Documentation for “Zerocat Coreboot Machines”
Generated on: Sat, 18 Jun 2022 13:12:41 +0200
Repository: git://zerocat.org/zerocat/projects/coreboot-machines
Version: v0.16.8
Branch: master
Copyright (C) 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 Kai Mertens kmx@posteo.net
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
Within this project’s git repository, versions are tagged according to the following pattern:
v<major>.<minor>.<revision>
<major> – The resulting product is a major change or upgrade.<minor> – Additional functionality or new features are introduced.<revision> – Bug fixes, minor changes, graphical stuff.Apply small fixes as of: Zerocat Project Template v0.0.19
Add a license header to selected configuration files, e.g.:
../templates/*.{cfg,set,spec}
Update documentation and license notices according to: Zerocat Project Template v0.0.18
Adjust information in respect to artwork origin: Zerocat Artwork v0.0.9
Update list of supported distros.
Remove some utilites and ancillary documentation, as these are provided by separate projects:
File ../util/setup-hyperbola.sh is now available from new project:
Zerocat Hyperbola Setup
git://zerocat.org/zerocat/projects/zerocat-hyperbola-setup
http://www.zerocat.org/projects/zerocat-hyperbola-setup/doc/index.html
File ../util/grub-mkconfig-coreboot-hyperbola.sh is removed, as it is
not referenced any more.
Files ../util/setup-parabola.sh and
../doc/notes-on-parabola-setup-utility.md
are now available from new project:
Zerocat Parabola Setup
git://zerocat.org/zerocat/projects/zerocat-parabola-setup
http://www.zerocat.org/projects/zerocat-parabola-setup/doc/index.html
File ../doc/sleeves.md is now available from new project:
Zerocat Sleeve
git://zerocat.org/zerocat/projects/zerocat-sleeve
http://www.zerocat.org/projects/zerocat-sleeve/doc/index.html
File util/setup-hyperbola.sh:
Update GNU Guix System configuration files:
943d4b775b.This version comes with an upgraded documentation system, according to: Zerocat Project Template v0.0.12
git log output.Documentation system has been upgraded to:
Zerocat Project Template v0.0.10
Adapt documentation system according to: Zerocat Project Template v0.0.9
Provide Get Started Guides for selected Zerocat Guix Machines.
Success and failure of ../util/setup-parabola.sh is documented in:
../doc/notes-on-parabola-setup-utility.md
Fix usage of patch in ../src/gen-rom-zerocat.sh.
Update footnote for t520 targets in ../doc/MAINPAGE.md.
Update ../templates/zerocat-system-i686.scm to use recent guix
channel.
Update image of worked example: X230t with boot menu
Script ../src/gen-rom-zerocat.sh: Use shorter target folder name,
write specfile.md.
GNU Guix System declaration templates provide a new kernel option for T520/T520i, yet as a comment.
Script ../src/gen-payload-grub.sh now comes with option
--config-antifreeze, which should be used on T520/T520i machines so
that entry “Search Kernel Linux” passes intel_idle.max_cstate=2 to
the kernel.
Update for t520i target: Same machine as tested below freezes with Trisquel9 x86_64. This kernel linux-libre boot parameter seems to help:
intel_idle.max_cstate=2
Please compare to: https://ticket.coreboot.org/issues/121
Perform project cleanup.
patch files.../doc/MAINPAGE.md../templates/.../templates/ as well.Apply some small fixes for target w530.
Review, improve and rename GNU Guix System declaration templates in
../util/gnu-guix-system/.
Fix up ../src/gen-rom-zerocat.sh for targets t530 and w530.
Grant more GbE configuration options to targets t520 and t520i.
Add new target: t520i; status: TESTED with coreboot@4.14
In general, the T520 machines are known to crash unpredictably with
coreboot firmware. If you have a T520/T520i available, please try
the Zerocat ROM with target t520 and check if it works fine,
long-term. Any workaround to avoid crashes? Upon success, please
report! We can then update the t520 target. Thank You!
This customer’s T520i seems to work fine with coreboot@4.14. – so
let’s set up a dedicated target t520i. But get prepared for
sudden crashes with both RAM slots populated, for instance!
Check your RAM to be properly socketed!!
Try with top-side slot populated only!
