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>
|
---|
12 | <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
|
---|
13 | <date>$Date$</date>
|
---|
14 | </sect1info>
|
---|
15 |
|
---|
16 | <title>About Firmware</title>
|
---|
17 |
|
---|
18 | <indexterm zone="postlfs-firmware">
|
---|
19 | <primary sortas="e-lib-firmware">/lib/firmware</primary>
|
---|
20 | </indexterm>
|
---|
21 |
|
---|
22 | <para> 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.</para>
|
---|
26 |
|
---|
27 | <para>Preparing firmware for multiple different machines, as a distro would
|
---|
28 | do, is outside the scope of this book.</para>
|
---|
29 |
|
---|
30 | <para>Currently, most firmware can be found at a <userinput>git</userinput>
|
---|
31 | repository: <ulink
|
---|
32 | url="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/"/>.
|
---|
33 | For convenience, the LFS Project has created a mirror, updated daily, where
|
---|
34 | these firmware files can be accessed via <userinput>wget</userinput> or a web
|
---|
35 | browser at <ulink
|
---|
36 | url="&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/"/>.</para>
|
---|
37 |
|
---|
38 | <para>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 | <userinput>git</userinput> and clone that repository.</para>
|
---|
41 |
|
---|
42 | <para>For some other firmware, particularly for Intel microcode and certain
|
---|
43 | wifi devices, the needed firmware is not available in the above repository.
|
---|
44 | Some of this will be addressed below, but a search of the Internet for needed
|
---|
45 | firmware is sometimes necessary.</para>
|
---|
46 |
|
---|
47 | <para>Firmware files are conventionally referred to as blobs because you cannot
|
---|
48 | determine what they will do. Note that firmware is distributed under various
|
---|
49 | different licenses which do not permit disassembly or reverse-engineering.</para>
|
---|
50 |
|
---|
51 | <para>Firmware for PCs falls into four categories:</para>
|
---|
52 |
|
---|
53 | <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
|
---|
54 | <listitem>
|
---|
55 | <para>Updates to the CPU to work around errata, usually referred to as
|
---|
56 | microcode.</para>
|
---|
57 | </listitem>
|
---|
58 | <listitem>
|
---|
59 | <para>Firmware for video controllers. On x86 machines this seems to mostly
|
---|
60 | apply to ATI devices (Radeon and AMDGPU chips) and Nvidia
|
---|
61 | Maxwell and Pascal cards which all require firmware to be able to use KMS
|
---|
62 | (kernel modesetting - the preferred option) as well as for Xorg. For
|
---|
63 | earlier radeon chips (before the R600), the firmware is still in the
|
---|
64 | kernel.</para>
|
---|
65 | </listitem>
|
---|
66 | <listitem>
|
---|
67 | <para>Firmware updates for wired network ports. Mostly they work even
|
---|
68 | without the updates, but one must assume that they will work better with
|
---|
69 | the updated firmware.</para>
|
---|
70 | </listitem>
|
---|
71 | <listitem>
|
---|
72 | <para>Firmware for other devices, such as wifi. These devices are not
|
---|
73 | required for the PC to boot, but need the firmware before these devices
|
---|
74 | can be used.</para>
|
---|
75 | </listitem>
|
---|
76 | </itemizedlist>
|
---|
77 |
|
---|
78 | <note><para>Although not needed to load a firmware blob, the following
|
---|
79 | tools may be useful for determining, obtaining, or preparing the needed
|
---|
80 | firmware in order to load it into the system:
|
---|
81 | <xref linkend="cpio"/>,
|
---|
82 | <xref linkend="git"/>,
|
---|
83 | <xref linkend="pciutils"/>, and
|
---|
84 | <xref linkend="wget"/></para></note>
|
---|
85 |
|
---|
86 | <para condition="html" role="usernotes">User Notes:
|
---|
87 | <ulink url="&blfs-wiki;/aboutfirmware"/></para>
|
---|
88 |
|
---|
89 | <sect2 id="cpu-microcode">
|
---|
90 | <title>Microcode updates for CPUs</title>
|
---|
91 |
|
---|
92 | <para>In general, microcode can be loaded by the BIOS or UEFI, and it might
