CodeAsm

There is a news item about Framework, and it aint so good

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/frameworks-software-and-firmware-have-been-a-mess-but-its-working-on-them/

Framework has made a statement here:

On a slightly more positive note, I contacted the person who was posting about recieving the broken Framework laptop:

https://mastodon.social/@migy@chaos.social/111265509436439393

That was NOT Intel boot guard locked. and would like to port Coreboot onto (this is ofcourse different from the Chromebook version, as the hardware slightly differs)
He was apparently a bit sick, dint put a presentation at past events and may do so still in the future:

https://mastodon.social/@migy@chaos.social/112230204672516804

So yeah, community is a bit sad, frustrated. But Im hopefull, both for a normal Bios stable release (3.08 being stabe, but called beta) and possibly Coreboot in the future?

Please do a piece on this situation, they ARE hiring a firmware person: https://jobs.lever.co/framework/36bcbf61-332d-4ab8-8c6d-20fffa1ef506

maybe worth pointing out for anyone intrested (also in teipei, 2 job offerings for this) but also unlikely for the unskilled people.Fearly sure you guys can find the firmware threads on the community pages, I get sad (ive posted tons, hope to have spread positivity). Talk to Patel, I dont need to be credited. I own a Framework laptop. Be honest and im hopefull for the future.

for now i posted a warning for my friends and family about this. and some contact details where to find me. I yeeted the apps from my phone (was already short on space) tiktok got yeeted earlier cause my ESET antivirus warned about it being able to install tojans. MORE space yeey

to temporarily use FB, https://mbasic.facebook.com is facebook without javascript (love that idea already). not sure how long that would work. but its also a nice trigger to say goodbye to FB and Instagram (i used insta way more). the coolest family members dont use any of these anyway (they stopped posting on tiktok) its Discord or snapchat/whatsapp for the zoomers.

5 hours ago, arfikk said:

Seems I missed the notification . I'm glad to see the topic is back, didn't realise insults had started flying around, that's clearly stupid.

 

The official responses are nice, but also kind of disappointing, it seems essentially they rely entirely on a support partner and that the beta was done with spare capacity they had. So essentially seems they where not planning to do any updates and completely underestimated the task :(.

 

As for my issues, I have a HP thunderbolt dock that I use also with a HP elitebook and with the framework there are lots of issues using it, disconnections mostly but also sometimes the monitor doesn't work. Ironically I used the framework to update the firmware on the dock! Then there's the powerdraw whilst in suspend, which seems to be an issue you also have :(. I'm totally fine with the issue itself, as you say it's kind of a tinkerer's laptop, but to have 0 updates is just very disappointing and doesn't match my expectation of a 'tinker' device.

 

https://community.frame.work/t/12th-gen-intel-core-bios-3-06-beta/25726/370?u=codeasm

I read they planned on this beta to become release but ran into issues. and yes, their partner was working on this. allocation of limited resources like human hours and humans in general (often not even theirs, but from the partner). the outcry does seem to have sparked more openess and a somewhat more idea of what to expect in the next months. sure sad it took so long, but like Linus media group, larger than a one guy shop, smaller then the big players. They will get there.

3 hours ago, arfikk said:

I also have a framework 12th gen. I signed up here because the framework forum posts on the topic essentially get locked with fanboys defending the company. I agree that as an early adopter the issues are not that unusual, but it is disappointing.

 

The messaging is extremely unclear - they claimed high and wide that they will have certified thunderbolt 4 but it's still not there. FWIW I have lots of small issues with the USB ports. Also clearly (based on their posts) framework bios development and firmware is not at all done in house and so they have very little control on it. There's nothing wrong with using an ODM but it really seems that their value add is very limited...

im also on there and maybe a bit of a fan. But I see the firmware issues, really hoping they get help and resources to fully develop these updates. the beta is supposed to add the thunderbolt support officially, it also is supposed to work already for some docks and modules.

