diff --git a/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/default.nix b/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/default.nix
index 72e48758..c5bbdd6b 100644
--- a/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/default.nix
@@ -54,33 +54,6 @@
 { config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
 let
   cfg = config.sane.hal.samsung;
-  # dtbs = "${config.system.build.kernel}/dtbs/exynos";
-  # dtbs = "${config.system.build.kernel}/dtbs";
-  # initrd = "${config.system.build.initialRamdisk}";
-  # kernel_file = "${config.system.build.kernel}/zImage";  #< TODO: `zImage` is specific to the `stdenv` config
-  # kernel-lzma = pkgs.runCommand "kernel-lzma" { nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgs.xz ]; } ''
-  #   lzma --threads 0 < ${kernel_file} > "$out"
-  # '';
-  # cmdlineText = lib.concatStringsSep " " (config.boot.kernelParams ++ [
-  #   "init=${config.system.build.toplevel}/init"
-  # ]);
-  # cmdlineFile = pkgs.writeTextFile {
-  #   name = "kernel-cmdline";
-  #   text = cmdlineText;
-  # };
-  u-boot = pkgs.buildUBoot {
-    defconfig = "snow_defconfig";
-    extraMeta.platforms = [ "armv7l-linux" ];
-    filesToInstall = [
-      "u-boot"  #< ELF file
-      "u-boot.bin"  #< raw binary, load it into RAM and jump toit
-      "u-boot.cfg"  #< copy of Kconfig which this u-boot was compiled with
-      "u-boot.dtb"
-      "u-boot.map"
-      "u-boot-nodtb.bin"
-      "u-boot.sym"
-    ];
-  };
 in
 {
   options = {
@@ -88,35 +61,8 @@ in
   };
 
   config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
-    # we're limited to 8 MiB: omit the debugging utilities
-    # boot.initrd.availableKernelModules = lib.mkForce [];
     boot.initrd.compressor = "gzip";
     # boot.initrd.compressorArgs = [ "--ultra" "-22" ];
-    # boot.initrd.extraUtilsCommands = lib.mkForce ''
-    #   rm -f $out/bin/{ata_id,cdrom_id,dmsetup,fido_id,lvm,scsi_id,v4l_id}
-    # '';
-    # boot.initrd.supportedFilesystems = lib.mkForce [ "btrfs" ];  #< vfat should technically be optional?
-    # boot.initrd.availableKernelModules = lib.mkForce [ ];
-    # boot.initrd.extraUdevRulesCommands = lib.mkForce "";
-    # boot.initrd.extraUtilsCommandsTest = lib.mkForce "";
-    # boot.initrd.luks.cryptoModules = lib.mkForce [];
-    # boot.initrd.services.udev.packages = lib.mkForce [];
-    # boot.initrd.services.udev.rules = lib.mkForce "";
-    # # boot.initrd.systemd.enable = true;
-    # boot.initrd.systemd.enableTpm2 = false;
-    # # # build systemd w/o efivarfs support, so it won't complain about that missing module
-    # boot.initrd.systemd.package = pkgs.systemd.override { withEfi = false; };
-    # boot.initrd.systemd.extraBin = lib.mkForce {};
-    # boot.initrd.systemd.suppressedUnits = [
-    #   "ctrl-alt-del.target"
-    #   "debug-shell.service"
-    #   "emergency.service"
-    #   "emergency.target"
-    #   "rpcbind.target"
-    #   # "swap.target"
-    #   "systemd-fsck@.service"
-    #   "systemd-bsod.service"
-    # ];
 
     boot.initrd.availableKernelModules = [
     # boot.initrd.kernelModules = [
@@ -130,7 +76,7 @@ in
       "uas"
       "sd-mod"
     ];
-    # TODO: mobile-nixos says these modules break udev, if builtin or run before udev:
+    # N.B: mobile-nixos says these modules break udev, if builtin or run before udev:
     #  "sbs-battery"
     #  "sbs-charger"
     #  "sbs-manager"
@@ -143,57 +89,19 @@ in
     #   };
     # });
 