|
---|
93 | be updated by upgrading to a newer version of those. On linux, you can also
|
---|
94 | load the microcode from the kernel if you are using an AMD family 10h or
|
---|
95 | later processor (first introduced late 2007), or an Intel processor from
|
---|
96 | 1998 and later (Pentium4, Core, etc), if updated microcode has been
|
---|
97 | released. These updates only last until the machine is powered off, so they
|
---|
98 | need to be applied on every boot.</para>
|
---|
99 |
|
---|
100 | <para>Intel provide frequent updates of their microcode. It is not uncommon
|
---|
101 | to find a newer version of microcode for an Intel processor even two years
|
---|
102 | after its release. New versions of AMD firmware are rare and usually only
|
---|
103 | apply to a few models, although motherboard manufacturers get extra updates
|
---|
104 | which maybe update microcode along with the changes to support newer CPUs
|
---|
105 | and faster memory.</para>
|
---|
106 |
|
---|
107 | <para>There used to be two ways of loading the microcode, described as 'early'
|
---|
108 | and 'late'. Early loading happens before userspace has been started, late
|
---|
109 | loading happens after userspace has started. Not surprisingly, early loading
|
---|
110 | was preferred, (see e.g. an explanatory comment in a kernel commit noted at
|
---|
111 | <ulink url="https://lwn.net/Articles/530346/">x86/microcode: Early load
|
---|
112 | microcode </ulink> on LWN.) Indeed, it is needed to work around one
|
---|
113 | particular erratum in early Intel Haswell processors which had TSX enabled.
|
---|
114 | (See <ulink
|
---|
115 | url="http://www.anandtech.com/show/8376/intel-disables-tsx-instructions-erratum-found-in-haswell-haswelleep-broadwellyi/">
|
---|
116 | Intel Disables TSX Instructions: Erratum Found in Haswell, Haswell-E/EP,
|
---|
117 | Broadwell-Y</ulink>.) Without this update glibc can do the wrong thing in
|
---|
118 | uncommon situations. </para>
|
---|
119 |
|
---|
120 | <para>As a result, early loading is now expected, although for the moment
|
---|
121 | (4.18 kernels) it is still possible to manually force late loading of
|
---|
122 | microcode for testing. You will need to reconfigure your kernel for either
|
---|
123 | method. The instructions here will create a kernel
|
---|
124 | <filename>.config</filename> to suite early loading, before forcing late
|
---|
125 | loading to see if there is any microcode. If there is, the instructions
|
---|
126 | then show you how to create an initrd for early loading.</para>
|
---|
127 |
|
---|
128 | <para>To confirm what processor(s) you have (if more than one, they will be
|
---|
129 | identical) look in /proc/cpuinfo.</para>
|
---|
130 |
|
---|
131 | <sect3 id="intel-microcode">
|
---|
132 | <title>Intel Microcode for the CPU</title>
|
---|
133 |
|
---|
134 | <para>The first step is to get the most recent version of the Intel
|
---|
135 | microcode. This must be done by navigating to
|
---|
136 | <ulink url='https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28039/Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-File'/>
|
---|
137 | and following the instructions there. As of this writing the most recent
|
---|
138 | version of the microcode is <filename>microcode-20180807.tgz</filename>.
|
---|
139 | Extract this file in the normal way to create an <filename>intel-ucode</filename>
|
---|
140 | directory, containing various blobs with names in the form XX-YY-ZZ.
|
---|
141 | This tarball does not contain a top-level directory, two files
|
---|
142 | (microcode.dat which is the old-style of updates, still used by some
|
---|
143 | linux distros, and releasenote) will be extracted into the current
|
---|
144 | directory.</para>
|
---|
145 |
|
---|
146 | <note><para>The above URL may not be the latest page. If it is not,
|
---|
147 | a line at the top of the page will direct you to the latest page.
