OPNsense Forum

English Forums => Hardware and Performance => Topic started by: tillsense on January 03, 2017, 07:36:55 pm

Title: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on January 03, 2017, 07:36:55 pm
UPD 06/2023 - Official PC Engines APU platform EndOfLife: https://www.pcengines.ch/eol.htm (https://www.pcengines.ch/eol.htm)


UPD 01/2023 - PC Engines has discontinued its sponsorship for open-source firmware. Please read 3mdeb Announcement here:
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=4200.msg156011#msg156011 (https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=4200.msg156011#msg156011)


[Manufacturer]
https://www.pcengines.ch/

[Firmware and Announcements]
https://3mdeb.com/open-source-firmware/pcengines/
https://pcengines.github.io/blog/
https://pcengines.github.io/

[OPNsense Requirements]
flashrom - Install on console with 'pkg install -y flashrom'

[OPNsense Optional]
os-dmidecode - Install from GUI (Plugin) - Information on Dashboard

[Firmware Issues]
https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/issues

[Firmware flashing]
https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/firmware_flashing.md

[Benchmarking]
https://github.com/ocochard/netbenches
https://ipng.ch/s/articles/2021/07/19/pcengines-apu6.html
https://wejn.org/2021/07/loadtesting-bunch-of-routers/

[Top FAQ]

What is APU7 - Variant with 2.5GbE i225 NIC's.

What is APU6 - https://www.pcengines.ch/apu6b4.htm.

What is APU5 - Based on http://www.pcengines.info/ APU5 is a customer specific board for mobile communications. 

Where is 3mdeb - https://3mdeb.com/ is the coreboot licensed consulting services provider for pcengines.

Where is ocochard - Based on https://twitter.com/ocochardlabbe he is Senior software engineer in test at Netflix, founder of FreeNAS and BSD Router Project, FreeBSD ports committer.

[More Sources OLD!]
https://review.coreboot.org/#/c/14138/
http://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#bios



cheers till





[Changelog]

21.07.22 - Add APU7
03.03.22 - Upd. URL
25.07.21 - Upd. URL
04.02.21 - Upd. FAQ
12.12.20 - Upd. FAQ
03.10.20 - Add APU6
...

03.01.17 - Here's the first post of all:


The core development for a new APU2 BIOS seems to be recovering again.

Hopefully finally with the promised ECC RAM!


Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: schnauz on January 03, 2017, 07:42:42 pm
Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Micky on January 03, 2017, 08:04:50 pm
thx Till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: michkov on January 03, 2017, 09:05:57 pm
great. ecc would be a dream.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: franco on January 04, 2017, 07:59:53 am
Awesome to see. :)
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: schnauz on March 31, 2017, 11:34:32 am
New BIOS for APU2 is now available, see http://pcengines.ch/apu2c4.htm. 
Pcengines writes about this BIOS update: Update 3/2017: various fixes, iPXE with setup

With updated BIOS my APU2 shows, now with ECC?:
Code: [Select]
PCEngines apu2
coreboot build 20170228
4080 MB ECC DRAM
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on May 04, 2017, 06:51:45 pm
Hi all,

has anybody tested the coreboot mainstream version (experimental 4.5.5)?
http://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#bios (http://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#bios)

cheers till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on October 26, 2017, 08:47:15 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.6.2 is available.

cheers
till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Wired Life on November 21, 2017, 11:53:31 pm
Hiho :)
I've updated my APU2C4 to 4.6.1 because i've bought a mini pcie gigabit nic from delock with rtl8111e chipset which has not worked.
With the help of this guide
http://www.bsdforen.de/threads/pc-engines-apu2-bios-update.33587/
i did it directly from the running OPNsense system  ;D
After that the nic has started to work, but after some time i got many ahcich0 errors and a unresponsive/self rebooting APU.
Maybe this version has bugs or i having issues with the original power supply, so i installed 4.0.11 and looking forward how it works now...

Does anyone know where i can download new bios instead of
http://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#bios
? This site is not up to date, i got the 4.6.1 by editing the url
http://pcengines.ch/file/apu2_v4.6.0.rom.tar.gz
to
http://pcengines.ch/file/apu2_v4.6.1.rom.tar.gz

But
http://pcengines.ch/file/apu2_v4.6.2.rom.tar.gz
or
http://pcengines.ch/file/apu2_v4.6.3.rom.tar.gz
doesnt work.
And here are only the sources available...
https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/releases
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on December 01, 2017, 07:22:50 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.6.4 is available.

cheers till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on January 08, 2018, 09:05:50 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.6.5 is available.

cheers till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: schlegel11 on January 08, 2018, 11:46:17 pm
I have a general question. Do we need an update for the meltdown or spectre issue? Is the apu board affected?
Unfortunately I haven't tested it yet. I still use an APU1 board.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on January 10, 2018, 07:36:21 pm
Hi all,

that's a question for amd. pcengines has a statement here: https://www.pcengines.ch/spectre.htm (https://www.pcengines.ch/spectre.htm)

cheers till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: STRUBartacus on January 18, 2018, 12:58:14 pm
for interested 4.6.5 is available.

Where can I download it?
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: mayo on January 22, 2018, 03:16:42 pm
for interested 4.6.5 is available.

Where can I download it?

I would like to download 4.6.5 but the link doesn't work...
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: slemoal@tiscom.fr on January 23, 2018, 10:07:09 am
Changelog 4.6.X
https://github.com/pcengines/release_manifests/blob/coreboot-4.6.x/CHANGELOG.md
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: fhloston on February 17, 2018, 12:32:43 pm
I have also managed to compile the recent BIOS versions 4.6.5 and 4.6.6.

I have 2 issues with these:

a) memtest does beep when it is entered, but there is no console output - have you tested the memtest feature in 4.6.5 or 4.6.6? Did I miss something when I compiled this?

b) the apu2 does sporadically hang during reboot - sometimes the first time, sometimes it takes 20 reboots to hang. The original 4.6.1 also shows this behaviour. 4.5.5 seems to reboot reliably. I have contacted pcengines' support for this. I am interested in your experience regarding this issue.

Cheers

Martin
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Evil_Sense on February 17, 2018, 01:47:55 pm
I'm running 4.6.0 and reboots sometimes are also failing.
It hangs up but boots fine after replugging power.

Loading kernel is slow, read an issue on github that this is related to disabled UDMA.

Didn't build 4.6.5 or 4.6.6, the later should include enabled UDMA..
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: smawuascht on February 20, 2018, 12:14:38 pm
Hey guys,

I' now here and new to the APU2 board.

I'm just wondering as you guys are running BIOS versions such as 4.5/4.6
The PCEngines site states that for APU2 the legacy BIOS should be used (http://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#bios).

Is there any specific reason running the mainline version?

Thanks.
Greets
Michi
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: fhloston on February 20, 2018, 12:38:14 pm
I am comiling anyhow to have the default console output on COM3. Background: I am trying to build a dual APU2 box with COM3/COM4 internally crossconnected. COM1 is then free to connect switches or other serial stuff.

Other than that i think the occasional USB errors are gone with 4.6.6

I mitigated the reboot hang problem with a simple usb-hid based watchdog [1] - my apu2 with self-compiled 4.6.6 booted reliably ~600 times over night - with the help of that watchdog.


[1] https://www.ebay.de/itm/Interne-USB-Watchdog-Reset-Controller-PC-Stick-Crash-Blue-Screen-automatisch/263490474653
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: mayo on February 20, 2018, 05:33:48 pm
Same situation for me.
Every reboot stops at bios startup, the only way is to unplug the power and reconnect.
I also tried to boot with TinyCore from USB but, when loading, it stops at the beginning of the process:

PC Engines apu2
coreboot build 07/24/2017
BIOS version v4.6.0
4080 MB ECC DRAM

SeaBIOS (version rel-1.10.2.1)

Press F10 key now for boot menu

Booting from Hard Disk...


and nothing else.
Any advice?
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: fhloston on February 20, 2018, 08:23:55 pm
Try an older BIOS Version. For me 4.5.5 or older did the trick.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: mayo on February 20, 2018, 11:14:08 pm
I tried, but how to install an older bios if TinyCore doesn’t boot?
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: mayo on February 28, 2018, 09:03:49 am
Same situation for me.
Every reboot stops at bios startup, the only way is to unplug the power and reconnect.
I also tried to boot with TinyCore from USB but, when loading, it stops at the beginning of the process:

PC Engines apu2
coreboot build 07/24/2017
BIOS version v4.6.0
4080 MB ECC DRAM

SeaBIOS (version rel-1.10.2.1)

Press F10 key now for boot menu

Booting from Hard Disk...


and nothing else.
Any advice?

soved downgrading to 4.0.7 following this guide: https://howdoilinux.com/2016/05/flash-bios-of-apu2c4/
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: smawuascht on April 02, 2018, 01:29:36 pm
Hey guys,

I' now here and new to the APU2 board.

I'm just wondering as you guys are running BIOS versions such as 4.5/4.6
The PCEngines site states that for APU2 the legacy BIOS should be used (http://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#bios).

Is there any specific reason running the mainline version?

Thanks.
Greets
Michi

Anyone?
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: wget on April 07, 2018, 04:00:24 pm
Hi smawuascht.

I was in the same situation as you and read a lot about this topic. From my understanding, here are the pieces of info I have been able to gather:

- Back in the days, when they launched the APU boards, PCEngines forked the coreboot project and modified it in order to support their APU board (CPU, ACPI tables, etc.)
- They submitted a patch upstream, to the coreboot project, in order to have their changes integrated in the coreboot project directly.
- Their patch has been integrated around version coreboot 4.5.1.
- But in the meanwhile, they still supported their old forked version. The coreboot firmware has payloads (SeaBIOS, memtest, etc.) that are continuously upgraded by PCEngines (cf. version 4.0.16 released just yesterday (https://github.com/pcengines/release_manifests/blob/coreboot-4.0.x/CHANGELOG.md)).

So from my understanding, as of 2018, there is no reason to upgrade to the 4.6 branch (and onward). The board is stable enough with this 4.0.X versions an the payload are up to date. Changes in coreboot mainly concerns adding support for new boards and refactoring the coreboot code to support new board additions, nothing much. And I think if modifications concerning or impacting explicitly APU2 were to happen in the coreboot official branch, PCEngines would be more than happy to backport them to their own 4.0.X version, if this doesn't require too much work/hassle for them.

