Lenovo Thinkpad T61

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

Hi,

I check the list of supported motherboards and laptops but I did not found
in them the Lenovo Thinkpad T61
I have one under my hands but I saw that EC could cause a lot fo trouble
but few others Thinkpad are supported.
I followed this guide

http://www.coreboot.org/Motherboard_Porting_Guide

but obviously EC does not allow the flashrom to dump the rom but the rom
is available on lenovo website and it exist a proprietary flash utility by
the vendor. All logs are available, just ask me for them.

I did not followed this other guide

http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation

because I would like to understand the magnitude of probability to brick
the laptop before.

Thanks,
raf

[Peter Stuge]

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
I check the list of supported motherboards and laptops but I did not found
in them the Lenovo Thinkpad T61

That means that it is not supported.

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
I would like to understand the magnitude of probability to brick
the laptop before.

The probability is 1.0.


//Peter

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

Post by Peter Stuge

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
I check the list of supported motherboards and laptops but I did not

found

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
in them the Lenovo Thinkpad T61

That means that it is not supported.

Thanks Peter for the fast answer.

Post by Peter Stuge

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
I would like to understand the magnitude of probability to brick
the laptop before.

The probability is 1.0.

I am interested in the probability after some development / adaption, not
as-is.

How much developing effort do you think the support of T61 would require?

To answer to this second question I suppose you need logs, do not you?

Cheers,
R.

[ron minnich]

If your only way to flash the flash is via a program, or something
embedded in the lenovo bios, stop now, or stockpile 20 or 30 of these
laptops, because you're going to create some bricks along the way.

ron

[Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko]

Post by ron minnich
If your only way to flash the flash is via a program, or something
embedded in the lenovo bios, stop now, or stockpile 20 or 30 of these
laptops, because you're going to create some bricks along the way.

Let me elaborate on this:
RTFM http://flashrom.org/ISP
RTFM http://flashrom.org/Technology
RTFM http://flashrom.org/Supported_programmers

Post by ron minnich
ron

[Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko]

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
I check the list of supported motherboards and laptops but I did

not found

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
in them the Lenovo Thinkpad T61

That means that it is not supported.
Thanks Peter for the fast answer.

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
I would like to understand the magnitude of probability to brick
the laptop before.

The probability is 1.0.
I am interested in the probability after some development / adaption,
not as-is.
How much developing effort do you think the support of T61 would require?

Northbridge (i965) is unsupported. It's almost impossible to write
raminit without having a lot of low-level experience and even then it
takes couple of months of quite intensive work.
You may get lucky and i945 raminit may work with only minor adaptations but:
1) I wouldn't count on it
2) And even then find out what exactly needs adaptation is no easy task.
I have a laptop with i965 as well, in storage but I have to tell it's
simply not worth the effort. You'd be better off cuying some recent
supported laptop (see supported mobos pages, especially chromebooks and
Lenovos) or some almost supported laptop and adapt to it. But:
a) Problems may pop up in unexpected places.
b) While guys in #coreboot are extremely helpful you end up being on
your own in 95% of problems (unless someone has a similar chipset and
works on it, currently nobody AFAIK).
c) Easiest (but not easy) to adapt would be (from easiest to difficult,
no guarantee, problems may pop up in unexpected places):
- T410. All components are already in the tree. The problem with this
laptop is that it has TSOP chip, for which clip is very expensive, so
you probably would have to solder to the chip with all the risks it
entails. Actually for most people it means to ask someone to solder for you
- Nehalem-based laptops. Main problem is likely EC
- AMD-based laptops. Main problem is likely EC.
- Lenovo *30 laptops (ivybridge). Dual graphics can be a headache but
it's feasible. If chip is TSOP, see T410 comment.
- Other ivy or sandy laptops. Depends on how much MRC code likes or
dislikes your laptop.
I repeat again that even the easiest ones are hard if you have no
low-level experience and even if you do can become hard in case of
unexpected problem.
On the other hand if you're curious about it , do it! It's a fantastic
learning experience.

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
To answer to this second question I suppose you need logs, do not you?

lspci -vvnn is available for most laptops with quick google. It (+some
experience with individual manufacturers about EC interface) allows to
estimate hardness.

Post by Roberto A. Foglietta
Cheers,
R.

[ron minnich]

If you want a laptop to tear into and learn from, the old samsung x86
chromebook is hard to beat. ram and disk are standard and upgradable,
you can put a clip on the flash part, ... it's just a very hackable
machine. I still have one and really like it.

More recent ones to mess around with include the acer c720.

The difficulty of dealing with chipsets is what keeps me pushing on
chromebooks. It's a real time saver. I'd still like to find an AMD
solution however.

ron

[Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko]

Post by ron minnich
If you want a laptop to tear into and learn from, the old samsung x86
chromebook is hard to beat. ram and disk are standard and upgradable,
you can put a clip on the flash part, ...

Lenovo X201 and X230 both have those characteristics as well. Unlike
chromebooks it doesn't come with a nice firmware preinstalled though.
But I have to admit that compared to other vendors (especially the one
called "To be filled by O.E.M."), lenovo's BIOS and EFI are good.

Post by ron minnich
it's just a very hackable
machine. I still have one and really like it.
More recent ones to mess around with include the acer c720.
The difficulty of dealing with chipsets is what keeps me pushing on
chromebooks. It's a real time saver. I'd still like to find an AMD
solution however.

I'm thinking of lenovo x140e. Not available in Europe though.

Post by ron minnich
ron