|
---|
148 | </para></note>
|
---|
149 |
|
---|
150 | <para>Now you need to determine your processor's identity to see if there
|
---|
151 | is any microcode for it. Determine the decimal values of the cpu family,
|
---|
152 | model and stepping by running the following command (it will also report
|
---|
153 | the current microcode version):</para>
|
---|
154 |
|
---|
155 | <screen><userinput>head -n7 /proc/cpuinfo</userinput></screen>
|
---|
156 |
|
---|
157 | <para>Convert the cpu family, model and stepping to pairs of hexadecimal
|
---|
158 | digits. For a Haswell i7-4790 (described as Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790
|
---|
159 | CPU) the relevant values are cpu family 6, model 60, stepping 3 so in
|
---|
160 | this case the required identification is 06-3c-03. A look at the blobs
|
---|
161 | will show that there is one for this CPU (although it might
|
---|
162 | have already been applied by the BIOS). If there is a blob for your
|
---|
163 | system then test if it will be applied by copying it (replace <XX-YY-ZZ>
|
---|
164 | by the identifier for your machine) to where the kernel can find it:</para>
|
---|
165 |
|
---|
166 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/intel-ucode
|
---|
167 | cp -v intel-ucode/<XX-YY-ZZ> /lib/firmware/intel-ucode</userinput></screen>
|
---|
168 |
|
---|
169 | <para>Now that the Intel microcode has been prepared, use the following
|
---|
170 | options when you configure the kernel to load Intel
|
---|
171 | microcode:</para>
|
---|
172 |
|
---|
173 | <screen><literal>General Setup --->
|
---|
174 | [y] Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support [CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD]
|
---|
175 | Processor type and features --->
|
---|
176 | [y] CPU microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE]
|
---|
177 | [y] Intel microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE_INTEL]</literal></screen>
|
---|
178 |
|
---|
179 | <para>After you have successfully booted the new system, force late loading by
|
---|
180 | using the command:</para>
|
---|
181 |
|
---|
182 | <screen><userinput>echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload</userinput></screen>
|
---|
183 |
|
---|
184 | <para>Then use the following command to see if anything was loaded:</para>
|
---|
185 |
|
---|
186 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
|
---|
187 |
|
---|
188 | <para>This example from the Haswell i7 which was released in Q2 2014 and is
|
---|
189 | not affected by the TSX errata shows it has been updated from revision 0x19
|
---|
190 | in the BIOS/UEFI (which this version of the kernel now complains about) to
|
---|
191 | revision 0x24. Unlike in older kernels, the individual CPUs are not separately
|
---|
192 | reported:</para>
|
---|
193 |
|
---|
194 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.18.0-rc8 (root@plexi) (gcc version 8.2.0 (GCC))
|
---|
195 | #2 SMP PREEMPT Sat Aug 11 22:26:26 BST 2018
|
---|
196 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.18.0-rc8-sda5 root=/dev/sda5 ro resume=/dev/sdb1
|
---|
197 | [ 0.000000] [Firmware Bug]: TSC_DEADLINE disabled due to Errata;
|
---|
198 | please update microcode to version: 0x22 (or later)
|
---|
199 | [ 0.482712] microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x2, revision=0x19
|
---|
200 | [ 0.274963] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
|
---|
201 | [ 1475.941353] microcode: updated to revision 0x25, date = 2018-04-02
|
---|
202 | [ 1475.944753] x86/CPU: CPU features have changed after loading microcode, but might not take effect</literal></screen>
|
---|
203 |
|
---|
204 | <para>If the microcode was not updated, there is no new microcode for
|
---|
205 | this system's processor. If it did get updated, you can now proceed to <xref
|
---|
206 | linkend='early-microcode'/>.</para>
|
---|
207 |
|
---|
208 | </sect3>
|
---|
209 |
|
---|
210 | <sect3 id="and-microcode">
|
---|
211 | <title>AMD Microcode for the CPU</title>
|
---|
212 |
|
---|
213 | <para>Begin by downloading a container of firmware for your CPU family
|
---|
214 | from <ulink
|
---|
215 | url='&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/amd-ucode/'/>.