Regards,
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: wget on April 07, 2018, 04:39:55 pm
You can also make you own opinion by reading this page: https://pcengines.github.io/ which is a bit more complete than the Markdown file hosted on their github page: https://github.com/pcengines/release_manifests/blob/coreboot-4.6.x/CHANGELOG.md
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: miroco on October 18, 2018, 10:46:06 am
ECC is fixed on the APU-platform effective 2018-10-04 BIOS v4.8.0.5 Mainline release.

https://pcengines.github.io

https://3mdeb.com/firmware/enabling-ecc-on-pc-engines-platforms/#.W8eUoKeHKuM
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Ricardo on October 18, 2018, 01:14:28 pm
I would be more cautious to conclude so quickly, that the ECC support has REALLY been completed 100%. Knowing the history of this topic dates back to more than 2 yrs in fact, with many miscommunication and blind guessing!
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Evil_Sense on October 18, 2018, 01:30:35 pm
I would be more cautious to conclude so quickly, that the ECC support has REALLY been completed 100%. Knowing the history of this topic dates back to more than 2 yrs in fact, with many miscommunication and blind guessing!
Well at least the guy from the blog seems to know what he's talking about and there are some changes to the code.

I just hope they finally fix the reboot hang issue (and the newly discovered frequency issue).
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: miroco on October 20, 2018, 12:22:46 am
Looking at these test results, the mainline v4.8.0.5 seems more promising, even without the ECC capability, then the legacy v4.0.20, but YMMW.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_uRhVo9eYeZONnelymonYp444zYHT_Q_qmJEJ8_XqJc/edit#gid=0

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_uRhVo9eYeZONnelymonYp444zYHT_Q_qmJEJ8_XqJc/edit#gid=1817105926
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Ricardo on October 20, 2018, 11:43:16 am
Looking at these test results, the mainline v4.8.0.5 seems more promising, even without the ECC capability, then the legacy v4.0.20, but YMMW.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_uRhVo9eYeZONnelymonYp444zYHT_Q_qmJEJ8_XqJc/edit#gid=0

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_uRhVo9eYeZONnelymonYp444zYHT_Q_qmJEJ8_XqJc/edit#gid=1817105926

Have you checked the list of known issues between the latest 4.8.x and 4.0.x release? Also, some known issues are revealed on that page only after it has been fixed, not when it is being discovered. So you would assume everything is fine and dandy when you see the current release has only 1-2 issues listed. When in reality, there are many discovered issues, just that they dont get revealed, until they get fixed. Which means, you naively think "oh it will be fine to use this as I am not affected by this 1-2 already revealed bugs". But behind the scenes, most probably you will be affected by the already-discovered but non-disclosed and not-yet-fixed ones.

This for example is only a partial list of what is going on behind the scenes:
https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues

Just to get an idea, this ECC topic is the perfect example. Nowhere it is mentioned, that "hey customers, ECC is broken since our product hit the market". And all of a sudden, 4.8.0.5 finally admits: "well guys, we knew it was broken for 2+ yrs, but now we BELIEVE its working".
Have you seen ECC reported as broken in any of the previous releases "known issues" section? You see, thats the problem with this approach: perfectly supports the product vendor dishonesty, and allows them to reveal (or not!) their product defects on their convenience.

Or here is another topic: nobody in the world knows for sure, what is the real clockrate of the AMD CPU built into the APU2 boards!
https://forum.netgate.com/topic/133656/did-i-just-overclocked-my-apu2c4-amd-gx-412tc-soc

Everybody just guessing, not a single person can confidently say, this CPU is clocked to XYZ Ghz, and can/cannot do Turbo clock, where its Turbo clockrate is XYZ+ABC Ghz, and the reason why in the APU2 we dont see this clockrate ever is: ? (a big questionmark, nobody external or internal knows it)
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on November 28, 2018, 08:57:43 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.8.0.6 is available.

cheers
till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: loredo on November 28, 2018, 09:19:31 pm
Still wouldn't recommend to install the new 4.8.x versions.
Just recently downgraded to 4.0.x because of reboot issues still existing.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Ricardo on November 29, 2018, 09:37:44 am
Hi all,

for interested 4.8.0.6 is available.

cheers
till

4.8.0.6 has many stability issues:
https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-16

Known issues:
CPU frequency is stuck at low frequencies and does not react to stressin"
some PCIe cards are not detected on certain OSes
booting with 2 USB 3.x sticks plugged in apu4 sometimes results in detecting only 1 stick
certain USB 3.x sticks happen to not appear in boot menu
booting Xen is unstable
platforms happen to hang after reboot
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Evil_Sense on November 29, 2018, 01:22:57 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.8.0.6 is available.

cheers
till

4.8.0.6 has many stability issues:
https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-16

Known issues:
CPU frequency is stuck at low frequencies and does not react to stressin"
some PCIe cards are not detected on certain OSes
booting with 2 USB 3.x sticks plugged in apu4 sometimes results in detecting only 1 stick
certain USB 3.x sticks happen to not appear in boot menu
booting Xen is unstable
platforms happen to hang after reboot
Not only in 4.8.0.6.
At least the whole 4.8.x releases have these bugs, they just weren't added to the previous releases after they were found.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Ricardo on December 01, 2018, 04:21:14 pm
"Not only in 4.8.0.6.
At least the whole 4.8.x releases have these bugs, they just weren't added to the previous releases after they were found."

Exactly.
There may be other open issues in 4.8 that are already known, but not yet published. So I dont recommend 4.8.x, personally I stick to 4.0 as long as necessary. Dont want to risk my firewall crash because of these BIOS issues, it is rock solid (at least the BIOS) on 4.0.19.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Evil_Sense on December 01, 2018, 06:15:48 pm
"Not only in 4.8.0.6.
At least the whole 4.8.x releases have these bugs, they just weren't added to the previous releases after they were found."

Exactly.
There may be other open issues in 4.8 that are already known, but not yet published. So I dont recommend 4.8.x, personally I stick to 4.0 as long as necessary. Dont want to risk my firewall crash because of these BIOS issues, it is rock solid (at least the BIOS) on 4.0.19.
Well I'm running 4.8.0.6 and it's also stable, the most boring issue is that I need to replug power when rebooting after some hours/days running, not shure about the cpu frequency but working ecc and ahci is nice to have.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on December 12, 2018, 07:39:25 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.8.0.7 is available.

cheers
till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Northguy on December 12, 2018, 09:04:05 pm
From the changelog it doesn't look if something useful is fixed with this release.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: miroco on December 15, 2018, 09:54:38 pm
There seems to have been a substantial breakthrough in the development of the PC Engines firmware, the apu1 trough apu5 range. The latest test builds have a 05_ prefix and can be found here: https://cloud.3mdeb.com/index.php/s/ssRQPSjYG8Ek6mD

The upcoming official release is expected around January 10th. as v4.8.0.8

https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/issues/64

https://pcengines.github.io


miroco
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: miroco on January 22, 2019, 09:25:57 am
Jan. 12th saw the most recent release of the APUx firmware range, including a new channel for announcing future releases.

v4.9.0.1 - Mainline
v4.0.23 - Legacy

http://www.pcengines.info/forums/?page=post&id=4C472C95-E846-42BF-BC41-43D1C54DFBEA&fid=6D8DBBA4-9D40-4C87-B471-80CB5D9BD945&pageindex=3


miroco
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: loredo on January 22, 2019, 09:47:01 am
awww, people report the reboot issue to be finally fixed for the mainline version.
Sounds promising, might be worth giving it a try. but maybe not mixing it up together with 19.1 migration - just to make sure there is nothing interfering, you never know...
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: mayo on February 08, 2019, 01:43:42 pm
Updated bios to v4.9.0.1 - Mainline with 19.1.1 without problems.
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: loredo on February 08, 2019, 01:49:32 pm
Same
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: Northguy on February 08, 2019, 02:55:15 pm
What happens if you reload WAN interface settings if you have a DHCP enabled WAN?

I am experiencing the following issue: https://github.com/opnsense/core/issues/3200
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: loredo on February 08, 2019, 03:34:46 pm
No issues as far as i can tell
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on February 08, 2019, 07:36:37 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.9.0.1 is available.

cheers
till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on February 09, 2019, 06:05:25 pm
Hi,

first dev apu1 with OPNsense 19.1.x and Bios 4.9.0.1 has been running stable for a week now.

cheers
till
Title: Re: APU2 Bios
Post by: tillsense on February 09, 2019, 06:39:03 pm
Here's an important note for OPNsense 19.1 and apu4 Users with fix to Bios 4.0.23 (Legacy releases):
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=11472 (https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=11472)
https://github.com/opnsense/core/issues/3180 (https://github.com/opnsense/core/issues/3180)

cheers till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: miroco on February 12, 2019, 08:05:18 pm
The most recent BIOS versions for the APU1 trough APU5 platforms are out.

v4.9.0.2 - Mainline
v4.0.24 - Legacy

https://pcengines.github.io


miroco
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 13, 2019, 06:48:57 am
Appears to have been pulled:

The requested URL /file/apu1_v4.9.0.2.rom.tar.gz was not found on this server.

All links give the same error message it appears.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: miroco on February 13, 2019, 01:03:19 pm
It was perhaps a glich or an outage of some sort. However, all five BIOS-versions are/was accessable as of 13:00 CET.


miroco
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: tillsense on February 13, 2019, 08:16:06 pm
Hi,

is the download (from v4.9.0.2) of a third domain (3mdeb.com) here officially approved by PCengines? I did not read anything about it from the manufacturer.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: miroco on February 13, 2019, 09:08:01 pm
Hi till,

As far as I can tell, 3mdeb is a company specialized in embedded systems, particular firmwares. The lightly scenario is that PCengines contracted 3mdeb for the development of firmares for their APU series products.

http://www.pcengines.info/forums/?page=post&id=4C472C95-E846-42BF-BC41-43D1C54DFBEA&fid=6D8DBBA4-9D40-4C87-B471-80CB5D9BD945&pageindex=2

https://calendly.com/3mdeb


miroco
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: pietrushnic on February 14, 2019, 01:26:46 am
Hi all,
my name is Piotr Król and I'm the founder of 3mdeb Embedded Systems Consulting company. As stated here (https://pcengines.github.io/about.html) 3mdeb maintains PC Engines Open Source Firmware on behalf of PC Engines. Please note we are a licensed provider of coreboot consulting services (https://www.coreboot.org/consulting.html). If you are doing some high-end security stuff with hardware please let us know - we are very interested in TPM, secure/verified boot, Xen, virtualization, SRTM/DRTM, and other things. We sometimes write about that on our blog  (https://3mdeb.com/category/firmware/).

We are working on our mission of Open Source Firmware for a network appliance. Soon you should hear about another known brand of a network appliance to switch to Open Source Firmware. Stay tuned.

I would like to thank tillsense, miroco and others for keeping this thread and exchanging valuable information related to PC Engines hardware and firmware.

Our goal is to provide open and healthy discussion about firmware quality, priorities and what can be improved. It would be great to get feedback from OPNsense community and understand your needs. We will be glad to address problems if there would be enough resources. We are committed to long term support and monthly releases.

