Coreboot and SeaBIOS

[pete]

I thought it was .5 version of custom seabios.

On my W8 the ethernet port is the on or off type so I just went to an external USB NIC which is working fine for testing right now. Its a bit slow though with the USB ZIF drive but it works. I mean I checked installation of my touchscreen client and TTS and VNC all running at the same time and response times are OK with W8.

[inaxeon]

You guys are on 0.5.

I'm on 0.6 - it has a lot of improvements, but nothing that'd help for all of this Win7/Win8 tinkering. I'm working on XP stuff (start with the easy problems!)

[inaxeon]

0.6 is released

Changes:
* Now support routing all IRQs through i8259 as "Legacy mode" (Helps XP)
* CPU Microcode changed to be same version as in OpenPeak EFI
* A few more ACPI tweaks
* Disabled useless USBC device
* All three SDIO controllers now working, internal MMC can now be accessed
* PATA Enabled jogglers can now install unmodified XP directly from CD

I had XP running really well on this build, but now I've corrupted it. Does anyone have a ready to go XP usb hdd they could give this a quick test on?

[jazzmista]

Anyone else tried this yet, can't get osx install to go to the gui and
the only hackintosh disks that boot are ideneb 1.4, 1.5 & 1.6
any others just seem to hang.

What boot flags are you using when trying to boot it?

[pete]

I snapshot the W8 image and put the XP image back on to the ZIF USB connected drive this morning and see how it works using the .6 bios.

The base of this XP image is from the Asus Netbook and not the Joggler XP base.

[mickchip]

Anyone else tried this yet, can't get osx install to go to the gui and
the only hackintosh disks that boot are ideneb 1.4, 1.5 & 1.6
any others just seem to hang.

What boot flags are you using when trying to boot it?

I have tried all sorts of boot flags cpus=1 -v -x "Graphics Mode"="800x480x24" + alot more
as I've said, it boots and I hear the welcome music but no graphics becase you can't load GMA500enabler.kext

[inaxeon]

I have tried all sorts of boot flags cpus=1 -v -x "Graphics Mode"="800x480x24" + alot more
as I've said, it boots and I hear the welcome music but no graphics becase you can't load GMA500enabler.kext

Without the correct VBT for the Joggler I'd say there is little chance of ever getting a working display driver in OS X.

[mickchip]

Well I've installed XP Tablet SP3 on to the pata ssd (pata port) using a CD, took ages but it works great,
Going to try Mevi's xp tablet next via USB.

OK tried Mevi's XP with Tablet PC off USB, first tried it directly in the side usb with my hub plugged in to the internal usb with keyboard and mouse
plugged into that. No go, would start to boot and then the usb's would turn off (5 times).
Took the stick out of the side usb port and stuck it in the hub with keyboard and mouse, booted first time and quick

[inaxeon]

The USB is supposed to turn off. "Feature" of Windows. It's the turning back on that's the hard part.

My testing also shows that this build works good off PATA. Tempted to quit while I'm ahead

But yeah, that hang after the USB powers down is now my top priority. More annoyingly, WinDbg refuses to debug a USBoot copy of XP

[pete]

I'm doing something wrong as Mevi's build boots quickly into a colorfull display of hash using my USB ZIF Hard drive.

Not sure why though. I know I have messed up the drivers. I am using one USB port for the hard drive and the second one for a hub with a Keyboard and mouse on it.

Curious inaxeon about the F16 function in the boot seabios view; its just a control key and the F4 eh?

[inaxeon]

Curious inaxeon about the F16 function in the boot seabios view; its just a control key and the F4 eh?

I don't understand.

You can't run the Mevi build as is, replace NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM with the original copies. Might also pay to replace VGA.SYS too.

[mickchip]

Pete
Are you using the original NTDETECT.COM & ntldr & vga.sys. It will no boot otherwise
They are all included in Mevi's build as copy's, pretty sure that's what it is as I had the same thing

Inaxeon you beet me to it

[pete]

Thanks guys.

Yes; inaxeon; on the initial seabios boot screen it saids F7 to update bios and F16 for boot menu. It used to say F7 and F12 on previous version 0.5. This is with Version 0.6 of the Seabios.

Downloaded and installed most current from original link. Still the same on the boot F7 and F16. Just checked though and pushing the F12 key does bring up the boot menu.

