[3ae81e1] | 1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
|
---|
| 2 | <!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
|
---|
| 3 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
|
---|
| 4 | <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
|
---|
| 5 | %general-entities;
|
---|
| 6 | ]>
|
---|
| 7 |
|
---|
| 8 | <sect1 id="postlfs-firmware" xreflabel="About Firmware">
|
---|
| 9 | <?dbhtml filename="firmware.html"?>
|
---|
| 10 |
|
---|
| 11 | <sect1info>
|
---|
[d027410] | 12 | <date>$Date$</date>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 13 | </sect1info>
|
---|
| 14 |
|
---|
| 15 | <title>About Firmware</title>
|
---|
| 16 |
|
---|
| 17 | <indexterm zone="postlfs-firmware">
|
---|
| 18 | <primary sortas="e-lib-firmware">/lib/firmware</primary>
|
---|
| 19 | </indexterm>
|
---|
| 20 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 21 | <para>
|
---|
| 22 | On some recent PCs it can be necessary, or desirable, to load firmware
|
---|
| 23 | to make them work at their best. There is a directory, <filename
|
---|
| 24 | class="directory">/lib/firmware</filename>, where the kernel or kernel
|
---|
| 25 | drivers look for firmware images.
|
---|
| 26 | </para>
|
---|
| 27 |
|
---|
| 28 | <para>
|
---|
| 29 | Currently, most firmware can be found at a <userinput>git</userinput>
|
---|
| 30 | repository: <ulink url=
|
---|
| 31 | "http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/"/>.
|
---|
| 32 | For convenience, the LFS Project has created a mirror, updated daily, where
|
---|
| 33 | these firmware files can be accessed via <userinput>wget</userinput> or a
|
---|
| 34 | web browser at <ulink url="&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/"/>.
|
---|
| 35 | </para>
|
---|
| 36 |
|
---|
| 37 | <para>
|
---|
| 38 | To get the firmware, either point a browser to one of the above
|
---|
| 39 | repositories and then download the item(s) which you need, or install
|
---|
| 40 | <xref linkend="git"/> and clone that repository.
|
---|
| 41 | </para>
|
---|
| 42 |
|
---|
| 43 | <para>
|
---|
| 44 | For some other firmware, particularly for Intel microcode and certain
|
---|
| 45 | wifi devices, the needed firmware is not available in the above repository.
|
---|
| 46 | Some of this will be addressed below, but a search of the Internet for
|
---|
| 47 | needed firmware is sometimes necessary.
|
---|
| 48 | </para>
|
---|
| 49 |
|
---|
| 50 | <para>
|
---|
| 51 | Firmware files are conventionally referred to as blobs because you cannot
|
---|
| 52 | determine what they will do. Note that firmware is distributed under
|
---|
| 53 | various different licenses which do not permit disassembly or
|
---|
| 54 | reverse-engineering.
|
---|
| 55 | </para>
|
---|
| 56 |
|
---|
| 57 | <para>
|
---|
| 58 | Firmware for PCs falls into four categories:
|
---|
| 59 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 60 |
|
---|
| 61 | <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
|
---|
| 62 | <listitem>
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 63 | <para>
|
---|
| 64 | Updates to the CPU to work around errata, usually referred to as
|
---|
| 65 | microcode.
|
---|
| 66 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 67 | </listitem>
|
---|
| 68 | <listitem>
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 69 | <para>
|
---|
[3179c69] | 70 | Firmware for video controllers. On x86 machines this is required for
|
---|
| 71 | ATI devices (Radeon and AMDGPU chips) and may be useful for Intel (Skylake
|
---|
| 72 | and later) and Nvidia (Kepler and later) GPUs.
|
---|
| 73 | </para>
|
---|
| 74 |
|
---|
| 75 | <para>
|
---|
| 76 | ATI Radeon and AMGPU devices all require firmware to be able to use KMS
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 77 | (kernel modesetting - the preferred option) as well as for Xorg. For
|
---|
[3179c69] | 78 | old radeon chips (before the R600), the firmware is still in the
|
---|
| 79 | kernel source.
|
---|
| 80 | </para>
|
---|
| 81 |
|
---|
| 82 | <para>
|
---|
| 83 | Intel integrated GPUs from Skylake onwards can use firmware for GuC
|
---|
| 84 | (the Graphics microcontroller), and also for the HuC (HEVC/H265
|
---|
| 85 | microcontroller which offloads to the GPU) and the DMC (Display
|
---|
| 86 | Microcontroller) to provide additional low-power states. The GuC and
|
---|
| 87 | HuC have had a chequered history in the kernel and updated firmware
|
---|
| 88 | may be disabled by default, depending on your kernel version. Further
|
---|
| 89 | details may be found at <ulink
|
---|
| 90 | url="https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/firmware/">01.org</ulink>
|
---|
| 91 | and <ulink
|
---|
[14cec0f] | 92 | url="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/intel_graphics">Arch
|
---|
[3179c69] | 93 | linux</ulink>.
|
---|
| 94 | </para>
|
---|
| 95 |
|
---|
| 96 | <para>
|
---|
| 97 | Nvidia GPUs from Kepler onwards require signed firmware, otherwise the
|
---|
| 98 | nouveau driver is unable to provide hardware acceleration. Nvidia has
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 99 | now released firmware up to Ampere (GeForce30 series) to linux-firmware.
|
---|
| 100 | Note that faster clocks than the default are not enabled
|
---|
[3179c69] | 101 | by the released firmware.
