Installing libreboot on a Thinkpad T60....myself?
Hey guys,
i didn't buy a gluglug but a normal T60 (i would have loved to buy a gluglug but money is quite a problem at the moment and I needed a working laptop really fast...)
and I think about installing libreboot myself.
Is there somebody with information / experience on this?
How difficult is it and how big are the risks of bricking my device?
Ok, i tried to find out the name of my lcd display; none of the options on
http://www.libreboot.org/docs/misc/index.html#get_edid_panelname
work for me, so i guess the dream is already over (if i try to remove the display physically, i will damage my device for sure).
I had a look at the gluglug website and found that a T60 costs 378 british pounds, which are approximately 480 euro.
I bought my thinkpad t60 on ebay and payed 80 Euro - HOW is this justified??
I am a translator!
I can't... there is no way for me to find out if my LCD is supported or not.
Did you do it?
Hi there! I've got both good and bad experiences with installing libreboot on the T60. The first attempt was a success. I ordered all of the hardware from Ebay: a C2D T60, docking station, wifi card, screen (IDtech IAQX10N (15.1" 2048x1536) + an inverter board. Of all these components the screen was the most expensive.
I followed the guide for replacing the Lenovo software on the boot flash and successfully installed libreboot. The machine booted but I could only see something on an external display, because the one that comes with the laptop isn't compatible. Then I followed the guide for replacing the screen and it was actually pretty easy to do that. After this my machine worked really well. I just had to make a few customizations in Gnome Flashback (Trisquel 7) to make things look not so tiny on the beautiful high-resolution screen. I was very happy about being able to do my computing with 100% free software.
My second attempt was a failure and resulted in a bricked machine. I had bought two more T60 machines that I was going to make ready for my girlfriend's parents. When I attempted the same libreboot install (version 2014-10-15), however, I think I accidentally skipped one of the steps in the guide and got this error message from Flashrom: "Flash chip is in an unknown state". I wasn't sure that something had gone bad however, because the libreboot documentation says that "Seeing this means that the operation was a resounding success! DON'T PANIC." But after I shut down the machine refused to boot.
My third attempt was as also a failure. I wanted to replace the version from text to framebuffer in order to be able to install Parabola on it. I was very careful to follow the guide exactly this time, but the machine still refused to start afterwards. (Well, using GNU screen, the docking station and a second computer and I could see that hardware initialization worked but that GRUB refused to start due to some memory problem.) I'm not entirely sure why this happened but I think one of the ROMs might be corrupt (framebuffer, svenska, 2014-10-15).
So what have I done with my bricked machines? Well, I've taken them apart, purchased a bus pirate v. 4, a pomona clip + cables to try to unbrick the machines by flashing externally. This has NOT worked, yet, despite multiple attempts (with a not so little help from a friend). The bus pirate refuses to recognize the chip, even after upgrading to the most recent firmware version. (Without the upgrade the computer immediately disconnected the bus pirate.) I think that I'll need to buy a bus pirate v. 3 because that's what everyone else has; nobody seems to be using v. 4 and thus I haven't received any help with this in the relevant IRC channels.
My feelings now for the libreboot distro is that it's incredibly important and interesting – not the least for symbolic reasons –, but it also has a number of flaws that make the installation process, for a newb like myself, very risky. Still, I don't want to discourage people from trying to install libreboot as long as it's not their only and/or primary computer. It might work.
In my view, libreboot needs the following to become installable by non-hackers: 1) more testing, 2) better documentation for installation and 3) a fallback mechanism for recovering so as to avoid external reflashing. I hope that more people with the necessary skills will soon join the project and help out.
Thank you very much, suitsmeveryfine, for your detailed report!
I see that it's a non-trivial and risky task, and since it indeed is my main computer and i can't really afford to brick my device, i will refrain from installing libreboot at the moment, even if it's VERY unpleasant for me to give up on that; after all, i have one of the two (?) supported libreboot devices right in front of me;
so close, and yet so far away ;)
I hope that - someday - it will become easy and cheap to get a computer with free bios!
Hello Together,
Id Love to try it on my own. BUT...
But, because so far I have no T60 / X60 / X60s ...
Sure, they are "cheap" on eBay..
What me really bothers is, that there is no reliable way to figure out in advance , if the selected Thinkpad (on eBay) will be able to run coreboot/libreboot ....
and I am not willing to buy/sell a bunch of Hardware befor i can "try to not wreck it" ;-)
For me this is the main Reason to sit and wait...
I have done it and it was a success. However I had a lot of help from #libreboot on freenode - and a lot of patience to wait for help during the confusing parts.
LibreBoot provides a lot of freedom and was worth the risk. :)
I am a member!
It's not that difficult to see the back of the lcd screen this vid is pretty good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTkp7zC0wGg You've just got to watch out for the glue. Good luck :)
It took me a big bunch of hours discovering the www to figure out, that there will probably no T60 that works out of stock with coreboot/libreboot.
As far as i could figure out all T60 with Intel GMA have an XGA screen (which all are untested or incompatible to core-/libreboot) , I found only one with GMA been diffrent (15,4" Screen)
[Please correct me if Im wrong]
So you allways have to buy a T60 with Intel GMA graphics and change the LCD-Screen by yourselve.
(I Supppose thats the reason why the T60 pricing at gluglug is so far away from ebay pricing.)
I just wonder who the hell started to take a T60 apart & changed LCD-Displays just to test if this would make running them witk coreboot .....
The easy way (without LCD_Display changing) would be to buy an X60 or X60s (sadly only with 12,1" Screen) which all seems work without LCD-trouble & libreboot.