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diff --git a/HOWTO/EPIA-M-howto b/HOWTO/EPIA-M-howto deleted file mode 100644 index 275cc91444..0000000000 --- a/HOWTO/EPIA-M-howto +++ /dev/null @@ -1,593 +0,0 @@ - -This HOWTO contains instructions for using LinuxBIOSv2 on the VIA EPIA-M and MII -mini-itx based motherboards. - -Version 1.0 initial write for LinuxBIOSv2 by Nick Barker - -Using materials and inspiration from -- EPIA HOWTO for freebios/linuxbios by Mark Wilkinson -- Based on the K7SEM HOWTO by Brenden Bixler, -- which is based on the Sis 630 HOWTO by Ron Minnich. -- Getting Started with freebios2 - a mail posting by Jay Miller - -Unfortunately, there is a step in this HOWTO that could be hazardous. The -hazards include (but are not limited to) - 1) destroying your motherboard - 2) hurting yourself - 3) killing yourself - -Because of these hazards, you must take full responsibility if you -decide to install LinuxBIOSv2 following these procedures. Neither the -author of this HOWTO or any organisation or individual associated with -the LinuxBIOSv2 project can be held responsible for any adverse consequences -of your attempt to follow these procedures. - -WARNING: We assume you've built kernels, know how to open up your PC, -and how to yank the flash part out while power is on and put in a -different part. There is NO WARRANTY, express or implied, with this -software. In fact, if you don't know what you're doing, and you get -careless, you're going to end up with a nice paperweight instead of a -motherboard, an emergency room bill, or a funeral service. - - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. - -Additional information available at: http://www.linuxbios.org/ - -Linux distribution: Most modern distributions are supported. - -Other software notes: You MUST have 'as' version 2.9.5 or later. - You MUST have 'gcc' version other than 2.96. - - -Pre-requisites --------------- - -Before you start there are a few things which you need to arrange: - -Since you are going to be re-programming the flash rom on the mainboard, and -it is likely that you first few attempts / images will not be right, then -you need a way of restoring a known working bios onto a board which is otherwise -dead. - -Recommended: you might want to get a Bios Saviour (RD1-PL) - this is -a handy little piggy-back flash chip that saves you destroying the original -flash image. This howto assumes that you have this device, though other methods -and devices exist for programming flash roms. - -LinuxBIOSv2 sends debugging output through the first serial port. You might want -to arrange a null modem serial cable for connecting this serial port to a -second computer running a terminal emulation program. I use 'microcom' which -is simple and allows all output to be captured into a file for later analysis. -The port is set up to use 115200 baud, 8bit, No parity, 1 stop bit. - -Under LinuxBIOSv2 you have a choice of 'payloads'. The payload is the program -which LinuxBIOSv2 hands over to once it has finished initialising everything -on the mainboard at boot time. The payload is included in the flash rom along -with LinuxBIOSv2, and usually its function is to locate and load the operating -system. The 2 most common payloads are FILO, for booting Linux off an IDE -disk, and Etherboot for booting a diskless workstation accross a network. -This howto assumes the use of FILO. - -A vga bios image. LinuxBIOS2v2 uses the vga bios of the original Via BIOS to -initialise the vga. It is not directly downloadable, but you can capture it from -a system running with the original bios, so you might as well capture it now: - dd if=/dev/mem of=/video.bios.bin \ - bs=1 count=65536 skip=790528 - - -Getting Going -------------- - -The steps for loading LinuxBIOSv2 are simple: -1) Get Linux installed on your machine. -2) Download and install LinuxBIOSv2 sources. -3) Understand how to flash your rom. -4) Download, Configure and build the FILO payload -5) Configure and build LinuxBIOSv2. -6) Burn the LinuxBIOSv2 image to the flash. -7) Reset the machine -- did it work? - -Options Once it has booted - i) Speeding up the boot - ii) Enhancing ACPI support -iii) On EPIA-MII, booting the computer from on-board compact flash - - -Step 1) - Get Linux installed on your LinuxBIOSv2 machine. - Don't forget to note which partition is / (/dev/hda3 etc.) - - -Step 2) - Grab the LinuxBIOSv2 source. - cd to the directory you want the source tree to be. - - Note: this will create a sub directory called LinuxBIOSv2 which contains - the