Topics

1

Firmware / Idenitfy versions of firmwares

« on: September 30, 2024, 02:35:22 am »

I want to update the firmware of my Talos 2 because the machine is really noisy, with fans are permanently running high (ipmitools shows 2 fans at 8800-8900 RPM) ... and I saw that there was changes (a fix) in firmwares 1.0x.

I would like to know the current version of the low-level elements (BMC, firmware ...). I only found the tool lsmcode (from the package lsvpd) that displays a list of elements with their git hash:

Version of System Firmware : 
Product Name          : OpenPOWER Firmware
Product Version       : talos-v1.20-161-g76f78f4
Product Extra         :        skiboot-bc106a0
Product Extra         :        occ-a8d0767
Product Extra         :        hostboot-884b60b
Product Extra         :        buildroot-2017.11.2-8-g4b6188e0f2
Product Extra         :        machine-xml-221192a
Product Extra         :        sbe-a389a5d
Product Extra         :        petitboot-v1.7.1-p836d356
Product Extra         :        linux-v4.15.9-openpower1-p9e03417

In the page that lists the different update files https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Talos_II/Firmware, archiives for BMC, PNOR and FPGA have an associated hash but I can't make them match with anything that I know.

So, are there other solutions to get the version of these elements?

I access BMC with ssh (using the web interface, it refuses to get even a login page): it is possible to get its version and possibly the firmware version from there?

Before upgrading, I just would like to know from where I start.

Please give me some advices: Maybe you will think that I can only update the firmware directly to the latest version (v2.10) whatever are the current element versions ...

2

Third Party CPU Discussion / Why haven't we seen boards with Power9 / MicroWatt?

« on: August 17, 2024, 02:50:33 am »

I have this question that stays in my mind for a long time ...

Power ISA is open, MicroWatt was announced and published in 2019, with the main actor Anton Blanchard saying that "the goal for Blanchard was to see if he could make it, and as a software developer, taking on a very low level hardware project was a challenge" (from Wikipedia but I attended the OpenPower Summit Europe the same year and understood quite the same). That did not reassured me but I had the hope that after the proof of concept, this enabled will be used as a base for real products and for example a small board to allow developers to play with it at low cost, and promote the architecture. And even more after the project evolved enough to make run Linux and Zephyr operating systems.

I think that's very sad that no board was created, that IBM has not officialy adopted this project or allowed resources to help structuring a side organism (OpenPower Foundation, Raptor CS ...) to do that.

What was missing? Why don't we get a board? Who could be interested in doing that? (if it's not too late)

@ClassicHasClass In 2020, you wrote "The possibility of a single-board Microwatt-based system (and fully reprogrammable, too) gets closer every day" so I suppose that you hoped the same.

It seems that the only implementation that went to the end is Kestrel. All other known initiatives seemed to be attempts that led nowhere unfortunately. There is an empty page about PowerPI at OpenPower Foundation (https://openpowerfoundation.org/groups/powerpi/). At Euro BSDCon 2023 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj4Q-m_WEh0&t=220s&ab_channel=EuroBSDcon), there is also a PowerSBC mentioned, for which we find zero information elsewhere ...

3

Legacy POWER Hardware / Running GTA: Vice City on a PowerPC based wireless router

« on: August 15, 2024, 12:37:25 pm »

Hello PowerPC lovers

For people who missed that, earlier this year, I got informed of an article titled "Running GTA: Vice City on a TP-Link TL-WDR4900 wireless router" where the author describes how he hacked a wireless router ... The article is well written and very instructive, describing what was done, and how, step by step. This is another proof that shows that even small PowerPC based machines can achieve really great and surprising things! Let's applause the author who has huge hardware and software skills.

Enjoy at https://kittenlabs.de/real-gaming-router/

4

Applications and Porting / A set of good old games

« on: April 11, 2023, 03:32:58 pm »

I have tried some games on my Talos 2 and I posted a review there: http://www.powerpc-lab.org/linux/2023/04/11/play-good-old-games-on-power9.html

Some of them are already known to work but that may provide additional information.

About the tested games, they are: ZGloom, SDLPop (Prince Of Persia), REminiscence (Flashback), Hurrican (Turrican), ScummVM, Doom, Quake, Doom 64, sm64 (Super Mario 64) and StarWars OpenJK (Jedi Academy).

5

Legacy POWER Hardware / Which strategy for old big-endian Linux machines

« on: April 08, 2022, 09:08:07 am »

Linux is still used on old machines (PowerMac, X1000/X5000) even if the situation is not comfortable: they are not so powerful (even more with 32-bit models),
there are some distributions but not fully supported ...

It became very problematic when Debian announced PPC wouldn't continue to be supported. Updates for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS stopped last year.
I had much hope with VoidLinux but they announced the end of their big-endian distribution.

I heard about Adelie but I thought it was not very active ... I may be wrong.
Chimera Linux will provide 64-bit BE support but at 3rd tier level.
There are other attempts like MintPPC, Fienix ...

I wonder if we should not have to focus on one or two distributions and make them strong ... if it's not too late.

So, I would like to know your opinion:

1. Do you think it is still time to want a polished distribution on these machines?
2. What would be the most promising distribution (and not for hardcore Linux hackers)?
3. Should we focus on 64-bit models only?