|
---|
216 | The family is always specified in hex. Families 10h to 14h (16 to 20)
|
---|
217 | are in microcode_amd.bin. Families 15h, 16h and 17h have their own containers.
|
---|
218 | Create the required directory and put the firmware you downloaded into
|
---|
219 | it as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>
|
---|
220 |
|
---|
221 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/amd-ucode
|
---|
222 | cp -v microcode_amd* /lib/firmware/amd-ucode</userinput></screen>
|
---|
223 |
|
---|
224 | <para>When you configure the kernel, use the following options
|
---|
225 | to load AMD microcode:</para>
|
---|
226 |
|
---|
227 | <screen><literal>General Setup --->
|
---|
228 | [y] Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support [CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD]
|
---|
229 | Processor type and features --->
|
---|
230 | [y] CPU microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE]
|
---|
231 | [y] AMD microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE_AMD]</literal></screen>
|
---|
232 |
|
---|
233 | <para>After you have successfully booted the new system, force late loading by
|
---|
234 | using the command:</para>
|
---|
235 |
|
---|
236 | <screen><userinput>echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload</userinput></screen>
|
---|
237 |
|
---|
238 | <para>Then use the following command to see if anything was loaded:</para>
|
---|
239 |
|
---|
240 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
|
---|
241 | <para>This historic example from an old Athlon(tm) II X2 shows it has been
|
---|
242 | updated. At that time, all CPUs were still reported in the microcode details on
|
---|
243 | AMD machines (the current position for AMD machines where newer microcode is
|
---|
244 | available is unknown) :</para>
|
---|
245 |
|
---|
246 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.15.3 (ken@testserver) (gcc version 7.3.0 (GCC))
|
---|
247 | #1 SMP Sun Feb 18 02:08:12 GMT 2018
|
---|
248 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.15.3-sda5 root=/dev/sda5 ro
|
---|
249 | [ 0.307619] microcode: CPU0: patch_level=0x010000b6
|
---|
250 | [ 0.307671] microcode: CPU1: patch_level=0x010000b6
|
---|
251 | [ 0.307743] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
|
---|
252 | [ 187.928891] microcode: CPU0: new patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
253 | [ 187.928899] microcode: CPU1: new patch_level=0x010000c8</literal></screen>
|
---|
254 |
|
---|
255 | <para>If the microcode was not updated, there is no new microcode for
|
---|
256 | this system's processor. If it did get updated, you can now proceed to <xref
|
---|
257 | linkend='early-microcode'/>.</para>
|
---|
258 |
|
---|
259 | </sect3>
|
---|
260 |
|
---|
261 | <sect3 id="early-microcode">
|
---|
262 | <title>Early loading of microcode</title>
|
---|
263 |
|
---|
264 | <para>If you have established that updated microcode is available for
|
---|
265 | your system, it is time to prepare it for early loading. This requires
|
---|
266 | an additional package, <xref linkend='cpio'/> and the creation of an
|
---|
267 | initrd which will need to be added to grub.cfg.</para>
|
---|
268 |
|
---|
269 | <para>It does not matter where you prepare the initrd, and once it is
|
---|
270 | working you can apply the same initrd to later LFS systems or newer
|
---|
271 | kernels on this same machine, at least until any newer microcode is
|
---|
272 | released. Use the following commands:</para>
|
---|
273 |
|
---|
274 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -p initrd/kernel/x86/microcode
|
---|
275 | cd initrd</userinput></screen>
|
---|
276 |
|
---|
277 | <para>For an AMD machine, use the following command (replace
|
---|
278 | <MYCONTAINER> with the name of the container for your CPU's
|
---|
279 | family):</para>
|
---|
280 |
|
---|
281 | <screen><userinput>cp -v /lib/firmware/amd-ucode/<MYCONTAINER> kernel/x86/microcode/AuthenticAMD.bin</userinput></screen>
|
---|
282 |
|
---|
283 | <para>Or for an Intel machine copy the appropriate blob using this command:</para>
|
---|
284 |
|
---|
285 | <screen><userinput>cp -v /lib/firmware/intel-ucode/<XX-YY-ZZ> kernel/x86/microcode/GenuineIntel.bin</userinput></screen>
|
---|
286 |
|
---|
287 | <para>Now prepare the initrd:</para>
|
---|
288 |
|
---|
289 | <screen><userinput>find . | cpio -o -H newc > /boot/microcode.img</userinput></screen>
|
---|
290 |
|
---|
291 | <para>You now need to add a new entry to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and
|
---|
292 | here you should add a new line after the linux line within the stanza.
