Compiling Libreboot with SeaBIOS

Note: This method is outdated, since Libreboot has integrated a modified SeaBIOS into it's latest builds, so a VGABIOS is no longer required.

Libreboot uses the GRUB2 payload in it's Coreboot image. However, SeaBIOS may be necessary to boot non-Linux operating systems.

1. Install the packages needed to build Coreboot.

    sudo apt-get install libncurses-dev iasl libc6-dev-i386 svn
   

2. Grab a copy of the Libreboot source code.

3. In the coreboot folder, change the entire Payload section in .config to the text shown below. This will embed SeaBIOS into coreboot, rather than GRUB2.

    #
    # Payload
    #
    CONFIG_PAYLOAD_SEABIOS=y
    CONFIG_SEABIOS_STABLE=y
    CONFIG_PAYLOAD_FILE="$(obj)/seabios/out/bios.bin.elf"
    CONFIG_COMPRESSED_PAYLOAD_LZMA=y
   

4. Then, just run make to build the coreboot.rom file.

    make
   

5. Copy the compiled coreboot.rom file to the flashrom source code folder.

Sources

• Trisquel Forums - X60 Flashing Guide is hard to understand
• Coreboot Wiki - Compiling Coreboot
• Coreboot Wiki - Fchmmr's Guide to compiling Coreboot for X60 with GRUB2 Payload and no nonfree binaries

Modify Coreboot ROM

This step is REQUIRED if you are flashing Coreboot for the first time. Otherwise, the ROM might overwrite some portions of the BIOS protected by bucts 1.

1. Copy the coreboot.rom file in X60_source to the flashrom source code folder.

2. Run the dd command below to shift the first 64K of data from coreboot.rom .

    dd if=coreboot.rom of=top64k.bin bs=1 skip=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x10000] count=64k
   

3. Run the dd command below to display the first 64k of coreboot.rom .

    dd if=coreboot.rom bs=1 skip=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x20000] count=64k | hexdump
   

4. Verify that the complete range is filled with ff bytes before proceeding.

The output of the dd command above must EXACTLY match the text below. If not, the coreboot image needs to be rebuilt with the second-to-last 64kbyte block unused.

    0000000 ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff 
    *
    0010000

5. Run the dd command below:

    dd if=top64k.bin of=coreboot.rom bs=1 seek=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x20000] count=64k conv=notrunc
   

Sources

• gmane.linux.bios Mailing List - LinuxBIOS on T60 - Peter Stuge's Method of installing Coreboot on the X60.