Laptop: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:51, 3 October 2011

Recent progress of coreboot on laptops

coreboot supports the Getac P470 semi rugged notebook, based on Intel 82945GM/ICH7.
coreboot supports the Roda RK886EX (Rocky III+) laptop, based on Intel 82945GM/ICH7.
VIA has recently released open documentation for the VX700 and VX800 chipsets at the VIA Download Portal.
coreboot supports one variant of the Lenovo Thinkpad X60s.

Embedded controllers

The remaining issue with supporting netbooks may be open firmware support for the Embedded controller (EC). These ECs used to support keyboard scan, lid open/closed, battery charging, power management, etc.

coreboot should work with the "stock" EC firmware. This may still be a challenge because "we don't know what we don't know". Behavior at runtime is fairly standardized, but we don't know what we need to do for initialization - do we need to set up registers, put in tables, kick things, or will it all Just Work (TM)?

HOWTO to find a way

find a model and manufacturer of your laptop
download these tools:

 # superiotool ( svn co svn://coreboot.org/coreboot/trunk/util/superiotool )
 # inteltool ( svn co svn://coreboot.org/coreboot/trunk/util/inteltool )
 # ectool ( svn co svn://coreboot.org/coreboot/trunk/util/ectool )
 # dmidecode ( cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.nongnu.org:/sources/dmidecode co dmidecode )
 # msrtool (svn co svn://coreboot.org/coreboot/trunk/util/msrtool )
 # nvramtool ( svn co svn://coreboot.org/coreboot/trunk/util/nvramtool )
 # flashrom ( svn co svn://coreboot.org/flashrom/trunk flashrom )

make and install them (make; sudo make install) - you need at least libpci/pciutils
check that your distro have this tools and install them:

 # lspci
 # dmesg
 # acpitool
 # lspnp
 # lsusb

Do this commands:

 # lspci -nnvvvxxxx > lscpi.log
 # lspnp -vv > lspnp.log
 # lsusb -vvv > lsusb.log
 # superiotool -deV > superiotool.log
 # inteltool -a > inteltool.log
 # ectool > ectool.log
 # msrtool > msrtool.log
 # dmidecode > dmidecode.log
 # biosdecode > biosdecode.log
 # nvramtool -x > nvramtool.log
 # dmesg > dmesg.log
 # flashrom -V -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick > flashrom_info.log
 # flashrom -V -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick -r rom.bin > flashrom_read.log

Save all logs in safe place, and also rom.bin file.
try to find information - what EC or Super I/O chip is used in your laptop (may be some info in Service Manuals or Disassembly guides)
if you see that ectool return some fake staff - like only 'FF' or '00' - so you have custom EC configuration, it's a hard work for support
if you see that ectool return looks like 'right' output - you have a big chances for support
you need to find from thease outputs Super I/O / EC chip name, or if not see this - disassembly your laptop
try to find your Super I/O / EC chip datasheet

Laptop survey

This not a list of coreboot supported laptops. This page only lists the chipsets, Super I/Os, flash chips, and especially embedded controllers used in a few laptops, just for reference purposes.