|
---|
293 | If /boot is a separate mountpoint: </para>
|
---|
294 |
|
---|
295 | <screen><userinput>initrd /microcode.img</userinput></screen>
|
---|
296 |
|
---|
297 | <para>or this if it is not:</para>
|
---|
298 |
|
---|
299 | <screen><userinput>initrd /boot/microcode.img</userinput></screen>
|
---|
300 |
|
---|
301 | <para>If you are already booting with an initrd (see <xref
|
---|
302 | linkend="initramfs"/>) you must specify the microcode initrd first, using
|
---|
303 | a line such as <userinput>initrd /microcode.img
|
---|
304 | /other-initrd.img</userinput> (adapt that as above if /boot is not a
|
---|
305 | separate mountpoint).</para>
|
---|
306 |
|
---|
307 | <para>You can now reboot with the added initrd, and then use the same
|
---|
308 | command to check that the early load worked.</para>
|
---|
309 |
|
---|
310 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
|
---|
311 |
|
---|
312 | <para>The places and times where early loading happens are very different
|
---|
313 | in AMD and Intel machines. First, an Intel example from an updated
|
---|
314 | kernel, showing that the first notification comes before the kernel version
|
---|
315 | is mentioned:</para>
|
---|
316 |
|
---|
317 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0x25, date = 2018-04-02
|
---|
318 | [ 0.000000] Linux version 4.18.1-rc1 (ken@plexi) (gcc version 8.2.0 (GCC))
|
---|
319 | #2 SMP PREEMPT Tue Aug 14 20:22:35 BST 2018
|
---|
320 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.18.1-rc1-sda5 root=/dev/sda5 ro resume=/dev/sdb1
|
---|
321 | [ 0.275864] microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x2, revision=0x25
|
---|
322 | [ 0.275911] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.</literal></screen>
|
---|
323 |
|
---|
324 | <para>A historic AMD example:</para>
|
---|
325 |
|
---|
326 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.15.3 (ken@testserver) (gcc version 7.3.0 (GCC))
|
---|
327 | #2 SMP Sun Feb 18 02:32:03 GMT 2018
|
---|
328 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.15.3-sda5 root=/dev/sda5 ro
|
---|
329 | [ 0.307619] microcode: microcode updated early to new patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
330 | [ 0.307678] microcode: CPU0: patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
331 | [ 0.307723] microcode: CPU1: patch_level=0x010000c8
|
---|
332 | [ 0.307795] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.</literal></screen>
|
---|
333 |
|
---|
334 | </sect3>
|
---|
335 |
|
---|
336 | </sect2>
|
---|
337 |
|
---|
338 | <sect2 id="video-firmware">
|
---|
339 | <title>Firmware for Video Cards</title>
|
---|
340 |
|
---|
341 | <sect3 id="ati-video-firmware">
|
---|
342 | <title>Firmware for ATI video chips (R600 and later)</title>
|
---|
343 |
|
---|
344 | <para>These instructions do NOT apply to old radeons before the R600
|
---|
345 | family. For those, the firmware is in the kernel's <filename
|
---|
346 | class='directory'>/lib/firmware/</filename> directory. Nor do they apply if
|
---|
347 | you intend to avoid a graphical setup such as Xorg and are content to use
|
---|
348 | the default 80x25 display rather than a framebuffer. </para>
|
---|
349 |
|
---|
350 | <para> Early radeon devices only needed a single 2K blob of firmware.