P.S. Please note that there is some report about v4.9.0.2 instability here (https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/266#issuecomment-463397036). This is because we enabled CPU Performance Boost, which in some workloads may give 20% boost - problem is that we can't validate all possible configuration so there may be some problems in the field. If some can afford to test we would appreciate your feedback.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 14, 2019, 06:43:04 am
Hi pietrushnic,

Thank you for clarifying 3mdeb relationship with PCEngines, it was definitely a surprise to learn about it after using their hardware for a few years.

I would appreciate if you could let me know where can I find either a GPG signature or a SHA-256 digest for the ROMs --- if they exist. Access to the source code and reproducible builds are a great thing to have yet everyone should be able to independently validate in an easy way that the downloaded binary file is identical with the one published on the site.

Also, with ECC recently enabled in 4.0.23 on the Legacy branch, is there anything in the works for the Mainline one ? I'll have to upgrade the firmware on an APU4C4 in a few days and I'm still a bit puzzled in terms of which branch is more appropriate for the time being.

Last but not least, linking only the pfSense installation tutorial on the of the pcengines.github.io page could very well hint that opnsense is an unsupported platform...which clearly is not the case.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: pietrushnic on February 14, 2019, 12:28:05 pm
Hi newsense,


Thank you for clarifying 3mdeb relationship with PCEngines, it was definitely a surprise to learn about it after using their hardware for a few years.

Please note that we started work on PC Engines firmware in January 2016.

I would appreciate if you could let me know where can I find either a GPG signature or a SHA-256 digest for the ROMs --- if they exist. Access to the source code and reproducible builds are a great thing to have yet everyone should be able to independently validate in an easy way that the downloaded binary file is identical with the one published on the site.

I'm working on making that clear if you can advise best practice I would appreciate that. We definitely have to improve the website to make things clear. At this point SHA256 and detached signature for it you can find in newsletter or  blog post (https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2019/02/12/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-9-0-2.html) - definitely we have to improve that. Please note there is asciinema (https://asciinema.org/a/227035) which can help in faster verification since you just copy paste commands. All keys can be found on 3mdeb-secpack repo (https://github.com/3mdeb/3mdeb-secpack) inspired by QubesOS approach. My key also can be found on keybase.io/pietrushnic (https://keybase.io/pietrushnic). I tried to push everything to SKS pool but I failed. Please note we are not crypto pros, so if you have seen anything problematic in whole process just let me know and we will try align to best practice.

Please note that there is still a problem with reproducible builds which we track here (https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/267).

Also, with ECC recently enabled in 4.0.23 on the Legacy branch, is there anything in the works for the Mainline one ? I'll have to upgrade the firmware on an APU4C4 in a few days and I'm still a bit puzzled in terms of which branch is more appropriate for the time being.

I'm not sure if I understand the question correctly. ECC was first enabled in mainline v4.8.0.5. It is very hard to claim one branch is better than other. Mainline is bleeding edge, we rebase continuously on coreboot master and use most recent code from SeaBIOS, iPXE and other payloads included - those changes can introduce bugs. Because of that, we provide regression test results here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_uRhVo9eYeZONnelymonYp444zYHT_Q_qmJEJ8_XqJc/edit#gid=0). Using the most recent version in production without a clear reason is a bad idea, if version of firmware that you using right now works for you and there is no bug or features that you need from newer version I would not go with updating that. If there is a fix that you would like to have you should probably analyze test results and make a decision. I know the expectation is to get a clear answer, but TBH there is no clear answer to question what is better - YMMV. The number of configurations that have to be validated is beyond our capabilities.

Last but not least, linking only the pfSense installation tutorial on the of the pcengines.github.io page could very well hint that opnsense is an unsupported platform...which clearly is not the case.

Understood, I will make sure this will be addressed in the next release cycle.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: lattera on February 14, 2019, 07:48:52 pm
Hi all,
my name is Piotr Król and I'm the founder of 3mdeb Embedded Systems Consulting company. As stated here (https://pcengines.github.io/about.html) 3mdeb maintains PC Engines Open Source Firmware on behalf of PC Engines. Please note we are a licensed provider of coreboot consulting services (https://www.coreboot.org/consulting.html). If you are doing some high-end security stuff with hardware please let us know - we are very interested in TPM, secure/verified boot, Xen, virtualization, SRTM/DRTM, and other things. We sometimes write about that on our blog  (https://3mdeb.com/category/firmware/).

We are working on our mission of Open Source Firmware for a network appliance. Soon you should hear about another known brand of a network appliance to switch to Open Source Firmware. Stay tuned.

I would like to thank tillsense, miroco and others for keeping this thread and exchanging valuable information related to PC Engines hardware and firmware.

Our goal is to provide open and healthy discussion about firmware quality, priorities and what can be improved. It would be great to get feedback from OPNsense community and understand your needs. We will be glad to address problems if there would be enough resources. We are committed to long term support and monthly releases.

P.S. Please note that there is some report about v4.9.0.2 instability here (https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/266#issuecomment-463397036). This is because we enabled CPU Performance Boost, which in some workloads may give 20% boost - problem is that we can't validate all possible configuration so there may be some problems in the field. If some can afford to test we would appreciate your feedback.

Very rarely do I see such quality transparent collaboration and communication. I don't really have anything technical to add, but I'd like to say thank you, Piotr, for supporting PC Engines. I absolutely love these little APU devices. Firmware work tends to be underappreciated, but it's hard work and I would like to thank you for your efforts.

Putting my HardenedBSD and OPNsense hats on: if there's anything HardenedBSD and/or OPNsense can do to support PC Engines and 3mdeb, please let me know.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: tillsense on February 16, 2019, 09:36:58 pm
Hi pietrushnic,

i simply join the words of lattera here and a warm welcome Piotr. When I started this thread 2 years ago I could not imagine such an interest and its development. I used PC Engines hardware since the times of Alix with m0n0wall, t1t1 and various and also I think that the firmware topic is still completely underestimated. With OPNsense and from 19.1 HardenedBSD as base and 3mdeb as licensed coorebot provider for PC Engines hardware this seems to take on a completely new quality. I am really impressed.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: pietrushnic on February 17, 2019, 11:43:01 pm
Hi till,
thank you. Definitely, this is a great thread with a reasonable statistic. I agree that firmware is underestimated - IMO especially in security and advanced hardware features (e.g. virtualization). My dream would be to form a movement that can convince network appliance vendors to use Open Source Firmware that is compiled in a reproducible way, has recent security patches and state of the art performance, deployed in a way convenient to users (e.g. LVFS/fwupd) as well as open for contribution.

If you see any vendor who would be a good candidate for Open Source Firmware please let us know, if there would be big enough movement we may be able to enable more hardware platforms.

Unfortunately, we face a neverending battle with silicon vendors who just seem to care about sales figures. Good documentation and support are rather not on their agenda. We see a lot of changes in approach to the firmware (FSP license change, Project Mu, Slim Bootloader) - I can't say AMD keep up to recent trends. We rather spent times on working around issues in vendor code, then extending or improving coreboot support.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 18, 2019, 09:48:12 pm
Hi pietrushnic

Thank you for the detailed answer and the quick turnaround regarding the SHA256 and signature information that's been added to the latest versions in mainline and legacy. (My bad, completely missed ECC being enabled in mainline in 4.8.0.5)

As time permits, it would likely be a good idea to provide the same SHA256 information for the previous releases should there be a need in a specific setup to revert to a previously known version that worked.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 21, 2019, 05:17:44 am
Hi pietrushnic

I bring both lousy and awesome news... :)

Just received an APU4C4 which came with a stock BIOS v4.6.4 which fails to update to either v4.9.0.2 or v4.9.0.1 with a weird FIFO message that I couldn't find on Github or PCEngines forums:

Code: [Select]
FIFO pointer corruption! Pointer is 6, wanted 3

For the time being, nothing is plugged in the board other than power, USB stick and serial cable.


The awesome news however is that it successfully booted 19.1 :)


Your help and guidance with regards to the BIOS update would be very much appreciated. Full output of the BIOS update attempt and live boot are attached.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: miczyg on February 21, 2019, 11:47:58 am
Hi pietrushnic

I bring both lousy and awesome news... :)

Just received an APU4C4 which came with a stock BIOS v4.6.4 which fails to update to either v4.9.0.2 or v4.9.0.1 with a weird FIFO message that I couldn't find on Github or PCEngines forums:

Code: [Select]
FIFO pointer corruption! Pointer is 6, wanted 3

For the time being, nothing is plugged in the board other than power, USB stick and serial cable.


The awesome news however is that it successfully booted 19.1 :)


Your help and guidance with regards to the BIOS update would be very much appreciated. Full output of the BIOS update attempt and live boot are attached.
Hi newsense,

I am Michał Żygowski, firmware engineer in 3mdeb, PC Engines firmware co-maintainer.

After looking at the log, I can see it is a flashrom error. We use only flashrom version 0.9.9+ and I advise You to do the same. Older versions of flashrom may not have the right chipset interface implemented.

Flashrom is not a part of firmware, it is just linux utility to flash firmware. I am pretty sure the newer flashrom will do the trick. PC Engines tinycore is not the only way to flash the firmware, You can use any Linux and install flashrom (or compile it if You are confident about Your skills). If You encounter any problems feel free to ask questions. I will help as much as possible.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 21, 2019, 04:03:18 pm
Hi Michal,

Thanks for the quick reply. I was actually thinking about that while reading lattera's recent post and wondering about why he had to bootstrap HBSD prior to flashing the ROM instead of using the TinyCore utility provided by PCEngines - which worked just fine for me a couple weeks back to upgrade an APU3.

So the big takeaway is that the TinyCore is a PCEngines issue to fix and nothing you guys can address in the meantime for the APU4 users ?


As time permits I'll try to bootstrap some linux distro or even use lattera's guide if I can find a spare network cable - and report back later today.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: tillsense on February 21, 2019, 06:41:55 pm
Hi,

flashrom is since 2 years in the ports of opnsense itself.
Current version is 1.0 (_1)

Code: [Select]
flashrom v1.0 on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p8-HBSD (amd64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=4172 (https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=4172)

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 22, 2019, 05:39:59 am
Thank you tillsense but I need to file an official complaint here since users are clearly being sabotaged here... :-)


Joke aside, the procedure I followed is extremly straightforward and arguably less scarry and error prone for the average user when compared to the otherwise great Github post by lattera on this matter.


Steps are as follows:

1. Boot OPNsense from USB to live mode and assign an IP on the WAN interface

2. pkg install flashrom

3. curl https://www.<your_chosen_rom_version_matching_the_APU.com --output apuXver4.9.0.2.rom

4.sha256 apuXver4.9.0.2.rom --- make sure it matches the one on https://pcengines.github.io

5.flashrom -w apuXver4.9.0.2.rom -p internal --- I had the board mismatch warning so I used the override as displayed on the screen

6. reboot

The full output of the procedure is attached.

