I noticed that there is a package called u-boot-rock5b-rk3588. Can I simply install it and boot my Radxa Rock 5B?
Right now I’m booting with edk2-rk3588 version 1.1 on a mSD card. Whatever I try to do I can’t get GPU-acceleration, wifi and bluetooth (among other things) to work so maybe there was another way to boot the machine? A quick zypper search showed that there was a u-boot package that I might use.
If I install the u-boot package, is there something I need to think about?
u-boot is a universal boot loader a bit like grub.
If you are “booting with edk2-rk3588 version 1.1 on a mSD card.” that image has likely already included u-boot so I wonder do you want to update that image?
It is also pretty unlike a boot loader update will fix GPU-acceleration, wifi and bluetooth.
I would start with the official Debian OS for ROCK 5B.
As I understand it (I could very well be wrong) then EDK2 is a UEFI implementation that works a bit like a BIOS that finally calls Linux (that apparently has a UEFI stub).
When I start my computer it seems like the UEFI handles the boot process over to GRUB2 which then boots Tumbleweed.
UEFI is supposed to activate my Intel AX200 card (for bluetooth and wifi) as well as the built-in Mali G610 GPU (with Panthor drivers). Those three are now supported by the 6.15 kernel itself, afaik, but I haven’t been able to get them to work on my system. That is why an alternative to EDK2 might be needed, at least temporarily.
To make things more complicated I’m also trying out Armbian versions, deciding on whether to use a Debian or Ubuntu base for my new secondary computer (which is stilll being shipped). The latest images have started booting but stopped after a while with nothing but a black screen. …so I have decided to continue these experiments on the secondary machine (also a Rock 5B) once it and the KKSB case arrives. I have had good experiences with Armbian in the past so I expect the snags to be fixed soon.
That said… Do I need to change bootloaderr from GRUB2 to U-boot? Do I have to remove packages? Will the system boot from the m.2 SSD?
I would feel more prone to experiment if this wasn’t my main computer…
For a GPU I am not 100% sure but for a PCI WiFi card the only thing the boot does is enumerate the card on the PCIe bus, the kernel is the one that provides the driver.
The problems is likely that this Rockchip RK3588 is not that good supported and yes that could be partly UEFI/the bootloader but for the Mali G610 GPU that could also well be the driver.
I do not have experience with Tumbleweed ARM but I would start with one of the images from:
If things do not work for one of these specialized images it will be very hard to get it working for Tumbleweed.
To run the Panthor accelerated GPU driver kernel 6.10 (or higher) is needed. The official images use kernel 6.1.
To use the bluetooth and wifi6 drivers for the Intel AX200 without getting rfkill hard blocks, kernel 6.11 (or higher) is needed. Kernel 6.1 does work too but would not allow Panthor drivers.
Under EDK2 1.1, to get HDMI output working properly kernel 6.15 (or higher) is needed. Earlier versions allow displays up to 1920×1080px resolution. Currently my 27" display uses 2560×1440px resolution, so something seems to work.
EDK2 documentaion recommends using Device Tree Mode for better hardware comatibility, but using any setting other than UEFI only results in a black screen after choosing boot option in GRUB2. …even with a Device Tree binary intended for kernel 6.15 stored in the location described in the documentation.
EDK2 for Rock 5B is supported at Platinum level, which means that Radxa officially supports it.
Platinum devices are considered to have the best overall support, based on factors such as:
- Device Tree and peripherals compatible with mainline Linux.
- Active interest from the vendor in supporting their hardware.
But to be honest… I’m scratching my head trying to figure out what to try next, hence the U-boot question.
You have the uboot for your board here:
This is enough for uefi as i have my rockchip board running opensuse. You have to download It with a github account (free) and write It to your medium.
Is the package u-boot-rock5b-rk3588 (zypper installable) very different?
I don’t think so.
So it is simply a matter of installing the u-boot-rock5b-rk3588 package? Nothing else?
No, sorry.
Your edk2 bootloader has uboot built inside and then all the edk2 drivers. So only installing the uboot will leave behind a franken-edk2. I don’t know exactly howto do without having uboot previously.
Maybe you can install and then wipe all the partitions before the ESP partition, but i’m not sure.
EDK2 hands over the booting to GRUB2 on my machine.
So… It seems I have to test things on the secondary machine(also a Rock 5B) once it arrives.
Don’t know what you mean. Uboot will manage with grub2 also, but you will not have screen output because there is not display output for rockchip uboot by now (you have serial output). Dont you have a second card?
There’s no U-boot on this machine, afaik. EDK2 runs on a µSD card (right now) and then handles the booting over to GRUB2 running on a 250GB m.2 SSD.
I do have another µSD card, currently with Armbian Ubuntu, that I could use for testing but booting directly from the µSD card would not be the same.
But I’m building a second machine as soon as the parts arrive (found a heavily discounted Rock 5B board online). The secondary machine will allow for realistic testing of things without touching the main one.
And now an NVMe comes into scene!
When you try to boot from edk2+dtb you are really using uboot, but booting from NVMe needs uboot be located in the spi so your failing.
As you can see your goal is not very easy and you can not mix things. You have to follow rigid rules.
Just curious… How would the u-boot-rock5b-rk3588 package install u-boot on the SPI?
I don’t think this package will install on spi, rather will do on sdcard or emmc. There is a chance that will boot from NVME if It is prepared for that.
Radxa says about spi but maybe this is old and deprecated. To try if SSD can boot spi must be cleaned.
Anyway you need to flash uboot to install opensuse wherever you want and for that a first uboot is needed, from radxa, kwiboo, …
I have checked the uboot package for rock5b and It does have the spi uboot and another one. So I suposse it can install to spi.
Looks like there’s an experiment coming up here soon, then. Thank you for checking out the package.