|
---|
351 | Recent devices need several different blobs, and some of them are much
|
---|
352 | bigger. The total size of the radeon firmware directory is over 500K — on a
|
---|
353 | large modern system you can probably spare the space, but it is still
|
---|
354 | redundant to install all the unused files each time you build a system.</para>
|
---|
355 |
|
---|
356 | <para>A better approach is to install <xref linkend='pciutils'/> and then
|
---|
357 | use <userinput>lspci</userinput> to identify which VGA controller is
|
---|
358 | installed.</para>
|
---|
359 |
|
---|
360 | <para>With that information, check the RadeonFeature page of the Xorg wiki
|
---|
361 | for <ulink url="http://wiki.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/#index5h2">Decoder
|
---|
362 | ring for engineering vs marketing names</ulink> to identify the family (you
|
---|
363 | may need to know this for the Xorg driver in BLFS — Southern Islands and
|
---|
364 | Sea Islands use the radeonsi driver) and the specific model.</para>
|
---|
365 |
|
---|
366 | <para>Now that you know which controller you are using, consult the
|
---|
367 | <ulink url="https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Radeon#Firmware">Radeon</ulink> page
|
---|
368 | of the Gentoo wiki which has a table listing the required firmware blobs
|
---|
369 | for the various chipsets. Note that Southern Islands and Sea Islands chips
|
---|
370 | use different firmware for kernel 3.17 and later compared to earlier
|
---|
371 | kernels. Identify and download the required blobs then install them:</para>
|
---|
372 |
|
---|
373 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/radeon
|
---|
374 | cp -v <YOUR_BLOBS> /lib/firmware/radeon</userinput></screen>
|
---|
375 |
|
---|
376 | <para>There are actually two ways of installing this firmware. BLFS, in the
|
---|
377 | 'Kernel Configuration for additional firmware' section part of the <xref
|
---|
378 | linkend="xorg-ati-driver"/> section gives an example of compiling the
|
---|
379 | firmware into the kernel - that is slightly faster to load, but uses more
|
---|
380 | kernel memory. Here we will use the alternative method of making the radeon
|
---|
381 | driver a module. In your kernel config set the following: </para>
|
---|
382 |
|
---|
383 | <screen><literal>Device Drivers --->
|
---|
384 | Graphics support --->
|
---|
385 | Direct Rendering Manager --->
|
---|
386 | <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) [CONFIG_DRM]
|
---|
387 | <m> ATI Radeon [CONFIG_DRM_RADEON]</literal></screen>
|
---|
388 |
|
---|
389 | <para>Loading several large blobs from /lib/firmware takes a noticeable
|
---|
390 | time, during which the screen will be blank. If you do not enable the
|
---|
391 | penguin framebuffer logo, or change the console size by using a bigger
|
---|
392 | font, that probably does not matter. If desired, you can slightly
|
---|
393 | reduce the time if you follow the alternate method of specifying 'y' for
|
---|
394 | CONFIG_DRM_RADEON covered in BLFS at the link above — you must specify each
|
---|
395 | needed radeon blob if you do that.</para>
|
---|
396 |
|
---|
397 | </sect3>
|
---|
398 |
|
---|
399 | <sect3 id="nvidia-video-firmware">
|
---|
400 | <title>Firmware for Nvidia video chips</title>
|
---|
401 |
|
---|
402 | <para>Some Nvidia graphics chips need firmware updates to take advantage
|
---|
403 | of all the card's capability. These are generally the GeForce 8, 9, 9300,
|
---|
404 | and 200-900 series chips. For more exact information, see <ulink
|
---|
405 | url="https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/VideoAcceleration/#firmware">
|
---|
