OLPC Firmware Q2B81

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OLPC Firmware B2 Release Q2B81 - 2007-03-18

This is the firmware for the B2 boards. It will also work on B1 and ATest. Do not use it on pre-B1 boards - it will brick them because of the EC microcode.

File:Q2B81.rom

MD5: 3d8521750aa2a4e22490b49ca80c3185 Q2B81.rom

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Changes since OLPC Firmware Q2B76

• EC: PQ2B81
  • Writes to battery sensor memory are now verified before getting committed into battery EEPROM. This should fix most of the "battery absent" problems from appearing in the future. Note: this does not fix batteries that already have this condition.
  • Fix ticket #596. Mistaken error condition with LiFe batteries.
  • Fix ticket #1040. Battery capacity is wrong when system continuously reboots.
  • Fix a condition where very-low voltage batteries would not have trickle charge enabled.

• OFW svn commit 209 stable branch b167
  • Backport the USB and NAND filesystem compare utilities from HEAD.

• Linuxbios
  • Turn of the branch prediction workaround snooping.

Installation Instructions

• If you have a B1 or B2 system:
  • Detailed upgrade instructions are located here.
  • If your firmware version is earlier than the version in Auto Install Image then you can just use that procedure for the update. Note: that this procedure will also upgrade the image in your nand flash -- which is the entire Linux operating system and all the files you may have edited or saved. This means it will ERASE what is in your nand and re-write it. So you will lose any data you have stored on the filesystem unless you back it up. If you do not want your files erased, then please use the first procedure above.
  • DO NOT use olpcflash to write new firmware images. Doing so will erase the manufacturing data that was added at the factory.
  • After you reflash, you must power cycle by physically removing power from the system. A warm-start or button-induced restart is not sufficient. Please remove both the battery pack and wall adapter for 10 seconds.

• If you have an ATest system
  • If you use olpcflash to write this image, you must use the --brick option.
    Example: olpcflash --brick -w image.rom
    The --brick option makes olpcflash update your EC code as well as the firmware.

Known issues

• Auto-repeat is slow on some USB keyboards
• NVRAM storage for configuration variables is not yet implemented.
• JFFS2 does not handle ECC
• The boot menu is incomplete
• Directory symlinks have a problem.