Libreboot release information

Documentation for this release can be found at index.html. Updated versions of libreboot can be found at libreboot.org.

Old Releases

See archive_old.html for information about older libreboot releases.

See tasks for the current TODO list.

Release YYYYMMDD

Release date: Month Day(st,rd,th), Year.

Installation instructions can be found at install/index.html. Building instructions (for source code) can be found at git/index.html#build.

Machines supported in this release:

Lenovo ThinkPad X60/X60s
- You can also remove the motherboard from an X61/X61s and replace it with an X60/X60s motherboard. An X60 Tablet motherboard will also fit inside an X60/X60s.
Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet (1024x768 and 1400x1050) with digitizer support
- See hcl/index.html#supported_x60t_list for list of supported LCD panels
- It is unknown whether an X61 Tablet can have it's mainboard replaced with an X60 Tablet motherboard.
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (Intel GPU) (there are issues; see below):
- See notes below for exceptions, and hcl/index.html#supported_t60_list for known working LCD panels.
- It is unknown whether a T61 can have it's mainboard replaced with a T60 motherboard.
- See future/index.html#t60_cpu_microcode.
- T60P (and T60 laptops with ATI GPU) will likely never be supported: hcl/index.html#t60_ati_intel
Lenovo ThinkPad X200
- X200S and X200 Tablet are also supported, conditionally; see hcl/x200.html#x200s
- ME/AMT: libreboot removes this, permanently. hcl/gm45_remove_me.html
Lenovo ThinkPad R400
- ME/AMT: libreboot removes this, permanently. hcl/gm45_remove_me.html
Apple MacBook1,1 (MA255LL/A, MA254LL/A, MA472LL/A)
- See hcl/index.html#macbook11.
Apple MacBook2,1 (MA699LL/A, MA701LL/A, MB061LL/A, MA700LL/A, MB063LL/A, MB062LL/A)
- See hcl/index.html#macbook21.

Git. No changelog!

This version of libreboot is from git. It is not a stable release! If you are using a snapshot (tarball), you can find a file included called commitid which tells you what git revision it is from the libreboot git repository. If this is not a snapshot, then you have cloned libreboot, so you can simply run git log.

Did we forget to mention that this is from git?
This is from the libreboot git repository.

Tasks for future release

Board ports

Port to as many GM45 laptops as possible
- add roda rk9 support (contact nico to ask for more details about hw). This is GM45 but these machines do not have a descriptor (no ME), should be easy
- ThinkPad T400: http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/41
- ThinkPad T500: http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/42
- ThinkPad R500: http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/43
- port acer aspire 5738 to coreboot (gm45)? (and then libreboot). EC is the main blocker (no support in coreboot yet). ME isn't an issue, because its GM45 so it could be removed (it looks like this machine might also be shipped in non-descriptor mode by default, like the roda rk9). Search jv50 block diagram filetype:pdf for schematics. (jv50 is written on the board); noone seems to have found any documentation for the EC chip, but maybe it could be sufficiently reverse engineered via serialice and ectool.
- T400S and X301. These both seem to be GS45. X301 uses only the low-performance mode CPUs, so raminit is the main blocker there. They both probably use WSON-8 flash chips.
- Add proper GS45 raminit for enabling all X200S and X200 Tablets to work properly. (maybe other machines) See hcl/x200.html#x200s_raminit
Look into those machines:
- ThinkPad X201 - ME ignition is an issue. Watchdog for ME is an issue. Might be possible to disable watchdog in the flash descriptor (soft straps).
- T410S is supported but not yet merged. This uses the same chipset as the X201. http://review.coreboot.org/#/c/7975/ has the patch. This should be tested by someone and should ideally be merged in coreboot. pecg has one. help him.
- This page contains a list of basically every thinkpad that would ever be a candidate for libreboot: http://psref.lenovo.com/WithdrawnBook - take a look at this PDF.
- Lenovo G505S - might need video bios and microcode updates. These would have to be removed and/or replaced to be in libreboot https://github.com/alterapraxisptyltd/lenovo-g505s. It's AMD (not Intel) based on the same design as the HP Pavillion 1035DX. No ME/AMT to worry about! http://www.coreboot.org/User_talk:MrNuke/LTS_Candidates and http://www.coreboot.org/Board:hp/pavilion_m6_1035dx#Native_graphics_init
- F2A85-M and E350M1 (libreboot_*_headless.rom). Test openatom. SMU firmware is a problem. XHCI firmware is a problem.