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 102 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 103 | </listitem>
|
---|
| 104 | <listitem>
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 105 | <para>
|
---|
| 106 | Firmware updates for wired network ports. Mostly they work even
|
---|
| 107 | without the updates, but probably they will work better with
|
---|
| 108 | the updated firmware. For some modern laptops, firmware for both
|
---|
| 109 | wired ethernet (e.g. rtl_nic) and also for bluetooth devices (e.g. qca)
|
---|
| 110 | is <emphasis>required</emphasis> before the wired network can be used.
|
---|
[89bdbf8] | 111 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 112 | </listitem>
|
---|
| 113 | <listitem>
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 114 | <para>
|
---|
| 115 | Firmware for other devices, such as wifi. These devices are not
|
---|
| 116 | required for the PC to boot, but need the firmware before these devices
|
---|
| 117 | can be used.
|
---|
| 118 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 119 | </listitem>
|
---|
| 120 | </itemizedlist>
|
---|
| 121 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 122 | <note>
|
---|
| 123 | <para>
|
---|
| 124 | Although not needed to load a firmware blob, the following
|
---|
| 125 | tools may be useful for determining, obtaining, or preparing the needed
|
---|
| 126 | firmware in order to load it into the system:
|
---|
| 127 | <xref linkend="cpio"/>,
|
---|
| 128 | <xref linkend="git"/>,
|
---|
| 129 | <xref linkend="pciutils"/>, and
|
---|
| 130 | <xref linkend="wget"/>
|
---|
| 131 | </para>
|
---|
| 132 | </note>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 133 |
|
---|
| 134 | <para condition="html" role="usernotes">User Notes:
|
---|
| 135 | <ulink url="&blfs-wiki;/aboutfirmware"/></para>
|
---|
| 136 |
|
---|
| 137 | <sect2 id="cpu-microcode">
|
---|
| 138 | <title>Microcode updates for CPUs</title>
|
---|
| 139 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 140 | <para>
|
---|
| 141 | In general, microcode can be loaded by the BIOS or UEFI, and it might be
|
---|
| 142 | updated by upgrading to a newer version of those. On linux, you can also
|
---|
| 143 | load the microcode from the kernel if you are using an AMD family 10h or
|
---|
| 144 | later processor (first introduced late 2007), or an Intel processor from
|
---|
| 145 | 1998 and later (Pentium4, Core, etc), if updated microcode has been
|
---|
| 146 | released. These updates only last until the machine is powered off, so
|
---|
| 147 | they need to be applied on every boot.
|
---|
| 148 | </para>
|
---|
| 149 |
|
---|
| 150 | <para>
|
---|
[bd78d011] | 151 | Intel provide updates of their microcode for Skylake and later
|
---|
[83d1722c] | 152 | processors as new vulnerabilities come to light, and have in the past
|
---|
| 153 | provided updates for processors from SandyBridge onwards, although those
|
---|
| 154 | are no-longer supported for new fixes. New versions of AMD
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 155 | firmware are rare and usually only apply to a few models, although
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 156 | motherboard manufacturers get AGESA (AMD Generic Encapsulated Software
|
---|
| 157 | Architecture) updates to change BIOS values, e.g. to support more memory
|
---|
| 158 | variants or newer CPUs.
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 159 | </para>
|
---|
| 160 |
|
---|
| 161 | <para>
|
---|
| 162 | There are two ways of loading the microcode, described as 'early' and
|
---|
| 163 | 'late'. Early loading happens before userspace has been started, late
|
---|
| 164 | loading happens after userspace has started. Not surprisingly, early
|
---|
| 165 | loading is preferred, (see e.g. an explanatory comment in a kernel
|
---|
| 166 | commit noted at <ulink url="https://lwn.net/Articles/530346/">
|
---|
| 167 | x86/microcode: Early load microcode</ulink> on LWN.) Indeed, it
|
---|
| 168 | is needed to work around one particular erratum in early Intel Haswell
|
---|
| 169 | processors which had TSX enabled. (See <ulink url=
|
---|
| 170 | "http://www.anandtech.com/show/8376/intel-disables-tsx-instructions-erratum-found-in-haswell-haswelleep-broadwellyi/">
|
---|
| 171 | Intel Disables TSX Instructions: Erratum Found in Haswell,
|
---|
| 172 | Haswell-E/EP, Broadwell-Y
|
---|
| 173 | </ulink>.) Without this update glibc can do the wrong thing in uncommon
|
---|
[8558044] | 174 | situations.
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 175 | </para>
|
---|
| 176 |
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 177 | <para>
|
---|
| 178 | In previous versions of this book, late loading of microcode to see if
|
---|
| 179 | it gets applied was recommended, followed by using an initrd to force
|
---|
| 180 | early loading. But now that the contents of the Intel microcode tarball
|
---|
| 181 | is documented, and AMD microcode can be read by a Python script to
|
---|
| 182 | determine which machines it covers, there is no real reason to use late
|
---|
| 183 | loading.
|
---|
| 184 | </para>
|
---|
| 185 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 186 | <para>
|
---|
| 187 | It is still possible to manually force late loading of microcode, either
|
---|
| 188 | for testing or to prevent having to reboot. You will need to reconfigure
|
---|
| 189 | your kernel for either method. The instructions here will create a
|
---|
| 190 | kernel <filename>.config</filename> to suite early loading, before
|
---|
| 191 | forcing late loading to see if there is any microcode. If there is,
|
---|
| 192 | the instructions then show you how to create an initrd for early loading.
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 193 | It is also possible to build the same microcode bin file into the kernel,
|
---|
| 194 | which allows early loading but requires the kernel to be recompiled to
|
---|
| 195 | update the microcode
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 196 | </para>
|
---|
| 197 |
|
---|
| 198 | <para>
|
---|
| 199 | To confirm what processor(s) you have (if more than one, they will be
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 200 | identical) look in /proc/cpuinfo. Determine the decimal values of the cpu
|
---|
| 201 | family, model and stepping by running the following command (it will also
|
---|
| 202 | report the current microcode version):
|
---|
| 203 | </para>
|
---|
| 204 |
|
---|
| 205 | <screen><userinput>head -n7 /proc/cpuinfo</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 206 |
|
---|
| 207 | <para>
|
---|
| 208 | Convert the cpu family, model and stepping to pairs of hexadecimal digits.
|
---|
| 209 | You can now check if there is any microcode available.
