hi,<br> <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 5:51 AM, xdrudis <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:xdrudis@tinet.cat">xdrudis@tinet.cat</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 09:44:02AM -0600, Marc Jones wrote:<br>
> Hi Xavi,<br>
><br>
> Thanks for your interest in coreboot. This is a long email! :)<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I'm bad at summarizing. Sorry.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
><br>
> VGA BIOS is not required. You could have a headless system. Or a<br>
> system with a framebuffer driver like Geode.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>Headless would be last resort. If possible I would like to have a<br>
monitor connected to the system (either mainboard or graphics card)<br>
and have a desktop there. I don't need video while booting (but I<br>
would appreciate it, of course). I understand this is possible<br>
depending on the GPU. When you say a system with a framebuffer you<br>
mean any system with linux User Mode Setting should work without<br>
propietary VGA BIOS ?<br></blockquote><div>i think what marc said means these mainboard which has framebuffer driver. <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
> ><br>
> > Double graphics is a problem ?<br>
> ><br>
> > As far as I know the only modern desktop class chipsets supported by<br>
> > the manufacturer, are AMD RS780/SB700 , am I wrong ? (thanks, AMD!). I<br>
> > think all come with an ATI IGP , which requires blobs in the linux/X<br>
> > driver (AtomBIOS). I may be misinformed on AtomBIOS, but I think I<br>
> > don't want to use it. I've heard nouveau has just deblobed its<br>
> > driver, so I might add an Nvidia graphics card to it (at least while<br>
> > Open Graphics Project isn't ready for consumers). I'll try to buy one<br>
> > second hand, as lesser evil, since I dislike buying directly from<br>
> > vendors not supporting free software. Does having both the ATI IGP and<br>
> > the Nvidia card give any additional complication ? (besides it's going<br>
> > to be less tested than more usual setups). I wish Intel supported<br>
> > coreboot or radeonhd didn't use AtomBIOS (like it once was).<br>
> ><br>
><br>
> This is a continued area of development, but yes, many drivers use the<br>
> vbios too hold proprietary information. Again, not an issue if you are<br>
> running a headless machine.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>Do you mean deblobing linux/X graphics drivers is a continued area of development<br>
or supporting IGP + graphics card in coreboot (if it needs some speacial support<br>
by corebbot) is a continued area of development ?<br>
<div class="im"><br>
<br>
><br>
> There is no specific roadmap. This is usually driven by board<br>
> availability. I think some boards will be ported during GSoC. If you<br>
> have a preferred board, send an email to the list. Someone might be<br>
> working on it.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I don't have a prefered board (yet). I was thinking of picking one<br>
of the few that people has shown some interest in here in the list.<br>
That might be best for me as a newbie as I wouldn't be alone even<br>
if it is not currently supported yet. I'm not sure if it would be<br>
best for the project (having more that one test instance for the<br>
same board ) or it would be best to have as many different boards<br>
to test as possible.<br></blockquote><div>the 780 mainboard which coreboot support now is mahogany. I am trying to porting a few more <br>mainboard as GSOC project. the mainboard i choose at this moment is<br>1)Shine,2)Tilapia,3)Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H,4)ASUS M4A78-VM 5)Colorful C.A780G X5.<br>
i am aslo checking if i can order an Jetway PA78VM5-H which Scott have much interests. You can<br>choose one of them or the other 780 mainboard. <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
><br>
> I think that DDR3 support will be critical for coreboot this year. I<br>
> am optimistic that we will get some help from AMD this summer.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>Ok, I can wait, I guess. I can start by the OS, test flashrom<br>
with the propietary bios, etc. and handle coreboot proper later.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> ><br>
> > How to choose socketed boards ?<br>
> ><br>
> > How can one know whether a card has socketed or soldered BIOS ROMs besides<br>
> > looking at it or some photos ? Should it be in the specs or manual ?<br>
> > (I don't trust myself with a soldering iron).<br>
> ><br>
><br>
> This will usually be in the manual. Many boards are SPI flash now and<br>
> you need an external programmer with a test clip to program them. This<br>
> is an area we need to improve on the wiki.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I had read something (either in coreboot wiki or from some link there)<br>
but I no longer find it. I thought SPI could be socketed or soldered.<br></blockquote><div>most of the bios with public mainbard are soldered, but you can also use flashrom<br>or external programmer which has test clip. take this as an example <br>
<a href="http://www.dediprog.com/SPI-flash-in-circuit-programming/ISP-Testclip-SO8">http://www.dediprog.com/SPI-flash-in-circuit-programming/ISP-Testclip-SO8</a><br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
><br>
> These are great goals. It sounds like you have a lot in common with<br>
> the folks at the FSF. :)<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>In goals, we have a lot in common, I'm just less active pursuing them.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> There are a couple AMD and Intel platforms that might meet your needs.<br>
<br>
</div>Are there ? I've been looking at the supported mainboards and found<br>
few that I could buy currently in a shop and are relatively<br>
powerful. I'll look again.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> I expect more boards (like the 780/710) to be supported this summer if<br>
> you are willing to wait. I am also hopeful that we see coreboot on<br>
> systems available from vendors in the future.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I've already wited quite a lot, and my current laptop is falling<br>
apart. So I may buy soon, but I may install coreboot later (I<br>
understand buying before getting support may be risky). I'd like to<br>
buy something with coreboot preinstalled, but that may be the next<br>
system I buy after whatever I get now. In your products page I've seen<br>
a couple of servers with coreboot I might get, but they're a bit<br>
expensive for what I was thinking.<br>
<br>
Thanks for your help.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Wang Qing Pei <br><a href="mailto:MSN%3Awangqingpei@hotmail.com">MSN:wangqingpei@hotmail.com</a><br><a href="mailto:Gmail%3Awangqingpei@gmail.com">Gmail:wangqingpei@gmail.com</a><br>
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