In-place updates: kernel, firmware etc

NXP LX2160
1

Hi

In Honeycomb with the Ubuntu supplied from the built images, I’m free to update the userland (have updated to Ubuntu 21.10, and plan to update to 22.04 LTS next year).

SFP+ - What am I looking for? - #5 by jnettlet explains that kernel 5.14 will natively support the network hardware (5.13 is the latest available in Ubuntu 21.10).

I can re-build an image and deploy onto the machine using GitHub - SolidRun/lx2160a_build: Scripts to build basic images for LX2160A COM express type 7 modules. This would wipe out my installation.

So, my question is about in-place updates for both the firmware and the kernel.
I can build the UEFI firmware from GitHub - SolidRun/lx2160a_uefi: Parent build repository for generating UEFI firmware for the LX2160a? Not sure how the image then gets installed.
For the kernel do I need one of the tags in Commits · SolidRun/linux-stable · GitHub?

2

I believe you are mixing two separate OS support methods. You can either use lx2160a_build which is a reference BSP based on NXP’s board support package. It boots with u-boot and then uses device-tree with a custom BSP kernel. This has been integrated with Ubuntu to provide initial support that customers can use to test and validate their hardware. A quick get up and running, however this is not expected to follow Ubuntu’s development cycle.

Our edk2 based firmware image is our SystemReady ES firmware that is intended to boot off the shelf distros. This does require mainline kernel support before patches will filter down into the recent distros. If you would like to track the latest distro releases then I would recommend you use a standard distro install and then use one of the community package repositories that bundle the kernel and other specific patched software that is not merged into mainline yet.

1 Like
3

Ah - I wasn’t aware of that distinction! Thanks

4

For anyone else, here’s what I did:

  • Got a UEFI image from SolidRun Images matching RAM speed, SD card type
  • write to SD card
  • write Ubuntu Jammy (with kernel 5.15) to USB drive, server edition because I don’t have a graphics card
  • set DIP switches to SD card boot, set serial console preference, select USB drive, edit linux command-line with arm-smmu.disable_bypass=0 iommu.passthrough=1 as demonstrated in SolidRun DevCuts - HoneyComb Distro Install - YouTube
  • install Ubuntu, edit /etc/defaults/grub with command line, sudo update-grub

Things I’ve yet to figure out

  • How to get the 10G network working again
  • How to apply UEFI firmware to eMMC/SPI
1 Like
5

This article helped me on the 10G network SFP+ - What am I looking for? - #6 by sudrien

6

Trying to do the same thing; and getting as far as the Ubuntu installer, but it’s not showing the eMMC as an installation option. NVMe is, but I don’t want to install there :slight_smile:

The eMMC shows in UEFI, but as a “UEFI Misc Device 2”; alongside the SDHC , which appears as “UEFI Misc Device”. In the UEFI Shell the eMMC lists as

      FS0: Alias(s):HD0b:;BLK1:
          eMMC(0xCA)/HD(1,GPT,B698DBB5-9D2B-46DF-8A34-ADCDEC514FE3,0x800,0x21980
0)
     BLK2: Alias(s):
          eMMC(0xCA)/HD(2,GPT,3238391D-677C-49F7-B6DF-D4AF6BA5C2C1,0x21A000,0x74
55800)

Any ideas how to get the eMMC to show in the Ubuntu 22 installer?

Update I think my question is already answered here: there is no ACPI support for SDHC/MMC.

7

correct. I responded to the other thread.