-    # nixpkgs.overlays = [(self: super: {
-    #   # optimize for size, especially to get a initrd which fits within the platform size constraints
-    #   stdenv = super.withCFlags [ "-Os" ] super.stdenv;
-    #   libgcrypt = super.libgcrypt.overrideAttrs (base: {
-    #     postPatch = (base.postPatch or "") + ''
-    #       export NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE=
-    #     '';
-    #   });
-    # })];
-
-    system.build.u-boot = u-boot;
-
-    # system.build.kernel-its = pkgs.runCommand "kernel-its-samsung" {
-    #   nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
-    #     dtc
-    #     ubootTools
-    #     vboot_reference
-    #     xz
-    #   ];
-    #   meta.description = ''
-    #     ITS file is Image Tree Source: <https://gibbard.me/linux_fit_images/>
-    #        DTS is to ITS
-    #     as DTB is to FIT.
-    #   '';
-    # } ''
-
-    #   ln -s "${kernel-lzma}" kernel.lzma
-    #   ln -s "${dtbs}" dtbs
-    #   ln -s "${initrd}/initrd" initrd
-
-    #   bash "${./make-kernel-its}" "$PWD" > $out
-    # '';
-
-    # system.build.kernel-lzma = kernel-lzma;
-
-    # system.build.kernel-uimg = pkgs.runCommand "kernel-uimg" {
-    #   nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
-    #     dtc
-    #     ubootTools
-    #   ];
-    # } ''
-    #   ln -s "${config.system.build.kernel-lzma}" kernel.lzma
-    #   ln -s "${dtbs}" dtbs
-    #   ln -s "${initrd}/initrd" initrd
-    #   ln -s "${config.system.build.kernel-its}" kernel.its
-
-    #   mkimage \
-    #     -D "-I dts -O dtb -p 2048" \
-    #     -f kernel.its \
-    #     $out
-    # '';
+    system.build.u-boot = pkgs.buildUBoot {
+      defconfig = "snow_defconfig";
+      extraMeta.platforms = [ "armv7l-linux" ];
+      filesToInstall = [
+        "u-boot"  #< ELF file
+        "u-boot.bin"  #< raw binary, load it into RAM and jump toit
+        "u-boot.cfg"  #< copy of Kconfig which this u-boot was compiled with
+        "u-boot.dtb"
+        "u-boot.map"
+        "u-boot-nodtb.bin"
+        "u-boot.sym"
+      ];
+    };
 
     system.build.platformPartition = pkgs.runCommandLocal "kernel-partition" {
       nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
@@ -237,85 +145,9 @@ in
         --pack $out
     '';
 
-    # system.build.platformPartition = pkgs.runCommandLocal "kernel-partition" {
-    #   nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
-    #     dtc  # for fdtget
-    #     python3Packages.depthcharge-tools
-    #     ubootTools  # for mkimage
-    #     vboot_reference  # for futility
-    #   ];
-    # } ''
-    #   cp -R "${dtbs}" dtbs
-    #   cp ${u-boot}/u-boot .
-    #   depthchargectl build \
-    #     --verbose \
-    #     --vboot-keyblock ${pkgs.buildPackages.vboot_reference}/share/vboot/devkeys/kernel.keyblock \
-    #     --vboot-private-key ${pkgs.buildPackages.vboot_reference}/share/vboot/devkeys/kernel_data_key.vbprivk \
-    #     --root none \
-    #     --ignore-initramfs \
-    #     --board "snow" \
-    #     --kernel ./u-boot \
-    #     --fdtdir ./dtbs \
-    #     --output "$out"
-    # '';
-
-    # system.build.platformPartition = pkgs.runCommandLocal "kernel-partition" {
-    #   nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
-    #     dtc  # for fdtget
-    #     python3Packages.depthcharge-tools
-    #     ubootTools  # for mkimage
-    #     vboot_reference  # for futility
-    #   ];
-    #   # TODO: try --compress lz4 --compress lzma
-    # } ''
-    #   # override default board settings (pray that the 8 MiB kpart limit isn't firmware enforced)
-    #   echo '[boards/arm/exynos5/daisy/snow]' > boardcfg
-    #   echo 'image-max-size = 16 MiB' >> boardcfg
-
-    #   cp "${kernel_file}" zImage
-    #   cp "${initrd}/initrd" initrd
-    #   cp -R "${dtbs}" dtbs
-    #   # --config ./boardcfg
-    #   # --no-kern-guid
-
-    #   depthchargectl build \
-    #     --verbose \
-    #     --vboot-keyblock ${pkgs.buildPackages.vboot_reference}/share/vboot/devkeys/kernel.keyblock \
-    #     --vboot-private-key ${pkgs.buildPackages.vboot_reference}/share/vboot/devkeys/kernel_data_key.vbprivk \
-    #     --root none \
-    #     --ignore-initramfs \
-    #     --board "snow" \
-    #     --kernel ./zImage \
-    #     --kernel-cmdline ${lib.escapeShellArg cmdlineText} \
-    #     --initramfs ./initrd \
-    #     --fdtdir ./dtbs \
-    #     --output "$out"
-    # '';
-
-    # ArchLinuxArm method:
-    # system.build.platformPartition = pkgs.runCommandLocal "kernel-partition" {
-    #   nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
-    #     vboot_reference
-    #   ];
-    # } ''
-    #   # according to depthcharge-tools, bootloader.bin is legacy, was used by the earliest
-    #   # chromebooks (H2C) *only*.
-    #   dd if=/dev/zero of=bootloader.bin bs=512 count=1
-
-    #   futility \
-    #     --debug \
-    #   vbutil_kernel \
-    #     --version 1 \
-    #     --bootloader bootloader.bin \
-    #     --vmlinuz ${config.system.build.kernel-uimg} \
-    #     --arch arm7l \
-    #     --keyblock ${pkgs.buildPackages.vboot_reference}/share/vboot/devkeys/kernel.keyblock \
-    #     --signprivate ${pkgs.buildPackages.vboot_reference}/share/vboot/devkeys/kernel_data_key.vbprivk \
-    #     --config ${cmdlineFile} \
-    #     --pack $out
-    # '';
-
-    # nixos kernels + initrd can be hilariously large, so allocate a ton of space
+    # the platform partition presently only holds u-boot,
+    # and it seems possibly a limitation of depthcharge that it can't launch anything > 8 MiB (?)
+    # still, give a little extra room so i'm free to rearrange stuff if i find a way how.
     sane.image.platformPartSize = 256 * 1024 * 1024;
 