To further simplify things, flashrom and its dependencies could be included at least on the serial if not all the OPNsense images going forward. (?)


Again, a big thanks to the 3mdeb team, tillsense and lattera for their - direct or indirect - contributions to this thread.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: mayo on February 22, 2019, 08:46:42 am
Thanks for the clear procedure!
One question: is not possible to upgrade in a msata running machine instead of booting from USB?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 22, 2019, 09:16:01 am
I just upgraded and APU3C4 with msata remotely, which was in production, without issues: v4.9.0.1 > v4.9.0.2.

The specific case above was due to a new board that wasn't yet fully set up with msata and mounted in its enclosure - hence the live boot to check up everything is operational and up to date before deployment.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: mayo on February 22, 2019, 09:33:29 am
Perfect, thank you!
One think, I downloaded apu2_v4.9.0.2.rom (I have apu2c4 board) but, when I check sha256 it gives me the sha of the apu4_v4.9.0.2.rom, probably because I copied your filename... is there a way to reset it?

Thank you!!!
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 22, 2019, 09:46:47 am
The SHA256 _must_ match the one on the site.

Downloaded 3 roms randomly and there are different sums as expected:

 shasum -a 256 apu*.rom
4d64c5b7875b9877b4f149e0a0f082a614ae5572cfd7346b0c45d5378f887b75 apu2_v4.9.0.2.rom
fa4f1c1763ec918457ba22e57c3ff8fb19fc32cd0634ac9d7472b612cea806ae  apu4_v4.9.0.2.rom
e31e952dfcb549f3144d30eb25b2bcb2ddaeb9ed89372d2e548c0d3902cf14c5  apu5_v4.9.0.2.rom
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: mayo on February 22, 2019, 09:53:49 am
I've tried this way:
curl https://cloud.3mdeb.com/index.php/s/DKo4ZkxjxiTttEb/download --output apu2_v4.9.0.2.rom

and then:
shasum -a 256 apu*.rom

and the result is:
fa4f1c1763ec918457ba22e57c3ff8fb19fc32cd0634ac9d7472b612cea806ae  apu2_v4.9.0.2.rom

that seems to be apu4 according to the Pc Engines github page...


Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 22, 2019, 09:57:39 am
Are you copying the correct link for your APU ?

This is the one for APU2:

https://cloud.3mdeb.com/index.php/s/AF5XHB54gz4dpQL/download
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: mayo on February 22, 2019, 10:06:42 am
Stupid Me!

ok, now it works pefectly!
thank you so much!
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: Northguy on February 22, 2019, 12:01:08 pm

8<---

less scarry and error prone for the average user when compared to the otherwise great Github post by lattera on this matter.

8<--


Just wondering, which post on which Github?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 22, 2019, 04:31:54 pm
Hi miczyg

Any chance I could remotely identify the chip running on this APU1C4 ? Dmidecode isn't helpful

Code: [Select]
flashrom -w apu1v4.9.0.2.rom -p internal
flashrom v1.0 on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p6 (amd64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 4, resolution: 70ns).
coreboot table found at 0xdffdf000.
Found chipset "AMD SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0".
Enabling flash write... OK.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Multiple flash chip definitions match the detected chip(s): "MX25L1605", "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E", "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E"
Please specify which chip definition to use with the -c <chipname> option.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: 0xFelix on February 22, 2019, 09:22:46 pm
According to the APU2 documentation on Github it should be the second definition.

See https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/firmware_flashing.md#corebootrom-flashing
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 23, 2019, 06:27:39 am
Thank you 0xFelix, I didn't find that bit prior to posting. Everything worked without issues.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: Mks on February 23, 2019, 09:09:49 am
Hi all.

Just for my understanding.

Is there a possible to update the BIOS from an running OpnSense or is it required to boot the system with an USB-Stick and Tinycore?

Thanks
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: 0xFelix on February 23, 2019, 09:39:52 am
I just upgraded my APU2C4 from a running opnsense.

Just login to the console, install flashrom, download the firmware and flash it.

Code: [Select]
pkg install flashrom
curl LINKTOFIRMWARE --output coreboot.rom
flashrom -w coreboot.rom -p internal

On my APU flashrom complained that the board id did not match. You can append ":boardmismatch=force" to the command though. After flashing I did a power reset and everything works fine.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: Mks on February 23, 2019, 09:40:33 am
Great Thanks!
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: miczyg on February 25, 2019, 01:44:58 pm
Hello Dear OPNsense community,

Signatures and hashes for all previous firmware release are now available: https://pcengines.github.io/


Hi miczyg

Any chance I could remotely identify the chip running on this APU1C4 ? Dmidecode isn't helpful

Code: [Select]
flashrom -w apu1v4.9.0.2.rom -p internal
flashrom v1.0 on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p6 (amd64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 4, resolution: 70ns).
coreboot table found at 0xdffdf000.
Found chipset "AMD SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0".
Enabling flash write... OK.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Multiple flash chip definitions match the detected chip(s): "MX25L1605", "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E", "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E"
Please specify which chip definition to use with the -c <chipname> option.

Hi newsense,

Yes this is a common problem with apu1, since few Macronix SPI chips have the same JEDEC ID and flashrom can not distinguish them. Try passing:

-c "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E"

to flashrom as an argument and it will be ok. We have mentioned it here too: https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/firmware_flashing.md#corebootrom-flashing
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on February 26, 2019, 04:16:07 am
Hello Dear OPNsense community,

Signatures and hashes for all previous firmware release are now available: https://pcengines.github.io/


Hi miczyg

Any chance I could remotely identify the chip running on this APU1C4 ? Dmidecode isn't helpful

Code: [Select]
flashrom -w apu1v4.9.0.2.rom -p internal
flashrom v1.0 on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p6 (amd64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 4, resolution: 70ns).
coreboot table found at 0xdffdf000.
Found chipset "AMD SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0".
Enabling flash write... OK.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E" (2048 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ffe00000.
Multiple flash chip definitions match the detected chip(s): "MX25L1605", "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E", "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E"
Please specify which chip definition to use with the -c <chipname> option.

Hi newsense,

Yes this is a common problem with apu1, since few Macronix SPI chips have the same JEDEC ID and flashrom can not distinguish them. Try passing:

-c "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E/MX25L1608E"

to flashrom as an argument and it will be ok. We have mentioned it here too: https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/firmware_flashing.md#corebootrom-flashing

Thank you miczyg, I already updated two APU1s without issues from their factory version, both using the OPNsense live method I described a few post back and from a fully deployed production running FW - following the steps in the Live method described followed by the reboot command when the upgrade was succesful.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: lattera on March 04, 2019, 07:28:24 pm
I'm getting the attached error when attempting to install OPNsense 19.1 on an APU3 running BIOS firmware v4.9.0.2.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: lattera on March 04, 2019, 08:05:18 pm
To get around this, I installed 18.7, then followed the upgrade procedure to get me to 19.1.2.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on March 05, 2019, 03:58:54 am
I'm getting the attached error when attempting to install OPNsense 19.1 on an APU3 running BIOS firmware v4.9.0.2.
That screams more like an error reading the USB stick to me, I wouldn't have pinned it on the BIOS. I've booted successfully APUs 3 and 4 with the live 19.1 on the factory BIOS and performed the upgrade to v4.9.0.2 successfully followed by reboot and install from the same (rather lousy) USB stick. I've always used the method described a few posts back.

Was there any other indication it might be BIOS related in your case ?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: tillsense on March 12, 2019, 07:22:20 am
Hi all,

for interested 4.9.0.3 is available.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: newsense on March 13, 2019, 05:40:39 am
Successfully upgraded APU1,3,4 to v4.9.0.3
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: miczyg on March 25, 2019, 11:52:56 am
Hello all,

We have validated installation of OPNSense 19.1 on most commonly used storage media. Enjoy the OS status update:

https://pcengines.github.io/

Cheers,
Michał
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: tillsense on April 10, 2019, 07:51:34 pm
Hi all,

for interested 4.9.0.4 is available.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: mayo on April 11, 2019, 08:21:12 am
Successfully upgraded APU2c4 to v4.9.0.4
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Bios
Post by: miroco on May 10, 2019, 08:41:53 pm
The most recent mainline BIOS versions for the APU1 trough APU5 platforms are out.

v4.9.0.5

https://pcengines.github.io
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on May 17, 2019, 08:52:57 pm
Hi all,

APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware v4.9.0.5 is available.
Many thanks to miroco for the hint.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: ruggerio on June 11, 2019, 09:25:07 am
I've had massive problems with the latest firmware on a APU4, after googling a had to go back to 4.0.23, as i always lost connections, e.g. ssh - this ist not the case with 4.0.23.

Anybody else with this?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: miczyg on June 11, 2019, 10:10:00 am
I've had massive problems with the latest firmware on a APU4, after googling a had to go back to 4.0.23, as i always lost connections, e.g. ssh - this ist not the case with 4.0.23.

Anybody else with this?

Hi ruggerio,

Please submit an issue here: https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues

Also provide some more detailed description:

- detailed problem description (e.g. frequent SSH connection breaks), possibly with OS logs showing the problem
- firmware version before and after upgrade
- used platform (apu4a/b/c etc.)
- OS version
- any changes made to BIOS setup menu

Note that we are mostly validating firmware level features and simple OS installation. We cannot possibly validate production cases/setups. This is where the community comes with help and should report any problems.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: ruggerio on June 11, 2019, 11:12:30 am
Hi,

It's done: https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/309

Strangewise, i do not see anything in the logs :(
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on June 12, 2019, 08:27:08 pm
Hi all,

v4.9.0.6 is available with many interesting features for mainline and legacy release ;)

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on June 12, 2019, 08:36:08 pm
Hi,

It's done: https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/309

Strangewise, i do not see anything in the logs :(

Hi ruggerio,

is this the same board as your current 19.7 Development Series questions here in the forum?

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: ruggerio on June 13, 2019, 08:36:10 am
In fact it is. As per now, 4.9.0.6 is there, i gonna give it a kick. There is also a new version of seabios, it seems.

--> Updated, works like a charm since hours.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on July 11, 2019, 07:55:11 pm
Hi all,

v4.9.0.7 is available...

