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You probably came here trying to find a small (minutes to hours) and easy task where you can get your hands dirty and get results immediately.
You probably came here trying to find a small (minutes to hours) and easy task where you can get your hands dirty and get results immediately.


If you're a coreboot or flashrom newbie, this page is for you.
If you're a flashrom newbie, this page is for you.


= flashrom =
= Open tasks =


The [[flashrom]] tool can read/write coreboot/BIOS images from/to flash chips.
== Find chips without voltage data ==
We have added allowed supply voltage ranges (usually denoted VCC in datasheets) to the chip definitions in flashchips.c, but not all of them.
Complete the list by looking for the right datasheet and editing flashchips.c accordingly.


== Add timing info to flash chip definitions ==
== Find boards that have a board enable but are not mentioned in print.c ==
There may be a few boards that had a [[Board Enable]] added (in board_enable.c) but which were not added to the array named boards_known in print.c (usually by mistake).
 
Find those and send a list or even a patch for print.c to the mailing list.
 
Even better would be an automatic detection of such mistakes.
We already do some sanity checks on startup (cf. <tt>selfcheck()</tt> in <tt>flashrom.c</tt>).
 
== Add timing info to flash chip definitions (mostly done) ==


Go through the list of flash chips in flashchips.c inside the flashrom source. For each chip (except SPI chips), read through the data sheets and add a comment to the flash chip definition which contains the timing information in microseconds(!) for the probe sequence.
Go through the list of flash chips in flashchips.c inside the flashrom source. For each chip (except SPI chips), read through the data sheets and add a comment to the flash chip definition which contains the timing information in microseconds(!) for the probe sequence.
Line 15: Line 25:
Every annotated chip helps.
Every annotated chip helps.


== Add the bus type to flashrom flash chip definitions (done) ==
== Add new flash chip definitions ==


Go through the list of flash chips in flashchips.c inside the flashrom source. Look for chip definitions which have .bustype = CHIP_BUSTYPE_NONSPI and look at their data sheets. Read the data sheets and try to figure out the flash bus they use (Parallel/LPC/FWH/SPI). Change the bustype field to CHIP_BUSTYPE_PARALLEL etc. and post a patch to the list.
We have a few dozen chip IDs listed in flash.h, but not in flashchips.c. You can find them by running '''util/list_yet_unsupported_chips.sh'''. Then dig up the data sheets and add chip definitions for them to flashchips.c. You can use similar flash chips as a guideline. Check our list of pending patches (http://patchwork.coreboot.org/project/flashrom/list/) to not duplicate someone's work. Reviewing any pending patches by verifying the values in the patches is of course also very welcomed too! The process of adding a chip and the needed data structures are explained [[Development_Guidelines#Adding.2Freviewing_a_new_flash_chip|here]].


This will make probing faster and more reliable.
This will reduce the number of undetected chips and every added chip broadens flashrom support.


Even a single updated chip helps.
== Add (ferroelectric, F-RAM) SPI chips made by Cypress / Ramtron ==


[[Flashrom#Communication_bus_protocol]] has a writeup on how to figure out the bus type.
http://www.cypress.com/products/f-ram-serial


== Add new flash chip definitions ==
Example datasheet: http://www.cypress.com/file/41676/download


We have a few dozen chip IDs listed in flash.h, but not in flashchips.c. Find them, dig up the data sheets and add chip definitions for them to flashchips.c. You can use similar flash chips as a guideline.
These work mostly like SPI flashes, except for (these are just the biggest points):
 
* No erase command (or erasing necessary)
This will reduce the number of undetected chips.
* 2-byte addresses (atleast for smaller/older devices)
 
Every added chip broadens flashrom support.


== Test flashrom ==
== Test flashrom ==


If you have a desktop (no laptops/notebooks/netbooks), please run
Please see the [[Board Testing HOWTO]].
flashrom
and check if it finds your flash chip. If it does and any of the operations are listed as unsupported, we'd like to hear about it. If your flash chip is not found, we'd like to hear about it as well.
 
In both cases, please send the output of
flashrom -V
to the flashrom [[Mailinglist|mailing list]].
 
= coreboot =
 
I'll skip explaining what coreboot is. The whole wiki is about this topic and I can't summarize it in one sentence.
 
== coreboot v2 ==
 
The workhorse version of coreboot. Lots of supported boards, but difficult to work with.
 
===AMD 740G information gathering===
(This project description is not finished yet)
 
If you have a board with AMD 740G chipset, please run (as root)
flashrom -V
lspci -nnvvvxxxx
superiotool -edV
dmidecode
and mail the output to the [[Mailinglist|coreboot mailing list]] together with the exact model number/name of your board.
 
This helps us evaluate which boards are good targets for coreboot.
 
Here are some boards:
http://www.czechcomputer.cz/cat_tree.jsp?bpath=Z%C3%A1kladn%C3%AD+desky\Socket+AM2%2B\AMD+740G
 
===Use CBFS wherever possible===


* src/cpu/amd/model_lx/vsmsetup.c is a very good candidate. The VSM blobs should be loaded from CBFS.
== Add support for multiple slaves to the ft2232_spi programmer ==


== coreboot v3 ==
The FT232H for example has 4 generic GPIO pins that could be used as additional CS pins. Think about useful command line arguments (what about other programmers that support similar functionality, e.g. by supporting multiple CS pins natively?) before you start.
An example how this could look like [http://patchwork.coreboot.org/patch/3660/ exists] already.


