| This directory contains the sources for the new-style BIOS bitmaps, and a |
| simple (and ugly) tool to view the configuration file that describes how |
| each screen is displayed. |
| |
| Note: |
| |
| Due to continuing improvements and tweaks, there have been several different |
| formats used for the BIOS bitmaps. |
| |
| Because the bitmap images and display code is part of the Read-Only BIOS, |
| back-porting any new bitmaps to older devices is not possible. |
| |
| |
| Old-style, unversioned bitmaps. Used in Mario / Cr-48. |
| |
| In the Cr-48 BIOS there are four BIOS screens that may be presented to the |
| user. Each contains a graphic, a URL, and some informative text. The screens |
| are single bitmap images, hardcoded in read-only BIOS (because they have to |
| display even when the R/W BIOS and SSD are both completely erased). They can |
| be replaced at manufacturing time, but creating the screens is difficult. |
| The format is a compressed EFI firmware volume that is generated when the |
| BIOS is compiled. The result is an opaque blob that cannot be viewed or |
| edited with linux-based tools. |
| |
| |
| Version 1.0, new-style bitmaps. Used in Alex / Samsung Series 5. |
| |
| The BIOS continues to display the same basic screens, but it uses a |
| different format internally (which we call the bmpblock). Each screen has |
| separate bitmaps for the basic graphic, the URL, and the informative text, |
| and the screen is displayed by rendering each component in order. This |
| allows us to modify and replace any bitmap (most frequently the HWID), using |
| standard command-line linux tools such as imagemagick. Compositing each |
| screen in this way also means that we can easily provide localized BIOS |
| screens or custom messages. The BIOS rotates through the localizations by |
| pressing the arrow keys when any screen is displayed. |
| |
| |
| Version 1.1. Used in ZGB / Acer AC700. |
| |
| This is essentially the same as version 1.0, except that the ASCII HWID |
| string can be rendered directly by the BIOS instead of as a bitmap. In the |
| screen description, the magic image name "$HWID" (or "$HWID.rtol" for a |
| right-justified placement) indicates that the ASCII HWID value should be |
| displayed at the given coordinates instead of a bitmap image. This means |
| that we only need to generate one bmpblock for all locales, since the ASCII |
| HWID string can be changed at the factory using "gbb_utility". The |
| last-displayed locale is stored in nvram, so it's sticky across reboots. The |
| factory process sets the default locale to the appropriate region. |
| |
| |
| |
| Instructions: |
| |
| The bmpblk_utility reads a config file and produces a binary bmpblock. The |
| config file lists the individual bitmaps and describes where to place each |
| one when displaying each screen. The bmpblock is then written into the BIOS |
| image with the gbb_utility. The bitmap_viewer program lets you view the |
| composited screens as described by the config file. |
| |
| * First, get the bitmap_viewer working. This is best done OUTSIDE of the |
| chroot. Test it by changing to the scripts/newbitmaps/images/16x9_generic |
| directory and running "../../bitmap_viewer DEFAULT.yaml". You may |
| need to install some additional packages. For example, on Ubuntu you'll |
| probably need to install the "python-yaml" and "python-wxgtk2.8" packages. |
| |
| * Now make changes to the DEFAULT.yaml config file, and use bitmap_viewer to |
| see how the layout looks. Hit Ctrl-R in the small window to reload the |
| config file without restarting. |
| |
| * The bitmap_viewer tool can display images in several different formats, |
| but the BIOS is very limited (and may differ between x86 and ARM). For |
| x86, ensure that you're using the proper format by converting any new |
| bitmaps with a command like this: |
| |
| convert IN.bmp -colors 256 -compress none -alpha off OUT.bmp |
| |
| * When you have the screens tweaked to your satisfaction, generate the |
| binary bmpblock to embed into the BIOS. |
| |
| bmpblk_utility -c DEFAULT.yaml bmpblock.bin |
| |
| * Use the gbb_utility to modify the BIOS to contain this new set of bitmaps. |
| |
| NOTE: These commands are run (as root) on the device under test! |
| |
| NOTE: This will only work if the BIOS write-protection is disabled! |
| |
| Copy our new bmpblock over. |
| |
| cd /mnt/stateful_partition |
| scp USER@SOMEHOST:/SOMEPATH/bmpblock.bin . |
| |
| Get a copy of the current BIOS. |
| |
| flashrom -p internal:bus=spi -r bios.bin |
| |
| Put the new bmpblock in the copy of the BIOS |
| |
| gbb_utility -s -b bmpblock.bin bios.bin |
| |
| Reflash the BIOS with the new content |
| |
| flashrom -p internal:bus=spi -w bios.bin |
| |
| * Reboot. You should see your new bitmaps appear whenever the BIOS screens |
| are displayed. If you have more than one localization, you should be able |
| to cycle among them with the arrow keys. |
| |
| * If you want to examine a binary bmpblock that you've pulled from a BIOS |
| image, the bmpblk_utility has options to display or unpack the binary. |
| |
| bmpblk_utility bmpblock.bin |
| |
| bmpblk_utility -y bmpblock.bin |
| |
| bmpblk_utility -x -d /SOME/SCRATCH/DIR bmpblock.bin |
| |
| Once you've unpacked it you can use the bitmap_viewer on the unpacked yaml |
| file to see what it looks like. There's not (yet) a single tool that |
| directly displays the raw binary. |