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 210 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 211 |
|
---|
[83d1722c] | 212 | <para>
|
---|
| 213 | If you are creating an initrd to update firmware for different machines,
|
---|
| 214 | as a distro would do, go down to 'Early loading of microcode' and cat all
|
---|
| 215 | the Intel blobs to GenuineIntel.bin or cat all the AMD blobs to
|
---|
| 216 | AuthenticAMD.bin. This creates a larger initrd - for all Intel machines in
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 217 | the 20200609 update the size was 3.0 MB compared to typically 24 KB for one
|
---|
[83d1722c] | 218 | machine.
|
---|
| 219 | </para>
|
---|
| 220 |
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 221 | <sect3 id="intel-microcode">
|
---|
| 222 | <title>Intel Microcode for the CPU</title>
|
---|
[ba78ebe2] | 223 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 224 | <para>
|
---|
| 225 | The first step is to get the most recent version of the Intel
|
---|
| 226 | microcode. This must be done by navigating to <ulink url=
|
---|
[3179c69] | 227 | 'https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files/releases/'/>
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 228 | and downloading the latest file there. As of this writing the most
|
---|
[bfd2ba3c] | 229 | <!-- at one time, some skylakes had problems with a certain revision
|
---|
| 230 | secure version of the microcode, for those machines which can boot it, -->
|
---|
| 231 | secure version of the microcode
|
---|
[9f4b2b89] | 232 | is microcode-20220510.<!-- If you have a Skylake machine, please read the
|
---|
[bd78d011] | 233 | Caution in the 'Early loading of microcode' section below.--> Extract this
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 234 | file in the normal way, the microcode is in the <filename>intel-ucode
|
---|
| 235 | </filename> directory, containing various blobs with names in the form
|
---|
| 236 | XX-YY-ZZ. There are also various other files, and a releasenote.
|
---|
| 237 | </para>
|
---|
| 238 |
|
---|
| 239 | <para>
|
---|
| 240 | In the past, intel did not provide any details of which blobs had
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 241 | changed versions, but now the releasenote details this.
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 242 | </para>
|
---|
| 243 |
|
---|
| 244 | <para>
|
---|
| 245 | The recent firmware for older processors is provided to deal with
|
---|
| 246 | vulnerabilities which have now been made public, and for some of these
|
---|
| 247 | such as Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS) you might wish to
|
---|
| 248 | increase the protection by disabling hyperthreading, or alternatively
|
---|
| 249 | to disable the kernel's default mitigation because of its impact on
|
---|
| 250 | compile times. Please read the online documentation at <ulink url=
|
---|
| 251 | 'https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.html'/>.
|
---|
| 252 | </para>
|
---|
| 253 |
|
---|
| 254 | <para>
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 255 | For a Skylake i3 6100 (described as Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-6100
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 256 | CPU) the relevant values are cpu family 6, model 94, stepping 3 so in
|
---|
| 257 | this case the required identification is 06-5e-03. A look at the blobs
|
---|
| 258 | will show that there is one for this CPU (although for older issues it
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 259 | might have already been applied by the BIOS).
|
---|
| 260 | If there is a blob for
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 261 | your system then test if it will be applied by copying it (replace
|
---|
| 262 | <XX-YY-ZZ> by the identifier for your CPU) to where the
|
---|
| 263 | kernel can find it:
|
---|
| 264 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 265 |
|
---|
| 266 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/intel-ucode
|
---|
[ba78ebe2] | 267 | cp -v intel-ucode/<XX-YY-ZZ> /lib/firmware/intel-ucode</userinput></screen>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 268 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 269 | <para>
|
---|
| 270 | Now that the Intel microcode has been prepared, use the following
|
---|
| 271 | options when you configure the kernel to load Intel microcode:
|
---|
| 272 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 273 |
|
---|
[0576c595] | 274 | <screen><literal>General Setup --->
|
---|
[f39cf0d0] | 275 | [*] Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support [CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD]
|
---|
[0576c595] | 276 | Processor type and features --->
|
---|
[f39cf0d0] | 277 | [*] CPU microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE]
|
---|
| 278 | [*] Intel microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE_INTEL]</literal></screen>
|
---|
[0576c595] | 279 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 280 | <para>
|
---|
| 281 | After you have successfully booted the new system, force late loading
|
---|
| 282 | by using the command:
|
---|
| 283 | </para>
|
---|
[0576c595] | 284 |
|
---|
| 285 | <screen><userinput>echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 286 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 287 | <para>
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 288 | Then use the following command to check if anything was loaded:
|
---|
[83d1722c] | 289 | (N.B. the dates when microcode was created may be months ahead of when
|
---|
| 290 | it was released.)
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 291 | </para>
|
---|
[0576c595] | 292 |
|
---|
| 293 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 294 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 295 | <para>
|
---|
[bfd2ba3c] | 296 | This old example showing the very old BIOS firmware version
|
---|
[83d1722c] | 297 | was created by temporarily booting without
|
---|
[bd78d011] | 298 | microcode, to show the current Firmware Bug messages, then the late load
|
---|
[bfd2ba3c] | 299 | shows it being updated to revision 0xea which was current at that time.