Platform-specific bugs

Fix these issues on GM45/GS45 targets:
- X200: text-mode is broken. only framebuffer graphics work.
Fix these issues on i945 targets (X60/T60/macbook21)
- linux 3.18 broke acpi brightness on i945 (X60/T60). Libreboot reverted to legacy brightness for now. Look into why it broke on 3.18 (do a git bisect).
- i945: fix VRAM size (currently 8MB. should be 64MB). See future/index.html#i945_vram_size.
- i945: Linux 3.19 doesn't boot. (probably affects T60/macbook21). Preliminary bug report (kernel, linux) -- bogus. Based on earlier immature reports. -- the error message is probably not the issue, but something else. do a bisect of linux. Also, does the issue still occur on lenovobios? (no, they don't, according to Paul Menzel) pstuge said http://biosbits.org/ patricg says https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareEnablementTeam/Documentation/FirmwareTestSuiteLive
- Fix remaining incompatible LCD panels in native graphics on T60. See future/index.html#lcd_i945_incompatibility.
- i945: fix linux (if possible). VBT. http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2014-June/078104.html http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2014-June/078105.html This is talking about without native init / oprom. Paul reported it, look into it. i945 currently lacks fake_vbt tables.
- Commit 26ca08caf81ad2dcc9c8246a743d82ffb464c767 in coreboot, see the while (1) loop that waits for the panel to power up on i945. This is an infinite loop if the panel doesn't power up. Fix it. Also, are there panels that don't power up? Test this, and fix it.

Payload bugs

Related to MemTest86+:
- Todo: modify memtest86+ to work with libpayload (coreboot framebuffer) and delete all the text-mode ROM images. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/17
GRUB currently says unknown lvm type when trying to unlock a LUKS volume using cryptomount (last tested on the latest GRUB from git at around the beginning of March / end of February 2015) Bisect and fix it.

Build system

Make libreboot (all of it!) build reproducibly. This is very important. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/16.
Reduce the size of libreboot releases. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/19
- Proposal: unify ROM images (don't duplicate). See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/20.
Make memtest86+ build using coreboot's own crossgcc toolchain.
Make GRUB build using coreboot's own crossgcc toolchain

Improvements to the utilities

Make ich9gen/ich9deblob portable. They both rely extensively on bitfields, and they assume little-endian; for instance, mapping a little endian file directly to a struct, instead of serializing/deserializing. Re-factor both utilities and make them fully portable. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/18
Adapt linux-libre deblob scripts for use with coreboot. Libreboot is already deblobbed using its own script, but updating it is still a bit too manual. linux-libre's deblob scripts do an excellent job and (adapted) will make it much easier to maintain coreboot-libre.
Improve the deblobbing scripts (see http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/40)
- .spd.hex files. These aren't blobs? Don't remove them? (in coreboot). See deblob script. Categorize blobs and non-blobs more clearly, explaining what they are for and why they are (or are not) blobs.

Documentation improvements

Convert documentation to Sphinx/ReST See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/5 and http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/12
Maintainence manual. How to contribute to libreboot. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/11
Add information from hw registers on all boards. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/15
Add cubieboard SPI flashing instructions to libreboot. mrnuke's github page with patches. mrnuke in IRC knows about the cubieboard
LUKS key in initramfs: Add Trisquel documentation for docs/gnulinux/encrypted_trisquel.html. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/39
image, image, image - work with mrnuke on getting info about vultureprog PLCC flashing into libreboot. Libreboot needs server boards. https://github.com/mrnuke/vultureprog, https://github.com/mrnuke/qiprog, https://github.com/mrnuke/vultureprog-hardware. He also uses the sigrok logic analyzer (free/libre): http://www.dx.com/p/logic-analyzer-w-dupont-lines-and-usb-cable-for-scm-black-148945

Project (institutional) improvements

Look into the possibility of expanding libreboot to support non-coreboot systems. (u-boot, for instance). Currently, libreboot presents itself as a deblobbed coreboot distribution. There are other systems out there that use other firmware, such as u-boot, which libreboot could theoretically support. This would mean that the build scripts know how to build things other than just coreboot/grub.
- Allwinner A10 (ARM) SoCs
- PMON?
- barebox (u-boot derivative)
- etc
Set up a routine (project-wise) for testing each machine with the latest kernel version. See http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/22 and http://projects.mtjm.eu/work_packages/21

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Copyright © 2014, 2015 Francis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk>
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