The negative comments over there just spiral down and they even had to lock the thread originally (some idiot spammed curse words due to lack of updates) so im glad its open again and some updates did come. sadly its still a slow one. I dont have a thunderbolt 4 device to test either old or new firmware but if there wasnt a intel bootguard, id have tried porting coreboot myself.

What issues do you see with your USB? I havent, well, unless we count the ejecting procedure not always as easy (press the button and pull)and maybe i have issues with devices not always show up due to me using Arch linux and have updated the kernel (a reboot fixed it). Guess its more like a thinker laptop then normal consumers still. The tiny wire wasnt easy to solder. now have to flash the new firmware and beta firmware to see if my power standby issues appear less often. (I also always have issues with other hardware, so I blame electronics to be scared of me)

On 7/7/2023 at 12:44 PM, kengineer79 said:

Having a horrible time with framework support laptop never worked out of the box but after three days of them messing around with me, basically looking for reasons not to RMA the unit and to say it's not under warranty even thought the laptop is DOA littler will, not turn on out of the box. they should do one of those secret shoppers with them. i have sent litter 300 pictures to the and they just keep asking for more 

Ive had issues with a fan, send a video (actually, i posted a hidden YT video, cause email doesnt like large MP4 files) and they shipped me a fan replacement for free. positive support experience sofar. (i first was asked to do a little cleaning, and I tried, but the little bit of dust that would maybe be there, dint make a difference once removed).

They did post in the thread about the beta firmware there where issues with the update method, especially for would be version 3.07 that they internally test. I hope they continue to work on this (cant Linus help them somehow? by allocating testers with some skills?)

Im getting tired of the negativity. cant we just have a small update?

2 minutes ago, KeDoBro said:

Where were you when LTT got hacked?

On twitter, posting sh1ts. refreshing the frame.work page for that sweet anounchement they promissed

1 minute ago, Nanotyrann said:

 

Linus is awake and aware. Let's just hope they can get everything sorted out.

proof of non photoshoot.
 

2 hours ago, LapsedMemory said:

I think they missed a golden opportunity to put XBMC on this unit.

would have been funny, sadly they would have to port xbmc to a even more dificult to get SDK. I know its a funny joke, but ive actually seen it asked before.
For the Alpha kits, I think 2 SDK versions where "leaked"? non of the "retail" SDK can compile (normally) for the Alpha, so you need to backport any lib, any code and hope any of the multimedia stuff would function under Alpha code.

Or.... get the PC build of XBMC (what now is called Kodi) on the windows 2000 (or XP, xp works on the VC820 aswell).
small problem youll run into with trying any retail games besides the alpha hardware not doing any region checks, the executable is slightly a different format, a bit more like regual windows EXE then Xbox XBE.

This was a cool video

19 hours ago, ProgrammingAce said:

Hey, I used to work on these, I have an Alpha I and Alpha II along with the raptor card and I think I still have the documentation for the v1 to v2 upgrade process. The one special trick with these alpha kits is that the GPU is running an engineering bios and the kernel checks for that on boot (unless you either patch the OS before you install it, or you can flash the engineering bios onto a retail card).

 

For the Alpha I, there should have been a sound card that would have been replaced in the v2 upgrade. The reversed floppy drive was in case you bricked the PC when you upgraded the XDK. There were emergency recovery floppies you could boot off of and get the network stack back up and running to reflash the XDK again. If you want to see something cool, go back to one of the earliest xbox boot animations, instead of the green blob that was on the final retail consoles, there was a fireworks display.

 

I also have the Xbox 360 Alpha kit that runs on a PowerMac G5 (yep, a microsoft branded mac) if LTT ever wants to borrow it

The boot splash from your Alpha can still be seen I think. put a original xbox gamedisk in a dvd player or pc and the animation shown there was the original intended bootsplash by the designer. the xbox sparkly swipe ends and then a message pops up. (newer games might just show the message)

some pictures of early design docs here: https://setonkim.com/xboxdashboard

maybe you reconize?