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 300 | </para>
|
---|
[c6ebc90b] | 301 |
|
---|
[428cad4] | 302 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 5.12.8 (lfs@leshp) (gcc (GCC) 11.1.0,
|
---|
| 303 | GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.36.1)
|
---|
| 304 | #2 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jun 4 01:25:02 BST 2021
|
---|
| 305 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.12.8-sda11 root=/dev/sda11 ro
|
---|
| 306 | resume=/dev/sda10
|
---|
| 307 | [ 0.028741] [Firmware Bug]: TSC_DEADLINE disabled due to Errata;
|
---|
[bd78d011] | 308 | please update microcode to version: 0xb2 (or later)
|
---|
[428cad4] | 309 | [ 0.115716] SRBDS: Vulnerable: No microcode
|
---|
| 310 | [ 0.115826] MDS: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode
|
---|
| 311 | [ 0.389005] microcode: sig=0x506e3, pf=0x2, revision=0x74
|
---|
| 312 | [ 0.389030] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
|
---|
| 313 | [ 70.089502] microcode: updated to revision 0xea, date = 2021-01-25
|
---|
| 314 | [ 70.089528] x86/CPU: CPU features have changed after loading microcode,
|
---|
| 315 | but might not take effect.
|
---|
| 316 | [ 70.089530] microcode: Reload completed, microcode revision: 0xea</literal></screen>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 317 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 318 | <para>
|
---|
| 319 | If the microcode was not updated, there is no new microcode for this
|
---|
| 320 | system's processor. If it did get updated, you can now proceed to
|
---|
| 321 | <xref linkend='early-microcode'/>.
|
---|
| 322 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 323 |
|
---|
| 324 | </sect3>
|
---|
| 325 |
|
---|
[bd78d011] | 326 | <sect3 id="amd-microcode">
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 327 | <title>AMD Microcode for the CPU</title>
|
---|
| 328 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 329 | <para>
|
---|
| 330 | Begin by downloading a container of firmware for your CPU family
|
---|
| 331 | from <ulink url=
|
---|
| 332 | '&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/amd-ucode/'/>.
|
---|
| 333 | The family is always specified in hex. Families 10h to 14h (16 to 20)
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 334 | are in microcode_amd.bin. Families 15h, 16h, 17h (Zen, Zen+, Zen2) and
|
---|
| 335 | 19h (Zen3) have their own containers. Very few machines are likely to
|
---|
| 336 | get updated microcode. There is a Python3 script at <ulink url=
|
---|
| 337 | 'https://github.com/AMDESE/amd_ucode_info/blob/master/amd_ucode_info.py'/>.
|
---|
| 338 | Download that script and run it against the bin file to check which
|
---|
| 339 | processors have updates.
|
---|
| 340 | </para>
|
---|
| 341 |
|
---|
| 342 | <para>
|
---|
| 343 | For the very old Athlon(tm) II X2 in these examples the values were
|
---|
| 344 | cpu family 16, model 5, stepping 3 giving an identification of
|
---|
| 345 | Family=0x10 Model=0x05 Stepping=0x03
|
---|
| 346 | </para>
|
---|
| 347 |
|
---|
| 348 | <para>
|
---|
| 349 | If you wish to try late loading,
|
---|
| 350 | create the required directory and put the firmware you
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 351 | downloaded into it as the <systemitem
|
---|
| 352 | class="username">root</systemitem> user:
|
---|
| 353 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 354 |
|
---|
| 355 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/amd-ucode
|
---|
| 356 | cp -v microcode_amd* /lib/firmware/amd-ucode</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 357 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 358 | <para>
|
---|
| 359 | When you configure the kernel, use the following options
|
---|
| 360 | to load AMD microcode:
|
---|
| 361 | </para>
|
---|
[0576c595] | 362 |
|
---|
| 363 | <screen><literal>General Setup --->
|
---|
[f39cf0d0] | 364 | [*] Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support [CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD]
|
---|
[0576c595] | 365 | Processor type and features --->
|
---|
[f39cf0d0] | 366 | [*] CPU microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE]
|
---|
| 367 | [*] AMD microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE_AMD]</literal></screen>
|
---|
[0576c595] | 368 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 369 | <para>
|
---|
| 370 | After you have successfully booted the new system, force late loading
|
---|
| 371 | by using the command:
|
---|
| 372 | </para>
|
---|
[0576c595] | 373 |
|
---|
| 374 | <screen><userinput>echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload</userinput></screen>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 375 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 376 | <para>
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 377 | Then use the following command to check if anything was loaded:
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 378 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 379 |
|
---|
[0576c595] | 380 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 381 | <para>
|
---|
| 382 | This historic example from an old Athlon(tm) II X2 shows it has been
|
---|
| 383 | updated. At that time, all CPUs were still reported in the microcode
|
---|
| 384 | details on AMD machines (the current position for AMD machines where
|
---|
| 385 | newer microcode is available is unknown) :
|
---|
| 386 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 387 |
|
---|
[c6d338e] | 388 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.15.3 (ken@testserver) (gcc version 7.3.0 (GCC))
|
---|
| 389 | #1 SMP Sun Feb 18 02:08:12 GMT 2018
|
---|
| 390 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.15.3-sda5 root=/dev/sda5 ro
|
---|
| 391 | [ 0.307619] microcode: CPU0: patch_level=0x010000b6
|
---|
| 392 | [ 0.307671] microcode: CPU1: patch_level=0x010000b6
|
---|
| 393 | [ 0.307743] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
|
---|
| 394 | [ 187.928891] microcode: CPU0: new patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
| 395 | [ 187.928899] microcode: CPU1: new patch_level=0x010000c8</literal></screen>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 396 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 397 | <para>
|
---|
| 398 | If the microcode was not updated, there is no new microcode for
|
---|
| 399 | this system's processor. If it did get updated, you can now proceed to
|
---|
| 400 | <xref linkend='early-microcode'/>.