T520i device test conditions:
Default GbE configuration / GbE disabled
One RAM slot populated only (internal, top side):
Samsung 4GB 1Rx8 PC3L–12800S-11-13-B4 (M471B5173EB0–YK0 1545)
Fingerprint Reader removed
watch datefind with different options.Add new targets: x60[st]_32bit; status: UNTESTED
These targets come with more payloads, e.g.: Tint and Memtest86+
Add new target x1carbongen1; status: TESTED
File ../src/setup-toolbox.sh:
Help function retrieve_grub() to find freetype2.pc on x86_64
architecture.
Documentation build process comes with well structured screen output.
Successfully tested with commit 0e1ca794: X230
Add new target w530; status: UNTESTED
File ../src/config-templates/grub@2.02_zerocat.cfg
In verbose mode, add advisory output about mapped root-partition, when searching the kernel linux directly.
Refine menu entries such that the type of volumes involved is part of the title.
Add menuentry to explicitly test and decrypt LUKS Header on USB volumes.
Migration of the documentation build system has started.
The doxygen documentation will be dropped in favor of a simpler, self made build system as offered by: zerocat-project-template v0.0.1
The doxygen documentation moved from ../doc/ to ../doc-doxygen, and
will be kept until migration has been accomplished.
Some more ThinkPad targets have been added, e.g.:
Toolchain status for these machines: UNTESTED
The toolchain now uses updated project versions, e.g.:
Toolchain testing still is work in progress.
The goal of Zerocat Coreboot Machines is to help you turn ThinkPad laptops into very satisfying free software devices: Create free firmware images (but use blobs if required), modify your hardware, install a fully free/libre operating system, improve configurations and follow best practice recommendations.
All paths within this document are relative to the location of this
source file, which is located in this project’s doc/ folder.
It is assumed that you are running a GNU/Linux-libre operating system.
Use git to clone the project’s sources:
git clone git://zerocat.org/zerocat/projects/coreboot-machines
Change into the project’s documentation folder:
cd coreboot-machines/doc/
Study this README.md to get started:
cat ../doc/README.md
If you are on GNU Guix System, use make to create a dedicated profile, once. This allows you to match your environment to the one used by Zerocat, thus producing bit-identical results:
make -C ../guix pull
Create an empty environment with dedicated guix channel:
make -C ../guix environment
Create a shell with all prerequisites set up:
make -C ../guix shell
To leave the shell and the environment, later on, when you are done with this project, type:
exit
exit
To remove this project’s handy guix profile, type:
make -C ../guix clean
This will remove symlinks only. If you want to remove the profile from your system, run the GNU Guix Garbage Collector.
To list all available targets, type:
make -C ../guix help
To clean-up, type:
make -C ../guix clean
If you are on another distro, check file ../guix/manifest.scm and install the listed packages with your package manager, manually. Adapt package names as required.
To build the documentation, type:
make -C ../doc
To get a full list of available targets, type:
make -C ../doc help
To clean-up, type:
make -C ../doc clean
Zerocat Coreboot Machines ships copyrighted work.
Zerocat Coreboot Machines is free software. It makes use of free software approved licenses only and should be freely distributable:
Authorship, copyright and license information may be provided in more detail on a per-folder and/or per-file basis. Check the sources.
Please report a bug if you find the distribution hindered.
See Zerocat Website for contact information.
Documentation source files are written in markdown syntax. They should carry their individual copyright and license notices right below the title giving headline, e.g.:
<Title-of-Document>
===================
Copyright (C) <Year> <Name-of-Author> <Email-Address>
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
"GNU Free Documentation License".
<Other-Headline>
----------------
...content...
The generated documentation carries a license notice right at top on
its title page, with copyright statements generated from git log
output.
Sections of the generated documentation are build from selected markdown source files, with their individual copyright and license notice stripped.
In order to enrich the generated documentation ...
*.md markdown source files to ../doc/.... and adapt ../doc/Makefile to produce nice output.
In case more tools are needed, don't forget to update ../guix/manifest.scm.
To make your image look nice within the documentation, select a landscape layout of 16:9 aspect ratio.