And that Powermac is so cool, with the right Powermac, you can perfectly recreate the alphakit Im going to flash my ATI FireGL X3-256 with a XT800 firmware for mac, to just recreate an Alpha Xenon 360 (@TannerMcCoolman new video idea? )

Get you soundcard from https://dirtypcbs.com/store/designer/details/7953/6510/wm9701-zip
or recreate it yourself https://github.com/CodeAsm/AlphaSound/blob/main/Documents/WM9707AMR.pdf (No no completed KiCad/eagle files from me, only the pdf)
Please, if you do, like N64Freak, share your KiCad/Eagle files or atleas the gerber files. I planned to do so, but N64Freak was ahead of me, and started selling his. And then offered the top option with dirtypcb (and not sharing the gerber files and he doesnt really like the scene anymore. which I understand)


If you like to know more, or need help diagnosing yours join the Xbox discords im probably in (and way more knowledgeable people are there) or check https://xboxdevwiki.net/Development_Kits#Franken_Alpha (ive tried making mistakes and documenting how to fix.)
A PC with a serialport to WinDebug the Xbox alpha would really help you diagnosing your franken alpha.
You dont need the audio card for the main dashboard to boot. Games, they may, need the audio card.
The USB card isnt needed to boot the recovery iso, but you cannot press any controller buttons. but handy if you have only the Mobo, ram, cpu and videocard.

The BOM for the audio card is this I think, (the bracket isnt really needed):

7   0.1uF           1608    C15, C27, C32, C40, C43, C45, C50   
1   0.33uF          1608    C51
2   2.2uF           1608    C28, C35
5   10uF            1608    C6, C38, C49, C52, C53
2   22pF            1608    C33, C34
2   220pF           	1608    C30, C37
1   0R                  2012    L2          
2   49R9            	1608    R32, R57
2   220R            	1608    R33, R36
2   47K               	1608    R34, R37
1   10K                  1608    R45
1   WM9703          	TQFP    U1      
1   MC78L05ACD           U3 
1   NC7SZ66             SOT23-5 U4      
1   24.576MHz       	X1  
1   3.5mm Jack      	J9
1   3 pin header        J15   

1608 is Imperial,
or 0805 Metric.

I would hope you donate money to Borman18, from PtoPOnline and the museum he now works https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/author/andrew-borman/

Why? well, he gotten some of these prototype games, and after a donation run (I donated too) he shared them. And made wonderfull handy pictures for us to deduce what to do or how to make these franken alphas to work. I would especially love it, when you find some donation fundraiser for a prototype game to be released and chim in. cause thats what I do aswell, and its how I got my recovery disk for my franken alpha. lets release these babies and also maybe help former devs get some money for their old work (some of them sell their old stuff).

I know, long text. Thanks linus for the awesome video. altho I kinda disagree on the powerfullness of the PC, remember the date it got made? AAnyway, great video, and YES, for sure MS learned tons about security, DRM and hackers thanks to this early xbox. Remmeber folks, anything on the OG xbox runs in Ring0, 1 exploit, no jail to escape, your already root XD
Grab this free XBox hacking book by Bunnie Huang, THE early xbox hacker https://nostarch.com/xboxfree

Ok im done infodumping for now. have a wonderful day.

19 minutes ago, AntiEngineer said:

Also, about the console ban:

This XDK I have was banned permanently on Xbox Live since the ID@Xbox team the console was managed by reported it as lost.
However, after playing around with fire and partially burning savings in this ridiculously fun project, along with the advice from TitleOS (a very known Xbox security researcher) who kind of gave me some clues on what to do, I decided to reflow the Xbox's APU with the one of a retail Series X, and after fiddling here and there, removing the developer certificate, copying the Security Processor (SP) certificate from the donor's console and facing countless boot errors because SMC mismatch, I managed to boot in retail mode and afterwards in DevMode with a new UWA Devkit developer certificate.

However, the ODD (Optical Disk Drive) paid the price of it since it was no longer authorized by the SP.  Good fun times!

This is Xbox one hardware? intresting Those certificates are stored on the drive i asume, arent those encrypted?

