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Date:      Mon, 7 Mar 2016 08:47:22 -0500
From:      Eric McCorkle <eric@metricspace.net>
To:        freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org, "freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org" <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Librem 13 laptop initial report, issues to fix
Message-ID:  <43EB3527-B41B-4618-B7DF-25597CE1C214@metricspace.net>

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Hello all,

I have obtained one of the Librem 13 laptops (https://www.crowdsupply.com/pu=
rism/librem-13), and have begun the process is setting up FreeBSD on it.  He=
re is an initial report of my findings, including the issues I've had.  Sinc=
e the hardware was chosen for things like open specifications, available for=
 are source, etc, I'm optimistic about getting all these addressed.


The following devices Just Work(tm):

* EFI boot/loader (with a pure ZFS system)
* SD card reader
* Realtek Ethernet (re)
* SMBus (ichsmb)
* coretemp and cpufreq
* Intel HDA (speaker-test works with speakers and headphone jack, haven't te=
sted recording yet)
* Hard drive and SSD (I have ZFS with main storage on the drive, and swap, Z=
FS cache, and a small intent log on the SSD)
* USB ports
* Bluetooth (though I seem to have disabled it in the latest kernel config b=
y accident)
* The keyboard fn keys actually work fine, which is the first time I've seen=
 that.

This laptop also features hard-disconnect switches for the camera (a USB dev=
ice).  I've tested booting with them in various configuration, as well as fl=
ipping them on/off.  FreeBSD seems to handle this fairly well, however it co=
mplains loudly about timeouts before disconnecting the bus.  I wonder if the=
re might me some setting to say "treat this bus as a hot-pluggable periphera=
l"

I tried Jean-Sebastian's Intel KMS patch, but it doesn't support the broadwe=
ll cards.


I have the following issues:

* Atheros 9462 wireless card is detected, but the radio doesn't seem to work=
.  pciconf reports a few errors: receiver error, bad tlp, bad dllp.  Just to=
 rule something like a bad solder, I'm going to try booting up a Linux memst=
ick and see what happens.

* Blank screen on resume, everything else is fine.  This resembles an issue I=
 had with a Lenovo.  I did some initial poking around, and acpi debugging tr=
aces reveal some execution errors during the resume process.  I will get a m=
ore complete report to post to freebsd-acpi.

* Sporadic boot-hang, USB timeouts.  This seems to be dependent on kernel co=
nfiguration.  It happens for some configs, not for others, and turning on ve=
rbose boot seems to stop it.  Based on this, I strongly suspect a timing-rel=
ated bug somewhere in the boot process.

* VESA weirdness with X.  Running X with the VESA driver starts and displays=
 fine, but when you switch back to a terminal, a few pixels around the borde=
r of the X screen still show up in the terminal.  Also, when shutting down X=
, it hangs and the screen becomes unresponsive.  This seemingly implicates t=
he vga bios; fortunately, this can probably be fixed due to the nature of th=
e Librem project.


The blank screen on suspend is probably the most critical, with the Atheros c=
ard issue being a close second.  If anyone has suggestions about where to lo=
ok/how to diagnose, I'd certainly appreciate them.  I will also be in contac=
t with the Librem developers after I do more diagnosis.


Additionally, there are some things I want to look in to once everything is w=
orking:

* The laptop bios allows for custom signing keys to be configured.  This set=
s the stage for a secure boot process.

* See if anything can be done (or needs to be done) in order to better suppo=
rt the hard-off switches.  They seem to work (for the camera/mic; can't tell=
 yet about the wireless), but complain to dmesg about timeouts when switched=
 off.  See if some config exists/can be added to make them detachable.=



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