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: Ricardo on July 17, 2019, 04:18:38 pm
People (at least 2) started to report extermal PCIe Wifi card issues with 4.9.0.7.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: mayo on July 18, 2019, 01:57:11 pm
Hi all,

v4.9.0.7 is available...

cheers
till

installed
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: katamadone [CH] on July 26, 2019, 02:40:46 pm
may anyone confirm:

for the apu1c4 = 3 LAN, 4 GB DRAM, T40E CPU the version  on https://pcengines.github.io/ for apu1 should work.
But there's no legacy release, only the mainline release?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: miczyg on July 26, 2019, 04:30:26 pm
may anyone confirm:

for the apu1c4 = 3 LAN, 4 GB DRAM, T40E CPU the version  on https://pcengines.github.io/ for apu1 should work.
But there's no legacy release, only the mainline release?

There never was an apu1 legacy in the first place. "The legacy" refers to the very first working BIOS code for apu2 developed for PC Engines. It was very stripped coreboot repository containing only apu2 mainboard and other important source code necessary to build firmware.

https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/tree/coreboot-4.0.x/src/mainboard/pcengines

Unlike mainline source which is a fork of official coreboot and all mainboards are there, legacy only serves a purpose for building apu2 firmware with an older codebase.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: Northguy on August 12, 2019, 03:33:32 pm
FYI: PC Engines apu coreboot Open Source Firmware v4.10.0.0

Key changes - Mainline
-LEDs
-S1 switch button with interrupts
-SIMSWAP

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-25
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: ruffy91 on August 12, 2019, 10:36:56 pm
Is 4.10 a new branch or just a version increase to 4.9.x?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on August 13, 2019, 06:44:41 am
Hi all,

yes. 4.10 in versioning stands for changing to coreboot release 4.10 itself.

https://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2019/07/22/announcing-coreboot-4-10/

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: Kingrat on August 31, 2019, 07:49:59 pm
Anyone else having stability issues/crashing since the clock boosting was added? I have tried 4.9.0.2 and a couple of versions inbetween as well as 4.10.0.0, all releases have been unstable for me past 4.9.0.1 since the added cpu boost. I have removed all the tunables I had in /boot/loader.conf.local from before, it seems to give me a CAM status: Command timeout message in dmesg before becoming completely unresponsive. I had tunables in place before that which were required in the past to install older versions of opnsense for ahci issues which have since been fixed. I have the KingFast 16GB msata in mine. It seems to run between 6-12 hours between lockups on average, sometimes a couple of hours sometimes a day.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on August 31, 2019, 10:37:21 pm
Hi kingrat,

have no stability problems on different models. If you have been testing them for so long, you should report them to the developers.

https://github.com/pcengines


cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on September 01, 2019, 09:16:51 pm
Just a thought.
Do you have the CPU thermal sensors enabled ?
Are you using PowerD and what Power Mode setting ?
What temperature are you running in Reporting -> Health -> System -> Cputemp  ?

With the CPU Performance Boost enabled, you might be running a little hotter.
Could you be hitting thermal shutdown ?

I have an APU2D4 and, as an experiment, I've done some extra things to keep the CPU as cool as possible, short of putting it in front of a fan. It's my home firewall, so I'll admit that it's lightly loaded.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: Kingrat on September 02, 2019, 04:09:31 am
Looking at my config it looks like I did have powerd enabled with hadp which seems to be problematic historically.

Temp idles around 56c with or without core boost.

I currently restored my config in to a VM so I can troubleshoot the hardware. I reloaded from scratch and I am currently running 4 processes of openssl speed in a loop to load up all cores to 100%, temp is sitting around  59c with 400% load. I updated it from console but have not restored my config on to it.

So far so good but I am going to bake it for a day or two and see if it fails. I have a console connection hooked up now so hopefully I get something if it does crash again. I will try and enable powerd again on it and see if that causes it to hang to confirm if that is the issue.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: chemlud on September 02, 2019, 08:56:21 am
Hello!

I'm having a look at coreboot from time to time as I look for a stable solution for a remote (!) system without BIOS from Intel/AMD (although management engine and alike still present...).

Which hardware/coreboot version would be suitable for a 100/100 MBit fiber connection to run suricata on 2-3 interfaces (no wifi required)?

Many thanks in advance!
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on September 05, 2019, 08:17:21 pm
Hi chemlud,

there is currently very little hardware with coreboot as firmware, so I started this thread to maybe trigger something here.

https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=13201.0

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: chemlud on September 05, 2019, 09:03:39 pm
Hy!

Thanks for reply! Protectli looks nice, but no shipping FROM EU, or?

Is the PC Engines hardware stable with coreboot and OPNsense for remote installs? :-)

Thanks in advance
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on September 07, 2019, 08:25:01 pm
Hi chemlud,

also these questions would be solvable with a forum search ;)

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: miroco on September 12, 2019, 11:53:49 am
The most recent BIOS versions for the APU1 trough APU5 platforms are out.

v4.10.0.1/v4.0.28

https://pcengines.github.io
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on October 10, 2019, 09:18:37 pm

Hi all,

v4.10.0.2 is available...https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-27

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Firmware
Post by: tillsense on November 08, 2019, 07:17:42 pm
Hi all,

v4.10.0.3 is published.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2019/11/08/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-10-0-3.html

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: dave on November 09, 2019, 05:27:10 pm
...
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Northguy on November 09, 2019, 06:01:50 pm
Removed the response. Since Dave decided to remove his question, my answer to his question is no longer relevant.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: dave on November 09, 2019, 06:59:39 pm
I'm just gonna delete that
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on November 09, 2019, 08:21:04 pm
I have an APU2D4 for my home firewall and I upgraded to v4.10.0.3
CPU Temp (amdtemp) is no longer being shown in OPNsense.
I run "sysctl -a | grep amdtemp" and I get the appropriate value for dev.amdtemp.0.core0.sensor0
I only get results for core0
Anybody else seeing this ?
I'm going to go back to v4.10.0.2 and see if CPU temps are available.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: dave on November 09, 2019, 08:51:12 pm
Can confirm.  Temps no longer reported on my apu2C4.
Just reported it to 3mdeb.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on November 09, 2019, 09:03:19 pm
There's an issue with v4.10.0.3

v4.10.0.3:
root@OPNsense:~ # sysctl -a | grep dev.cpu
   returns nothing

v4.10.0.2:
root@OPNsense:~ # sysctl -a | grep -c dev.cpu
53

53 lines of output including results for the 4 CPUs and temperatures

I'll stay with v4.10.0.2 for now


Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on November 09, 2019, 10:05:48 pm
Hi all,

i see that here too. there is also a contribution here at 3mdeb / pcengines.

https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/351

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: miroco on December 11, 2019, 12:26:14 am
The most recent mainline BIOS versions for the APU1 trough APU5 platforms are out.

Temperature is showing on OPNsense dashboard.

v4.11.0.1

https://pcengines.github.io
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on December 19, 2019, 09:10:14 pm
@miroco

can you also see Zone 0 (hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature) ?

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: miroco on December 19, 2019, 11:02:53 pm
No I can't. This just throws:

# sysctl -a | grep -i thermal

dev.amdtemp.0.%desc: AMD CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors

Do you have any suggestions?

A finding made by the 3mdeb crew puts doubts into pfSense/OPNSense APCI compliance. Could this perhaps influence the result?

https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/351
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on January 01, 2020, 08:20:37 pm
Hi all,

happy new year 2020!

A short test showed that with the firmware pcengines coreboot version v4.11.0.2 also the opnsense sensor plugin has a display under zone 0 (hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature) again.

Let's see how the APCI implementation on the APU's under opnsense 20.1 (HardenedBSD Kernel/OPNsense/3mdeb Firmware) will continue in the future.

cheers till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on January 01, 2020, 09:39:43 pm
I upgraded to v4.11.0.2
root@OPNsense:~ # dmidecode --string bios-version
v4.11.0.2

The dev.cpu.[0123].temperature values are available, but I don't see hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature

root@OPNsense:~ # sysctl hw.acpi
hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest: C2
hw.acpi.reset_video: 0
hw.acpi.handle_reboot: 1
hw.acpi.disable_on_reboot: 0
hw.acpi.verbose: 0
hw.acpi.s4bios: 0
hw.acpi.sleep_delay: 1
hw.acpi.suspend_state: NONE
hw.acpi.standby_state: S1
hw.acpi.lid_switch_state: NONE
hw.acpi.sleep_button_state: S1
hw.acpi.power_button_state: S5
hw.acpi.supported_sleep_state: S1 S4 S5
root@OPNsense:~ #

Am I missing something ?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: miczyg on January 17, 2020, 05:25:24 pm
Hi OPNSense community,

It seems you are still experiencing some problems with ACPI and thermal zones/temperature reading.

Please do not be shy, you can always open a GitHub issue on https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot (or other repositories). That way we can respond really fast to your concerns and issues.

I must admit that the ACPI code for apu platforms is rather poor in terms of length (most of the things is a basic APCI code necessary for OS). coreboot community tries to update the ACPI code to be compliant with recent ACPI specifications. Some of the changes slipped our sight and introduced regressions. However, we work to improve that situation.

I see the Thermal Zone is not detected by ACPI. Unfortunately only apu1 has a Thermal Zone defined in ACPI.
As for apu2 we may add it also soon.

Cheers,
--
Michał Żygowski
Firmware Engineer
https://3mdeb.com | @3mdeb_com
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on January 30, 2020, 07:35:53 pm
Hi Michał,

thanks for this clarification from you! i hope you get a uniform solution here on all apu's :)

@all

v4.11.0.3 is published.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/01/30/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-11-0-3.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-31

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on March 01, 2020, 06:00:49 pm
v4.11.0.4 is available
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on March 29, 2020, 06:02:36 pm
I saw that v4.11.0.5 was available, but it's not shown on https://pcengines.github.io/ yet.
I installed v4.11.0.5 and I see a slight issue regarding CPU temperature.
On the dashboard, I only see one CPU temperature, Zone 0 (hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature)
So, the BIOS has changed to ACPI for temperature.

However, CPU temperatures are no longer being added to Reporting -> Health -> System -> Cputemp
Previously, I had Thermal Sensors set to amdtemp.
Using sysctl, I see 2 temperature values, dev.amdtemp.0.core0.sensor0 & hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature
I don't get dev.cpu.[0123].temperature values

I changed my Thermal Sensors to None/ACPI and rebooted.
Using sysctl, I see hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature only. No amdtemp, but I think that's OK.
"sysctl dev.cpu" returns "sysctl: unknown oid 'dev.cpu'". No values

The bottom line: How do I get the Cputemp report back? (I don't want to go back to v4.11.0.4 unless there is no other choice)
I flushed the system-cputemp report, so now my Cputemp report is blank.

Thank you



Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: k0ns0l3 on April 02, 2020, 08:45:35 am
I saw that v4.11.0.5 was available, but it's not shown on https://pcengines.github.io/ yet.
I installed v4.11.0.5 and I see a slight issue regarding CPU temperature.
On the dashboard, I only see one CPU temperature, Zone 0 (hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature)
So, the BIOS has changed to ACPI for temperature.