Use ImageMagick to prepare your image, e.g.:
If your image is big, reduce it to a maximal width of 2000 pixel:
mogrify -resize 2000x <image>
Please clean image files from metadata, before committing, i.e.:
mogrify -strip <image>
If you embed your image into a markdown documentation file, use this syntax:
![<path/to/image>][]
[<path/to/image>]: <path/to/image> "title message"
or alternatly:
![<path/to/image>][my-image-shortcut]
[my-image-shortcut]: <path/to/image> "title message"
These patterns will guarantee that <img> tags will have their src,
alt and title attributes properly set within the html output.
Please use this license header for code source files:
Zerocat Coreboot Machines --- Create very satisfying free software devices.
Copyright (C) <Year> <Name-of-Author> <Email-Address>
This file is part of Zerocat Coreboot Machines.
Zerocat Coreboot Machines is free software: you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either
version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.
Zerocat Coreboot Machines is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with Zerocat Coreboot Machines.
If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
If you intend to write shell scripts, use this skeleton to make them work for GNU Guix:
#!/bin/sh
# Re-exec if we are not using Bash or are using Bash in POSIX mode.
if [ -z "$BASH" ] || [ "$BASH" = "/bin/sh" ]; then
bash=`command -v bash`
if [ -z "$bash" ]; then
echo "Couldn't find Bash, sorry!"
exit 1
else
exec "$bash" "$0" "$@"
fi
fi
# We're using Bash now.
set -o errexit
set -o nounset
set -o pipefail
# Your code goes here ...
Update ../doc/NEWS.md and list your contributions.
You can use git shortlog to get a starting point for your edit.
Turn a small, but interesting set of ThinkPad laptops into very satisfying free software devices! Create new firmware, modify your hardware, install a fully free/libre operating system, and use it according to best practice recommendations.
X230 Tablet with Zerocat Boot Menu
¹ The set of frequently tested laptops is much smaller!
² TFT 1440×900px is supported by coreboot@4.8.1 only.
³ Avoid freezes with linux kernel option intel_idle.max_cstate=2.
° Do not touch the IME firmware.
In general, these project versions are used as default:
Some fallback versions are still supported:
This project puts extra focus on fully free/libre operating systems:
GNU Guix System
This system can be run from fully encrypted partitions.
Files like ../templates/zerocat-system-x86_64-encrypted.scm might help you to configure your GNU Guix System right after installation.
Utility script ../util/grub-mkconfig-coreboot-guix.sh should help you to set up an optimized grub configuration file for GNU Guix System. This file works well with Zerocat’s boot menu.
Trisquel GNU/Linux-libre
The default installer will set up an unencrypted root partition.
Trisquel is required by this project and its toolchain, as the GNU Ada-Compiler is needed to build the coreboot firmware.
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
This system can be run from fully encrypted partitions.
Project Zerocat Parabola Setup helps you to install this system.
Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre
This system can be run from fully encrypted partitions.
Project Zerocat Hyperbola Setup helps you to install this system.
See ../doc/supported-distros.md for more test results.
To get started, see the following sections:
Once you have liberated your laptop, protect it!
Project Zerocat Sleeve helps you to make a nice sleeve for it.
These sources are distributed in the hope that they will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Proceed with care, good luck!
Please report bugs.
This project comes with a Set of Bash Scripts for the Trisquel GNU/Linux-libre Operating System, i.e. “Trisquel 10.0.1 (trisquel10.0.1amd64.iso)”. Experimental support for GNU Guix has been added, but this is Work in Progress. The set should help you to easily generate your custom Zerocat ROM for a small but interesting set of ThinkPad laptops, see #../doc/MAINPAGE.md.
The toolchain is formed by scripts:
Please also make use of ../util/get-sysinfo.sh, which is an optional script. It retrieves useful system information and should be run twice on your target machine: Before and after your successful flash procedure.
Note that all scripts might be invoked with option --help to display
usage information.
The intended order of script invocation is like:
Change into folder src/:
$ cd src/
Invoke:
$ bash setup-toolbox.sh --check
This will check whether required programs and packages are available on your system. If any error is reported, please install the appropriate package and run the check again.
Switch your internet connection on.