LinuxBIOSv2 source code - - Download the latest code for LinuxBIOSv2 from the downloads page at - http://www.linuxbios.org - - - having expanded the tarball, cd into the LinuxBIOSv2 directory and browse around. - The top level directory includes: - - 'src' - where all of the source files for LinuxBIOSv2 are located. - 'targets' - where all of the platform specific configuration files - for each platform supported by LinuxBIOSv2 are kept, and - where the build files and build process occur. - 'util' - where various utilities required for the build process - and debugging are kept. - - - Hereafter, this howto refers to directory locations relative to these directories, - unless an absolute pathlist is given. - -Step 3) - Whilst getting LinuxBIOSv2 going on your EPIA-M, you are almost - certainly going to be re-programming the flash rom several times, and - there is a very high probability that at one of these stages you will - get a flash rom that fails to boot your mainboard into Linux. - - Before we proceed any further, it is absolutley vital that you have - worked out how to program the flash chip, and how you are going to - get back to your original bios when things go wrong. Otherwise you - will end up with a very expensive paper weight as described earlier. - - You can use a professional Data I/O burner, or you can be foolhardy - and simply re-program the flash part of a running machine. However - whilst getting going a BIOS SAVIOUR RD1-PL is a very inexpensive - but effective device for ensuring that you always have a working - BIOS to hand. - - The bios saviour is a little device which plugs into the flash rom - socket of the motherboard, and the original flash rom then plugs into - the bios saviour. The bios saviour includes a second flash rom chip, - and either of these chips can be selected as the active chip by a - simple supplied electrical switch mounted on flying leads. Make - sure that this switch is clearly visible, so that you know which - chip you are booting from, and which chip you are about to re-program. - - Decide which chip you are going to use for LinuxBIOSv2, and which chip - you are going to keep the original working bios in, and mark them - clearly on this switch. - - In the 'util/flash_and_burn' directory is the source for the 'flash_rom' - utility, which is great for re-programming the flash chips on the - EPIA-M / MII. Once you have built this utility: - - Make sure that it can detect both flash chips on the bios saviour: - with switch set to chip 1 run 'flash_rom' - flash rom should search through a list of known flash rom - device types until it finds the type of the original chip - from your EPIA-M, and report what it has found. - - with the switch set to chip 2, run 'flash_rom' again and confirm - that it can 'see' the second flash chip. - - If your are lucky, the actual part number of the 2 chips may - be different, which you can use just prior to re-programming - a chip to make sure you are programming the right chip. - - Make sure that you can read / write and verify a flash chip: - with switch set to 1 (original BIOS) run - 'flash_rom -r original.rom' - this should read the contents of the original bios into the - file original.rom - - confirm that the newly read file matches the original bios - 'flash_rom -v original.rom' - - set the switch to 2 - confirm if you can that flash_rom 'sees' the second chip - 'flash_rom' - and look for the detected device type - - write the known good bios to the second chip with - 'flash_rom -w original.bios' - - verify that it has written correctly - 'flash_rom -v original.rom' - - with switch left at position 2, reboot the machine and make - sure that it comes up corectly. If it does then you now have - a working flash programming environment. If it does not, then - set the switch back to 1, reboot the machine, and investigate - further. - -Step 4) - Download FILO from http://felixx.tsn.or.jp/~ts1/filo, and expand - - In the FILO source directory, type 'make' - - The first invocation of make builds the default Config file, which - should be edited to meet your needs. In particular look at the line: - - "AUTOBOOT_FILE ...." - - and make sure that it looks sensible for your setup. The line - AUTOBOOT_FILE "hda1:/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 console=ttyS0,115200" - reads as: - - find a linux os image on device hda partion 1 called vmlinuz, - - load this image - - execute the image passing kernel command line parameters of: - "root=/dev/hda2 console=ttyS0,115200" - - after editing Config, type 