406 | https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/VideoAcceleration/#firmware</ulink>.</para>
|
---|
407 |
|
---|
408 | <para>First, the kernel Nvidia driver must be activated:</para>
|
---|
409 |
|
---|
410 | <screen><literal>Device Drivers --->
|
---|
411 | Graphics support --->
|
---|
412 | Direct Rendering Manager --->
|
---|
413 | <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) [CONFIG_DRM]
|
---|
414 | <*/m> Nouveau (NVIDIA) cards [CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU]</literal></screen>
|
---|
415 |
|
---|
416 | <para>The steps to install the Nvidia firmware are:</para>
|
---|
417 |
|
---|
418 | <screen><userinput>wget https://raw.github.com/imirkin/re-vp2/master/extract_firmware.py
|
---|
419 | wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/325.15/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-325.15.run
|
---|
420 | sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-325.15.run --extract-only
|
---|
421 | python extract_firmware.py
|
---|
422 | mkdir -p /lib/firmware/nouveau
|
---|
423 | cp -d nv* vuc-* /lib/firmware/nouveau/</userinput></screen>
|
---|
424 |
|
---|
425 | </sect3>
|
---|
426 | </sect2>
|
---|
427 |
|
---|
428 | <sect2 id="nic-firmware">
|
---|
429 | <title>Firmware for Network Interfaces</title>
|
---|
430 |
|
---|
431 | <para>The kernel likes to load firmware for some network drivers,
|
---|
432 | particularly those from Realtek (the /lib/linux-firmware/rtl_nic/) directory,
|
---|
433 | but they generally appear to work without it. Therefore, you can boot the
|
---|
434 | kernel, check dmesg for messages about this missing firmware, and if
|
---|
435 | necessary download the firmware and put it in the specified directory in
|
---|
436 | /lib/firmware so that it will be found on subsequent boots. Note that with
|
---|
437 | current kernels this works whether or not the driver is compiled in or
|
---|
438 | built as a module, there is no need to build this firmware into the kernel.
|
---|
439 | Here is an example where the R8169 driver has been compiled in but the
|
---|
440 | firmware was not made available. Once the firmware had been provided, there
|
---|
441 | was no mention of it on later boots. </para>
|
---|
442 |
|
---|
443 | <screen><literal>dmesg | grep firmware | grep r8169
|
---|
444 | [ 7.018028] r8169 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw failed with error -2
|
---|
445 | [ 7.018036] r8169 0000:01:00.0 eth0: unable to load firmware patch rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw (-2)</literal></screen>
|
---|
446 |
|
---|
447 | </sect2>
|
---|
448 |
|
---|
449 | <sect2 id="other-firmware">
|
---|
450 | <title>Firmware for Other Devices</title>
|
---|
451 |
|
---|
452 | <para> Identifying the correct firmware will typically require you to
|
---|
453 | install <xref linkend='pciutils'/>, and then use
|
---|
454 | <userinput>lspci</userinput> to identify the device. You should then search
|
---|
455 | online to check which module it uses, which firmware, and where to obtain
|
---|
456 | the firmware — not all of it is in linux-firmware.</para>
|
---|
457 |
|
---|
458 | <para>If possible, you should begin by using a wired connection when you
|
---|
459 | first boot your LFS system. To use a wireless connection you will need to
|
---|
460 | use a network tools such as <xref linkend='wireless_tools'/> and <xref
|
---|
461 | linkend='wpa_supplicant'/>.</para>
|
---|
462 |
|
---|
463 | <para>Firmware may also be needed for other devices such as some SCSI
|
---|
464 | controllers, bluetooth adaptors, or TV recorders. The same principles
|
---|
465 | apply.</para>
|
---|
466 |
|
---|
467 | </sect2>
|
---|
468 |
|
---|
469 | </sect1>
|
---|