Invoke:
$ bash setup-toolbox.sh \
--toolbox \
--add-project coreboot seabios grub
This will create a new, unique, empty toolbox folder and will
populate it with sources of required external projects as like
coreboot, seabios and grub. The script also runs apropriate
git checkout commands in conjunction with ./configure or
make, where applicable. More projects like libreboot,
bios_extract, fcode-utils, UEFITool and flashrom might be
specified as well, but they are not yet used by the scripts.
Regarding grub, a review of its configuration will be displayed and your key input is required to continue.
In case of script failure due to network issues, convenient resume options are lacking by the moment. In such a case, please specify the toolbox folder in use along with the broken project and try again. Make sure you will end up with your toolbox folder correctly populated.
Per default, the following project versions are used:
Set 1:
coreboot@4.14grub@grub-2.06seabios@rel-1.14.0You might override default versions by appending a different
version string, i.e. coreboot@4.8.1 (not valid for x201) or
grub@2.02.
Set 2:
libreboot@r20160907bios_extract@effb120fcode_utils@v1.0.2uefitool@0.26.0flashrom@v1.2Internet connection is not required any more.
Invoke:
$ bash gen-payload-seabios.sh --usage
This will list detailed usage information. In order to build the SeaBIOS payload for platform i386-coreboot, please pick your use case, e.g.:
In case you are heading to flash machines that do not require an external VGA Option ROM, invoke:
$ bash gen-payload-seabios.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--gen-payload
In case you are heading to flash machines that do require an external VGA Option ROM, invoke:
$ bash gen-payload-seabios.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--gen-payload \
--config-no-vgarom
That external ROM must be passed to ../src/gen-rom-zerocat.sh later on.
Invoke:
$ bash gen-payload-grub.sh --usage
This will list detailed usage information. Please pick your use case, e.g.:
In order to generate the GRUB executable payload file for platform i386-coreboot, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-payload-grub.sh \
--clean \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--payload-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder> \
--gen-keymaps \
--gen-payload
This will pack the GRUB executable payload file for platform
i386-coreboot, small version. The output’s name is hardcoded to
grub@${version_grub}_i386-coreboot.elf.
In order to generate generic GRUB configuration files, you might – as a next step – invoke:
$ bash gen-payload-grub.sh \
--mostlyclean \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--payload-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder> \
--gen-config \
--config-grub \
--config-seabios \
--strip-comments
In case you are heading for T60 machines, use additional options which remove incompatible menu entries from the GRUB boot menu:
$ bash gen-payload-grub.sh \
--mostlyclean \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--payload-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder> \
--gen-config \
--config-grub \
--config-seabios \
--config-no-poweroff \
--strip-comments
And finally, you might specify a dedicated Zerocat Background, if you like to:
$ bash gen-payload-grub.sh \
--payload-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder> \
--config-background <path/to/PNG-Image>
This option might be used three times more in case you want to provide images of the flash procedure, for instance.
In case you want to set up GRUB authorization, use option
--config-authorization <user> <password> <scheme>.
See --help output for details.
In case you are using grub@2.02, feel free to set option
--config-morse on an x60, t60, x200 and t400 target.
Invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh --usage
This will list detailed usage information of the last script to use. Please pick your target, e.g.:
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-X200, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target x200 --chipsize 8mb \
--ifd-lock-regions --ifd-medisable \
--ime none --gbe set_<macaddr-without-colons> \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
This will set up Zerocat’s ROM with region ME deleted. The MAC
Address of the onboard Ethernet Controller will be set to a
custom value. Please specify your device’s hexadecimal number
which is located on a sticker close to the second RAM socket.
However, you might set an arbitrary address as well. The x200 is
known to run fine without CPU microcode updates, hence no
option --microcode.
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-X201, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target x201 \
--rom-factory <path/to/factory.bin> \
--ifd-lock-regions \
--ime keep --gbe keep \
--microcode \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
This will set up Zerocat’s ROM with region ME untouched. The GbE Firmware is in use as extracted from the vendor ROM. If you try to modify the IME or the AltMeDisable bit, the fan is not controlled and your machine is likely to get overheated. Reboots fromout the GRUB Bootmenu will get stuck.