'make' again, and this will build the file - 'filo.elf' which is the payload we will be using. - - Copy this file to somewhere which the LinuxBIOSv2 makefile can easily - find it. I just tend to keep it in the root directory though I'm sure - others will condem me for that practise: - 'cp filo.elf /' - - Make sure that you have compiled a kernel bzImage, and copied it to - the file location you identified in the FILO Config file. - - -Step 5) - The next step is to create the build environment for the epia-m. This - step creates the appropriate makefiles and build directories for the - epia-m. - - 'cd targets' - './buildtarget via/epia-m' - - This step will create a subdirectory in the targets/via/epia-m - directory called epia-m, which is the build directory for LinuxBIOSv2. - - The main configuration file for the epia-m is in - 'targets/via/epia-m/Config.lb' - - If you need to make any changes to the configuration, for example you wish to - locate filo.elf in a place other than '/filo.elf', or during the more advanced - steps of this HOWTO, then these changes are made to this file. - - You need to re-run the './buildtartegt via/epia-m' after any such change. - - The directory 'targets/via/epia-m' contains other sample Config.lb files, any - of which can be copied through to Config.lb in order to become the current - configuration. - - Once you have your Config.lb set up to your needs, and the build environment - created with './buildtarget', it is time to build a rom image. - - Change directory into the build directory 'targets/via/epia-m/epia-m' - - The configuration as set up by the buildtarget process will create a LinuxBIOS - which is exactly 196608 bytes long, which is exactly 64K bytes short of what - needs to go into the 256K flash rom. The other 64K is for your vga bios - which is simply merged with the linuxbios image. The easiest way to make this - happen is to edit the Makefile and change the line - - cat fallback/linuxbios.rom > linuxbios.rom - - to - - cat /video.bios.bin fallback/linuxbios.rom >linuxbios.rom - - Note: the above order of merging the files together is critical - - You will need to remember to make this change every time after you have run - the buildtarget program. - - Type 'make', and wait for the build process to complete. - - If all went well, then you should find a file 'linuxbios.rom' in your - current directory. Check that it is 262144 bytes long - i.e. exactly the right - size for the flash rom chip in your EPIA-M / MII. - - - -Step 6) - NOTE: BE ADVISED THAT THIS STEP CAN KILL YOUR MOTHERBOARD ! - IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MEANS OF RECOVERING FROM FLASHING YOUR BIOS, - YOU MAY/WILL BE LEFT WITH A DEAD MACHINE. - - - Assuming that you are using a Bios Saviour, make sure that the switch is set - to the position for your LinuxBIOSv2 image. - - Type 'flash_rom' to make sure it can see the flash chip, and verify its type if - possible. - - Only once you are happy that you are about to re-programme the desired chip, type - 'flash_rom -w linuxbios.rom', and wait the few seconds it takes to program it. - - Once it has finished, verify that the chip was re-rogrammed correctly - type - 'flash_rom -v linuxbios.rom' - - - -Step 7) - Power cycle the machine. LinuxBIOSv2 should come up in a few seconds. - - With a connection to the serial port set at 115200, you should see LinuxBIOSv2 - come up, launch FILO, and if you have a timeout set in FILO, then it may be - waiting for you to confirm its boot command line. - - As long as you have this command line set up correctly, and an os image in the - right place, then FILO should proceed to boot into your Linux os. - - If you do, CONGRATULATIONS ! It WORKED ! Pat yourself on the back, - why not try the optional steps now ? - - If you don't, time to start capturing the output of the serial port - and talking to the linuxbios mailing list. - - -Optional steps - for use only if step 7 was successfull. - -OK so now we have a BIOS which boots your computer fully into the operating system, and -depending upon your needs that may be all that you want. However LinuxBIOSv2 has a few more -tricks up its sleeve should you find yourself hungry for more. - -Speeding up the boot --------------------- - -Linuxbios sends its debugging output to the first serial port and, depending upon the amount of debug -output selected, can be the limiting factor in the speed with which it boots your computer - regardless -of whether you have anything attached to the serial port. - -Linuxbios uses the notion of debug