|
---|
| 401 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 402 |
|
---|
| 403 | </sect3>
|
---|
| 404 |
|
---|
| 405 | <sect3 id="early-microcode">
|
---|
| 406 | <title>Early loading of microcode</title>
|
---|
| 407 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 408 | <para>
|
---|
| 409 | If you have established that updated microcode is available for
|
---|
| 410 | your system, it is time to prepare it for early loading. This requires
|
---|
| 411 | an additional package, <xref linkend='cpio'/> and the creation of an
|
---|
| 412 | initrd which will need to be added to grub.cfg.
|
---|
| 413 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 414 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 415 | <para>
|
---|
| 416 | It does not matter where you prepare the initrd, and once it is
|
---|
| 417 | working you can apply the same initrd to later LFS systems or newer
|
---|
| 418 | kernels on this same machine, at least until any newer microcode is
|
---|
| 419 | released. Use the following commands:
|
---|
| 420 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 421 |
|
---|
| 422 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -p initrd/kernel/x86/microcode
|
---|
| 423 | cd initrd</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 424 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 425 | <para>
|
---|
| 426 | For an AMD machine, use the following command (replace
|
---|
| 427 | <MYCONTAINER> with the name of the container for your CPU's
|
---|
| 428 | family):
|
---|
| 429 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 430 |
|
---|
[af8a78d] | 431 | <screen><userinput>cp -v /lib/firmware/amd-ucode/<MYCONTAINER> kernel/x86/microcode/AuthenticAMD.bin</userinput></screen>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 432 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 433 | <para>
|
---|
| 434 | Or for an Intel machine copy the appropriate blob using this command:
|
---|
| 435 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 436 |
|
---|
| 437 | <screen><userinput>cp -v /lib/firmware/intel-ucode/<XX-YY-ZZ> kernel/x86/microcode/GenuineIntel.bin</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 438 |
|
---|
[bd78d011] | 439 | <!-- new version from 20201110 release onwards, assumed to work on all skylakes
|
---|
| 440 | But complaints about previous version took some days to appear, so keep as a comment for now.
|
---|
[fe2553a] | 441 | <caution>
|
---|
| 442 | <para>
|
---|
[3179c69] | 443 | On some Skylake machines with hex Model Number '4e' (78 decimal) the
|
---|
| 444 | upgrade to microcode version '0xdc' is reported to cause the machine to
|
---|
| 445 | hang in early boot, and the fix is to revert to version 0xd6 which was
|
---|
| 446 | first shipped in the 20191115 microcode release.
|
---|
[fe2553a] | 447 | </para>
|
---|
| 448 |
|
---|
| 449 | <para>
|
---|
[3179c69] | 450 | At least one model '5e' Skylake does boot successfully with version
|
---|
| 451 | 0xdc, but Intel has now shipped a 20200616 release which is intended for
|
---|
| 452 | distros which need an initrd that will boot on everyone's machine: it
|
---|
| 453 | reverts both Skylake variants ('4e' and '5e') to the old 0xd6.
|
---|
[fe2553a] | 454 | </para>
|
---|
| 455 |
|
---|
| 456 | <para>
|
---|
[3179c69] | 457 | For a Skylake which does not boot with 0xdc, reverting to 0xd6 will make
|
---|
| 458 | the machine usable, but without the SRBDS mitigations.
|
---|
[fe2553a] | 459 | </para>
|
---|
[bd78d011] | 460 | </caution>-->
|
---|
[fe2553a] | 461 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 462 | <para>
|
---|
| 463 | Now prepare the initrd:
|
---|
| 464 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 465 |
|
---|
| 466 | <screen><userinput>find . | cpio -o -H newc > /boot/microcode.img</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 467 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 468 | <para>
|
---|
| 469 | You now need to add a new entry to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and
|
---|
| 470 | here you should add a new line after the linux line within the stanza.
|
---|
| 471 | If /boot is a separate mountpoint:
|
---|
| 472 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 473 |
|
---|
| 474 | <screen><userinput>initrd /microcode.img</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 475 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 476 | <para>
|
---|
| 477 | or this if it is not:
|
---|
| 478 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 479 |
|
---|
| 480 | <screen><userinput>initrd /boot/microcode.img</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 481 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 482 | <para>
|
---|
| 483 | If you are already booting with an initrd (see <xref
|
---|
[8558044] | 484 | linkend="initramfs"/>), you should run <command>mkinitramfs</command>
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 485 | again after putting the appropriate blob or container into <filename
|
---|
| 486 | class="directory">/lib/firmware</filename> as explained above.
|
---|
| 487 | Alternatively, you can have both initrd on the same line, such as
|
---|
| 488 | <userinput>initrd /microcode.img /other-initrd.img</userinput> (adapt
|
---|
| 489 | that as above if /boot is not a separate mountpoint).
|
---|
| 490 | </para>
|
---|
[a7c5f47] | 491 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 492 | <para>
|
---|
| 493 | You can now reboot with the added initrd, and then use the same
|
---|
| 494 | command to check that the early load worked:
|
---|
| 495 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 496 |
|
---|
[0576c595] | 497 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 498 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 499 | <para>
|
---|
| 500 | If you updated to address vulnerabilities, you can look at <filename
|
---|
| 501 | class="directory">/sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/</filename>
|
---|
| 502 | to see what is now reported.