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-X230, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target x230 \
--rom-factory <path/to/factory.bin> \
--ifd-lock-regions --ifd-altmedisable \
--ime xtrunc --gbe set_<macaddr-without-colons> \
--microcode \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
This will set up Zerocat’s ROM with region ME cleaned and
extremely shrunk, and region BIOS increased. The MAC
Address of the onboard Ethernet Controller will be set to a
custom value. Please specify your device’s hexadecimal number
which is located on a sticker close to the second RAM socket.
However, you might set an arbitrary address as well. The X230
seems to freeze in case CPU microcode updates are not provided,
hence option --microcode. However, omit this option in case
you want your machine to boot up in a blobfree manner. You
might try to load updates later on with your operating system.
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-T430, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target t430 \
--rom-factory <path/to/factory.bin> \
--ifd-lock-regions --ifd-altmedisable \
--ime xtrunc --gbe set_<macaddr-without-colons> \
--microcode \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
This will set up Zerocat’s ROM with region ME cleaned and
extremely shrunk, and region BIOS increased. The MAC
Address of the onboard Ethernet Controller will be set to a
custom value. Please specify your device’s hexadecimal number
which is located on a sticker close to the second RAM socket.
However, you might set an arbitrary address as well. The T430
seems to freeze in case CPU microcode updates are not provided,
hence option --microcode. However, omit this option in case
you want your machine to boot up in a blobfree manner. You
might try to load updates later on with your operating system.
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-X1CarbonGen1, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target x1_carbon_gen1 \
--rom-factory <path/to/factory.bin> \
--ifd-lock-regions --ifd-altmedisable \
--ime xtrunc \
--microcode \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
This will set up Zerocat’s ROM with region ME cleaned and
exremely shrunk, and region BIOS increased. The X1 seems to
freeze in case CPU microcode updates are not provided, hence
option --microcode. However, omit this option in case you
want your machine to boot up in a blobfree manner. You might
try to load updates later on with your operating system.
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-X220, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target x220 \
--rom-factory <path/to/factory.bin> \
--ifd-lock-regions --ifd-altmedisable \
--ime xtrunc --gbe set_<macaddr-without-colons> \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
This will set up Zerocat’s ROM with region ME cleaned and
shrunk, and region BIOS increased. The MAC Address of the
onboard Ethernet Controller will be set to a custom value.
Please specify your device’s hexadecimal number which is
located on a sticker close to the second RAM socket. However,
you might set an arbitrary address as well. The x220 seems to
run fine without CPU microcode updates, hence no option
--microcode.
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-T420, you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target t420 \
--rom-factory <path/to/factory.bin> \
--ifd-lock-regions --ifd-altmedisable \
--ime trunc --gbe set_<macaddr-without-colons> \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
This will set up Zerocat’s ROM with region ME cleaned and
shrunk, and region BIOS increased. The MAC Address of the
onboard Ethernet Controller will be set to a custom value.
Please specify your device’s hexadecimal number which is
located on a sticker close to the second RAM socket. However,
you might set an arbitrary address as well. The t420 seems to
run fine without CPU microcode updates, hence no option
--microcode.
In order to build your ROM for a ZC-T60 with ATI Graphics (Mobility Radeon X1300), you might invoke:
$ bash gen-rom-zerocat.sh \
--toolbox <path/to/toolbox-folder> \
--target t60_ati_mobility_radeon_x1300 \
--rom-vga <path/to/pci1002,7149.rom> \
--payload-grub-dir <path/to/grub-payload-folder>
Note file pci1002,7149.rom is an external, proprietary VGA
Option ROM that you should have extracted from memory, before.
See ../doc/t60-vgarom-extraction.md for details. The t60
seems to run fine without CPU microcode updates, hence no
option --microcode.
Upon script start, previously configured GRUB settings will be detected automatically, and secondary payloads will be compiled as required. Please take your time to review the reported settings.
Occasionally, the script will require some user interaction. You should be safe to enter “yes” if asked to do so.
If the script succeeds, a new folder has been created. It contains
a fully configured zerocat.rom along with more files, checksums,
backups and subfolders. The ROM can now be flashed to your target
machine’s SPI chip. In case your target has a virtual SPI Chip
formed by two physical ones, the ROM has been split into
zerocat.rom.bottom for chip #1 and zerocat.rom.top for chip #2.
Note, for targets other than x200, t400, t500, option
--ifd-altmedisable is not available with coreboot@4.8.1.