     # depthcharge firmware is designed for an A/B partition style,
diff --git a/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/make-kernel-its b/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/make-kernel-its
deleted file mode 100755
index 9259fa60..00000000
--- a/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/make-kernel-its
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,85 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# source: <https://github.com/thefloweringash/kevin-nix/blob/master/modules/make-kernel-its.sh>
-
-toplevel=$1
-
-cd $toplevel
-
-dtb_files=($(find -L dtbs -type f -name '*.dtb'))
-
-fdt_definition() {
-    local idx=$1
-    local filename=$2
-    local basename=$(basename $filename)
-    cat <<EOF
-        fdt-${idx}{
-            description = "${basename}";
-            data = /incbin/("${filename}");
-            type = "flat_dt";
-            arch = "arm64";
-            compression = "none";
-            hash-1{
-                algo = "sha1";
-            };
-        };
-EOF
-}
-
-fdt_reference() {
-    local idx=$1
-    cat <<EOF
-        conf-${idx}{
-            kernel = "kernel-1";
-            fdt = "fdt-${idx}";
-            ramdisk = "ramdisk-1";
-        };
-EOF
-}
-
-cat <<EOF
-/dts-v1/;
-
-/ {
-    description = "Chrome OS kernel image with one or more FDT blobs";
-    images {
-        kernel-1{
-            description = "kernel";
-            data = /incbin/("kernel.lzma");
-            type = "kernel_noload";
-            arch = "arm64";
-            os = "linux";
-            compression = "lzma";
-            load = <0>;
-            entry = <0>;
-        };
-        ramdisk-1 {
-            description = "ramdisk";
-            data = /incbin/("initrd");
-            type = "ramdisk";
-            arch = "arm64";
-            os = "linux";
-            compression = "none";
-            hash-1 {
-                algo = "sha1";
-            };
-        };
-EOF
-
-for index in "${!dtb_files[@]}"; do
-    fdt_definition $index ${dtb_files[$index]}
-done
-
-cat <<EOF
-    };
-    configurations {
-        default = "conf-0";
-EOF
-
-for index in "${!dtb_files[@]}"; do
-    fdt_reference $index
-done
-
-cat <<EOF
-    };
-};
-EOF
diff --git a/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/snow.its b/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/snow.its
deleted file mode 100644
index c50560c6..00000000
--- a/hosts/modules/hal/samsung/snow.its
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-/dts-v1/;
-
-/ {
-	description = "U-Boot mainline";
-	#address-cells = <1>;
-
-	images {
-		kernel {
-			description = "U-Boot mainline    ";
-			type = "kernel_noload";
-			arch = "arm";
-			os = "linux";
-			data = /incbin/("u-boot");
-			compression = "none";
-			load = <0>;
-			entry = <0>;
-			hash-2 {
-				algo = "sha256";
-			};
-		};
-
-		fdt-1{
-			description = "u-boot.dtb";
-			data = /incbin/("u-boot.dtb");
-			type = "flat_dt";
-			arch = "arm";
-			compression = "none";
-			hash-1{
-				algo = "sha256";
-			};
-		};
-	};
-
-	configurations {
-		default = "config-1";
-		config-1 {
-			description = "Boot U-Boot";
-			kernel = "kernel";
-			fdt = "fdt-1";
-		};
-	};
-};
-