[coreboot] Hardware donation for porting Coreboot / FlashROM

[Peter Stuge]

Hi Yogev,

Yogev Ezra wrote:
> We have two systems that we are willing to donate for porting
> Coreboot / FlashROM on them:
> 
> 1. DM&P / ICOP eBox-3300MX thin client / nettop (based on Vortex86MX CPU
> that is x86 compatible - Pentium I MMX clone)

This machine is not so advanced, so it would probably be a
comparatively easy target for you to port coreboot to.


> 2. Compulab Fit-PC2 nettop (Intel Atom Z510 / Z530 CPU + US15W chipset).

This however is a rather advanced platform.


coreboot supports none of the components on these platforms. I
realize that you have significant expense for this hardware, but it
is, mildly put, unrealistic to think that simply donating some custom
hardware will motivate any developer to spend the many months of work
that will benefit mostly yourselves, because the boards are not
common consumer boards.


> Why are we doing that?

I think this is obvious. You're unable to commit to investing in
coreboot yourselves, so you try to buy many months of expert work
paying with $5k worth of hardware. I doubt anyone will be interested.


> Freeware BIOS will also mean eventually cheaper systems.

Do not make the mistake to think that coreboot is freeware. Please
remember that coreboot is licensed under the terms of the GPL. This
is vastly different from what is commonly known as freeware.

Free software yes indeed, freeware certainly not.


> In addition, the factory BIOS in both systems has some issues that
> we hope to solve with Coreboot:

To be frank, it looks like you are hoping that someone else will
solve them for you.


> 2) We do not try this ourselves because flash ROM chips in both
> systems are soldered, and we just do not have the qualification and
> equipment for de-soldering / re-soldering the chips. We already
> "bricked" a few systems in the past, so we prefer to concentrate on
> our own work and let the professionals try that.

Now if this particular point is a significant problem for you, then
please ship the bricked boards and a few boards you want to develop
on to me; I will be happy to desolder flash chips, and solder sockets
into their place, to allow you to accelerate your effort in porting
coreboot to your mainboards. I might expect a microcontroller as
compensation.


> 3) We can supply non-NDA datasheets and more info on request. To
> receive NDA datasheets, you will have to sign this directly with
> manufacturers. Not sure if manufacturers will agree to that, when
> you tell them what it's needed for (Coreboot)...

Since you are buying their hardware you really need to be handling
the negotiation required to obtain relevant documentation from the
component vendors.


> 4) The systems we are donating cost us (a lot of) money, so we
> would like them to get into "good" hands, of people that actually
> can invest time in porting Coreboot/FlashROM to those systems.

I think there are no such people. There is zero motivation for the
community to work for you for free. It's actually the other way
around in this case; you have to work for the community for free.


> We can donate up to 5 units of each system, in 3 phases:

This is a great arrangement, for a system that would be relevant, or
a situation where you offered reasonable compensation.


Sorry.

I'll try to be constructive now:

I suggest that you throw out these non-supported boards and go to
AMD. Have a talk with them about your requirements. Maybe they can
suggest some off-the-shelf designs that are already supported by
coreboot.


//Peter