Done, now head for flashing!
Good luck!
Some T60 configurations require an extracted proprietary VGA Option ROM. The ROM is to be extracted from memory, as vendor’s BIOS patches the VGA Option ROM loaded from chip.
Please compare this information to: Coreboot VGA Support Page
Start the T60 with vendor’s firmware.
Run a GNU/Linux Operating System.
Run sudo lspci -nnvv and retrieve PCI IDs (manufacturer and device)
for the VGA compatible controller, for instance:
VGA compatible controller [0300]: RV515/M52 [Mobility Radeon X1300] [1002:7149]
or
VGA compatible controller [0300]: RV515/M54 [Mobility Radeon X1400] [1002:7145]
Do not proceed in case [1002:7149] or [1002:7145] is not your
listed ID!
Copy the VGA Option ROM from memory to file:
Note down <startaddr> and <lastaddr> of the VGA ROM in
memory:
$ sudo cat \
/proc/iomem | \
grep 'Video ROM'
Copy the memory area into a file:
$ sudo dd \
if=/dev/mem \
of=pci1002,7149.rom \
bs=1c \
skip=$((0x<startaddr>)) \
count=$((0x<lastaddr>-0x<startaddr>+1))
Pass that file to ../src/gen-rom-zerocat.sh by means of switch --rom-vga.
Flash the generated Zerocat ROM.
Note the X220 and X230 LED-Board not only holds the system status LEDs, but as well two digital microphones. The LED-Board is connected to the motherboard via cable, which uses a 16-pin connector on the LED-Board versus a 30-pin connector at the system board.
On the X220, the pinout of the 16-Pin LED-Board Connector is estimated as like:
+------------------------------------------------------+
| +-----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| | | | |
| | | | |
············|·|·················|······ | |
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o : Short Edge | |
··|·|·|·|·|·····|·|·|·|·|·|·|·|········ | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | +---------> Not Connected | |
| | v v v | | | | | | | | |
| | MICBUS | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | +-|----------->[LED Standby ]<----+ |
v v | | | | +---|----------->[LED Batt1 ]<----+ |
MIC | | | +-----|----------->[LED Batt2 ]<----+ |
PWR +-|-|-------|----------->[LED WiFi ]<----+ |
| +-------|----------->[LED HDD ]<---------+
+---------|----------->[LED Bluetooth ]----+
| |
+--------------------------------+--- GND
X220: TFT Connector, five contacts covered.
In case you want to disable the microphones on the X220, just follow the routes of the first five wires towards the TFT’s right hand sysboard connector and cover its first five contacts with a small adhesive strip. This seems to apply to the X230 as well.
82579LM/V GbE PHY Configuration for Intel 6 Series Express Chipset.
File: ../templates/i82579lmv-gbe-6series.spec
To be used with coreboot’s bincfg utility.
Do not change names for macaddress, l1_gbedis and
checksum_gbe, these words are updated by the toolchain.
File: ../templates/i82579lmv-gbe-6series.set
To be used with coreboot’s bincfg utility.
Seems to be applicable for Intel 7 Series Express Chipset as well.
Refer to ../templates/i82579lmv-gbe-6series.spec for
applicable namespace.
Bit l1_gbedis will be set with gen-rom-zerocat.sh --gbe disable,
thus disabling GbE operation. The MAC Address will be cleared to
ffffffffffff.
A custom MAC Address will be set with gen-rom-zerocat.sh --gbe
set_<macaddr> and <macaddr> provided as a twelve digit,
hexadecimal value without colons. Common first three octets are:
00aa00xxxxxx (Intel orig, as suggested by GbE datasheet)00a0c9xxxxxx (Intel new, as suggested by GbE datasheet)3c970exxxxxx (found on Lenovo X230 and family)According to IEEE standards, a MAC Address of 000000000000
shall not be used.
Bit l1_gbedis will be cleared, thus enabling the GbE
controller.
The Printed Board Assembly Number (PBA Number) is reset to
0xffffffff. This should make sense, as any else number would not
necessarily match the physical product.
PXE Boot Agent options are disabled.
Bit 6 of word 0x19 is set in order to indicate a valid checksum,
although this should be done by bincfg instead, when it updates
the checksum_gbe word.