levels to control what is sent to the serial port. These levels -range from 0 to 9 with 0 being the least verbose and 9 being the most verbose. - -These levels are defined in the Config.lb file described earlier. To reduce the output set: - option MAXIMUM_CONSOLE_LOGLEVEL=8 - option DEFAULT_CONSOLE_LOGLEVEL=8 -to lower values. - -Next you will have to run 'buildtarget' again to propagate the effects of the config change. -Then edit your Makefile again to include your video bios in the final merging. - -Then run 'make clean' followed by 'make'. - - -Advanced ACPI -------------- - - LinuxBIOSv2 now supports ACPI on the epia-m and epia-m II. In particular the interrupt - processing in Linux can be done through ACPI, and crude power management support - is provided. This includes software power off, and power management events from the - power button. - - It is possible to enhance this behaviour to provide the full capabilities of the - original BIOS, which includes different sleep levels and wake from these levels - upon certain events. This is achieved by using a 'grabbed' copy of the ACPI - Differentiated System Descriptor Table or DSDT from the original BIOS. - - For copyright reasons this table cannot be included with the source distribution - of LinuxBIOSv2. - - - You MUST have 'iasl' - Intel's ACPI Asl compiler for Unix/Linux - - http://developer.intel.com/technology/iapc/acpi/downloads.htm. - - - To replace the LinuxBIOSv2 DSDT with the grabbed one from the original BIOS: - - - Start the computer using the original BIOS, and make sure that you - have ACPI set up in the kernel that you are running - - - Grab the DSDT table - 'cat /proc/acpi/dsdt >dsdt.aml' - - Convert to asl code - 'iasl -d dsdt.aml' (creates dsdt.dsl) - - Convert it to a C hex table - 'iasl -tc dsdt.dsl' (creates dsdt.hex) - - Replace the file 'src/mainboard/via/epia-m/dsdt.c with dsdt.hex - - Now re-build LinuxBIOSv2, re-program the flash and power cycle. - - If you wish to return to the LinuxBIOSv2 DSDT, then the original file dsdt.asl can be converted - into a C hex file using 'iasl -tc dsdt.asl' - - - -Boot from Onboard Compact Flash (MII only) ------------------------------------------- - - LinuxBIOSv2 now supports the onboard compact flash on the MII as an IDE drive, - and it is possible to boot directly from this drive using the following steps. - - The first step is to get Filo or whatever payload you are using to recognise - and use this device. - - In order that the pcmcia subsystem of the Linux kernel can correctly configure - the device later on in the boot process the CF is set up with its I/O - registers in a contiguous block of 16 bytes at 0x1e0 through 0x1ef. Unfortunately - this is not a standard IDE address which is why we need to 'fix' filo to use it. - (Actually it is half of the address range used by IDE4, and so we need to - be careful to tell the kernel not to probe that address - more on that later). - - The first step is to change the filo Config file. - 1) Comment out SUPPORT_PCI=1. This line instructs filo to search for PCI based IDE - adapters only, and the CF is not attached to a PCI based IDE controller. - 2) Add the following two lines somewhere in the Config file: - IDE2_CMD = 0x1e0 - IDE2_CNTRL =0x1ec - - - The second step is to modify the file drivers/ide.c in the filo source directory. - Find the function 'find_ide_controller_compat' and change it to look like - - static int find_ide_controller_compat(struct controller *ctrl, int index) - { - if (index >= IDE_MAX_CONTROLLERS) - return -1; - #ifdef IDE2_CMD - if(index == 2){ - ctrl->cmd_base = IDE2_CMD; - ctrl->ctrl_base = IDE2_CNTRL; - return 0; - } - #endif - ctrl->cmd_base = ide_base[index]; - ctrl->ctrl_base = ide_base[index] + IDE_REG_EXTENDED_OFFSET; - return 0; - } - Filo will now recognise the CF as the first device on the third IDE controller - (i.e. ide2), and can be referred to as 'hde' - - - The next step is to create an initrd file for your Linux kernel. What? Why? - The CF socket on your MII is hardwired to the PCMCIA controller and for all intents - and purposes it is a PCMCIA device. This means that once Linux boots it will be under - the control of the pcmcia manager. Now according to the pcmcia-utils documentation, - the pcmcia manager is intended to control and configure devices on an already - running system. Yet if we need the CF to be the root device, it needs to be mounted - very early on in the boot sequence, before the stage where pcmcia devices would normally - be configured. The answer is to use an initrd