[LinuxBIOS] IT8718F support.

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <c-d.hailfinger.devel.2006 at gmx.net> [060830 18:17]:
> > ok, lets think this further: You get a LinuxBIOS-string on serial and
> > then you do _what_ with that image? Have a shell? Torsten Duwe's serial
> > loader or llshell might be candidates here.
> 
> Both won't help if RAM and CAR don't work yet.
> But the string alone should give us an idea the specific mainboard needs
> additional setup before it can speak to the SuperIO or not.
 
llshell was known to work all within registers, so it needs no ram.
the serial boot was at least partly written using romcc iirc. 

> We face various constraints here:
> * People are less likely to perform experiments with their newest machines

While we only care for exactly those because of the costs and time 
involved in supporting a system

> * flashrom should work on the systems we are targeting to eliminate the
>   need for an EEPROM programmer

This works on quite some systems that do not require special GPIO
sequences.

> * Some boards are shipped without serial port

which reminds me.. we purchased a net20dc usb debug device, but I 
did not get to write example code for any side of the debug connection.
I hope to find an opportunity after my current project. Or maybe one
of the USB adept experts in here can jump in?

> * we don't care which boards are/were best-sellers, we only care which
>   boards we can find enough testers for

Not all the way down. The boards that are supported in LinuxBIOS usually
are supported because there was a use case for one of the contributors
to do so. See the OLPC, or the machines that were supported because LANL
built clusters with that hardware. 

> Considering these constraints, I suggest the following plan:
> * Call for action via FSF, point to <website with further instructions>

BTW, will someone from the FSF join the LinuxBIOS symposium 2006? I am
still missing FSF names on the list!

> * provide linuxbios-check .rpm/.deb/.tar.gz/ebuild with the following
>   (half-)automated tests:
>   - flashrom to find out on which boards we can flash the BIOS easily
>   - sensors-detect for SuperIO detection
>   - lspci -vvv
>   - dmidecode
>   - dmesg (or /var/log/boot.msg)
>   - ask user whether he has a serial port onboard
>   - ask user which parts of lspci are add-on cards
>   - ask user for exact mainboard name
>   - ask user for model of flash chip
>   - ask user for SuperIO
>   - upload results to <special address which feeds database>
>   - if SuperIO or mainboard is known, offer ROM image for download

can you set something up for this? I can create a database on
linuxbios.org and also create a repository to check in the code and
optimize it.

The SuperIO can also be auto detected. I think I saw the code for this
somewhere. 

> * after we have support for the first mass-marketed board, make sure
>   to spread the word (and make people with unsupported boards envious)
 
there is plenty of support for "mass-marketed boards" already, or do I
get you wrong? Epia is among them. All the Tyan boards..

> Once I find some time, I'll implement the plan.

Let me know when you do so, we can probably coordinate.

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