Vendor	Model	CPU	Chipset NB	Chipset SB	Super I/O	EC	Flash Chip	Flash Size	Flash S.	Flash T.	Owner
ASUS	S96F/Z96F	Intel Core™2 Duo T7400	Intel i945	Intel ICH7	ITE IT8510E	in Super I/O	?	?	?	?	macavity
Acer	Aspire One ZG5	Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz	Intel 82945GME	Intel NH82801GBM ICH7-M	Winbond WPCE775LA0DG	in Super I/O	Winbond 25x80AVSIG	8Mb	no	SOIP/DIP	XVilka
Acer	Aspire 3613LC	Intel Celeron M 370 1.5GHz L2: 1MB	Intel 82910GML	Intel FW82801FBM SL7W6 ICH6-M	?	?	PMC 0537 PM39LV040-70JCE	1Mb	no	SOIP/DIP	XVilka
Dell	Latitude CPi A366XT	PII, 360 MHz	Intel 440BX		SMSC FDC37N958FR	in Super I/O	AMD AM29F040B	512KB	yes	PLCC	UH
Dell	Latitude C610	PIII, 1.2 GHz	Intel i830		SMSC LPC47N252	in Super I/O	SST SST49LF004A	512KB	no	PLCC	CybFr
Dell	Dell Vostro V13	Intel Celeron 743 1.2GHz, L2: 1MB (Ultra Low Voltage)	Mobile Intel GS45 Express GHMC	Intel 82801IEM ICH9M-E	none	ITE IT8502E	Winbond 25Q16BVSIG	2Mb	no	SOIP/PDIP	XVilka
Dell	XPS M1530	Intel Core™2 Duo T7700	Intel PM965	Intel ICH8	none	Winbond WPC8763L	Winbond 25X16VSIG	16Mb	??	SPI	Corey Osgood
Fujitsu-S.	Lifebook S-4572	PIII, 750 MHz	Intel 82440MX		SMSC FDC37N769	?	Fujitsu MBM29F400T¹	?	no	TSOP(?)	UH
Fujitsu-S.	Lifebook S7110	Intel Core™2 Duo T7200	Intel i945	Intel ICH7	SMSC LPC47N217	Fujitsu MB90378	Spansion S25FL008A²	1024 kB	no	SO8 / SPI	twice11
Gateway	W730-K8X	Socket 754		??	??	??	SST 39VF040	??	yes	PLCC	Juri
Gateway	6020GZ	Celeron M 1.4Ghz	Intel 855GME		??	??	??	??	no	??	Juri
Gericom	Webboy 340S2	PIII	SiS630		NSC PC87393VJG	NSC PC87570	Winbond 29C020	256 kB	yes	PLCC	NS
Getac	P470	Intel® Core 2 Duo Mobile	Intel 945	Intel ICH7	?	?	?	8Mb	no	SPI / SOIC8	Stefan Reinauer
Highscreen	XD 14-C1700	Intel Celeron 1.7 GHz	SiS650		NSC PC87391(?)	?	EON EN29F040(A)	512 kB	yes	PLCC	UH
HP	Omnibook XE3(L)	PIII, 750 MHz	Intel 82371MB	Intel PIIX4M	SMSC FDC37N869	NSC PC87570	SST 28SF040A	512 kB	no	PLCC	UH
IBM	Thinkpad T30	Intel P4 Mobile, 1.8 GHz	Intel i845	Intel ICH3-M	NSC PC87392	Renesas H8S 64F3169ATE10	ST M50FW080N5	1024 kB	no	TSOP40 / FWH	edgecase
IBM	Thinkpad X60s	Intel Core Duo CPU L2300	Intel i945GM	Intel ICH7-M	NSC PC87392 (in Ultrabase)	Renesas H8S2161B	MX25L1605D	2048 kB	no	SOIC-8	Sven Schnelle
MSI	Wind U100	Intel Atom N280 1.66Ghz	Intel 945GSE	Intel ICH7-M	?	ENE KB3310	SST MX25L8005	8 Mb	no	TSOP40 / SPI	?
One	A110	VIA C7-M ULV 1.0 GHz	VIA VX800		none	ENE KB3310	?	?	no	?	UH
Panasonic	Toughbook CF-25	P166MMX	FW82439TX (430TX)	FW82371AB	NSC PC87336VJG	Renesas 3886	SST SST29EE020	256 kB	no	?	Miernik
Roda	Rocky III+ RK886EX	Intel® Core 2 Duo Mobile T5500	Intel 945	Intel ICH7	SMSC® LPC47N227	Renesas M38859	SST SST49LF080	8Mb	yes	PLCC	Stefan Reinauer
Roda	Rocky II+ RT686	Intel Pentium III	Intel 430BX	Intel FW82371EB	SMSC® FDC37N769	Renesas M38867M8A	SST SST29LE020	256KB	yes	PLCC/parallel	UH
Sony	Vaio Picturebook PCG-C1XD	P2 400	443ZX		?	?	ST M29W004BT	512 kB	no		Miernik
Sony	Vaio Picturebook PCG-C1X	P266MMX	430TX		?	?	?	?	?	?	Miernik
Toshiba	Libretto 50M PA1243CM	P133	custom FPGA		?	?	?	?	?	?	Miernik
Toshiba	Satellite A80-117	Intel Celeron	Intel 915GM	Intel ICH6	SMSC LPC47N217	ENE KB910	?	1024 kB	no	TSOP (?)	UH

¹ According to the vendor BIOS update tool.
² Nice thing: EC/Flash is not shared, so you can erase the whole flash during system operation (this was tested).

Further links:

Mailinglist discussion

A few earlier coreboot discussions on laptops are linked here, you might get useful information out of them:

Who really makes your laptop?

There are several various brands of laptops, but there are only a few actual laptop makers.

Name brand companies like Hewlet Packard, Compaq, IBM, Dell, Gateway, Sony, Micron, Toshiba and others; including Alienware and Voodoo do not make their own laptops. The exceptions are Asus and Apple, and even Apple doesn't make all of their laptops.

Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) make the laptops for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). They in turn, add their preloaded hard drives and sell them to consumers. This is why a laptop is a bit more complicated to support with coreboot. The OEM's may not even have all the specifications for the laptop since the ODM has done all the design and assembly.

Some laptop ODMs are:

Quanta makes laptops for Sony, Dell, and IBM
Inventec and Arima make the Compaq line
Compal also makes IBM and Dell lines, as well as Hewlett Packard
Clevo makes the popular Alienware and Voodoo gaming laptops

Further links:

Random product links

VIA has a list of many netbooks at VIA Partner Mobility Devices.

VIA also has information on other mobile platforms at VIA Mobility Platform.

The Quanta IL1 vx800 based reference design covers similar models/clones such as:

One Mini A110/A115/A120/A140/A150/A470
Airis Kira 100/350/740
Norhtec Gecko
Pioneer DreamBook Light IL1
CTL IL1 More CTL IL1 info with tear-down pics.
ACi Ethos 7
BDSI Deep Blue H1

Other vx800 based netbooks:

Netbook designs that use the VIA vx700 chipset:

There are also several AMD 690/600 laptops still available that may be candidates as well:

Intel Atom with i945 chipset netbooks:

@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 == Laptop survey ==
-This page lists the chipsets, Super I/Os, flash chips, and especially [[embedded controller]]s used in various laptops.
+This not a list of coreboot supported laptops. This page only lists the chipsets, Super I/Os, flash chips, and especially [[embedded controller]]s used in a few laptops, just for reference purposes.
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