OLPC Firmware q4b00

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OLPC Firmware Release q4b005

For A2 and later boards ONLY! Do not install on A1 boards.

This is a test candidate for the B1 build.

Download: q4b00.rom

Known problems/omissions

Changes since q4a15

  • svn 2321 - Support direct loading of Linux ELF images that are not wrapped in zImage decompression code.
  • svn 2320,2319 - added touchpad and keyboard tests to /ap-sp (SP-mediated) keyboard and touchpad drivers. Also auto-created keyboard and mouse aliases depending on which interface has an attached keyboard on XO-1.75.
  • svn 2317 - OLPC keyboard selftest - to test for the presence of /ec-spi, use locate-device instead of find-package, because the latter searches the dropin driver list to find possible demand-loadable packages. That has the bad effect of starving the EC of cycles while the SPI FLASH behind the EC is being accessed. Also, do the presence test once when the test is started and cache the result in a value, thus reducing the "dead time" between polls.
  • svn 2315 - auto-reflash EC firmware if it is out of date.
  • svn 2314 - Added $compare and $caps-compare for lexicographic string comparision considering both string contents and length.
  • svn 2312 - support both EC-mediated and SP-mediated PS/2 keyboard and touchpad.
  • svn 2304 - battery driver changes from richard
  • svn 2303 - more tweaking of audio analysis parameter passing, hopefully making both XO-1.5 and XO-1.75 builds work.
  • svn 2297 - fixed stack bug in rtc-rollback?

CForth version is 6e5235b8092992272a920595e71cbe7dd0e01dd2

  • Switch MMP2 processor into V7 mode if necessary
  • Use both UART3 and UART 4 for CForth messages, plus new "dbg" command that leaves CForth active on UART4, for debugging.
  • OLPC trac #10895 - Drive PS/2 keyboard and mouse from Security Processor.

WLAN firmware is Libertas thinfirm 9.0.7.p2

  • no change


Which Firmware Do You Have?

The best method for finding out what firmware version you have on a laptop depends on whether the laptop is secured or not, and what operating state it is in.

Unsecured Laptop

Obtain the Ok prompt, the firmware version is displayed in the startup banner, thus:

 OLPC ..., ... memory installed, ..., S/N SHF7250024D
 OpenFirmware  q4b00 ...   EC Firmware Ver:...
               ^^^^^

You can also obtain the built date:

 ok .built

This is the date and time that this image of the firmware was built by the release engineer.

Secured Laptop

Power up the laptop with the ✓ (check mark) game button held down. You will be asked to Release the game keys to continue. Release the ✓ (check mark) game button and watch carefully. For a short time the startup banner will be displayed, like this:

 OLPC ..., ... memory installed, ..., S/N SHF7250024D
 OpenFirmware  q4b00 ...   EC Firmware Ver:...
               ^^^^^

Alternatively, if the laptop is already booted, go to the Sugar home view, click on the icon at the centre of the screen and select "My Settings" then "About my Computer." The firmware version is displayed there.

Alternatively, in the Terminal activity or a text console, type:

 cat /proc/device-tree/openprom/model

or

 cat /ofw/openprom/model

With certain older firmware versions, if the operating system will not start, and the laptop is secured, you will not be able to obtain the firmware version using the above methods, so our recommendation is to go ahead and upgrade anyway. The procedure is safe and will not do anything if you already have up-to-date firmware.


Installation

When installing new firmware, you must have a well-charged battery and the AC adapter plugged in. The firmware update code will not proceed otherwise. Possible error messages are:

error message how to fix
AC not present plug in the power cord, check the battery LED is on, then try again.
No external power plug in the power cord, check the battery LED is on, then try again,
No battery plug in the battery, check the latches, then try again, or try another battery,
Battery low allow more time for the battery to charge, then try again, or try another battery.

Unsecured Laptop

This section is for unsecured laptops. Most XO-1.5 and XO-1.75 laptops are unsecured. Most developer XO laptops are unsecured. To unsecure your laptop, follow the instructions at Activation and Developer Keys.

You may install using either:

  • a USB drive or SD card,
  • the laptop's internal drive,
  • a network.

Choose one.

Using a USB drive or SD card

  • check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • insert the USB drive or SD card,
  • turn on the laptop, and get to the 'ok' prompt. See Ok for more detail. You should see:
ok
  • if the downloaded file is on a USB drive, type:
 flash u:\q4b00.rom
  • if the downloaded file is on an external SD card:
 flash sd:\boot\q4b00.rom
  • wait for the laptop to reboot itself,
  • remove the USB drive or SD card.

(Expert users may remove the USB drive after the message "Got firmware" ... at this stage the file has been read and closed.)

Using the laptop internal drive

An alternate method is to download the firmware file to the laptop internal drive and then install from the internal drive.

  • start the laptop,
  • connect to a wireless or wired network,
su
cd /versions/boot/current/boot/
wget http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/q4b00/q4b00.rom
  • check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • turn on the laptop, and get to the 'ok' prompt. See Ok for more detail. You should see:
ok
  • if the downloaded file is on an XO-1, type:
flash n:\boot\q4b00.rom
  • if the file is on the internal SD card of an XO-1.5 or XO-1.75:
flash int:\boot\q4b00.rom

Using a network

You will need a compatible USB to ethernet adapter, or an open or WEP wireless access point, connected to the internet.

  • check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • turn on the laptop, and get to the 'ok' prompt. See Ok for more detail. You should see:
ok
  • if using wireless, type the essid of the wireless network:
essid mynetwork
  • if using a WPA wireless access point, type the WPA key for the network:
wpa passphrase
  • type the flash command using the download link above, but change all slash characters so they are backwards, for example:
flash http:\\dev.laptop.org\pub\firmware\q4b00\q4b00.rom

Secured Laptop

Secured laptops can only use flash firmware that has been signed. All mass-production machines had the latest firmware at the time of manufacture.

Upgrading firmware describes how to upgrade to a newer signed firmware release.

See also

  • Cheat codes for information about how game buttons control startup options.