52 minutes ago, TheBaldr said:

I think the most interesting dev kit was for the Xbox 360, the original kit was a G5 Power Mac.

This was earlier "alpha" hardware. There where dedicated Xbox360 devkits (with sidecars).
Same for the original Xbox, a "normal" PC was the prototype for the original xbox (and the earlier recovert actually installed windows 2000)
(the exact hardware used is known, and "can" be recreated. the recovery iso's are out there. ive done it myself and some other people aswell. The audio board is tricky to get but with the right IC, a pcb can be made search "frankenalpha", results are also for xbox 360 G5 recreations, video ideas?)

The Xbox one also had a alpha hardware, a PC called Durango, running a special build of windows 10 and well, ran with HyperV and no encryption at first. (software has been leaked, specs I dont know)From there, they probably got more dedicated hardware (AMD SoC on their own designed boards?)

(not all details might be correct, but most gameconsoles had earlier hardware, during retail "normal" dev hardware and maybe a newer version (smaller or newer hardware)

8 hours ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

-h, -help, --help flag for quick help and ofc there's always "man x" where x is the command for a more detailed list.

Yes, those are actually very handy to have arround. the man pages where a bit of a learning curve for me back a few years ago (how to read them, where are examples, what do those numbers mean. old style organization we wont change) Maybe some popup that sources the man pages?

8 hours ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

default (on light mode) on macOS.

Dint want to mention macos emediatly but their white terminal felt a lot more beginner friendly. (weird me enjoyed their FORTH bootloader language aswell)
 

I had alott of succes with macosx under qemu https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM on a 2012 i7 laptop

(havent tried the latest release of macosx)
For ARM, according to a Asahi dev, the actual ARM kernel will never (so far) be able to run under KVM or VM, due to Apples specific parts in silicon and requirements in the kernel. Asahi linux will therefor also not run under KVM/VM. But, was said, if you can get apples different ARM kernel, which was made for emulation, it will be maybe possible (they might distribute this with their SDK for debugging?)
Or maybe we should compile our own ARM Darwin kernel

If you can make "Clover bootloader" to boot on your machine, your a step closer to running macosx on your machine. (assuming the specs match some mac also)

I use Arch and Linux from scratch, so my opinion doesnt matter so much for CLI haters (newbies) and GUI lovers.

What i do wanna note, (flatpack and ease of use without touching cli might be a blessing) changes in UI after updates, without notifying or changing the looks of certain elements are a pain. I got custom themes going on some systems, and when some apps update, they change the looks and now it all looks ugly.

If the CLI is so scary, why dont these GUI distro make a CLI helper? add some autocompletion and in app command help? like, when you type, like in code editors (IDE), some popup with small bit of information what this command will do, a few commenly used arguments and maybe a clickable link to a page with more information?

Everyone is making easier packages, more (different) package managers, but the CLI still seems to be scary. why not protect and help the user getting a fell for it? (make it less scary by adding a theme, white background, easy font, no scary access to /root (not immediately).

try find a "Service Manual" or parts lists file for your laptop. preferably one that isnt ment for customers but repair centers. They may contain all the part numbers for the parts that make up your laptop. If you have any serial numbers or product numbers, it may help find the exact parts used.

Maybe the laptop manufacturer used a few variations for the display, but it might be enough to know the resolution. some Universal controllers (like the ones that use a LUA63A82) can be updated with a usb stick, you pick the right "firmware" from a large selection and use the usb to get the controller to set it self up for that particular resolution.
If you are unable to open the display (like you appear to be) you might be able to use a "generic" config or some config that appears to be the same resolution (one of the AE sellers said to me, and others to just try another if the screen doenst look right)

For the pinout, even if your unable to find the right display, the service manual might contain the laptop schematics, and hopefully also either the pinout of the connector but atleast the signals and the pin numbers. The white connector looks like it would be the actual LVDS connector (hope its not a newer weird protocol, probably not, lvds is still pretty much used alott) and pin 1 seems to be on the top (you see a mention of 30P and an arrow?) so it would be awesome if you find the service manual and the lvds signals (post your laptop model number and maybe someone already has a service manual)

the black connector might contain the backlight signals, power connector and usb stuff for touch and camera. atleast find the ground and power signals (keep the motherboard arround to measure maybe which should be ground and what probably could be voltage for backlight (probably a line that goes to mosfets, bigger caps and such)

You better have a voltmeter that can do continuity aswell (might be part of the diode mode or resistance mode). with buzzer(sound) might be very helpfull. so, not a powerline finder or big amp meter, a smaller one for electronics.

