Libreboot X200 and FreeBSD

[Piotr Kubaj]

I want to buy a Libreboot X200 notebook, however, I also want to use it
with FreeBSD. I'm not sure if that works, so I asked Gluglug directly
and got the following response:

>I'm given the impression that text-mode graphics initialization used
>to work on the X200, but was broken by a later commit. A bisect might
>help.
>
><phcoder-screen> fchmmr: if it uses vbt or bios calls, it won't
><phcoder-screen> fchmmr: first one should work, but FreeBSD works
>only in text mode
>
>Text-mode is currently broken on the X200. VBT or "fake VBT" is
>currently lacking in the coreboot port for X200 ("VBT calls"), and
>lacks INT 10H video services ("BIOS calls").
>
>I'm not sure if FreeBSD will work correctly or not. It should work
>if you use the Video BIOS extracted from the original firmware
>(libreboot won't use or recommend this, because it's proprietary;
>instead, it uses a free but incomplete implementation called
>"native graphics initialization").

Can some FreeBSD developers make a statement on this topic? If it
doesn't work, then I can test some patches, if someone writes them, but
I'm a sysadmin, not a programmer, so I'm not really able to write some code.
_______________________________________________
freebsd...@freebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current
To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-curre...@freebsd.org"

[Adrian Chadd]

Which intel chipset is in that thing?



-a

[Piotr Kubaj]

On 03/28/15 16:18, Adrian Chadd wrote:
> Which intel chipset is in that thing?
>
>
>
> -a
>

It's a modified Thinkpad X200, so it uses the same chipset, i.e. GM45.

[Adrian Chadd]

Oh, in that case, someone should send me one so I can use it to verify
that my frame-buffer bootloader hack will work correctly on it.

Then yeah, we won't have to worry about such evil BIOSes.



-adrian

[Sevan / Venture37]

> On 28 Mar 2015, at 15:57, Piotr Kubaj <pku...@riseup.net> wrote:
>
> It's a modified Thinkpad X200, so it uses the same chipset, i.e. GM45.

Hi Piotr,
Unfortunately its not possible to boot freebsd with the libreboot images due to libreboot not have a binary blob vga bios & seabios payload.
You should be able to run freebsd without issue using coreboot however (libreboot is a consumer of coreboot which produces images without any close components).
I've managed to reflash a stock x60s with coreboot & run net/free & dragonflybsd on there.
I don't believer the laptops are modified physically in anyway & just have their bios reflashed, might be worth asking them if you can get a laptop with coreboot+vgabios+seabios.
Alternatively, just get a thinkpad x200 & diy.
You may have to resort to using linux for the initial flash.
If it goes wrong & provided you made backup images before starting, you can recover without issue using a raspberry pi or a beaglebone black as your reprogrammer & the flashrom utility.
Dmesg of the x60s running coreboot is on the wiki & freebsd-acpi@

Regards


Sevan / Venture37

[Sevan / Venture37]

> On 28 Mar 2015, at 17:42, Adrian Chadd <adr...@freebsd.org> wrote:
>
> Oh, in that case, someone should send me one so I can use it to verify
> that my frame-buffer bootloader hack will work correctly on it.

Why don't you reflash your existing one? :)


Sevan / Venture37

[Adrian Chadd]

So, the loader needs updating to have VGA framebuffer support. I have
started that as an investigation but I don't have anything tidy enough
to start pushing into -HEAD. But yes, as long as they expose the VGA
framebuffer in some meaningful way (read: either they pre-initialise a
dumb framebuffer, or they provide basic BIOS services for it) then
it'll eventually happen.



-adrian

[Sevan / Venture37]

On 29 March 2015 at 19:29, Piotr Kubaj <pku...@riseup.net> wrote:
> So, based on this information, are you able and willing to rewrite
> necessary code to make it work with Libreboot?

No, I'm multi booting my thinkpad, none of the operating systems which
support the grub payload, this means I'm pretty much dependent on
SeaBIOS + VGABIOS blob. That's ok for me.

x86 openfirmware boot loader support on the other hand would be pretty
cool.... ;)