The next generation version of coreboot. Few supported boards, still in the design testing phase, easy to work with.
== Replace programmer_delay() with internal_sleep() where appropriate ==


TODO: Add easy tasks here.
If a delay call does not depend on precise timing and if the '''programmer''' in question '''does not offer its own delay function''', programmer_delay() can be replaced with internal_sleep().
If a delay call does not depend on precise timing and if the delay '''should run on the host''', programmer_delay() can be replaced with internal_sleep().


= Payloads =
= Done =


coreboot can use a number of different [[Payloads|payloads]].
== Add automatic uploading of log files ==
We have a pastebin at http://paste.flashrom.org. Create a patch that (if enabled) automatically uploads the output of a flashrom run to it using [http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/ libcurl] or a similar library (free license, cross-platform).


== Add/test new supported payloads ==
''PoC sent by Michael Coppola, but so far rejected by Carl-Daniel.''


* Test syslinux (probably requires [[SeaBIOS]] in addition, needs to be checked).
== Tag SPI chips in flashchips.c with the status register write command according to their datasheets ==
* Port [[GPXE]] to "native" coreboot (it works fine together with [[SeaBIOS]] though).


= Other =
Usually the status register of SPI chips is write protected and has to be made accessible by one of two possible commands (or by either one). We indicate this by setting 2 bits in the feature flags of the chip definition in flashchips.c.
The default is EWSR (see spi_write_status_register in spi25.c) and so no chips needing this have been tagged correctly (yet!).
The task is to look at all chip definitions with '''bustype = BUS_SPI''' and check the '''feature_bits''' field if it contains the correct '''FEATURE_WRSR_*''' flag and add/change it after looking it up in the datasheet. In case either works use FEATURE_WRSR_EITHER.
Please send a list of chips to change together with the correct flag or (preferably) a patch to the mailing list.


* Add [http://tracker.coreboot.org/trac/coreboot/ticket/95 support for using coreboot in VirtualBox].
''Patch created by Steven Zakulec, committed in r1527.''

Revision as of 17:13, 29 February 2016

You probably came here trying to find a small (minutes to hours) and easy task where you can get your hands dirty and get results immediately.

If you're a flashrom newbie, this page is for you.

Open tasks

Find chips without voltage data

We have added allowed supply voltage ranges (usually denoted VCC in datasheets) to the chip definitions in flashchips.c, but not all of them. Complete the list by looking for the right datasheet and editing flashchips.c accordingly.

Find boards that have a board enable but are not mentioned in print.c

There may be a few boards that had a Board Enable added (in board_enable.c) but which were not added to the array named boards_known in print.c (usually by mistake).

Find those and send a list or even a patch for print.c to the mailing list.

Even better would be an automatic detection of such mistakes. We already do some sanity checks on startup (cf. selfcheck() in flashrom.c).

Add timing info to flash chip definitions (mostly done)

Go through the list of flash chips in flashchips.c inside the flashrom source. For each chip (except SPI chips), read through the data sheets and add a comment to the flash chip definition which contains the timing information in microseconds(!) for the probe sequence.

This will make probing a lot more reliable.

Every annotated chip helps.

Add new flash chip definitions

We have a few dozen chip IDs listed in flash.h, but not in flashchips.c. You can find them by running util/list_yet_unsupported_chips.sh. Then dig up the data sheets and add chip definitions for them to flashchips.c. You can use similar flash chips as a guideline. Check our list of pending patches (http://patchwork.coreboot.org/project/flashrom/list/) to not duplicate someone's work. Reviewing any pending patches by verifying the values in the patches is of course also very welcomed too! The process of adding a chip and the needed data structures are explained here.

This will reduce the number of undetected chips and every added chip broadens flashrom support.

Add (ferroelectric, F-RAM) SPI chips made by Cypress / Ramtron

http://www.cypress.com/products/f-ram-serial

Example datasheet: http://www.cypress.com/file/41676/download

These work mostly like SPI flashes, except for (these are just the biggest points):

  • No erase command (or erasing necessary)
  • 2-byte addresses (atleast for smaller/older devices)

Test flashrom

Please see the Board Testing HOWTO.

Add support for multiple slaves to the ft2232_spi programmer

The FT232H for example has 4 generic GPIO pins that could be used as additional CS pins. Think about useful command line arguments (what about other programmers that support similar functionality, e.g. by supporting multiple CS pins natively?) before you start. An example how this could look like exists already.

Replace programmer_delay() with internal_sleep() where appropriate

If a delay call does not depend on precise timing and if the programmer in question does not offer its own delay function, programmer_delay() can be replaced with internal_sleep(). If a delay call does not depend on precise timing and if the delay should run on the host, programmer_delay() can be replaced with internal_sleep().

Done

Add automatic uploading of log files

We have a pastebin at http://paste.flashrom.org. Create a patch that (if enabled) automatically uploads the output of a flashrom run to it using libcurl or a similar library (free license, cross-platform).

PoC sent by Michael Coppola, but so far rejected by Carl-Daniel.

Tag SPI chips in flashchips.c with the status register write command according to their datasheets

Usually the status register of SPI chips is write protected and has to be made accessible by one of two possible commands (or by either one). We indicate this by setting 2 bits in the feature flags of the chip definition in flashchips.c. The default is EWSR (see spi_write_status_register in spi25.c) and so no chips needing this have been tagged correctly (yet!). The task is to look at all chip definitions with bustype = BUS_SPI and check the feature_bits field if it contains the correct FEATURE_WRSR_* flag and add/change it after looking it up in the datasheet. In case either works use FEATURE_WRSR_EITHER. Please send a list of chips to change together with the correct flag or (preferably) a patch to the mailing list.

Patch created by Steven Zakulec, committed in r1527.