Libreboot on Lenovo X200

1

Hello there,
I dropped in to the open evening last Wednesday to ask for help in flashing my Lenovo X200 with libreboot. The process is described here, in completeness, with a BeagleBone Black:

…and here, more experimentally, with a Raspberry Pi:

There’s a bit of info on why we should do this on libreboot.org and of course Richard Stallman’s website.

I can’t make it tomorrow, but expect to be there next week.

I used to work at a hacklab in Munich (Haus der Eigenarbeit) with CNC milling machines, and am up for helping with the 3D printer. I know C, Ruby, and Octave (Matlab).

Thanks in advance for any help! All best, Richard

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Hi @richard, thanks for the links!

I’ll bring along my X60 and Novena laptops tonight anyway, in case anyone else is interested. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it along next week or the one after, due to being busy with Wuthering Bytes stuff. Although I can easily bring bits and pieces down again another week once this is out of the way.

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Thanks @9600.
My X200 has the SOIC-8 chip & so needs the Pomona 5250 clip. Is that what you have?
R

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Hi @richard, I won’t be able to make it Wednesday either, but hope to be at some of the weekends Wuthering Bytes sessions.
I’m not sure what clips anyone has at the group…
See you soon.

5

@richard The one I have is a SOIC-8 and terminates on the other end with a female 2x5 (10-pin) IDC header.

I probably won’t be down again until week after next.

6

Hello. I have all the bits to do this now, and hope to flash my X200 at Bridge Rectifier this Wednesday, 5 October. The only thing I need is a 3.3V power supply. Can we sort that out? If anyone else wants to flash an X200 or X60, we could do it then too. (I have the clip for SOIC-16.)
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow - Richard

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I can’t make it tomorrow, but plan to head down next Wednesday. Don’t think we have a working variable voltage PSU at the space right now… @WetEmoFish brought a nice bench PSU down, but it got very wet and muddy in the flood.

8

Name-dropper!

I expect it still works but I’ve not actually had chance to inspect it yet. My multimeter died but it turned out to just be the battery that had failed (one of these built in rechargeable things). That’s fixed.

I intend to return the bench power supply to the space when it’s working again. What a shame that won’t be tonight. This does mean I’ve successfully ignored it for almost a year now.

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Hoping to work on this again tonight. Does anyone have a spare 8GB microSD + adapter I could borrow for the BBB image? R

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@richard curious how you got on? I was out of the country, but plan to head along this coming Wednesday.

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Hi @richard, I’ve dug up a 2Gb micro and adaptor which you’re welcome to have, but yeah, that’s not going to help with your 4Gb images! I’ll keep digging. I have a feeling I have an 8Gb one somewhere in an old phone but the kids used to play with it, so it could be anywhere now.

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Okay, I’ve rejigged and now my 16GB micro sd from my pi is temporarily available for Wednesday. See you there.

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Hi @richard, after all that I’m ill and can’t make it tonight. Sorry.

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@9600 @paul123 Finally flashed my X200 with libreboot last week at Sheffield Hackspace. Works fine. In this Wednesday 7-Dec to install Parabola Linux. Can help anyone now who wants to do same and liberate an X200 or X60. See you tomorrow. R

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