[inaxeon]

Thanks guys.

Yes; inaxeon; on the initial seabios boot screen it saids F7 to update bios and F16 for boot menu. It used to say F7 and F12 on previous version 0.5. This is with Version 0.6 of the Seabios.

Downloaded and installed most current from original link. Still the same on the boot F7 and F16. Just checked though and pushing the F12 key does bring up the boot menu.

Whoops

[pete]

Swapped out the NTDETECT.COM & ntldr & vga.sys files. Tried to boot via external USB port; no go there. Plugged in the ZIF USB drive on the internal port and it appears to be booting. Looks to be just though just sitting at the booting part though.

[mickchip]

Try it on the external connected through a USB hub, seemed to work for me

[pete]

Thank-you mickchip

Connected a small 4 port on the side port. Starts to boot as picture above. It just sits though with the blue bar going across. No errors or BSOD's though. Wonder if it has to do with the USBoot 2.11 Driveguard. I don't recall seeing that before when using it with the EFI boot.

Testing above with no keyboard or mouse plugged in. Will try again with a keyboard and mouse plugged into the internal port.

Same result with a keyboard and mouse plugged in. I am seeing the 2nd hub port LED light flickering while booting.

I see the led flicker of the Zif drive when first starting the boot but after a bit it just remains on with no flicker.

[pete]

Hit the F8 while booting to go to debugging mode. This time it started to complete the booting. Went to an invalid system time and my keyboard and mouse quit working.

Waited a bit an it appeared to load the mouse drivers. It went to a desktop! Yeah!

Screen resolution looks good. Loading a bunch of drivers now; pci, audio, video, etc. Rebooting.

Can't get it to reboot now. Going to do a chkdsk on the drive as its an old ZIF drive.

[Mevi]

Hey, checking after a few days away. I over did it on Friday night and it took me two days to get over it. Ha ha. "never again" I say every time. Until next time.

I seem to remember keeping a 'copy' of the original of the unpatched NT files. Good to see it's kinda working for you, Pete. You'll see the USBoot text now that the original boot does it's thang. The only thing that I successfully hid was the USBoot logo that I edited out of the dll. The F8 boot options or any other boot switches are now available to use - unsupported in the XOJ patched files.

I've never investigated the BIOS F16 option as the Rii Mini keyboard I'm using only goes up to F8.

Both my test Jogglers are updated to v0.6 and booting w8 flawlessly... The Openpeak Joggler touchscreen doesn't work, but I haven't looked into that just yet. With XP I found that Openpeak Jogglers need to have that particular device's driver 'updated' before it worked again and I suspect that's the same in w8's case.

Will extend the testing to a 3rd Joggler with working NIC. As booting XP is working now, I'll stress test it as my media streamer/ BitTorrent machine and see how it stands up. I have made backups of all the EFI's up til now, so as it stands, there's little stopping me from flashing all 5 Jogglers with Coreboot/SeaBIOS. It's great to have my Jogglers looking so good in their new 'clothes'. again, this is great work Inaxeon.

[pete]

Yeah defragging and doing a chkdsk on the XP OS USB ZIF drive. Its thrashing a lot so it'll probably quit sometime soon. I don't know how old it is; think its from an old Ipod. W8 booted fine with it. Will try same with the 8Gb USB SSD drive.

Thank-you Mevi for providing us your base TouchTablet version of XP. The text states F16 but its F12 and that works fine for the boot menu. The USBoot logo doesn't bug me and the F8 options work just fine.

I noticed I could wake up the W8 from suspend mode by touching the screen. I haven't tried that yet with the XP mode. But if this works and NIC works then maybe WOL would work too providing you leave the power cord plugged in.

I've been testing the seabios on a Joggler with a problematic on and off NIC card. I've only seen it boot once though so far into the desktop.

I would wait some more to convert the other Jogglers as I can't right now boot a second time with the testing Joggler or put in PATA drives on the rest of your Jogglers (I'm trying to get a price to solder the ZIF connector in my Joggler). It would be great to have a mini 50 pin soldering tip? I don't think they make such a device though. I already have issues with soldering SMD's anyways; its an "old eyes" issue with me anyways.

Inaxeon thank you for providing us with the option to utilize SeaBios! Great stuff! Chicago says thank you!