From GNUtoo at cyberdimension.org Mon Nov 1 03:12:46 2021 From: GNUtoo at cyberdimension.org (Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2021 04:12:46 +0100 Subject: [Dev] Looking for help to officially support the lime2 (and the lime2-emmc) Message-ID: <20211101041246.0659a732@primarylaptop.localdomain> Hi, Parabola has currently some incomplete support for the Lime2. When we go on Olimex website on the page of the lime2 on their shop, we can see several versions[1]: - A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 - A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e16Gs16M - A20-OLinuXIno-LIME2-n8G - A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-s16M - T2-OLinuXino-LIME2-e8Gs16M-IND - T2-OLinuXino-LIME2-IND - T2-OLinuXino-LIME2-s16M-IND And we can see in the description the differences between these versions. For instance: > 4GB or 16GB eMMC flash memory option (in A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e4GB or > A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e16GB) And from all that information, the Parabola contributors can deduce which versions are supported or not and reference that on the Parabola wiki on the device page[2] and the installation instructions[3]. Users then hopefully find out what version they have (for instance by asking around or asking Olimex, or the people they got their lime2 from) and it could work if that was the only thing to take into account (more details later). The version of the Lime2 is important here because if you have the standard lime 2 (A20-OLinuXino-LIME2) you need to install the uboot4extlinux-a20-olinuxino-lime2 bootloader as part of the Parabola installation instructions. And if you instead have the versions with an eMMC (A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e4GB and A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e16GB), you need to install the uboot4extlinux-a20-olinuxino-lime2-emmc package instead. The issue is that there are also less well known changes. On both the standard lime2 and on the eMMC version, the Ethernet chip changed twice (probably because the older ones weren't available anymore and because the lime2 continues to be manufactured). So I asked Olimex for 3 boards, one with each Ethernet chip, in order to try to support all 3 Ethernet chips in upstream u-boot and/or Linux with the same configuration. Currently, there are (not upstream) u-boot configurations that are tailored to specific Ethernet chips, but if we don't support all 3 Ethernet with the same configuration, users will need to know which Ethernet chip they have, and most users won't know how to do that. And with non-working Ethernet it's also harder to install the right u-boot package when you picked the wrong one. And if the support isn't upstream, we'd end up having to patch all the FSDG compliant distributions out there, and possibly even the upstream non-FSDG compliant distributions. So it looks way less work to fix it upstream once for good and for everybody, and don't multiply the build configurations and u-boot packages. We have a bug report about that issue in Parabola[4]. The advantage of fixing that bug (instead of stopping the support for the lime2 or not fixing it at all) is also that everything works with free software on the Lime2, and that device keeps being produced and sold for a lot of years and will most probably continue being produced and sold. The only nonfree software required are the builtin firmwares that are found in mass storage devices like hard disks, SSDs, microSD, etc. Even things like the GPU and video decoding acceleration works with free software here. So to help us fix that, Olimex shipped the 3 Lime2 boards to Sagar Acharya as not only I was already heavily involved in way too many other projects, but it also gave the opportunity to Sagar to be involved in fixing that bug upstream. However new bugs appeared[5], and in some cases compiling and booting Linux even resulted in crashes (we were unlucky), so learning ARM specifics in these conditions is not ideal. I tried to help but I don't have time anymore for that as I'm extremely late with Replicant (I am supposed to have released Replicant 11 and 6.0 0004 years ago, and there is still a lot to do for Replicant 11). So a solution that could work would be (for the people interested) to make bootloader and/or kernel packages to be easily installed in order to test if the Ethernet works and start from there. Since linux-libre releases recent kernels, including RC, we could add patches on top if we need to. For u-boot we can also make a git package if needed with patches on top. One of the thing to take into account is also that we don't know if the Ethernet hardware works on the lime2 with the first Ethernet chip that we got. Olimex had to solder the only first Ethernet chip they got left on a Lime2 specially for us as they didn't have lime2s anymore with this version. So we also need to find images that are known to work with this Ethernet chip and it out to see if it's a hardware problem or a software issue. In the worst case we could fix it only for the two other Ethernet chips, hoping that people don't have these boards anymore or that they'd show up to help us with testing. References: ----------- [1]https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A20/A20-OLinuXino-LIME2/open-source-hardware [2]https://wiki.parabola.nu/Computers/A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 [3]https://wiki.parabola.nu/ARM_Installation_Guide#Which_bootloader_package_to_use_for_which_device.3F [4]https://labs.parabola.nu/issues/2945 [5]https://labs.parabola.nu/issues/3058 Denis. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 833 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature URL: From nobody at parabola.nu Tue Nov 2 15:01:04 2021 From: nobody at parabola.nu (Parabola Website Notification) Date: Tue, 02 Nov 2021 15:01:04 -0000 Subject: [Dev] Orphan Libre package [iceweasel] marked out-of-date Message-ID: <20211102150104.799073.61544@winston.parabola.nu> dario at mailo.com wants to notify you that the following packages may be out-of-date: * iceweasel 1:93.0-1.parabola1 [libre] (x86_64): https://parabolagnulinux.org/packages/libre/x86_64/iceweasel/ The user provided the following additional text: Firefox 94.0 is still in the Testing repository in Arch Linux, but was just released officially. From pagure at pagure.io Wed Nov 3 06:34:44 2021 From: pagure at pagure.io (=?utf-8?q?Tyler_Swagar?=) Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2021 06:34:44 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Dev] =?utf-8?q?=5Babslibre=5D_PR_=2335=3A_updpkg=3A_nonsystemd/?= =?utf-8?q?eudev_3=2E2=2E9-2=3A_add_udev_rule_hook_=28fixes_mkinitcpio=29?= Message-ID: commodorecrunch opened a new pull-request against the project: `abslibre` that you are following: `` updpkg: nonsystemd/eudev 3.2.9-2: add udev rule hook (fixes mkinitcpio) `` To reply, visit the link below or just reply to this email https://pagure.io/abslibre/pull-request/35 From pagure at pagure.io Wed Nov 3 17:07:32 2021 From: pagure at pagure.io (=?utf-8?q?Grizzly_User?=) Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2021 17:07:32 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Dev] =?utf-8?q?=5Babslibre=5D_PR_=2336=3A_libre/iceweasel=3A_up?= =?utf-8?q?date_to_94=2E0_from_upstreams?= Message-ID: grizzlyuser opened a new pull-request against the project: `abslibre` that you are following: `` libre/iceweasel: update to 94.0 from upstreams `` To reply, visit the link below or just reply to this email https://pagure.io/abslibre/pull-request/36 From pagure at pagure.io Wed Nov 3 20:52:59 2021 From: pagure at pagure.io (=?utf-8?q?bill-auger?=) Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2021 20:52:59 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Dev] =?utf-8?q?=5Babslibre=5D_PR_=2335=3A_updpkg=3A_nonsystemd/?= =?utf-8?q?eudev_3=2E2=2E9-2=3A_add_udev_rule_hook_=28fixes_mkinitcpio=29?= In-Reply-To: Message-ID: billauger merged a pull-request against the project: `abslibre` that you are following. Merged pull-request: `` updpkg: nonsystemd/eudev 3.2.9-2: add udev rule hook (fixes mkinitcpio) `` https://pagure.io/abslibre/pull-request/35 From sagaracharya at tutanota.com Mon Nov 1 05:48:09 2021 From: sagaracharya at tutanota.com (Sagar Acharya) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2021 06:48:09 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Dev] Looking for help to officially support the lime2 (and the lime2-emmc) In-Reply-To: <20211101041246.0659a732@primarylaptop.localdomain> References: <20211101041246.0659a732@primarylaptop.localdomain> Message-ID: Thank you Denis. The issue is something like this. I can't get to work the standard parabola installation on lime2. There are 2 things to be done: - u-boot needs to be made for 3 different boards. (Initial fix) - Fix code in linux dtb to support all 3 boards. Initially, I'm trying to get standard parabola install with u-boot configs in link below https://linux-sunxi.org/Olimex_A20-OLinuXino-Lime2 . I have a recent lime2 which works with such a method and I hope the other 2 lime2s would. I'll update parabola wiki as soon as I get them working. The latter is preferred. The issue I find in latter is configuration files are 9000 lines long. I have criticized linux for this gigantic unmanageable code. I did build kernel about 5 times but I'm not sure whether I get it right?! Under arch/arm/boot/dts/sun7i-a20-olinuxino-lime2.dts block named &gmac, one of the solutions proposed is changing phy-mode from rgmii to rgmii-id . I have built kernel with both configs and tried different u-boot installs. So far, I haven't got them to work. I tried installing standard olimex images available on olimex site and booting on all 3 boards and I faced some issues. Hardware wasn't consistent in bootups. Sometimes, it would boot and sometimes it wouldn't. I was concerned with that. If the hardware is damaged which I would like to know how to detect, I don't wanna dwell on unsolvable problem. Thanking you Sagar Acharya P.S. Any help is appreciated, especially from members who've works on linux dtb and u-boot. I definitely need help understanding the billion keywords in dts and u-boot and how they affect the logic. Nov 1, 2021, 8:42 AM by GNUtoo at cyberdimension.org: > Hi, > > Parabola has currently some incomplete support for the Lime2. > > When we go on Olimex website on the page of the lime2 on their shop, we > can see several versions[1]: > - A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 > - A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e16Gs16M > - A20-OLinuXIno-LIME2-n8G > - A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-s16M > - T2-OLinuXino-LIME2-e8Gs16M-IND > - T2-OLinuXino-LIME2-IND > - T2-OLinuXino-LIME2-s16M-IND > > And we can see in the description the differences between these > versions. For instance: > >> 4GB or 16GB eMMC flash memory option (in A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e4GB or >> A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e16GB) >> > > And from all that information, the Parabola contributors can deduce > which versions are supported or not and reference that on the Parabola > wiki on the device page[2] and the installation instructions[3]. > > Users then hopefully find out what version they have (for instance by > asking around or asking Olimex, or the people they got their lime2 > from) and it could work if that was