Installing Leap 15.0 aarch64 on Raspberry Pi-3B; problems with 3B+

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Following the query and link provided by rayclark on this forum (https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/531370-aarch64), I’ve installed Leap 15.0 on Raspberry Pi-3B and 3B+. There are a couple of problems that others doing that install on 3B+ might want to watch for.

First, the environment:

Downloaded onto my Mac/OSX system a copy of openSUSE-Leap15.0-ARM-XFCE-raspberrypi3.aarch64-2018.05.20-Buildlp150.5.4.raw from http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/appliances/

While I’m using the XFCE distribution, the issues seem not likely to be limited to that distribution.

Procedure:

  • Insert the target medium for the Leap install into a USB port on the Mac (µSD in USB adapter for one trial, SSD via USB3 adapter for the other trial)
  • Copy the image to the target medium (
xzcat openSUSE-Leap15.0-ARM-XFCE-raspberrypi3.aarch64-2018.05.20-Buildlp150.5.4.raw.xz | dd bs=4m of=/dev/rdisk2
  • umount the EFI volume after the copy and remove the medium from the Mac
  • install the medium onto the Pi-3B or Pi-3B+ (the µSD card was “installed” as both USB-attached and MMC-attached medium; the SSD was only connected via USB3)
  • Boot the Pi-3B/3B+ with the freshly-installed Leap 15.0 and log in: system came up as Leap 15.0, Linux 4.12.14-lp150
  • Verify network connections
  • Do a “zypper dup” to install any more recent updates to that original distribution: in all cases, the system did a “reinstall” of openSUSE Leap 15.0. When rebooted afterward, it again reported that it was Leap 15.0, Linux 4.12.14-lp150

The Pi-3B (not +) install was successful; both Ethernet and Wifi worked at the same speeds as 42.3; “zypper dup” installed 556 new packages @ 286MB and reported that it was “reinstalling” Leap 15.0. Resulting system seemed stable and fully functional, from limited testing to date. The Pi-3B booted reliably from the µSD card and from the µSD card in a USB2 adapter. Booting from the SSD attached via USB3 interface failed 3 out of 4 attempts – just as Tumbleweed, Leap 42.3, and Raspbian had done: the failure is a hardware timing issue in the 3B USB2 interface when presented with a fast USB3 device.

In general, the Leap 15.0 Pi-3B install was flawless in its setup and functioned exactly as one would expect (with limited testing so far).

The Pi-3B+ install was successful, too. Both µSD and SSD initial boots were successful, and the system repartitioned and resized itself as expected. However:

  • eth0 was recognized but would not make a connection
  • wlan0 reported initially that it was using 2.4GHz and offering 24Mb/sec service, but once connected, it switched to 5GHz and reported 433Mb/sec service
  • “zypper dup” downloaded correctly, but in the course of installation, the system suddenly froze and presented a black screen with single underline cursor. This occurred on several occasions.
  • On several occasions, the system reported a “bus error” and froze all screens

These issues occurred with both µSD and USB-booted installations.

At this point, it would seem that the best approach to obtain a Leap 15.0 installation for Pi-3B+ would be to do the initial install, configuration, and update on a Pi-3B, then move the boot medium to a Pi-3B+.

More information forthcoming following further exploration.

#2

Any thoughts on this? I’m seeing it too.

The update issues you were seeing don’t seem to be happening on mine however.

#3

No, I haven’t had any further success. I’ve installed Leap 15.0 on a couple of different media and tried to run them on the 3B+ and have the same result with each: no eth0/1; wlan0/1 comes up at 2.4GHz then transitions to 5.0GHz but is erratic; and system crashes with “bus error” or just goes to a black screen. I don’t have those problems when the media are installed on the 3B.

But if you’re not having those problems, then there’s hope I just screwed something up (repeatedly, though?), so I’ll give it another try. Maybe even try another clean install.

I’ll post again with results.

