% libre, blob-free
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---------------------
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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This is a *blob-free* board in the boot flash. No Intel ME firmware needed,
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and [microcode can be removed if you wish](gm45microcode.md) (you should still
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leave microcode there, as is default, but some people remove it by choice that
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we give them - see: [Binary Blobs Reduction Policy](policy.md)).
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*But wait.* There's more. A lot more of *them*, that is.
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Readily available on eBay etc, and cheap
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-----------------------------
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Dells were much more popular than those ThinkPads, and more commonly used,
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so there are still *several* of these available on sites like eBay. Enough to
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keep people with an affinity for GM45 machines happy for a while longer (older
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GM45 ThinkPad X200, T400 etc are very hard to find nowadays).
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This could very well replace X200, T400 etc, in terms of what certain people
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want to use - nice enough screen/keyboard, and easy of installation just makes
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this a very nice machine indeed.
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But wait.... It gets better:
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Software flashing possible! (no disassembly)
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---------------------------
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tl;dr Nicholas is a genius, but he spent time studying the board, finding that
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the EC is hooked up to GPIO33 which allows for flash descriptor override. He
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2023-04-23 12:46:45 +00:00
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successfully reverse engineered a command that can be used to disable IFD
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protections, and discovered that the SMM BIOS lock protection could be
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bypassed, allowing installation of Libreboot.
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2023-04-19 18:57:49 +00:00
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This is without needing to disassemble. No clip required.
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**That is to say, you can install Libreboot on this board without
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taking it apart, and you can install it easily within 5 minutes.**
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This is done with the following utility from Nicholas Chin, which I merged
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into lbmk:
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<https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/tree/util/e6400-flash-unlock>
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The original util, before Nicholas sent it to lbmk, is here (same util):
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<https://gitlab.com/nic3-14159/e6400-flash-unlock/-/commits/base>
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It merges some code changes that I made myself, after Nicholas published it,
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tidying up the code a bit (OpenBSD-like coding style adopted, for fun). See:
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<https://codeberg.org/vimuser/e6400-flash-unlock/commits/branch/puffy>
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Libreboot users should use the one in `util/` on Libreboot proper.
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That is all! Read the manuals to know more about this machine. Thank you!
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