|
---|
| 503 | </para>
|
---|
[3c19265] | 504 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 505 | <para>
|
---|
| 506 | The places and times where early loading happens are very different
|
---|
[bfd2ba3c] | 507 | in AMD and Intel machines. First, an old example of an Intel (Skylake) with early loading:
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 508 | </para>
|
---|
[b174fb1] | 509 |
|
---|
[428cad4] | 510 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0xea, date = 2021-01-25
|
---|
| 511 | [ 0.000000] Linux version 5.12.8 (lfs@leshp) (gcc (GCC) 11.1.0,
|
---|
| 512 | GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.36.1) #2 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jun 4 01:25:02 BST 2021
|
---|
| 513 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.12.8-sda11 root=/dev/sda11 ro
|
---|
| 514 | resume=/dev/sda10
|
---|
| 515 | [ 0.381420] microcode: sig=0x506e3, pf=0x2, revision=0xea
|
---|
| 516 | [ 0.381479] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.</literal></screen>
|
---|
[83d1722c] | 517 |
|
---|
[0576c595] | 518 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 519 | <para>
|
---|
| 520 | A historic AMD example:
|
---|
| 521 | </para>
|
---|
[0576c595] | 522 |
|
---|
[c6d338e] | 523 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.15.3 (ken@testserver) (gcc version 7.3.0 (GCC))
|
---|
| 524 | #2 SMP Sun Feb 18 02:32:03 GMT 2018
|
---|
| 525 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.15.3-sda5 root=/dev/sda5 ro
|
---|
| 526 | [ 0.307619] microcode: microcode updated early to new patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
| 527 | [ 0.307678] microcode: CPU0: patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
| 528 | [ 0.307723] microcode: CPU1: patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
| 529 | [ 0.307795] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.</literal></screen>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 530 |
|
---|
| 531 | </sect3>
|
---|
| 532 |
|
---|
| 533 | </sect2>
|
---|
| 534 |
|
---|
[1cc5345] | 535 | <sect2 id="video-firmware">
|
---|
| 536 | <title>Firmware for Video Cards</title>
|
---|
| 537 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 538 | <sect3 id="ati-video-firmware">
|
---|
| 539 | <title>Firmware for ATI video chips (R600 and later)</title>
|
---|
| 540 |
|
---|
| 541 | <para>
|
---|
| 542 | These instructions do NOT apply to old radeons before the R600
|
---|
| 543 | family. For those, the firmware is in the kernel's <filename
|
---|
| 544 | class='directory'>/lib/firmware/</filename> directory. Nor do they
|
---|
| 545 | apply if you intend to avoid a graphical setup such as Xorg and are
|
---|
| 546 | content to use the default 80x25 display rather than a framebuffer.
|
---|
| 547 | </para>
|
---|
| 548 |
|
---|
| 549 | <para>
|
---|
| 550 | Early radeon devices only needed a single 2K blob of firmware. Recent
|
---|
| 551 | devices need several different blobs, and some of them are much bigger.
|
---|
| 552 | The total size of the radeon firmware directory is over 500K —
|
---|
| 553 | on a large modern system you can probably spare the space, but it is
|
---|
| 554 | still redundant to install all the unused files each time you build
|
---|
| 555 | a system.
|
---|
| 556 | </para>
|
---|
| 557 |
|
---|
| 558 | <para>
|
---|
| 559 | A better approach is to install <xref linkend='pciutils'/> and then
|
---|
| 560 | use <userinput>lspci</userinput> to identify which VGA controller is
|
---|
| 561 | installed.
|
---|
| 562 | </para>
|
---|
| 563 |
|
---|
| 564 | <para>
|
---|
| 565 | With that information, check the RadeonFeature page of the Xorg wiki
|
---|
| 566 | for <ulink url="http://wiki.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/#index5h2">Decoder
|
---|
| 567 | ring for engineering vs marketing names</ulink> to identify the family
|
---|
| 568 | (you may need to know this for the Xorg driver in BLFS —
|
---|
| 569 | Southern Islands and Sea Islands use the radeonsi driver) and the
|
---|
| 570 | specific model.
|
---|
| 571 | </para>
|
---|
| 572 |
|
---|
| 573 | <para>
|
---|
| 574 | Now that you know which controller you are using, consult the
|
---|
| 575 | <ulink url="https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Radeon#Firmware">
|
---|
| 576 | Radeon</ulink> page of the Gentoo wiki which has a table listing
|
---|
| 577 | the required firmware blobs for the various chipsets. Note that
|
---|
| 578 | Southern Islands and Sea Islands chips use different firmware for
|
---|
| 579 | kernel 3.17 and later compared to earlier kernels. Identify and
|
---|
| 580 | download the required blobs then install them:
|
---|
| 581 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 582 |
|
---|
| 583 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/radeon
|
---|
| 584 | cp -v <YOUR_BLOBS> /lib/firmware/radeon</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 585 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 586 | <para>
|
---|
| 587 | There are actually two ways of installing this firmware. BLFS, in the
|
---|
| 588 | 'Kernel Configuration for additional firmware' section part of the
|
---|
| 589 | <xref linkend="xorg-ati-driver"/> section gives an example of
|
---|
| 590 | compiling the firmware into the kernel - that is slightly faster to
|
---|
| 591 | load, but uses more kernel memory. Here we will use the alternative
|
---|
| 592 | method of making the radeon driver a module. In your kernel config
|
---|
| 593 | set the following:
|
---|
| 594 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 595 |
|
---|
| 596 | <screen><literal>Device Drivers --->
|
---|
| 597 | Graphics support --->
|
---|
| 598 | Direct Rendering Manager --->
|
---|
[f39cf0d0] | 599 | [*] Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) [CONFIG_DRM]
|
---|
| 600 | [M] ATI Radeon [CONFIG_DRM_RADEON]</literal></screen>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 601 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 602 | <para>
|
---|
| 603 | Loading several large blobs from /lib/firmware takes a noticeable
|
---|
| 604 | time, during which the screen will be blank. If you do not enable the
|
---|
| 605 | penguin framebuffer logo, or change the console size by using a bigger
|
---|
| 606 | font, that probably does not matter. If desired, you can slightly
|
---|
| 607 | reduce the time if you follow the alternate method of specifying 'y'
|
---|
| 608 | for CONFIG_DRM_RADEON covered in BLFS at the link above — you
|
---|
| 609 | must specify each needed radeon blob if you do that.
