KCMA-D8 Workstation - Building the ROM with GRUB2

Dependencies

For some reason you can't build the toolchain (the crossgcc thing) on rolling release distributions (probably has something to do with gcc-ada being too new)
Create a virtual machine with Debian or Ubuntu/Trisquel and compile it there if you are on Arch

sudo apt-get install -y bison build-essential curl flex git gnat libncurses5-dev m4 zlib1g-dev wget autoconf automake python libfreetype-dev unifont

Downloading the Sourcecode

git clone https://review.coreboot.org/coreboot && cd coreboot
git reset --hard ad983ee && git checkout ad983ee 	# last version before the board got dropped
git revert --no-edit 610d1c6 	# fixes a bug that prevent certain RAM modules from booting
git checkout origin/master -- payloads 	# keep payloads up-to-date

Building the Toolchain

make crossgcc-i386 CPUS=${nproc}  	# compile the toolchain. Yes, even if you use a 64 bit machine you need to use i386

Smaller Fixes

Allow loading the VGA option ROM

The VGA option ROM is a blob that your BIOS has to load to be able to use graphics cards. The on-board GPU of the KCMA-D8 can run without any blobs, but since we want to be able to plug in a PCI graphics card we need to enable this option.
If you enable "Run VGA option ROMs" then your on-board card won't work by default. That's why we have to build a VGABIOS with SeaBIOS and add it later

sed -i '/MAINBOARD_FORCE_NATIVE_VGA_INIT/d' src/mainboard/asus/kcma-d8/Kconfig

Update tint

If you don't then you will get an error when trying to compile it

sed -i 's/0.04+nmu1/0.05/g' payloads/external/tint/Makefile
sed -i 's/tar.gz/tar.xz/g' payloads/external/tint/Makefile

Optimise CMOS Defaults

sed -i 's/l3_cache_partitioning=Disable/l3_cache_partitioning=Enable/g' src/mainboard/asus/kcma-d8/cmos.default
sed -i 's/experimental_memory_speed_boost=Disable/experimental_memory_speed_boost=Enable/g' src/mainboard/asus/kcma-d8/cmos.default

Download a GRUB configuration

This is Libreboots' default grub.cfg. Obviously you can use any configuration you want. I'm working on a better one that lets you load SeaBIOS and other payloads.

wget https://notabug.org/libreboot/libreboot/raw/master/resources/grub/config/menuentries/common.cfg && mv common.cfg grub.cfg

Configure Coreboot

make nconfig

Mainboard  --->
	Mainboard vendor () ---> Asus
	Mainboard model () ---> KCMA-D8
	ROM chip size () ---> 2048 KB (2 MB)	# 2MB is the default. you can also use 8MB or 16MB if you ordered the right chips
	System Power State after Failure () ---> S5 Soft Off	#keep the computer turned off after failure
General setup  --->
	[*] Use CMOS for configuration values	# speeds up boot significantly
	[*] Load default configuration values into CMOS on each boot
	[ ] Compress ramstage with LZMA		# we have enough space. don't compress for a slight performance boost
	[ ] Include the coreboot .config file into the ROM image	# you won't need it
	[ ] Create a table of timestamps collected during boot		# allows you to see boot process performance via CBMEM console
Chipset  --->
	Include CPU microcode in CBFS ()  ---> Do not include microcode updates		#not needed for Opteron 4100/4200 series (only for Opteron 4300 series)
	[*] Enable high speed SPI clock
Devices  --->
	Graphics initialization ()  ---> Run VGA Option ROMS	#we need this to be able to use external GPUs
	[*] Use onboard VGA as primary video device	# this will actually give priority to external GPUs
	[*] Load Option ROMS on PCI devices	# needed for external GPUs
	Option ROM execution type ()  ---> Secure mode		# in case you trust the manufacturer of your graphics card you can set this to 'Native mode' for better performance
Generic Drivers  --->
	[ ] Serial port on SuperIO	# gives a slight performance increase. If you need Serial Debugging leave this on
	[ ] Support Intel PCI-e WiFi adapters	# slight performance increase. Leave this on if you use one
	[*] PS/2 keyboard init	# to be able to use PS/2 keyboards
Console  --->
	[ ] Serial port console output	# Leave this on if you need Serial Debugging
	[ ] Send console output to a CBMEM buffer	# leave this on if you need CBMEM console
	Default console log level ()  ---> 0: EMERG		# gives slight performance increase. Leave this on for debugging
	[*] Don't show any POST codes	# gives slight performance increase. Leave this on for debugging
Payload  --->
	Add a payload ()  ---> GRUB2 	# Obviously you can use whatever you want
	GRUB2 version ()  ---> 2.04		# If aviable you can also use later versions
	[*] Include GRUB2 runtime config file into ROM image
	(grub.cfg) Path of grub.cfg
	Secondary Payloads  --->	# You can add any Payload you want, but you have to manually add then in the grub.cfg (SeaBIOS automatically detects them though)
		[ ] Load coreinfo as a secondary payload	# displays various system information. 
		[ ] Load Memtest86+ as a secondary payload	# checks your RAM modules
		[ ] Load nvramcui as a secondary payload	# think of it as your "BIOS-settings menue"
		[ ] Load tint as a secondary payload		# Tetris
		    Memtest86+ version (Stable)  --->

Compile Coreboot

make clean && make

Compile VGABIOS and SeaBIOS

Download the Sourcecode

git clone https://git.seabios.org/seabios.git && cd seabios
git checkout rel-1.14.0  	#latest release

Configure SeaBIOS

make nconfig

General Features --->
	Build Target () ---> Build for coreboot
VGA Rom --> 
	VGA Hardware Type () ---> Coreboot linear framebuffer 	# this will build VGABIOS

Compile SeaBIOS & VGABIOS

make

Add SeaBIOS & VGABIOS to your coreboot.rom

You don't have to add SeaBIOS. To load it through GRUB you also need to add an entry to your grub.cfg
You need VGABIOS though if you want your on-board GPU to be usable though

cd ..
build/cbfstool build/coreboot.rom add -t raw -n vgaroms/seavgabios.bin -f seabios/out/vgabios.bin 	# add the VGABIOS so you can use the on-board GPU
build/cbfstool build/coreboot.rom add-payload -n seabios.elf -f seabios/out/bios.bin.elf 	# add SeaBIOS

You're done!

You can find your coreboot.rom in the build folder.

TODO!

test an Opteron 4300
test an AMD card
create a good grub.cfg
test if coreboot works with 8 RAM modules after reverting 610d1c6
check jumper configurations
find out how to compile coreboot in Arch Linux
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