Overview

This repository contain documentation and scripts that aim to help PC Engines APU2 platform users and developers to customize firmware to their needs.

Please take a look at changelog to get information about recent update.

Building firmware using APU2 image builder

Please note this procedure covers building v4.0.x firmware, which is based on legacy code. Mainline firmware development is in progress more information can be found here.

Get APU2 image builder from here (MD5 sum after decompression: a40ea9caff93c0218a745e0625e1292a).

User/pass: root/voyage

1. Unpack image:

   tar xf apu2_image_builder_v0.1.img.xz

2. write image to SD/mSATA/USB

3. boot the APU2 board with this image

4. run below commands

   cd
   remountrw
   export BR_NAME=coreboot-4.0.x
   wget https://github.com/pcengines/coreboot/archive/${BR_NAME}.zip
   unzip ${BR_NAME}.zip
   cd coreboot-${BR_NAME}/
   cp /xgcc/.xcompile . # this command setup toolchain
   cp configs/pcengines_apu2.config .config
   make -j$(nproc)

5. once done find the new firmware in the build folder (build/coreboot.rom)

6. see here for instructions on how to flash the firmware

Building iPXE

cd && cd coreboot-${BR_NAME}
IPXE_PATH=payloads/external/ipxe
git clone https://github.com/pcengines/ipxe $IPXE_PATH
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/master/ipxe/general.h -O $IPXE_PATH/src/config/local/general.h
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/master/ipxe/menu.ipxe -O $IPXE_PATH/src/menu.ipxe
cd $IPXE_PATH/src
make -j$(nproc) bin/8086157b.rom EMBED=./menu.ipxe

Feel free to customize menu.pxe and local/general.h to match your needs.

Building sortbootorder

coreboot is in ./coreboot-${BR_NAME} directory

git clone https://github.com/pcengines/sortbootorder.git sortbootorder
cd sortbootorder
# for mainline coreboot (4.5.x)
COREBOOT_ROOT=../coreboot-${BR_NAME} make distclean
COREBOOT_ROOT=../coreboot-${BR_NAME} make
# for legacy coreboot (4.0.x)
COREBOOT_ROOT=../coreboot-${BR_NAME} make distclean
COREBOOT_ROOT=../coreboot-${BR_NAME} COREBOOT_REL=legacy make

Building memtest86+

cd && cd coreboot-${BR_NAME}
git clone https://github.com/pcengines/memtest86plus.git payloads/external/memtest86plus
cd payloads/external/memtest86plus
make -j$(nproc)

cbfstool and adding/removing ROMs or payloads

cbfstool is result of coreboot build it gives ability to manipulate CBFS which filesystem for coreboot ROM.

Usage examples:

Add iPXE ROM

cd && cd coreboot-${BR_NAME}
./build/cbfstool ./build/coreboot.rom add -f payloads/external/ipxe/src/bin/8086157b.rom -n genroms/pxe.rom -t raw

Above command add raw image (8086157b.rom, result of iPXE build) to coreboot.rom under the name genroms/pxe.rom. This makes SeaBIOS to auto detect iPXE ROM and execute it before entering menu.

Add sortbootorder

# add sortbootorder
cd && cd coreboot-${BR_NAME}
./build/cbfstool ./build/coreboot.rom remove -n img/setup
./build/cbfstool ./build/coreboot.rom add-payload -f payloads/pcengines/sortbootorder/sortbootorder.elf -n img/setup -t payload

Above commands first remove already existing img/setup from CBFS and then add sortbootorder.elf as payload under the name img/setup to coreboot.rom.

Add memtest86+

# add memtest86+
cd && cd coreboot-${BR_NAME}
./build/cbfstool ./build/coreboot.rom remove -n img/memtest
./build/cbfstool ./build/coreboot.rom add-payload -f payloads/external/memtest86plus/memtest -n img/memtest - payload

Cross compilation in Docker container

For advanced users and developers there maybe need to have development environment that is separated for working environment. Because of that you can use Docker containers as descried below.

1. Build container
2. Building firmware
3. Firmware flashing

Other resources

• sortbootorder payload
  • coreboot payload that give ability to make persistent changes to boot order

Contribute

Feel free to send pull request if you find bugs, typos or will have issues with provided procedures.