Post AFf7E6RBdmi8NxyVN2 by Jbb@social.tchncs.de
(DIR) More posts by Jbb@social.tchncs.de
(DIR) Post #AFf3zg22ifHoZcdy1A by bart@mastodon.fam-ribbers.com
2022-01-21T07:58:13Z
2 likes, 6 repeats
https://is-spi-on-pine64-devices-used-yet.site/Did you notice that rather than on PC where you download a generic image which you can just live boot from USB, on ARM every distro needs to support every device individually? It's not just lacking mainline Linux support, it's also lacking a generic way to boot these devices like x86 has. #SPIflash can solve this perfectly by implementing UEFI on a dedicated chip but current new @PINE64 devices are lacking this. Let's get loud to make them add this again in new devices!
(DIR) Post #AFf4019CDGUC3t9TaC by bart@mastodon.fam-ribbers.com
2022-01-21T08:00:48Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Flashing so-called "platform firmware" which implements #UEFI, like u-boot, to this #SPIflash would allow the user to boot generic UEFI images not made specifically for the device in question. Finally you'd be able to properly live-boot a distribution through e.g. sdcards, USB sticks, etc. And you no longer have to wonder if your distro supports your particular device, you just have to download their generic UEFI image!
(DIR) Post #AFf40PfH3ePE6KLQum by bart@mastodon.fam-ribbers.com
2022-01-21T08:04:16Z
0 likes, 3 repeats
Modules like #SPIflash are really important to achieve the goal we've set at #postmarketOS: device support for 10 years and more. Once a device is fully mainlined and can boot using a generic #UEFI image we no longer have to put any effort in supporting this particular device. Everything will "just work". Just like no distro put any effort in making it boot with my particular desktop and laptop.
(DIR) Post #AFf40iDy3Oqvf8iOUS by bart@mastodon.fam-ribbers.com
2022-01-21T08:08:21Z
0 likes, 3 repeats
Luckily the awesome samueld from #NixOS has made a project called #Tow-Boot: https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-BootIt does exactly this: provide "platform firmware" for devices that implements #UEFI allowing you to boot generic UEFI ARM image. Myself and @martijnbraam are going to make postmarketOS support this kind of booting and I hope we can make this mandatory for every device that uses u-boot to boot. And I need _you_ to tell other distros to support this method of booting as well!
(DIR) Post #AFf5FOblMud97cPWbI by werwolf@fosstodon.org
2022-01-21T10:06:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@bart sorry if this is a stupid question. But AFAIK u-boot is completely free software. Would implementing UEFI need proprietary firmware?
(DIR) Post #AFf7E6RBdmi8NxyVN2 by Jbb@social.tchncs.de
2022-01-21T10:28:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@werwolf No, UEFI is just a standard way to boot, it can be implemented in different ways, although most things just use edk2, which is BSD-licensed.As far as I know even many UEFI implementations found on PCs and laptops are based on edk2, but the port for that specific mainboard is not open-sourced because the BSD license doesn't require that.
(DIR) Post #AFf7i0nz96YtbYttJ2 by werwolf@fosstodon.org
2022-01-21T10:33:48Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Jbb great! I assumed that some kind of standard existed since coreboot supports UEFI, but I was unsure. Then UEFI support on the Pinephone would be a great step towards building a Linux phone ecosystem.
(DIR) Post #AFf7mKgTB9n6PrRfnc by werwolf@fosstodon.org
2022-01-21T10:34:29Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Jbb great! I assumed that some kind of libre standard existed since coreboot supports UEFI, but I was unsure. Then UEFI support on the Pinephone would be a great step towards building a Linux phone ecosystem.
(DIR) Post #AFfEL56zfR6NypnwHI by bart@mastodon.fam-ribbers.com
2022-01-21T11:48:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@werwolf It does not. UEFI is just a standard and anyone can implement it just like u-boot did. It just so happens that most UEFI implementations on x86 are proprietary, but on some models you can replace it with e.g. #CoreBoot or #LibreBoot
(DIR) Post #AFfo9ZVuPA8X92GlV2 by penguin42@mastodon.org.uk
2022-01-21T18:29:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@bart @PINE64 Hmm it sounds like the more urgent thing needed is a disable-eMMC link for booting so you can force the SD boot.
(DIR) Post #AFg8ePY1VQeiIRF0ro by bart@mastodon.fam-ribbers.com
2022-01-21T08:08:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Because be honest, who doesn't want to see GRUB booting on your phone allowing you to choose from a multitude of installed distributions? 😉
(DIR) Post #AFg8eQ4HZUSZuUKm9I by bart@mastodon.fam-ribbers.com
2022-01-21T13:22:18Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
As a proof-of-concept, changing 3 lines made our pmOS image "just work" using tow-boot!https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/pmaports/-/merge_requests/2870We're ready for #SPIflash on the #PinePhonePro @Pine64, just waiting for you ;)