However, CPU temperatures are no longer being added to Reporting -> Health -> System -> Cputemp
Previously, I had Thermal Sensors set to amdtemp.
Using sysctl, I see 2 temperature values, dev.amdtemp.0.core0.sensor0 & hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature
I don't get dev.cpu.[0123].temperature values

I changed my Thermal Sensors to None/ACPI and rebooted.
Using sysctl, I see hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature only. No amdtemp, but I think that's OK.
"sysctl dev.cpu" returns "sysctl: unknown oid 'dev.cpu'". No values

The bottom line: How do I get the Cputemp report back? (I don't want to go back to v4.11.0.4 unless there is no other choice)
I flushed the system-cputemp report, so now my Cputemp report is blank.

Thank you

I have the same problem  :o
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 02, 2020, 05:34:33 pm
After upgrading to v4.11.0.5, the command "sysctl dev.cpu" returns no values.
I'm pretty sure that there should be values for dev.cpu. Previously, there were over 50 values for dev.cpu

Update:
I looked at the the PC Engines Blog, https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/03/31/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-11-0-5.html

Apparently, it's a known issue. Near the bottom of the page.

4. ACPI Thermal Zones implementation. BSD systems suffer from lack of Thermal Zones and lack of temperature status on the dashboards of router distributions of BSD systems.

Another update:
When re-reading the blog, this item is under the 'What we planned" and item 4 has "DONE" after it.
Yes. ACPI Thermal Zone is available, hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature. But, we no longer have dev.cpu in sysctl.
On the dashboard, ACPI temperature is shown.
Possibly, the Cputemp report uses dev.cpu.[0123].temperature values ?
Could the firmware be updated to return dev.cpu values ?

Yet another update:
It's been reported by pfSense users.
https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/389

Thank you
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on April 09, 2020, 05:26:37 pm
Hi all,

there seem to be several problems here at the moment: https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues.

Can you get the serial number of your APU[1-5] with firmware v4.11.0.5 by using the widget "Hardware Information" or dmidecode on console?

[opnsense 20.1.4]

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 09, 2020, 10:10:23 pm
I have an APU2D4 with BIOS v4.11.0.5 and OPNsense 20.1.4

root@OPNsense:~ # dmidecode --string system-serial-number
1324981
root@OPNsense:~ #

As far as I can tell, the system is working fine. I get my full Internet speed, 200+ Mbps. Same as previous versions of the BIOS.
The only obvious differences are:
Lobby:Dashboard - Thermal Sensors shows 1 value hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature
                            previously there were 4 individual core temperatures: dev.cpu.[0123].temperature
Reporting:Health:System:Cputemp - No CPU temp values probably due to "sysctl dev.cpu" values missing

On v4.11.0.5, "Enabled PCIe power management capabilities". According to 'hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature" value, my CPU temperature is lower by at least a degree or two compared to earlier BIOS. So, less heat due to lower power consumption.

Thanks
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: miroco on April 09, 2020, 10:45:29 pm
I've got an APU2C4 with Bios v4.11.0.5 running OPNSense 20.1.4

I can verify @Gary7 observations that they are also true to the earlier revision of the APU2x4 platform. My internet speed is a modest 100 Mb/s.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Vincent on April 11, 2020, 01:10:02 pm
Hello.

As a start, i apologize if not the good topic to post that question.

I'm using an APU2C4 with Opnsense up to update (20.1.4).
While flashing coreboot from v4.9.0.5 to v4.11.0.5 I experienced a huge performance drop :
average DL speed :
- v4.9.0.5 : 580~600 Mbps
- v4.11.0.5 : 260~300 Mbps

Reverting coreboot version to v4.9.0.5 turned back speed up to 580~600 Mbps as before.

Is anyone aware of similar problems ?
Did I miss some tunables to set after the firmware upgrade ?

Thanks for your help.
Cheers
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 11, 2020, 07:48:57 pm
With the earlier versions of BIOS, it was highly recommended (essentially required) that you shutdown and unplug your APU2 from power for 30 seconds, or so, after flashing the new BIOS.
After flashing to v4.11.0.5, shutdown and unplug from power for 30 seconds. After reboot, do you still see the large performance drop ?

Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Vincent on April 12, 2020, 11:00:06 am
Thanks Gary for your support.
I just did test with a 30s unplug before rebooting after flash and still experience the large performance drop with this method.

Happy Easter.
Cheers
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 12, 2020, 07:10:34 pm
Other people using other O/S have reported a performance decrease with v4.11.0.5
https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/387 (https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/387)
Look at the last entry from the BIOS developer, miczyg1.
"due to enablement of PCIe ASPM the performance dropped in favor of power savings. We will make this option runtime configurable". Not yet configurable or controlled in FreeBSD.

Could you try v4.11.0.4 ?
PCIe power management capabilities was introduced in v4.11.0.5. Maybe with v.4.11.0.4, your performance will return to normal.

I don't see the performance decrease either because I only have 200Mbps Internet speed, or because I've set every setting and configuration that I could find to maximize APU2 throughput.

Good Luck and Happy Easter
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Vincent on April 12, 2020, 09:14:05 pm
Thanks for the hint, I will give a try flashing on v4.11.0.4 tomorrow.

I confirm the performance drop on v4.11.0.5 isn't only opnsense/freebsd related.
I tried booting on an openwrt flash drive on the same hardware, and experience performance drop in a worse way even : 940 Mbps down to 340 Mbps.
My fiber line is 1Gbps down / 400 Mbps up. Sadly not reaching full speed with apu2c4 on it. And tried a few performance tuning on it, not sure i have found all though.

I'll keep you informed of the test results with v4.11.0.4 tomorrow.
Have a lovely evening.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 12, 2020, 11:22:51 pm
On Linux, you could try the kernel setting of "pcie_aspm.policy=performance" that was mentioned in Coreboot issue #387. https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/387 (https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/issues/387)

Good luck
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 13, 2020, 04:17:59 am
A setting that I previously set in OPNsense that MIGHT make a difference in network performance was to disable Energy Efficient Ethernet for the 3 NICs.
It doesn't seem to work when the value is set in /etc/sysctl.conf.local, so I set it in the GUI.
System -> Settings -> Tunables
I added the variables dev.igb.0.eee_disabled (and 1 and 2) and set to a value of 1
I don't want the NICs to go to sleep because I'll probably get network errors or lose packets as the NIC wakes up.
I wonder with ASPM enabled whether the NICs are more aggressively trying to go to sleep to save power.
The NICs don't use that much power, so I want the NICs to always be active.

Just a thought.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Vincent on April 13, 2020, 12:27:04 pm
Thanks Gary for your support.
I did the test as planned and there is no obvious performance drop upgrading up to v4.11.0.4. They start to appear with v4.11.0.5.
So it's obviously the new energy efficient parameter that creates the issue.

I've also tried to disable to NIC energy efficiency with your parameter in tunables.
There's a tiny performance bump with them, but that's not a very significant one.
I'm afraid i'll have to resign upgrading to some new hardware to handle my fiber at full gigabit speed with opnsense.

Thanks a lot to your help, and have a nice Easter Monday
Cheers
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Northguy on April 13, 2020, 01:02:08 pm
A setting that I previously set in OPNsense that MIGHT make a difference in network performance was to disable Energy Efficient Ethernet for the 3 NICs.
It doesn't seem to work when the value is set in /etc/sysctl.conf.local, so I set it in the GUI.
System -> Settings -> Tunables
I added the variables dev.igb.0.eee_disabled (and 1 and 2) and set to a value of 1
I don't want the NICs to go to sleep because I'll probably get network errors or lose packets as the NIC wakes up.
I wonder with ASPM enabled whether the NICs are more aggressively trying to go to sleep to save power.
The NICs don't use that much power, so I want the NICs to always be active.

Just a thought.

Got interested in the tunables you mentioned, so did some research via Google. Came across a very extensive network tuning description. Just sharing:

https://calomel.org/freebsd_network_tuning.html
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 13, 2020, 01:40:46 pm
I used that page a lot for my APU2 optimization.
A few of the settings are specific to FreeBSD 12.1 (not in 11.2) and, of course, I ignore the ZFS settings.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: miroco on April 14, 2020, 12:18:51 am
Did you happen to come across this post about optimizing the APU2x4 for gigabit speed?

https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=13899.0
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 14, 2020, 04:01:54 am
My sources of optimization settings included calomel.org, teklager.se, and some notes from OPNsense forum.
I tried to consolidate the settings from the various sources, determine what was in agreement between sources, and implement best guess what might work for me.
Some settings work in /etc/sysctl.conf.local and some settings don't work in sysctl.conf.local. Those settings need to be added in the tunable page.
I did my configuration months ago. It's time that I review all the configuration settings to see if anything needs to be updated.
I did a lot of work for 200 Mbps Internet speed. My APU2D4 is basically "coasting" for my usage.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 14, 2020, 04:41:22 pm
I'm trying to determine why I don't see any decrease in performance.
When I run a speed test at the same time I'm executing top at the console, I consistently get a speed of 236 Mbps and top shows approximately 75% idle.

Just another thought. With BIOS v4.11.0.5, add these lines to /boot/loader.conf.local:
# Intel igb(4) kernel driver, preload
if_igb_load="YES"

# agree with Intel license terms
legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1
legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1
legal.intel_igb.license_ack=1

-----------
In the GUI, in the tunable page, add these variables:
dev.igb.0.eee_disabled      = 1
dev.igb.1.eee_disabled      = 1
dev.igb.2.eee_disabled      = 1

I suspect, but can't prove, that accepting the Intel license terms enables some additional features of the Intel NIC.

Then, reboot and see if it makes any difference at all.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: miroco on April 15, 2020, 12:40:39 am
Unless you have these wireless adaptors (ipw, iwi) I see little use in agreeing to those license terms, and as far as I can tell there are no license terms to agree on regarding the igb driver in the Tunables section and consequently not in a /boot/loader.conf.local - file. These are my findings.

ipw -- Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 IEEE 802.11 driver
iwi -- Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG IEEE 802.11 driver
igb -- Intel(R) PRO/1000 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet adapter driver

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?ipw
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?iwi
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?igb

The Teklager "OPNsense performance optimization for gigabit speed" guide seems to have been based on OPNsense 19.1 or 19.7 judging from the copyright information at the bottom of the top screen shot (OPNsense (c) 2014-2019 Deciso B.V.)

https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/opnsense-performance-optimization/

The settings referring to "hardware checksum offload, hardware segmentation offload and large receive offload" are all found under the Interface - Settings section.