the only thing to take into account > (more details later). > > The version of the Lime2 is important here because if you have the > standard lime 2 (A20-OLinuXino-LIME2) you need to install the > uboot4extlinux-a20-olinuxino-lime2 bootloader as part of the Parabola > installation instructions. > > And if you instead have the versions with an eMMC > (A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e4GB and A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-e16GB), you need to > install the uboot4extlinux-a20-olinuxino-lime2-emmc package instead. > > The issue is that there are also less well known changes. On both the > standard lime2 and on the eMMC version, the Ethernet chip changed twice > (probably because the older ones weren't available anymore and because > the lime2 continues to be manufactured). > > So I asked Olimex for 3 boards, one with each Ethernet chip, in order > to try to support all 3 Ethernet chips in upstream u-boot and/or Linux > with the same configuration. > > Currently, there are (not upstream) u-boot configurations that are > tailored to specific Ethernet chips, but if we don't support all 3 > Ethernet with the same configuration, users will need to know which > Ethernet chip they have, and most users won't know how to do that. > And with non-working Ethernet it's also harder to install the right > u-boot package when you picked the wrong one. > > And if the support isn't upstream, we'd end up having to patch all the > FSDG compliant distributions out there, and possibly even the > upstream non-FSDG compliant distributions. So it looks way less work to > fix it upstream once for good and for everybody, and don't multiply the > build configurations and u-boot packages. > > We have a bug report about that issue in Parabola[4]. > > The advantage of fixing that bug (instead of stopping the support > for the lime2 or not fixing it at all) is also that everything works > with free software on the Lime2, and that device keeps being produced > and sold for a lot of years and will most probably continue being > produced and sold. > > The only nonfree software required are the builtin firmwares that are > found in mass storage devices like hard disks, SSDs, microSD, etc. > > Even things like the GPU and video decoding acceleration works with > free software here. > > So to help us fix that, Olimex shipped the 3 Lime2 boards to > Sagar Acharya as not only I was already heavily involved in way too > many other projects, but it also gave the opportunity to Sagar to be > involved in fixing that bug upstream. > > However new bugs appeared[5], and in some cases compiling and > booting Linux even resulted in crashes (we were unlucky), so learning > ARM specifics in these conditions is not ideal. > > I tried to help but I don't have time anymore for that as I'm extremely > late with Replicant (I am supposed to have released Replicant 11 and > 6.0 0004 years ago, and there is still a lot to do for Replicant 11). > > So a solution that could work would be (for the people interested) to > make bootloader and/or kernel packages to be easily installed in order > to test if the Ethernet works and start from there. > > Since linux-libre releases recent kernels, including RC, we could add > patches on top if we need to. For u-boot we can also make a git package > if needed with patches on top. > > One of the thing to take into account is also that we don't know if the > Ethernet hardware works on the lime2 with the first Ethernet chip that > we got. > > Olimex had to solder the only first Ethernet chip they got left on a > Lime2 specially for us as they didn't have lime2s anymore with this > version. > > So we also need to find images that are known to work with this > Ethernet chip and it out to see if it's a hardware problem or a > software issue. > > In the worst case we could fix it only for the two other Ethernet > chips, hoping that people don't have these boards anymore or that > they'd show up to help us with testing. > > References: > ----------- > [1]https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A20/A20-OLinuXino-LIME2/open-source-hardware > [2]https://wiki.parabola.nu/Computers/A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 > [3]https://wiki.parabola.nu/ARM_Installation_Guide#Which_bootloader_package_to_use_for_which_device.3F > [4]https://labs.parabola.nu/issues/2945 > [5]https://labs.parabola.nu/issues/3058 > > Denis. > From bill-auger at peers.community Thu Nov 4 22:41:53 2021 From: bill-auger at peers.community (bill-auger) Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2021 18:41:53 -0400 Subject: [Dev] Looking for help to officially support the lime2 (and the lime2-emmc) In-Reply-To: References: <20211101041246.0659a732@primarylaptop.localdomain> Message-ID: <20211104184153.49ea79fd@parabola.localdomain> the OP may not be receiving the list yet - i sent a reminder; but i suggest to CC the OP for now From bill-auger at peers.community Sat Nov 6 18:33:45 2021 From: bill-auger at peers.community (bill-auger) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2021 14:33:45 -0400 Subject: [Dev] Looking for help to officially support the lime2 (and the lime2-emmc) In-Reply-To: <20211101041246.0659a732@primarylaptop.localdomain> References: <20211101041246.0659a732@primarylaptop.localdomain> Message-ID: <20211106143345.5f05684f@parabola.localdomain> On Mon, 1 Nov 2021 04:12:46 +0100 Denis wrote: > So we also need to find images that are known to work with this > Ethernet chip olimex may have disk images - they maintain two images (debian and ubuntu derivatives) - i see only recent releases on their FTP; but someone may have the historical images (whichever was current when the current models still had the revA PHY)