#4

Following Jarrod’s more successful experience, I tried another clean install. This one was successful in the ways Jarrod’s was and failed in the same way, too: I’ve been unable to convince it to make an Ethernet connection. Also, I can only get the the wlan0 connection activated on about half the reboots. When wlan0 comes up right after a reboot, it stays up and works fine, but if it doesn’t connect at boot time, I haven’t been able to coerce it to start. I’ve tried the network icon on the panel and ifup/down from command line. In both cases, the system reports that wlan0 is up, but it won’t make a connection outside the system.

Unlike earlier installs, this install has not halted with “bus error” messages, or just gone to a black screen. That MAY have only occurred when I booted from USB3/SSD in one set of previous trials: more experimenting to follow.

For this attempt, I used only the Pi-3B+ (didn’t pre-install on the Pi-3B), and I used only the µSD (didn’t go through the USB port). For those who follow and might run into problems or questions, here’s what I did, in case it helps:

  • dd’d openSUSE-Leap15.0-ARM-XFCE-raspberrypi3.aarch64-2018.05.20-Buildlp150.5.4.raw to a PNY 32GB µSD on my Mac
  • Installed that µSD into the Pi-3B+ MMC slot, connected GigE cable into the EN port, and booted; booted just fine, resized partitions, finished the initial boot, and presented a login screen (HDMI to a Samsung TV; Logitech K400 wireless keyboard: both worked fine)
  • log in as root: no Ethernet connection & no WiFi connection
  • Used openSUSE/Settings/Yast/System/NetSetting panel icon to bring up network config screen; eth0 settings OK; changed wlan0 to use DHCP & set ESSID+password; press “OK” and screen closes but no connection
  • Click panel networking applet; set WiFi password when prompted; makes the connection at 2.4GHz, 24Mb/sec (iwconfig reports link quality 70/70, signal level -39dBm)
  • try “ifup eth0”: long delay, eventually get “setup-in-progress” but no connection
  • do “zypper dup” and it fails: despite what ifconfig says, there is no wlan0 connection active
  • reboot: wifi connects automatically at 5GHz, 433Mb/sec; no eth0 connection
  • uname -a reports 4.12.14, 11 May version for OS
  • zypper lr reports “openSUSE-Ports-Leap-15.0-repo-oss”
  • zypper dup: says it will reinstall “openSUSE Leap 15.0”, 567 new pkgs, 287 MB; I tell it “y” and proceed
  • zypper download and installs work fine for update
  • reboot: wifi comes up at 5GHz, 24Mb/sec; no eth0; but attempts to connect outside the system fail again: there is no wifi connection, despite what ifconfig says
  • ifdown/ifup wlan0 does not bring wlan0 up (although it says it does)
  • reboot: wifi connects automatically and is functioning
  • uname -a reports “4.12.14-lp150.11-default #1 SMP Fri May 11 08:28:30 UTC 2018 (a9fee09) aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux”
  • Right-clicked panel network icon; set eth0; set wlan0 to use 5GHz band (rather than auto). eth0 still not working; wlan0 still activates on only about half the reboots but does seem to come up on the 5GHz network each time now.

With this success, I’ll go back and try again on the USB3/SSD medium and try to establish a “production” environment. More later.

#5

I did another clean install, this time on USB3/SSD, and it was a miserable experience.

I followed the same procedure as with the µSD install:

  • dd the Leap 15.0 image to the SSD on my Mac
  • boot on the Pi-3B+: boot worked fine; again no eth0; wlan0 connection again a little hard to get set up but eventually connected
  • did a “zypper dup” to get everything up to date, and that’s when the misery started. The wlan0 connection was nominally at 433Mb/sec, but it fluctuated down to 6Mb/sec and paused for long periods. Took overnight to retrieve all the files, with multiple restarts. Thunderbird (file #5 in the squence, no less!) was the worst: kept stopping at about 43% and wouldn’t progress
  • Eventually got everything downloaded; installs went smoothly; again tried to configure the network from the panel icon and set it to use the 5GHz band; network performance continued to be erratic and wouldn’t even support an ssh into the system.

Boot times were longer than they should be. I did a “systemd-analyze blame” and removed the main culprits with “systemctl disable”:

  • btrfsmaintenance-refresh
  • wicked
  • modemmanager
  • postfix

Did “systemctl enable NetworkManager” and rebooted. Network performance now consistent.

