[coreboot] coreboot ported to the ASUS KGPE-D16 (Libreboot: blobless, fully functional!)
All, I have successfully ported coreboot to the relatively modern ASUS KGPE-D16 server board (dual AMD socket G34, 16 DDR3 DIMMs, https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/KGPED16/)! This port uses native Family 10h initialization (_not_ AGESA or CIMX). The Libreboot folks will be interested to know that this board can run blob-free and still retain full functionality! Port specifications: CPU: Dual AMD G34 Magny-Cours (Family 10h) RAM: 16 DDR3 DIMM slots with ECC support (tested with x4 4G DDR3-1333 unbuffered DIMMs) Peripherals: PCIe slots: all functional PCI slot: functional RS-232: functional PS/2: expected to function, not tested (on SuperIO) ASpeed VGA device: functional (text mode, see below) IEEE1394: functional On-board USB: functional On-board NICs: functional ASUS PIKE SAS controller: functional PCIe ROMs: functional Power management: DDR3 voltage set: functional ACPI/APIC: functional Suspend/resume: broken Other: cbmem console: partial support (log truncated) cbmem timestamps: functional nvram: functional BIOS recovery jumper: functional ASpeed VGA: The ASpeed VGA device initialises in text mode via its (new) coreboot driver, however this initialisation is incomplete, leading to distorted but quite usable VGA output. When Linux boots and engages the graphical framebuffer all distortion disappears. This port was not trivial. Almost every device used was broken and required debugging/repair, with the notable exception of the SuperIO chip. The AMD DDR3 controller was severely broken to the point where large rewrites were needed in order to bring it in line with the BKDG. Even after the various component drivers were repaired Due to the labor-intensive nature of the port and the extensive changes throughout the entire source tree, it is not economically feasible to merge this port upstream at this time (I estimate upward of 30 independent patches would be required just to get the board booting!). Raptor Engineering will, however, be continuing to maintain this port internally, and I am currently looking into adding native Family 15h support on top of this internal tree. Additionally, while it was not a priority for the initial port, I will be attempting to enable suspend/resume functionality as I have time. If there is sufficient interest from the community in adding this board to coreboot I would consider merging the changes in exchange for a one-time contract payment in the vicinity of $35,000 USD. When considering this offer please bear in mind that this is a fully functional blobless board with a wide range of peripherals and expansion options available, and that once these large changes are merged I will continue to enhance coreboot functionality as before (e.g. with the KFSN4-DRE and the T400). I would also be willing to add this board to the test stand as the only fully supported 4-way Opteron board (socket G34 Magny-Cours CPUs contain two separate CPUs in one package, making this 2-socket board a 4-way system from a HyperTransport perspective). Please let me know if you have any questions! -- Timothy Pearson Raptor Engineering +1 (415) 727-8645 http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com -- coreboot mailing list: coreboot@coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
Re: [coreboot] coreboot ported to the ASUS KGPE-D16 (Libreboot: blobless, fully functional!)
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 You should crowd-fund the $35,000 figure, there are lots of people who will be interested in this. I personally will chip in, and I'd ask others to as well. -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1 iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJVQVE1AAoJEP9Ft0z50c+UGrAIALFkmjysSsczVYKS1JDoOKuo PEu5dpWjUijjK1Bd/mCNfpzV/30KXO+V+gqhV4uIse0zj0zMDfGq5uaahyRIZimT p1c7o3+SXdBa5cvb2UjmLItbGJNM3uvs+v0IrDYwenR9EeMDaV2oOeDCTzojq2Vf drDq5Lt/WUwxC0XYUo25ZrGcaXJ5q1ni5e6SINw9TirW+XMoE6ye65/yZ923SFnK D/eKQgYd9+oOCM7CJUCk4VXAaMHcgd6Wi08e5fsCeCnhQos5x7pvTYcpp4wqMLu/ i23SnAnM9JUAc3pYJ/DsAWoB46QeNsWk01fqp6lx8gvs+MBnm1WpCKKmEROsxB4= =RIe1 -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- coreboot mailing list: coreboot@coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
Re: [coreboot] coreboot ported to the ASUS KGPE-D16 (Libreboot: blobless, fully functional!)
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 29/04/15 22:46, The Gluglug wrote: You should crowd-fund the $35,000 figure, there are lots of people who will be interested in this. I personally will chip in, and I'd ask others to as well. What about simply pushing the code as-is (make your non-upstream tree publicly available for people to git-clone), and let the community upstream it in their own time? -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1 iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJVQVOhAAoJEP9Ft0z50c+UbNYH/0+haygy3GNs2qF9wEcV3ws7 RZZPLBT5XZ7++QUS0vwaOGBbFCdTcWue9QdRJ3G+007+r4syNV0CMOn1XHFBgKq7 OhngpNvwN37p6y87vrOdMlsLDOHbj17AZyPiUJbncyCDD2Fb12QNsSHgmSIrk6QI h1ZqhS8l60Nyxf10ym/TDqjd4WvH7PIx74couSqFJxKiYBu4p4akM3BxTEzJAAzU LaZDR1wLwxeEi4iiN9IWjG37rfsxtM1W0Lu+HnvsHzCa09YjX50G7TkWJjRRaWGo QHKg/CMEPA3kwbVTcCHSLMeuUOe2Sp1p0VEktpTnYr3U4C0eQ1p7ZrOTM0lkdlE= =p0kv -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- coreboot mailing list: coreboot@coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
Re: [coreboot] coreboot ported to the ASUS KGPE-D16 (Libreboot: blobless, fully functional!)
On 04/29/2015 04:56 PM, The Gluglug wrote: What about simply pushing the code as-is (make your non-upstream tree publicly available for people to git-clone), and let the community upstream it in their own time? There is no real incentive for Raptor to do this. There is no guarantee of code actually being up-streamed and maintained by the community, but after this release our competitors may use the code at will. To be clear, we use coreboot internally on a large server cluster. This port is the result of an internal effort to upgrade said cluster, and while it is in our financial interest to upstream ports of older boards (e.g. the ASUS KFSN4-DRE) that did not require changes to the underlying support code, it is _not_ in our financial interest to simply release the code to modern boards that required major changes to underlying support code. -- Timothy Pearson Raptor Engineering +1 (415) 727-8645 http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com -- coreboot mailing list: coreboot@coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
Re: [coreboot] coreboot ported to the ASUS KGPE-D16 (Libreboot: blobless, fully functional!)
On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 10:46:29PM +0100, The Gluglug wrote: You should crowd-fund the $35,000 figure, there are lots of people who will be interested in this. I personally will chip in, and I'd ask others to as well. I would chip in too. Thanks, Ward. -- Ward Vandewege GPG Key: 25F774AB Do you use free software? Donate to join the FSF and support freedom at http://www.fsf.org/register_form?referrer=859 -- coreboot mailing list: coreboot@coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
