# PFES-ENG-032 — Firmware Capability Transplantation

**Status:** Research transitioning toward implementation  
**Knowledge Cycle Stages:** Understand, Apply, Validate

## Purpose

Transfer validated firmware capabilities from capability donor firmware to capability recipient firmware while preserving recipient hardware correctness.

## Engineering Problem

Capabilities depend on routines, services, state, resources, timers, MMIO, interfaces, and initialization. Copying functions is insufficient.

## Historical Engineering Evolution

Early ideas focused on Xbox-specific routines. Engineering established dependency closure as mandatory and clarified that the current donor is fixed: GDR-8050L. Current work is recipient engineering, not donor ranking.

## Engineering Discoveries

- Capabilities are engineered, then transferred.
- Dependency closure is mandatory.
- Behavioral validation determines success.

## Architectural Decisions

- Current canonical capability donor firmware is GDR-8050L.
- Rank and study capability recipient firmware.
- Prefer validated native compatibility before transplantation.

## Knowledge Produced

- Dependency graphs
- Recipient compatibility evidence
- Patch requirements
- Validation plans

## Knowledge Consumed

- Capabilities
- Topology
- Services
- Resources
- Behavior
- Compatibility analysis

## Current Engineering State

The donor-lift engine is established but not yet verified. Current recipient research includes compatible MN103S HLDS firmware families. GDR-8081N is out of scope for the current MN103S effort because hardware evidence identifies an HD62602 controller.

## Engineering Lessons

- A transplant is a subsystem integration problem, not a copy operation.

## Negative Knowledge

Project Frankenstein no longer assumes:

- Successful assembly or flashing proves the capability is correct.
- Similarity scores alone prove recipient suitability.

## Current Implementations

- Dependency analysis
- Recipient rankings
- Donor-lift research

## Future Implementations

- Verified dependency closure
- Reproducible capability patches
- Additional donor firmware families

## Open Questions

To be expanded during engineering review.

## Why This Chapter Exists

This chapter distinguishes feature/capability engineering from whole-firmware cross-flashing.