file to get the pcmcia manager running early - for the CF. If you are unfamiliar with initrd then 'man initrd' will give you more background. - - - The easiest way to create an initrd is to use the script 'mkcfinitrd' which is at the bottom - of this howto. This is a tailored version of the 'pcinitrd' script from the pcmcia-utils package. - Make sure that 'ash' is available on your system as this is the tiny shell programme used during - the initrd phase of booting. - - It is worth mounting the initrd generated, and looking over it to make sure that - it contains all of the modules necessary to load and initialise the CF. It does not - need drivers for whatever you use in the pcmcia socket, as that can be initialised - later on in the boot process as before. - - Finally gzip the file created, and move it alongside your kernel. - - Next adjust your FILO command line to pick things up from the CF. My linux command - line in filo looks like: - - AUTOBOOT_FILE = "hde:/vmlinuz initrd=hde:/initrd.gz root=/dev/hde console=tty0 ide4=noprobe" - - The ide4=noprobe option is required to stop the kernel from probing the address used - by the CF. As this address is half that used as the standard address for a fifth (i.e. ide4) - controller, the kernel hangs whilst trying to initialise this device if this option - is not given. - - Finally make sure that you have copied the necessary files onto your CF, and re-boot - your computer. - - - -******************* mkcfinitrd script ************************************** -#!/bin/sh -# -# Utility for constructing CF initrd for Epia-MII CF Boot -# -# Copyright (C) 2005 Nick Barker -- nick.barker9@btinternet.com -# -# Based on pcinitrd -# Copyright (C) 1999 David A. Hinds -- dahinds@users.sourceforge.net - -SIZE=2400 -MODULES="pcmcia/pcmcia_core.o pcmcia/ds.o pcmcia/yenta_socket.o" -BLK="kernel/drivers/ide/legacy/ide-cs.o" -KERNEL=`uname -r` -MODDIR=/lib/modules/$KERNEL -BIN="bin/mount bin/umount sbin/insmod sbin/cardmgr" -LIB=`ls /lib/libc.so.? | sort | tail -1` -ETC="/etc/ld.so.cache /etc/pcmcia/config /etc/pcmcia/config.opts" -DEV="/dev/console /dev/null /dev/ram /dev/tty1 /dev/tty2 /dev/tty3 /dev/tty4" -MNT=/tmp/initrd.mnt - -# name of the initrd file to make -TARGET=/tmp/initrd - -fail() -{ - umount $MNT - rmdir $MNT - exit 1 -} -trap fail SIGTERM SIGINT - -strip_cp() -{ - if [ -d $3 ] ; then - DEST=$3/`basename $2` - else - DEST=$3 - fi - strip $1 --verbose -o $DEST $2 | sed -e 's/([^ ]*)//g' || fail -} - -mkdir --verbose $MNT || exit 1 - -echo "Creating filesystem on $TARGET" -if [ -b $TARGET ] ; then - rm $TARGET || fail -fi - -dd if=$ROOT/dev/zero of=$TARGET bs=1k count=$SIZE -echo "y" | mke2fs $TARGET $SIZE >/dev/null || fail -mount --verbose -t ext2 -o loop $TARGET $MNT || fail - - -rm -rf $MNT/lost+found -echo "Creating Directories on $TARGET" -for DIR in bin dev etc lib proc tmp mnt ; do - mkdir --verbose $MNT/$DIR || fail -done -for DIR in block misc fs net pcmcia ; do - mkdir --verbose $MNT/lib/$DIR || fail -done - -echo "Copying Files to $TARGET" -for F in $DEV ; do - cp -a --verbose /$F $MNT/dev || fail -done -if [ -e /dev/systty ] ; then - cp -a --verbose /dev/systty $MNT/dev || fail -fi - -for F in $BIN ; do - strip_cp --strip-all /$F $MNT/bin -done -strip_cp --strip-all /bin/ash $MNT/bin/sh - -for F in $LIB ; do - strip_cp --strip-debug /$F $MNT/lib -done -cp --verbose /lib/ld-linux.so.? $MNT/lib || fail - -for F in $ETC ; do - cp --verbose /$F $MNT/etc || fail -done -for F in scsi network ftl ide memory serial ; do - touch $MNT/etc/$F ; chmod +x $MNT/etc/$F -done - -for MOD in $MODULES ; do - strip_cp --strip-debug $MODDIR/$MOD $MNT/lib/$MOD -done - -strip_cp --strip-debug $MODDIR/$BLK $MNT/lib/block/ide-cs.o - -echo "Creating linuxrc startup script" -cat > $MNT/linuxrc <<- 'EOF' - #!/bin/sh - - mount -t proc /proc /proc - - echo "" - echo "==== initrd: starting PCMCIA services ====" - echo "" - PC=/lib/pcmcia - insmod $PC/pcmcia_core.o - insmod $PC/yenta_socket.o - insmod $PC/ds.o - insmod /lib/block/ide-cs.o - if [ "$DEBUG" != "" ] ; then V=-v ; fi - cardmgr $V -q -o -c /etc -m /lib -s /tmp/stab -p /tmp/pid - umount /proc - echo "" - - if [ "$DEBUG" != "" ] ; then - /bin/sh < /dev/console - fi -EOF -chmod +x $MNT/linuxrc - -df -P $MNT | awk '/tmp/ { printf "%dK/%dK used\n",$3,$2 }' -umount $VERBOSE $MNT -rmdir $MNT -echo "Finished $TARGET" -echo "Now gzip $TARGET to create final initrd.gz" -exit 0 - -*************************** end mkcfinitrd ***********************************
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