|
---|
| 610 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 611 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 612 | </sect3>
|
---|
[1cc5345] | 613 |
|
---|
[83cc2cc3] | 614 | <sect3 id="amdgpu-video-firmware">
|
---|
| 615 | <title>Firmware for AMD/ATI amdgpu video chips</title>
|
---|
| 616 |
|
---|
| 617 | <para>
|
---|
| 618 | All video controllers using the amdgpu kernel driver require firmware,
|
---|
| 619 | whether you will be using the xorg amdgpu driver, the xserver's modesetting
|
---|
| 620 | driver, or just kernel modesetting to get a console framebuffer larger than
|
---|
| 621 | 80x25.
|
---|
| 622 | </para>
|
---|
| 623 |
|
---|
| 624 | <para>
|
---|
| 625 | Install <xref linkend="pciutils"/> and use that to check the model name
|
---|
| 626 | (look for 'VGA compatible controller:'). If you have an APU (Accelerated
|
---|
| 627 | Processing Unit, i.e. CPU and video on the same chip) that will probably
|
---|
| 628 | tell you the name. If you have a separate amdgpu video card you will need
|
---|
| 629 | to search to determine which name it uses (e.g. a card described as
|
---|
| 630 | Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Baffin [Radeon RX 550 640SP / RX
|
---|
| 631 | 560/560X] needs Polaris11 firmware. There is a table of "Family, Chipset
|
---|
| 632 | name, Product name and Firmware" at the end of the Kernel sections in
|
---|
| 633 | <ulink url="https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/AMDGPU#Known_firmware_blobs">
|
---|
| 634 | AMDGPU</ulink> page of the Gentoo wiki.
|
---|
| 635 | </para>
|
---|
| 636 |
|
---|
| 637 | <para>
|
---|
| 638 | Once you have identified the firmware name, install all the relevant
|
---|
| 639 | files for it. For example, the Baffin card mentioned above has 21 different
|
---|
| 640 | polaris11* files, APUs such as renoir and picasso have at least 12 files and
|
---|
| 641 | might gain more in future updates (e.g. the raven APU now has a 13th file,
|
---|
| 642 | raven_ta.bin).
|
---|
| 643 | </para>
|
---|
| 644 |
|
---|
| 645 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/amdgpu
|
---|
| 646 | cp -v <YOUR_BLOBS> /lib/firmware/amdgpu</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 647 |
|
---|
| 648 | <para>
|
---|
| 649 | If disk space is not a problem, you could install all the current amdgpu
|
---|
| 650 | firmware files and not worry about exactly which chipset is installed.
|
---|
| 651 | </para>
|
---|
| 652 |
|
---|
| 653 | <para>
|
---|
| 654 | You are recommended to build the kernel amdgpu driver as a module.
|
---|
| 655 | In your kernel .config set at least the following options and review
|
---|
| 656 | the other AMDGPU options according to what hardware you are building
|
---|
| 657 | for, e.g ACP (Audio Co-Processor) support for some APUs,
|
---|
| 658 | </para>
|
---|
| 659 |
|
---|
| 660 | <screen><literal>Device Drivers --->
|
---|
| 661 | Graphics support --->
|
---|
| 662 | Direct Rendering Manager --->
|
---|
| 663 | [*] Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) [CONFIG_DRM]
|
---|
| 664 | [M] AMD GPU [CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU]
|
---|
| 665 | Display Engine Configuration --->
|
---|
| 666 | [*] AMD DC - Enable new display engine (NEW) [CONFIG_DRM_AMD_DC]</literal></screen>
|
---|
| 667 |
|
---|
| 668 | <para>
|
---|
| 669 | As written above at the end of the section on 'Firmware for ATI video
|
---|
| 670 | chips', loading large blobs from /lib/firmware can take a noticeable
|
---|
| 671 | time during which the screen will be blank. On a slow machine you might
|
---|
| 672 | wish to refer to the 'Kernel Configuration for additional firmware'
|
---|
| 673 | part of <xref linkend="xorg-amdgpu-driver"/> and compile all the
|
---|
| 674 | required modules into the kernel to reduce this time, at the cost of
|
---|
| 675 | using more kernel memory.
|
---|
| 676 | </para>
|
---|
| 677 |
|
---|
| 678 | </sect3>
|
---|
| 679 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 680 | <sect3 id="nvidia-video-firmware">
|
---|
| 681 | <title>Firmware for Nvidia video chips</title>
|
---|
[1cc5345] | 682 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 683 | <para>
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 684 | Nvidia has released basic signed firmware for recent graphics chips,
|
---|
| 685 | but significantly after the chips and its own binary drivers were first
|
---|
| 686 | available. For other chips it has been necessary to extract the firmware
|
---|
| 687 | from the binary driver.
|
---|
| 688 | </para>
|
---|
| 689 | <para>
|
---|
| 690 | For more exact information about which chips need extracted firmware, see
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 691 | <ulink url=
|
---|
| 692 | "https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/VideoAcceleration/#firmware"/>.