That leaves the "tx" and rx" receiving queues settings.
hw.igb.rx_process_limit="-1"
hw.igb.tx_process_limit="-1"

Enabling EEE seems to come with a penalty.
WARNING: enabling EEE will significantly delay DHCP leases and the network interface will flip a few times on boot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-Efficient_Ethernet

https://calomel.org/freebsd_network_tuning.html
https://www.thomas-krenn.com/de/wiki/OPNsense_igb_EEE_Funktion_deaktivieren

I think the BIOS is the joker in the game, especially since the release of v4.11.0.5.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on April 15, 2020, 01:51:57 am
Yes. I agree that the iwi and ipw are for wireless adapters. Having those legal acknowledgments in the loader.conf.local file doesn't hurt, but doesn't help either.

I did a quick test by commenting out the 3 legal acknowledgement lines and rebooted.
I ran some Internet speed tests and I couldn't tell any difference. I was still getting almost exactly the same speed as before, 236 Mbps. That idea was a dead end. I thought that I would see some (small) difference in network speed even though I'm well under Gbit speed.

You do want to disable Energy Efficient networking, dev.igb.0.eee_disabled = 1

Didn't OPNsense 19.1 or 19.7 run on top of FreeBSD 11.2 (hardened) ?
OPNsense 20.1 uses FreeBSD 11.2 (hardened)
I'm looking for network (igb) settings that apply to FreeBSD 11.2.

I've optimized several network setting including the ones that you've mentioned.
In my case, I don't see the slowdown in v11.4.0.5. Maybe, I'm not running high enough Internet speed.

Someday, I'm sure that we will all figure this out.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: katamadone [CH] on April 29, 2020, 07:43:48 pm
https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/03/31/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-11-0-6.html

There are issues adressed... Cpu related and so on

Gesendet von meinem POCO F1 mit Tapatalk

Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Gary7 on May 01, 2020, 04:23:14 pm
With BIOS version 4.11.0.6, PCIe power management is disabled by default.

I haven't seen any performance difference since my Internet speed is a little over 200Mbps.
Has anybody tried enabling PCIe power management in the BIOS and determine how much network performance is affected at gigabit speed?

After upgrading v4.11.0.6, I kept PCIe power management at default (disabled) for a day or so. Then, I enabled PCIe power management. So far, I'm seeing about 3 degrees lower CPU temperature. Since this is my home firewall, the load on the hardware is quite low.


Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: k0ns0l3 on May 12, 2020, 08:37:49 am
it runs with new bios as well as good  8)

(https://i.postimg.cc/fJJfF411/4.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/fJJfF411)

(https://i.postimg.cc/4Ycbf6f5/47.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4Ycbf6f5)

(https://i.postimg.cc/f3jcXM0S/7.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/f3jcXM0S)

(https://i.postimg.cc/V5SFZQxp/34.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/V5SFZQxp)

With friendly greetings k0ns0l3

Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: mik on May 12, 2020, 09:00:06 am
And bandwith overall?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: k0ns0l3 on May 12, 2020, 03:54:33 pm
I didn't notice anything  ??? negative, everything ok   8)

With friendly greetings k0ns0l3
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: hushcoden on May 14, 2020, 11:22:41 pm
it runs with new bios as well as good  8)

(https://i.postimg.cc/V5SFZQxp/34.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/V5SFZQxp)

Where did you find the widget "Hardware information" ?

Thanks.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: katamadone [CH] on May 15, 2020, 05:08:44 am
If I'm right, thats os-dmidecode

Gesendet von meinem POCO F1 mit Tapatalk

Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: hushcoden on May 15, 2020, 09:34:29 am
If I'm right, thats os-dmidecode

Indeed, thank you.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Steve28 on May 31, 2020, 12:36:22 am
I have an APU2C4 that I have been using for a few years with pfSense.  I recently moved to OPNSense, and in the process of building the new system, I wanted to make sure to optimize performance I stumbled upon this thread as well as the https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/opnsense-performance-optimization/ (https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/opnsense-performance-optimization/) link.  I have the latest mainline BIOS installed:

PC Engines apu2
coreboot build 20202604
BIOS version v4.11.0.6


The TekLager site suggests setting both net.inet.tcp.tso and net.inet.udp.checksum to 1, but they were already set this way on my fresh OPNSense 20.1 install.  Presumably this is reflected with the checkboxes in Interfaces->Settings with both Disable hardware checksum offload and Disable hardware TCP segmentation offload being unchecked.

Teklager also suggest setting the following:

hw.igb.rx_process_limit="-1"
hw.igb.tx_process_limit="-1"
legal.intel_igb.license_ack="1"


However when I do that, I see the following during bootup:
Code: [Select]
sysctl: oid 'hw.igb.rx_process_limit' is a read only tunable
sysctl: Tunable values are set in /boot/loader.conf
sysctl: oid 'hw.igb.tx_process_limit' is a read only tunable
sysctl: Tunable values are set in /boot/loader.conf

SO here come the questions:

Thanks!
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: hushcoden on May 31, 2020, 02:08:23 pm
By reading this article https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/apu_CPU_boost.md I understood that (but I might be wrong):

1) since coreboot v4.9.0.2 the CPU is capable of running up to 1.4GHz as long as this option has been enabled in the BIOS and system modify/increase the CPU frequency automatically based on actual workload...

2) the three 'tunetables' you mentioned are simply to allow the system to visualise the true frquency of the CPU otherwise (maybe a bug) it will still show 1GHz...
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Steve28 on May 31, 2020, 03:48:33 pm
If I am understand you correctly, that means by installing 4.11.0.6, I am automatically getting the boost frequency without taking any other action?

Also, any insight into the other questions?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on June 03, 2020, 08:30:36 pm
@all

v4.12.0.1 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/05/31/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-12-0-1.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-35

Please read the announcements!

For example: The serial number on APU1 boards with the os-dmidecode plugin on OPNsense still prints -64.

The hint for this would be: "The number of changes slightly increased, because we did not yet upstream all fixes for apu1" ;)

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on July 03, 2020, 08:27:45 am
@all

v4.12.0.2 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/06/30/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-12-0-2.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-36

Please read the announcements.


cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on August 03, 2020, 05:15:05 pm
@all

v4.12.0.3 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/07/31/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-12-0-3.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-37

Please read the announcements.


cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on August 04, 2020, 08:16:28 am
Serial number is displayed with "-64" on the apu1 is unfortunately back with version v4.12.0.3. Have other problems returned?

This apu1 is running OPNsense 20.7 ;)

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: k0ns0l3 on September 03, 2020, 08:53:45 am
v4.12.0.4 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/
https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/08/31/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-12-0-4.html

With friendly greetings k0ns0l3
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: mfpck on September 03, 2020, 10:39:55 am
Dear All,

lucky me I just received an assambled and glued ;-( APU board as a gift !

Trying to upgrade the firmware first with tiny but I am struggling to identify my board....Based on the ports and ram it is an apu2e4 or apu3c4....Dimencode shows just:

Manufacturer    PC Engines
Product Name    apu2
Version    1.0
Serial Number    1071036

So the correct bios is then:
apu2_v4.12.0.4.rom
or.
apu3_v4.12.0.4.rom

Btw. apu5_v4.12.0.4.rom - Cannont find an apu5 board on https://www.pcengines.ch

Thanks and greets!



Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: hushcoden on September 03, 2020, 11:18:40 am
Dimencode shows just:

Manufacturer    PC Engines
Product Name    apu2
Version    1.0
Serial Number    1071036

So the correct bios is then:
apu2_v4.12.0.4.rom

I'd say so !
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Ricardo on September 23, 2020, 11:32:19 am
Is anybody using APU with firmware v4.12.0.4, and Opnsense 20.7.x, having any mysterious AMDTEMP issue, or ACPI issue, IGB issue, or anything usual problem?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on September 23, 2020, 01:15:53 pm
OPNsense 20.7.2-amd64
Coreboot v4.12.0.4
APU4D4

No problems whatsoever.

HTH,
Patrick
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Ricardo on September 24, 2020, 11:05:49 am
OPNsense 20.7.2-amd64
Coreboot v4.12.0.4
APU4D4

No problems whatsoever.

HTH,
Patrick

Thanks for the info. I will wait for some more positive feedbacks. As some of the APU bios bugs are easily passing through the release cycle, and only some weeks later will somebody using opnsense spot that something has broken in the new BIOS which is not obvious for the average opnsense+APU owners.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-5] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: k0ns0l3 on October 01, 2020, 10:14:06 pm
v4.12.0.5 was released  8)

Release date: 2020-09-29

    Fixed/added:
       - rebased with official coreboot repository commit da3375e
       - added apu6 platform support

    Known issues:
       - apuled driver doesn't work in FreeBSD. Check the GPIOs document for workaround.
       - some PCIe cards are not detected on certain OSes and/or in certain mPCIe slots. Check the mPCIe modules document for solution/workaround.
       - booting with 2 USB 3.x sticks plugged in apu4 sometimes results in detecting only 1 stick
       - certain USB 3.x sticks happen to not appear in boot menu
       - booting Xen is unstable

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-39
https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/09/29/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-12-0-5.html
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on October 09, 2020, 08:37:25 am
Updated yesterday, nothing noteworthy.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on November 04, 2020, 05:15:07 am
@all

v4.12.0.6 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/11/03/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-12-0-6.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-40

Please read the announcements.


cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: marcelmah on December 02, 2020, 03:35:12 pm
New version is available!
v4.13.0.1
Release date: 2020-11-27

Fixed/added:
rebased with official coreboot repository commit 9b7dc76
Known issues:
apuled driver doesn't work in FreeBSD. Check the GPIOs document for workaround.
some PCIe cards are not detected on certain OSes and/or in certain mPCIe slots. Check the mPCIe modules document for solution/workaround.
booting with 2 USB 3.x sticks plugged in apu4 sometimes results in detecting only 1 stick
certain USB 3.x sticks happen to not appear in boot menu
booting Xen is unstable



I'm trying to install it via OPNsense shell on a running device, but it says it can't find the flashrom command, do I need to install anything before I can use this? I've read that it should be included...

// edit
fixed it by running "pkg install flashrom"
Did not read that anywhere on the posts I found
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: mayo on December 02, 2020, 03:39:04 pm
You have to install it:
pkg install flashrom

I'm trying to install it via OPNsense shell on a running device, but it says it can't find the flashrom command, do I need to install anything before I can use this? I've read that it should be included...
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: iam on December 07, 2020, 06:25:48 pm
What's APU[5-6]?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: marcelmah on December 10, 2020, 10:58:57 am
What's APU[5-6]?
I'm wondering the same...
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: katamadone [CH] on December 10, 2020, 12:11:08 pm
http://www.pcengines.info/forums/?page=post&id=7D919FB8-C4BB-4C33-B47B-F8F53E01600D&fid=DF5ACB70-99C4-4C61-AFA6-4C0E0DB05B2A
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on December 16, 2020, 06:37:53 pm
Has anyone successfully flashed 4.13.0.1?