I think there may be problems with eth0 driver, perhaps wlan0 driver, and certainly with wicked. The inability to use eth0 for network service made this installation unacceptably painful: anyone who valued their time wouldn’t try to use it in its current form on the Raspberry Pi-3B+.

I’ll keep this installation around for a while (unless TW develops 3B+ support) and hope that a future update fixes the networking issue, but I’m not ready yet to move my production work to this system … can’t count on its performance.

The Good News is that it DOES seem quite stable, and once configured (without wicked), network performance seems acceptable.

#6

Just noticed they released new builds dated 2018.06.06. I had snagged the JeOS build just to play around with it before I noticed the new date and eth0 works straight away. Grabbing the xfce one now.

Do they have a changelog somewhere? Curious to know the differences between the 05.20 and 06.06 builds.

#7

Eth0 didn’t work at first for me on the 06.06 xfce image.

Had to config wlan and get updates then it did work. Still running under Wicked. Seems stable…more testing needed though. Also, set systemd default target to multi-user rather than gui since I don’t want gui running unless I need it (doubt this has any effect on it, but worth noting I suppose)

One question, is there a reason you did zypper dup rather than adding the update repo and running online update? Is that the preferred method under the Arm builds? I’ve just been running online update in Yast.

#8

Thanks for seeing this. I’ve been updating routinely, hoping the next one would fix eth0, but still haven’t seen 06.06. I’ll check again. That’s good news!

#9

What repo are you using for updates? I’m not seeing 06.06.

I generally run multi-user, but I wanted to see the performance of XFCE on Leap 15.0 on 3B+. It’s actually pretty good. I think it probably doesn’t have any effect, but I’ll give it a try. I really think I just don’t have the right repositories listed.

According to the docs, you can use Yast GUI, Yast CLI, or zypper and have the same result. I tried Yast just to see if that was why I wasn’t seeing 06.06, but it wasn’t – no change. My perception (and it is just that … no proof) is that I can get things done quicker in zypper, which is why I tend to go there first. But I’ll try Yast a bit more to see if I can get the updated.

#10

On Thu 14 Jun 2018 11:26:03 PM CDT, hdtodd wrote:

jarrodholder;2869721 Wrote:
> Eth0 didn’t work at first for me on the 06.06 xfce image.
>
> Had to config wlan and get updates then it did work. Still running
> under Wicked. Seems stable…more testing needed though. Also, set
> systemd default target to multi-user rather than gui since I don’t
> want gui running unless I need it (doubt this has any effect on it,
> but worth noting I suppose)
>
> One question, is there a reason you did zypper dup rather than adding
> the update repo and running online update? Is that the preferred
> method under the Arm builds? I’ve just been running online update in
> Yast.

What repo are you using for updates? I’m not seeing 06.06.

I generally run multi-user, but I wanted to see the performance of XFCE
on Leap 15.0 on 3B+. It’s actually pretty good. I think it probably
doesn’t have any effect, but I’ll give it a try. I really think I just
don’t have the right repositories listed.

According to the docs, you can use Yast GUI, Yast CLI, or zypper and
have the same result. I tried Yast just to see if that was why I wasn’t
seeing 06.06, but it wasn’t – no change. My perception (and it is just
that … no proof) is that I can get things done quicker in zypper,
which is why I tend to go there first. But I’ll try Yast a bit more to
see if I can get the updated.

Hi
As per the announcement :wink:
http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php?t=531649

I have JeOS up, but no serial :frowning:

Building info here
https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/openSUSE:Leap:15.0:Ports:Live/JeOS

Download here;
http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/appliances/

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
SLES 15 | GNOME Shell 3.26.2 | 4.12.14-23-default
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

#11

Thanks, Malcolm! But I’m feeling unusually obtuse today. I didn’t see the original announcement (which means I need to make sure I’m looking in the right places in the future! ;)), but looking there now I don’t see anything about updates. I did do the original install of XFCE from the appliances site, and I did a “zypper dup” from that, but I’m not finding an update repository for the aarch64 port, and I’m not getting the 2018.06.06 update when I do a “zypper dup” or try yast.