|
---|
| 693 | </para>
|
---|
[8558044] | 694 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 695 | <para>
|
---|
| 696 | First, the kernel Nvidia driver must be activated:
|
---|
| 697 | </para>
|
---|
[1cc5345] | 698 |
|
---|
| 699 | <screen><literal>Device Drivers --->
|
---|
| 700 | Graphics support --->
|
---|
| 701 | Direct Rendering Manager --->
|
---|
| 702 | <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) [CONFIG_DRM]
|
---|
[f39cf0d0] | 703 | <*/M> Nouveau (NVIDIA) cards [CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU]</literal></screen>
|
---|
[1cc5345] | 704 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 705 | <para>
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 706 | If the necessary firmware is available in the
|
---|
| 707 | <filename class="directory">nvidia/</filename> directory of
|
---|
| 708 | linux-firmware, copy it to
|
---|
| 709 | <filename class="directory">/lib/firmware/nouveau</filename>.
|
---|
| 710 | </para>
|
---|
| 711 | <para>
|
---|
| 712 | If the firmware has not been made available in linux-firmware,
|
---|
| 713 | for the old chips mentioned in the nouveau wiki link above ensure you have
|
---|
| 714 | installed <xref linkend="python2"/> and run the following commands:
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 715 | </para>
|
---|
[1cc5345] | 716 |
|
---|
| 717 | <screen><userinput>wget https://raw.github.com/imirkin/re-vp2/master/extract_firmware.py
|
---|
| 718 | wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/325.15/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-325.15.run
|
---|
| 719 | sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-325.15.run --extract-only
|
---|
[083a8d7] | 720 | python2 extract_firmware.py
|
---|
[1cc5345] | 721 | mkdir -p /lib/firmware/nouveau
|
---|
| 722 | cp -d nv* vuc-* /lib/firmware/nouveau/</userinput></screen>
|
---|
| 723 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 724 | </sect3>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 725 | </sect2>
|
---|
| 726 |
|
---|
| 727 | <sect2 id="nic-firmware">
|
---|
| 728 | <title>Firmware for Network Interfaces</title>
|
---|
| 729 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 730 | <para>
|
---|
| 731 | The kernel likes to load firmware for some network drivers, particularly
|
---|
| 732 | those from Realtek (the /lib/linux-firmware/rtl_nic/) directory, but
|
---|
| 733 | they generally appear to work without it. Therefore, you can boot the
|
---|
| 734 | kernel, check dmesg for messages about this missing firmware, and if
|
---|
| 735 | necessary download the firmware and put it in the specified directory in
|
---|
| 736 | <filename class="directory">/lib/firmware</filename> so that it will
|
---|
| 737 | be found on subsequent boots. Note that with current kernels this
|
---|
| 738 | works whether or not the driver is compiled in or built as a module,
|
---|
| 739 | there is no need to build this firmware into the kernel.
|
---|
| 740 | Here is an example where the R8169 driver has been compiled in but the
|
---|
| 741 | firmware was not made available. Once the firmware had been provided,
|
---|
| 742 | there was no mention of it on later boots.
|
---|
| 743 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 744 |
|
---|
| 745 | <screen><literal>dmesg | grep firmware | grep r8169
|
---|
| 746 | [ 7.018028] r8169 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw failed with error -2
|
---|
| 747 | [ 7.018036] r8169 0000:01:00.0 eth0: unable to load firmware patch rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw (-2)</literal></screen>
|
---|
| 748 |
|
---|
| 749 | </sect2>
|
---|
| 750 |
|
---|
| 751 | <sect2 id="other-firmware">
|
---|
| 752 | <title>Firmware for Other Devices</title>
|
---|
| 753 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 754 | <para>
|
---|
| 755 | Identifying the correct firmware will typically require you to install
|
---|
| 756 | <xref linkend='pciutils'/>, and then use <userinput>lspci</userinput>
|
---|
| 757 | to identify the device. You should then search online to check which
|
---|
| 758 | module it uses, which firmware, and where to obtain the firmware —
|
---|
| 759 | not all of it is in linux-firmware.
|
---|
| 760 | </para>
|
---|
| 761 |
|
---|
| 762 | <para>
|
---|
| 763 | If possible, you should begin by using a wired connection when you first
|
---|
| 764 | boot your LFS system. To use a wireless connection you will need to
|
---|
| 765 | use a network tools such as <xref linkend='wireless_tools'/> and <xref
|
---|
| 766 | linkend='wpa_supplicant'/>.
|
---|
| 767 | </para>
|
---|
| 768 |
|
---|
[c18f6acb] | 769 | <para>
|
---|
| 770 | Different countries have different regulations on the radio spectrum
|
---|
| 771 | usage of wireless devices. You can install a firmware to make the
|
---|
| 772 | wireless devices obey local spectrum regulations, so you won't be
|
---|
| 773 | inquired by local authority or find your wireless NIC jamming the
|
---|
| 774 | frequencies of other devices (for example, remote controllers).
|
---|
| 775 | The regulatory database firmware can be downloaded from
|
---|
| 776 | <ulink url = 'https://kernel.org/pub/software/network/wireless-regdb/'/>.
|
---|
| 777 | To install it, simply extract <filename>regulatory.db</filename> and
|
---|
| 778 | <filename>regulatory.db.p7s</filename> from the tarball into
|
---|
| 779 | <filename class="directory">/lib/firmware</filename>.
|
---|
| 780 | The access point would send a country code to your wireless NIC,
|
---|
| 781 | and <xref linkend='wpa_supplicant'/> would tell the kernel to load
|
---|
| 782 | the regulation of this country from
|
---|
| 783 | <filename>regulatory.db</filename>, and enforce it.
|
---|
| 784 | </para>
|
---|
| 785 |
|
---|
[81a73ed8] | 786 | <para>
|
---|
| 787 | Firmware may also be needed for other devices such as some SCSI
|
---|
| 788 | controllers, bluetooth adaptors, or TV recorders. The same principles
|
---|
| 789 | apply.
|
---|
| 790 | </para>
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 791 |
|
---|
| 792 | </sect2>
|
---|
| 793 |
|
---|
| 794 | </sect1>
|
---|