• Dolphin (a graphical file browser) has a search option. it should be at the top near "Show Previews" and "Split"
  It then opens a searchbar and allows you to select to search for files or inside actual content, where to look
  from here, where you are, "your files" probably all in your home dir or even use search tools you got installed like Kfind, FSearch or Catfish.
• Thunar, another graphical file browser has the search option in the lower right and when you start typing, it searches in the folder your in.
  I guess this is what most filebrowsers allow, just start typing.
   

On 2/11/2019 at 6:50 AM, wasab said:

Use a Windows repair CD. It will remove grub and reinstall Windows boot manager. 

 

Now who would want windows back? can the windows boot manager boot Linux (the non-uefi one and the uefi one?) will it work cross-updates?

On 2/11/2019 at 3:39 AM, Gecko said:

 

based on your picture I asume its a camera that outputs analog video, you could maybe use a USB AV grabber (also known as EasyCap)
they come with a STK1160  or similiar IC. Linux has drivers/modules for these.
But I asume you can run openWRT on it or have root. if you broke the onboard camera, I dont think you can replace it with a random camera you got from somewhere. these surface mounted (CMOS?) camera's come on a sertain bus, probably CSI (like the RaspberyPi uses). totaly depends on what kind of cmos sensor is used and if the Linux kernel installed has the required modules/drivers.

if you have root/openwrt, you might be able to use a video grabber. or check if that module you shown, is actual USB (but I gues it was ment for car front or rear video recording, power, video, audio and ground leads) So I dont think you can do what you want. if you broke the onboard camera, a direct replacement for that cmos sensor is what you need for the best succesrate...but its realy dificult to solder such tiny devices. (aka imposible without smd soldering experiance)

On 2/16/2019 at 3:03 PM, Via Lactea said:

In addition to Radium_Angel's comment:

 

I work in a college where we had to discard hundreds of thin clients as the processor they had meant they could only be used as a thin client.

Check to see if it can be used as anything else first.

You mean it isnt too powerfull? because if you can add any local storage or am fine with setting up a DHCP server that redirects to a ftp server or nfs, any cpu can be made to run almost any os and application.

What you probably mean to say is, that thinclients commonly have very cheap but working cpu in them for terminal like applications, start word, browse the net, and store the information on a local network only.

look into netboot if you cant fit a local storage device. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBoot)

But I think these thinclients come with either SATA (for laptop sized harddisks, they commonly dont provide any or enough power for a full sized desktop hdd (can be hacked tho)) IDE (older models) or CF card. I have a couple that have the older laptop ide (pata?) connector with a "SSD" card, 5gig windows xp embedded.

Ideas: Network printer/scanner (connect the non-networked devices on this thinclient) or a NAS (using its usb ports)
a save internet station for the mom or grandparrents.
Home automation, add some weather reporting devices arround the house and make em report to your thinclient wich will host your private website with charts and meters (maybe a nice older monitor).
maybe a combo of some of these ideas. Playstation2 modded can load games of a network storage, maybe load some games on a hdd and let your thinclient host these games, maybe your wii can even load stuff of the "samba" server.

anyway, experiment.

Fail alott. dont be afraid to fail. like @Mira Yurizaki sais, begin small. maybe fix some puzzles but "practise makes perfect" no language is the best to begin with or the only tool for the job. youll start to see other languages have benefits too. just start slow and small. accept it when a goal is said to be too big, but anything that works is a great accomplisment for you (even if others dislike it or give feedback on how to improve it).