Some more values are set according to the defaults as mentioned in the datasheet, not to the values that are detected on a flash readout. See inline comments.
Most Intel Machines use their onboard flash chip to hold not just BIOS firmware, instead different firmare regions are set up to give space for other firmware as well. The first 4096 Bytes of that chip hold Intel’s description table which exactly describes position, size and access restrictions of these regions. This table is called “Intel Firmware Descriptor” or “Intel Flash Descriptor”, in short: “IFD”.
Once you are dealing with coreboot or libreboot, different necessities arise to modify this description table.
On libreboot compatible devices (i.e. X200, T400, T500, etc.), you are likely to delete region ME, the firmware region reserved to hold the proprietary firmware update for the integrated Intel Management Engine, a powerful controller on board. But with a deleted region, more space is available and should get reassigned to region BIOS, which holds your new coreboot BIOS firmware replacement.
The Libreboot project already did that work, it offers a tool called
ich9gen to create a modified firmware descriptor which can just be
copied into the new coreboot ROM by means of the dd command. (This
tool generates firmware for region GbE in the same go, it is bundled
together. However, you might use the dd command again to seperate
both regions in case you need to.)
Retrieve the sources of the libreboot project:
$ git clone https://notabug.org/libreboot/libreboot.git
$ cd libreboot
Let’s checkout at the latest release:
$ git checkout r20160907
$ cd resources/utilities/ich9deblob
$ make
Use the correct MAC address of your machine. It is usually stated on a sticker at the systemboard’s second RAM socket.
$ ./ich9gen --macaddress xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Do not use option --mac-address by mistake, as this will generate a
GbE Configuration with a default MAC Address without warning the user.
Do not omit the colons. Replace ‘xx’ with your hexadecimal values.
This will generate some *.bin files and "How to Use" messages, i.e.:
descriptor and gbe successfully written to the file: ich9fdgbe_8m.bin
Now do: dd if=ich9fdgbe_8m.bin of=libreboot.rom bs=1 count=12k conv=notrunc
(in other words, add the modified descriptor+gbe to your ROM image)
You should update your coreboot.rom with the apropriate dd command
as a last action on it.
More recent machines (i.e. X220, X230, T430, T430s, etc.) do not allow you to delete region ME completely, unfortunately. However, the ME_Cleaner script is able to delete a signifcant number of sections of the firmware code. As a result, the IME controller boots up – but stays hang up in its Bring-Up-Phase. Hopefully it can't do any harm.
Once me_cleaner.py cleaned, relocated and truncated the ME firmware,
it might get shrunk even more. MECleaner’s log file suggests a new
size, but this seems to be even more reducable by around 3× 4096 Bytes.
Use hexdump -C to look for the last sector containing code in
MECleaner’s binary output and determine the required minimal size,
while maintaining flash erase sector size granularity. The dd command
should be the right tool to create a smaller binary file of the
truncated and shrunk ime firmware.
But useless to use this binary with coreboot without having created a new firmware descriptor binary:
Dump the flash layout with ifdtool -f and create a modified one, see
Example A below.
Create a new, working flash descriptor with ifdtool -n and fix Byte
Nº 0x51 (81 in decimal) with the value found in the previously
extracted flash descriptor binary flashregion_0_flashdescriptor.bin,
0x1f for instance. The dd command helps you to copy that byte’s
value. See Example B to see how the new flash descriptor dump should
differ the default one.
Use ifdtool -f to extract the default layout, e.g.: X230
00000000:00000fff fd
00500000:00bfffff bios
00003000:004fffff me
00001000:00002fff gbe
Modify the layout file. This is what can be used on an X230:
00000000:00000fff fd
00001000:00002fff gbe
00003000:00017fff me
00018000:00bfffff bios
Size of ME-Region is 0x15000 Bytes instead of 0x18000 as suggested by
me_cleaner.log. In comparison to the original flash layout on an
X230, region BIOS has been increased – region ME has been decreased –
by 0x4E8000 Bytes.