I’m missing something … but I don’t know where to look for it. My current “zypper -lr” gives
http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/repo/oss/ as my one enabled repo. I disabled

1 | download.opensuse.org-non-oss     | Update Repository (Non-Oss)       | No      | ----      | ----   
2 | download.opensuse.org-oss         | Main Repository (OSS)             | No      | ----      | ----   
3 | download.opensuse.org-oss_1       | Main Update Repository            | No      | ----      | ----

when I found that an update using them wouldn’t provide anything that looked like a 06.06 update, including eth0 driver update.

What URI should I be using for the updates?

#12

Hi
No worries, it’s summer time :wink:

I only have one present and enabled as per your URI.
Did you try a zypper dup from that repo?

There is a later build which will probably appear soon.

#13

Malcolm,

So this

http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/repo/oss/

is the upgrade repo you’re using?

How about you, Jarrod?

I did a Yast update from here about 2 hrs ago, but no updates available. I’ve just done a “zypper dup”, and no updates came across. Are you two using the testing update repo? I just don’t understand why mine won’t update.

#14

Hi
Yes, just that one, well the changes may have been in the building of the images to boot etc not necessarily package changes/updates…

#15

Ummm … so a new install might get 06.06 even if an update to 05.20 doesn’t pick it up?

#16

Further results for Leap 15.0 on Pi-3B+ (note the “+”) with USB3/SSD storage. I’m still on the 2018.05.20 distribution; the 06.06 update might fix a couple of the issues I’ve seen.

So, despite some of the problems I’ve had getting networking going, I have spent a little time testing some of my prior applications. While these aren’t things others would want to be running, the results are pretty positive.

Again, I’m booting a Raspberry Pi-3B+ off a USB3-connected 120GB SSD. I wanted, in particular, to see if the USB3 interface on the 3B+ would make that booting reliable, and it did. While that combination would boot successfully only about 1 in 4 times on the 3B, it boots every time on the 3B+. And it’s fast.

While eth0 doesn’t work on the 05.20 release, wlan0 does. With a little tinkering, I’m able to get it to connect reliably to the 5GHz AP and deliver (nominally) 433Mb/sec from the network (my ISP doesn’t, and I haven’t tested with local service to see if the 433 Mb/sec is real, but it’s great to see it on the “iwconfi” output).

I’m running XFCE, and the GUI interface is responsive and reliable.

Firefox crashes right after bringing up the first screen. Reliably. However, if you download Chromium, it seems to work quite reliably as a web browser.

I’ve tested two apps that I run occasionally. One is a Double-precision-intensive chemistry molecular orbital calculation. On the one longer test I ran, it ran 3 times faster on the Pi-3B+ compiled with gcc7-fortran than on the Pi-3B compiled with gcc6-fortran on Leap 14.3. That’s undoubtedly due to both compiler improvements and hardware, but the improvement is impressive nonetheless.

The other application I run occasionally is a DECSYSTEM-20 emulator. I copied the Leap 14.3 version and its associated virtual disk drives over directly to Leap 15.0 and started it up, and it worked flawlessly. Can’t judge performance directly yet, but it seems more responsive, and the fact that it ran at all surprised and delighted me.

So while Leap 15.0 may be a bit rough around the networking edges (not surprising with the new 3B+ hardware), the port seems overall to be very solid and a surprisingly good performer at these early stages of its implementation.

#17

Hi
Seems the article was released too soon… things are still WIP with the images etc.

Ref: IRC #opensuse-arm


Jun 15 06:31:29 <guillaume_g>    Apparently we released officially Leap 15.0 for ARM (at least armv7)? https://news.opensuse.org/2018/06/14/opensuse-releases-leap-15-images-for-raspberry-pi-armv7-devices/
Jun 15 06:31:53 <guillaume_g>    But we have no ISO: http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/iso/ :(
Jun 15 06:34:01 <guillaume_g>    and we are still testing it
Jun 15 06:40:50 <fvogt>    We have no repos for armv7 either...
Jun 15 06:41:00 <fvogt>    IMO that article needs to be pulled
Jun 15 06:42:36 <fvogt>    I asked Douglas to remove it for now
Jun 15 06:50:50 <guillaume_g>    fvogt: ok, thanks.
#18

'Morning, Malcolm,

The announcement and that exchange was about armv7: may apply to aarch64, too, but I’ve been working on the aarch64 distro. The one I’m using came from

http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/appliances/

Now that you point this out, I see that the announcement says nothing about aarch64, so I’m guessing that the aarch64 distro was, indeed, released (and not announced!) before it was considered ready.
Despite that, aside from some network flakiness, it’s a pretty solid release! Glad I could help in the evaluation! lol!