Action:
Code: [Select]
root@opnsense:/tmp # flashrom -p internal -w apu4_v4.13.0.1.rom
flashrom v1.2 on FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE-p11-HBSD (amd64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 4, resolution: 2ns).
coreboot table found at 0xcfec2000.
Found chipset "AMD FCH".
Enabling flash write... OK.
Found Winbond flash chip "W25Q64.V" (8192 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000ff800000.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Erasing and writing flash chip...
Warning: Chip content is identical to the requested image.
Erase/write done.

Result after reboot in screenshot.

apu4_v4.12.0.6.rom and apu4_v4.13.0.1.rom do have different sha256 checksums.

Puzzled ...
Patrick
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: iam on December 16, 2020, 06:44:44 pm
Yes a APU1 and a APU2.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: miroco on December 16, 2020, 10:04:21 pm
I'm on the v4.13.01, but I have an APU2C4. The upgrade was uneventful.

Did you perform a cold boot after the firmware upgrade?

The fact that two dissimilar files have different checksums is of cause expected.

"Warning: Chip content is identical to the requested image."

It's as if you ran the same upgrade twice.

miroco
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: iam on December 16, 2020, 11:11:05 pm
No I've performed a normal reboot only. And I haven't observed such message. I can't remember at least.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on December 16, 2020, 11:15:35 pm
Did you perform a cold boot after the firmware upgrade?
Yes.
"Warning: Chip content is identical to the requested image."
It's as if you ran the same upgrade twice.
Yes, I did, because the first attempt did not succeed. Now after two failures I am asking here ;)

This is part of the output of kenv:
Code: [Select]
smbios.bios.reldate="10/29/2020"
smbios.bios.vendor="coreboot"
smbios.bios.version="v4.12.0.6"

So flashed the supposedly 4.13.0.1 file, system reports it was 4.12.0.6 ...
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on December 30, 2020, 08:02:14 pm
@all

v4.13.0.2 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/12/30/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-13-0-2.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-42

Please read the announcements.
(small tip: the serial number of the apu1 is displayed again)


cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: mayo on January 03, 2021, 03:58:17 pm
Sorry tillsense, what do you mean with "read the announcements"?
I've updated as usual, is there something that I have to do from now?
Thank you and sorry again for the dummie question.
Mayo
@all

v4.13.0.2 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2020/12/30/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-13-0-2.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-42

Please read the announcements.
(small tip: the serial number of the apu1 is displayed again)


cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on January 06, 2021, 07:50:04 pm
Sorry tillsense, what do you mean with "read the announcements"?
I've updated as usual, is there something that I have to do from now?
Thank you and sorry again for the dummie question.
Mayo

Hi Mayo,

this is a hint that with every new firmware announcement also the further information by the manufacturer about this in the links are read and considered.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Ben. on January 09, 2021, 09:20:16 am
APU1 does not support APU Core Performance Boost, is that correct?

Thanks.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: mayo on January 10, 2021, 04:50:17 pm
Thank you so much!
Sorry tillsense, what do you mean with "read the announcements"?
I've updated as usual, is there something that I have to do from now?
Thank you and sorry again for the dummie question.
Mayo

Hi Mayo,

this is a hint that with every new firmware announcement also the further information by the manufacturer about this in the links are read and considered.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: hushcoden on January 10, 2021, 05:17:22 pm
APU1 does not support APU Core Performance Boost, is that correct?

Thanks.
That's correct.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on February 03, 2021, 05:31:12 am
v4.13.0.3 was released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2021/02/02/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-13-0-3.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-43

Please read the announcements.


cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on February 04, 2021, 08:32:09 pm
FAQ update...
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Ricardo on February 06, 2021, 02:24:18 pm
FAQ update...

Sorry, but what do you mean by this post of yours?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on February 18, 2021, 06:32:41 pm
FAQ update...

Sorry, but what do you mean by this post of yours?

FAQ on the first topic page: https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=4200.0

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on July 25, 2021, 07:08:11 pm
New Apu6 and Benchmark Links added.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Northguy on November 10, 2021, 07:57:56 pm
It has been silent in this thread....

Meanwhile v4.14.0.6 has been released.

https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2021/11/05/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-14-0-6.html

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-52

Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on January 27, 2022, 09:04:02 pm
[v4.15.0.2]
https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-54
https://pcengines.github.io/firmware/2022/01/11/PC-Engines-Firmware-v4-15-0-2.html

Please read the announcements.

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: senser on February 10, 2022, 09:11:21 pm
There is an issue with coreboot 4.15 on apu2.
See here: https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=26661.0
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-6] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on February 24, 2022, 06:53:26 pm
@senser

attention please read the first topic page there is a section for [Firmware Issues] !

cheers
till


Upd. Issues Link
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on July 21, 2022, 08:10:41 pm
Add new APU7

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on December 14, 2022, 06:56:35 pm
Hi all,

i don't want to write this but the work on the BIOS by 3mdeb is currently not continued.
> https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=31346.0

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on December 14, 2022, 07:11:40 pm
What sort if work is necessary on the BIOS of an old/established piece of hardware?

Once the boot loader is loaded from disk the job is done. As long as the device continues to do that I do not see a need for any BIOS update. The OS runs in protected mode, all real mode code is irrelevant at that point.

I might be missing something - what?  ;)
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on December 14, 2022, 07:46:04 pm
Hi pmhausen,

so you think all Bios updates from all Manufacturers should be ignored?

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on December 14, 2022, 07:56:44 pm
Frequently they come with release notes stating which problems are fixed. And I do install these depending on what they are doing. The APU line of devices is so old - what exactly do you expect to still need fixes? Once the device is booted, the BIOS is irrelevant, isn't it? All hardware is reset and initialised by the protected mode OS?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on December 14, 2022, 09:08:14 pm
Hi pmhausen,

this hardware(e.g. Processor GX-412TC) is old but a LTS version from AMD. You can buy it until next year and ask support. PCENGINES has also made a marriage here. This is what it's all about!
And NO, not all Hardware will be reset by the OS that would be really bad!

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Ricardo on December 15, 2022, 04:12:58 pm
Frequently they come with release notes stating which problems are fixed. And I do install these depending on what they are doing. The APU line of devices is so old - what exactly do you expect to still need fixes? Once the device is booted, the BIOS is irrelevant, isn't it? All hardware is reset and initialised by the protected mode OS?

I hope you are just trolling here, and not serious. Have you seen the coreboot open issues on APU? For example if some ACPI entries are wrong in the BIOS, no OS-level sorcery will make it work. And thats just 1 type of problem, why the BIOS must be error free.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on December 15, 2022, 04:43:44 pm
I hope you are just trolling here, and not serious. Have you seen the coreboot open issues on APU? For example if some ACPI entries are wrong in the BIOS, no OS-level sorcery will make it work. And thats just 1 type of problem, why the BIOS must be error free.
Definitely not trolling. I'm more used to the world of commercial BIOSes and e.g. for my Supermicro boards there is an inital BIOS version, then maybe 2 or 3 updates, an then ... nothing. The systems continue to run, some boards are sold for a decade or so - still no more BIOS updates.

I really had the impression that a BIOS is a piece of software that is finished at some point - the hardware doesn't change, right? New platform, entirely new challenge, of course.

That's why I started my first post with "what am I missing"?

Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on January 26, 2023, 08:02:37 pm
Hi all,

i see movement... https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot (https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot)  :D

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: newsense on January 28, 2023, 01:58:31 am
Already installed on APU3 and APU4 - working fine:

Code: [Select]
# dmidecode 3.4
Scanning /dev/mem for entry point.
SMBIOS 3.0.0 present.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 26 bytes
BIOS Information
        Vendor: coreboot
        Version: v4.19.0.1
        Release Date: 01/27/2023
        ROM Size: 8 MB
        Characteristics:
                PCI is supported
                PC Card (PCMCIA) is supported
                BIOS is upgradeable
                Selectable boot is supported
                ACPI is supported
                Targeted content distribution is supported
        BIOS Revision: 0.0
        Firmware Revision: 0.0
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: pietrushnic on February 03, 2023, 01:23:22 am
Dear OPNsense community members,
We regret to announce that PC Engines, a provider of small and low-power servers for network security, wireless networking, and embedded applications, has discontinued its sponsorship for open-source firmware. Although this is a significant change for the open-source firmware community, our commitment to supporting the hardware remains strong. At Dasharo (https://dasharo.com), we aim to continue the legacy of PC Engines by distributing open-source firmware and putting the community's needs first. Our focus will be on releases and feature sets driven by community support. We are considering a subscription model to ensure stable and reliable firmware updates. Your input is important to us, and we would appreciate your feedback through our survey (https://forms.gle/MHrT2f1du1Afvwvj9). Please help us understand how we can better serve the open-source firmware community and ensure its success in the future.

Full details: https://docs.dasharo.com/variants/pc_engines/post-eol-fw-announcement
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on February 24, 2023, 08:27:03 pm
Hello Piotr,

took your announcement to the thread start page. That was really hard for me.. we or your team never met but keep up the good work!

cheers
till
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: pietrushnic on March 15, 2023, 01:52:28 am
@tillsense, thank you.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: pietrushnic on March 15, 2023, 01:53:44 am
Hello everyone,
We want to express our deepest gratitude to all respondents who took the time to complete our survey. Your valuable feedback has contributed significantly to understanding the community's needs and preferences. We have closed the survey and are excited to share a summary and some results with you.

We cordially invite you to attend the Dasharo User Group meeting, where we will present the survey findings. Your participation in the mini-conference will provide insights into the community's opinions and help shape the future of our firmware solutions.

For more information about the event and to register (not required), please visit: https://vpub.dasharo.com/e/1/dasharo-user-group-1

Once again, thank you for your contribution, and we look forward to seeing you at the Dasharo User Group #1 meeting!

Best regards,
Piotr Król
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: tillsense on June 05, 2023, 08:10:54 pm
Official PC Engines APU platform EndOfLife: https://www.pcengines.ch/eol.htm (https://www.pcengines.ch/eol.htm)

Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Patrick M. Hausen on June 05, 2023, 09:45:05 pm
What's keeping them from doing an Atom based design? Then there's the embedded AMD Epyc.

Sorry, limited ressources, no financial perspective, ... whatever. But blaming platform availability looks a bit lame to me.
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: iam on June 06, 2023, 09:33:30 pm
I totally agree. Unfortunately there is no chassis compatible alternative on the market I assume?
Title: Re: PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware
Post by: Seimus on June 09, 2023, 10:05:31 pm
This is a bit(lot) disappointing. I've been using APU for quite some time, and personally, I hoped they would refresh or redo their platform with newer CPUs from AMD.