The diff -y command helps you to compare dumps (created with ifdtool
-d) of the default descriptor and the new, fixed one. They should not
differ but in four lines as listed:
Found Region Section Found Region Section
FLREG0: 0x00000000 FLREG0: 0x00000000
Flash Region 0 (Flash Descriptor): 00000000 - 00000fff Flash Region 0 (Flash Descriptor): 00000000 - 00000fff
FLREG1: 0x0bff0500 | FLREG1: 0x0bff0018
Flash Region 1 (BIOS): 00500000 - 00bfffff | Flash Region 1 (BIOS): 00018000 - 00bfffff
FLREG2: 0x04ff0003 | FLREG2: 0x00170003
Flash Region 2 (Intel ME): 00003000 - 004fffff | Flash Region 2 (Intel ME): 00003000 - 00017fff
FLREG3: 0x00020001 FLREG3: 0x00020001
Flash Region 3 (GbE): 00001000 - 00002fff Flash Region 3 (GbE): 00001000 - 00002fff
FLREG4: 0x00001fff FLREG4: 0x00001fff
Flash Region 4 (Platform Data): 00fff000 - 00000fff (unused Flash Region 4 (Platform Data): 00fff000 - 00000fff (unused
Both newly created binaries of Region 0 and Region 2 should be used for
the new coreboot.rom by means of ifdtool.
These procedures are applied by @ref gen-rom-zerocat.sh, which should
help you to do it safely via --ime clean or --ime xtrunc. Use
option --usage to get invocation examples. See source code for
details.
Zerocat’s Boot Menu offers three different paths to boot USB live/installation media:
See this table of tested USB installation media:
Distro Applicable Boot Path
------ --------------------
GNU Guix System v1.2.0² 1 (grub.cfg), 3 (via SeaBIOS)
Parabola Live Media – LXDE-OpenRC² 2 (isolinux.cfg), 3 (via SeaBIOS)
Hyperbola Live Media – Milky Way v0.4² 2 (isolinux.cfg)
Trisquel10² 2 (isolinux.cfg), 3 (via SeaBIOS)
Debian9¹ 1 (grub.cfg), 3 (via SeaBIOS)
OpenSUSE¹ 2 (isolinux.cfg), 3 (via SeaBIOS)
Qubes R4.0.3² 3 (via SeaBIOS)
¹ preliminary information, to be tested more thoroughly
² confirmed information
Zerocat’s Boot Menu offers different paths to boot from internal disk (AHCI):
See this table of tested installations:
Distro Applicable Boot Path
------ --------------------
GNU Guix System² 1 (grub.cfg, coreboot_grub.cfg°), 4 (via SeaBIOS)
Hyperbola v0.4² 1 (grub.cfg), 3 (Kernel)
Parabola² 1 (grub.cfg), 3 (Kernel)
Trisquel10¹ 1 (grub.cfg), 3 (Kernel), 4 (via SeaBIOS)
Debian9¹ 1 (grub.cfg), 4 (via SeaBIOS)
OpenSUSE² not yet supported
Qubes R4.0.3² 4 (via SeaBIOS)
See this table of tested installations, using full disk encryption. Encrypted devices are to be unlocked via dedicated menu entry, first:
Distro Applicable Boot Path
------ --------------------
GNU Guix System² 1 (grub.cfg, coreboot_grub.cfg°)
Hyperbola v0.4² 1 (grub.cfg), 3 (Kernel)
Parabola² 1 (grub.cfg), 3 (Kernel)
Trisquel10² not applicable (boot partition is not encrypted)
Debian9² not yet tested
OpenSUSE² not yet supported
Qubes R4.0.3² not applicable (boot partition is not encrypted)
¹ preliminary information, to be tested more thoroughly
² confirmed information
° see ../util/grub-mkconfig-coreboot-guix.sh to create this file
Files ../templates/zerocat-system-*.scm might help you to refine your
GNU Guix System to match Zerocat products.
File ../util/grub-mkconfig-coreboot-guix.sh is provided to get your
GNU Guix System booted with messages refined.
How to use your free software device, safely?
The firmware of integrated SSDs/Disks might request access to your memory according to SATA specification, so better don’t use them being plugged to the SATA port, directly. Instead, use them via standard SATA-to-USB2 adapter, which is not capable of granting direct access to your memory (DMA). Of course, this will slow down your system.
Replace wifi cards that run with proprietary firmware. Or even better, replace cards that run with firmware at all. Use one that has no firmware, but is driven by the kernel driver only.
Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
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