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Cherry Trail microcode download

B-OatPQURE
New Contributor I
1,354 Views

Hi,

 

I have been searching for microcode for the Atom Z8000 series. I can find Linux/BSD microcode, but they are operating systems and not CPU SoCs. I will need the binaries for a custom BIOS project. Where can I find it?

Best regards,

B-O Bergman

PQURE Technology

 

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AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
1,327 Views

Hello @B-OatPQURE

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.


In order to check further this request, could you please provide some additional details?

1- Are you a system integrator/designer? Are you or your company building custom systems with Intel® Processors?

2- Please provide some of the specific "Atom Z8000 series" processor models that you are using for this project.

3- Please elaborate more regarding what you are trying to achieve with this project and the business impact:


Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician


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B-OatPQURE
New Contributor I
1,316 Views
  1. At the moment we integrate our BIOS and OS into selected boards from other vendors. We plan to create our own boards as well, most likely using external company services with experience on building boards based on Intel processors.
  2. The current project uses the Z8350 T3 processor.
  3. We have our own embedded BIOS, being used in national and international projects since 2005. It has evolved since that and has similar features as UEFI, but implemented in another way. The BIOS supports all standard operating systems, 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit right out of the box. The BIOS is very small and effecient, despite supporting all the legacy stuff and several unique features. In the BIOS flash system, our OS is integrated, making failsafe boot possible when no external booting device is present. It can be used as a standalone system as well and thus can not be infected by virus. The OS, drivers and applications are integrated in an emulated drive supported by the BIOS and due to the efficiency of the OS everything written for it tends to me small. The OS is built in 3 different versions, sharing the same features and core functionality. There is a legacy version using PIC, single core version using APIC and a multicore version. They are customised for the board the BIOS are adopted to and integrated in the emulated drive file system with all the drivers and applications required. The development tools are open source and bundled with the board. The idea is to have a working platform, where all the components are known and working, so users can focus solely on their application. For further information please visit www.pqure.com.

 

Best regards,

 

B-O

 

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AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
1,301 Views

Hello B-OatPQURE

Thank you very much for all the details provided. We are currently reviewing your request. Please allow us more time to check this further and as soon as we have more information available we will be posting back in this thread.


Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician


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B-OatPQURE
New Contributor I
1,295 Views

Hi Andrew,

At the moment I need BWG, VBIOS and microcode for Z8350. The board is expected to be a high volume global product.

I will adopt the BIOS and OS to UP boards as well. So I hope you can help me with access to the premium support, so the process can be accelerated.

I had premium support in the past in my previous company. I still own 24,8% of the company, so technically I could be enabled to use that account.

I still get requests for adoption our BIOS to various Intel based platforms however, so a premium support account for PQURE Technology would be preferred.

Best regards,

B-O Bergman

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AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
1,282 Views

Hello B-OatPQURE

Thank you for your patience in this matter.


After checking further your original request, you would need to get a microcode update with the system developer (you mentioned you would most likely use external company services as board suppliers) and they would need to work internally to develop said BIOS.


However, if you need help from Intel engineering, then you may submit a request via Intel® Premier Support (IPS) or through your Intel Field Application Engineer (FAE). If none is assigned to your company, then our recommendation is to contact your Intel Authorized Distributor.

Intel® Authorized Distributors and Approved Suppliers >> https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/partner/where-to-buy/overview.html


Regarding your last question about IPS access, since we do not support IPS here in the community due to it is another higher level, there are two options. We can provide you with the below registration instructions that you can do on your side, or you can look for your Intel Authorized Distributor and they can help you with that request.


How to register and have Access to Intel® Premier Support (IPS)?

  1. Create your My Intel Account by going to the Sign-in page >> https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/my-intel/fpga-sign-in.html?redirect=/content/www/us/en/secure/my-intel/dashboard.html
  2. Click “Register now for a Premier account
  3. Enter or confirm your personal information.
  4. Select a password and complete the enrollment questions section.
  5. Agree to the Terms and Condition and click Submit.


Your account request will need to be validated and is subject to approval. An email notification will be sent to you if the account has been approved. Thus, the “Intel Premier Support” button will be visible in the My Intel Dashboard under the My Support section.


Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician


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B-OatPQURE
New Contributor I
1,273 Views

Hi Andrew,

I'm the system developer. We use external board suppliers, even though we have the knowledge of developing boards on our own as it is more convenient for us.