And looking at the distribution link above again just now, I’m delighted to see an 11 June release. I suspect that fixes the networking issues I’ve been having. As I haven’t put much on the SSD yet, I’m going to download it and reinstall that new version (after first trying a “zypper dup” again to see if that actually does an update now).

I don’t think I’ve ever even seen the iso for RPi’s before. I’ve been using the .raw.xz image since I started with openSUSE. Is that exchange focused on just .iso release packaging, or is it referencing the armv7 release in general, I wonder.

As always, thanks for your observations and suggestions … keeps me beating my head against the wall with some hope the wall will move. lol!

#19

Hi
FWIW they are also working on the B/B+ for SLES 15 too… looks like might have to add a RPI3 B+ to the wish list :wink:

#20

OK, some positive results, though with a few bumps along the way.

Prompted by Jarrod’s observation that the 2018.06.06 release was available (at least for JEOS), I tried another “zypper dup” on my earlier 2018.05.20 installation of Leap 15.0. No updates were available.

So I proceeded to blow away that installation and start a new one:

  • on my Mac, I downloaded
[openSUSE-Leap15.0-ARM-XFCE-raspberrypi3.aarch64-2018.06.06-Buildlp150.1.1.raw.xz](http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/appliances/openSUSE-Leap15.0-ARM-XFCE-raspberrypi3.aarch64-2018.06.06-Buildlp150.1.1.raw.xz)

from the site

http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/distribution/leap/15.0/appliances/

, did the "xzcat | dd " to load the image onto a USB3-connected 120GB SSD,

  • plugged the USB3/SSD into the Pi-3B+, and powered up.
  • System booted, resized to fill disk and build swap, and then let me log in.
  • Again, eth0 was not working (same as for Jarrod with JEOS).
  • Set up wlan0 and got a 24Mb/sec (!) connection over a 5GHz band. Again, speed fluctuated wildly as I worked.
  • Did a “zypper dup” to update, and system again announced that it was reinstalling. And as on multiple previous occasions, downloads hung frequently. Checking concurrently from another xterm window with a ping to a local system, I found that after 8 successful packets, about 18 were dropped; and that pattern repeated. Clearly some problem with networking, still, in that downloaded distribution.
  • Eventually, I tried disabling wicked and enabling NetworkManager, with no success; so I reversed and disabled NetworkManager and enabled wicked, and suddenly the downloads flowed consistently at about 2MB/sec (my ISP service fluctuates 30-40Mb/sec, so 16Mb/sec isn’t bad).
  • “zypper dup” installs worked without problems. Installed some standard tools I use (emacs, gcc, etc.) and again got good download speeds and installation with no issues.
  • Rebooted. And eth0 and wlan0 both came up immediately!
    At last!

So the quick summary:

  • Install the 2018.06.06 distribution
  • Make the wlan0 connection.
  • “zypper dup” and wait for the painfully-slow download process to finish. Disabling NetworkManager might help. Install will work without problems.
  • Reboot and configure eth0 if necessary.

Haven’t checked Firefox or Thunderbird yet, but Chromium worked on the 05.20 release so there’s at least one browser that should work.

Now, the curiosity is that the 06.06 download DOESN’T fix the eth0 issue, but the update (which says it’s just a reinstallation) does. I’m sure that’ll be fixed at some point, but for now, this will get you a Leap 15.0 installation on Raspberry Pi-3B+ that is stable, performs well, seems to have most applications working properly, and seems to use the GigE and higher wlan0 speeds (as best the Pi hardware will allow – 433Mb/sec nominally on wlan0).

Whew!