I have been developing custom BIOS since 1998. I had IPS account for Zebor Technology since 2010 and Winzent Technologies since 2014. I'm cofounder of these companies, but no longer an employe.

I'm now working in PQURE Technology, still developing BIOS as I did in the previous companies. I have a CNDA for PQURE Technology since 2017 and have applied for IPS. Unfortunately it was declined for some reason and I have contacted Intel to find out why.

Regarding the BIOS work I will need microcode and VBIOS of course. I also need BWG even though I use FSP. The FSP documentation says it's implemented following the BWG, so in order to know what is left for the boot loader (BIOS) to initialise the guide is needed.

Best regards,

B-O

 

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AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
1,250 Views

Hello B-OatPQURE

Thank you for your response.


Regarding the IPS declined, our recommendation for you is to get in contact with the person that opened the ticket for the IPS request and ask why it was declined.

Regarding the BIOS requests for your project, in the meantime (while there is no IPS access) you want to contact your Intel Authorized Distributor so they may open an IPS case (they should have IPS access), this way, they can address this inquiry for you.


Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician


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B-OatPQURE
New Contributor I
1,244 Views

Hi Andrew,

My second for IPS just got declined. I can't contact the person opened the ticket for IPS request as it's a automated response as follows.

We appreciate your interest in Intel® Premier Support, however, upon review of your application we regret to inform you that your request for this access has been declined. 

If you have any questions, please contact us here.

Visit this link any time to manage your profile.

Please DO NOT reply to this e-mail message. This is an automated response.

To ensure that you continue receiving our e-mails, please add us to your address book.

Intel is committed to protecting your privacy. For more information, please see the Intel Privacy Notice.

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**Intel is not responsible for content of sites outside our intranet sites.

This decision might be in conflict with EU competition law where a company abuse its dominant position. Microsoft was evicted 2007 (T-201/04 Microsoft - EUR-Lex). As PQURE Technology is a BIOS vendor, we are effectively cut off from the market being denied IPS.

As IPS are available for open source projects like Coreboot and all other BIOS vendors except us, we are in fact not able to compete on equal terms.

Intel would clearly benefit from our software, as it's targeted to lower end architectures (Atom) where standard operating are too heavy and slow. It doesn't run on an ARM, which is an advantage. It may be run on AMD, but we would prefer working with Intel (if possible).

We have worked our ass off, developing our software full time during the last 4 years without any financial resources. I think we have earned the rights to be treated fairly.

 

Best regards,

Berth-Olof Bergman

PQURE Technology

 

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AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
1,227 Views

Hello B-OatPQURE

Thank you for your response. We do understand your concerns and your feedback is really appreciated.

It is worth mentioning that we are the processor's support for end-users and for inquiries associated with microcodes, they should be addressed to your Intel® Authorized Distributor who can help you with this information/request by creating a ticket with the IPS team.

 

Please keep in mind that we as a community do not have visibility about the IPS process/decisions. However, we will share your feedback with the team regarding your request. We will send you an email to gather contact information.

 

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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B-OatPQURE
New Contributor I
1,221 Views

Hi Andrew,

I understand and I appreciate all the help I have got from you.

You do an excellent job as you guide me in the right direction.

I have no knowledge of how Intel is organised internally, so the community is very helpful. I have used it in the past working with the Baytrail BIOS project and your always doing a great job.

Best regards,

B-O

 

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AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
1,201 Views

Hello @B-OatPQURE

Thank you very much for all the information you have provided us through the internal email. We will route your concerns to the proper team.  Hopefully, they would provide you with more information; however, we cannot promise anything since IPS request and related information is beyond our scope of support.

 

As a final recommendation, we highly suggest contacting your Intel® Authorized Distributor who can help you to open an IPS case.

Having said that, we will proceed to close this inquiry now. Thank you for your understanding.

It has been a pleasure to assist you.

 

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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B-OatPQURE
New Contributor I
1,191 Views

Hi Andrew,

We have a CNDA and if I understand it correctly we are entitled to BWG, microcode and VBIOS binaries.

At least before closing this subject can you help me find out what this CNDA covers. In the past, the previous CNDAs we had with Intel fulfilled the qualifications for the above and even MRC (Memory Reference Code) source code for Cedarview and Baytrail architectures.

If the BWG, microcode and VBIOS binaries also requires an IPS account, the CNDA is worthless as our IPS request is constantly declined. Documents like datasheet, EDS etc. is publicly available, so the information I got I can get without a CNDA.

Best regards,

B-O

 

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