New Buildroot Release fsimx6-B2024.04

    F&S i.MX6 Buildroot Release 2024.04 (fsimx6-B2024.04)


    Please see the file


    doc/FSiMX6_FirstSteps_eng.pdf


    for a description of how everything is installed and used. This doc sub-directory also contains other documentation, for example about the hardware of the boards and the starter kits.

    This is a major release for all F&S boards and modules based on the i.MX6 CPUs from NXP.

    Currently these are the modules

    armStoneA9, armStoneA9r2, armStoneA9r3, armStoneA9r4, efusA9, efusA9r2, PicoMODA9, NetDCUA9, QBlissA9, QBlissA9r2

    More boards may be added to this family in the future. All these boards can work with software that is created from this release package.

    Please note that Buildroot releases use a 'Y' for the version number. The version counting is independent form other releases.


    The release consists of the following files and directories:


    • Readme.txt Release notes (this text)
    • setup-buildroot Script to download and install the Buildroot release
    • binaries/ Precompiled images (full names)
    • sdcard/ Precompiled images (names as expected by
    • install script)
    • doc/ Hardware and software manuals, schematics



    Here are some highlights of this release.



    1. New Linux Kernel 5.15.148


    The Linux kernel is now based on 5.15.148

    - New optimizations for EXT4.

    - OverlayFS has better performance and copying up more attributes.

    - Many graphics improvements among the DRM/KMS drivers.

    - Linux 5.15 I/O can achieve up to ~3.5M IOPS per-core.

    - The PREEMPT_RT locking code was merged as a big step forward towards getting the real-time (RT) patches upstreamed in the Linux kernel.

    - Various scheduler improvements.

    - Various power management improvements.

    - Opt-in L1 data cache flushing on context switching as a security feature for the paranoid and other specialized conditions.

    - Improvements around compile-time and run-time detection of buffer overflows.

    - Additional protection around side channel attacks via clearing used registers prior to returning, making use of the compiler-side support.


    (https://www.phoronix.com/review/linux-515-features)


    Of course, there are also many changes for other CPU types (like x86) and other graphics cores (like AMD, Nvidia, Intel) but these are not of interest here.


    2. New bootloader U-Boot 2021.04


    The U-Boot is now based on 2021.04.

    Additional to the security and feature updates of the mainline U-Boot, there have been many updates on the fsimage command and the general layout of the bootloaders in the flash memory.


    3. New Buildroot version 2023.02.6


    Updating Buildroot to Version 2023.02.6. This provides many new package versions like Weston 10.0.3, imx-gpu-viv 6.4.3.p4.8 or Busybox 1.36.1.

    There is also a package for QT6.3 available, but it currently doesn't support the examples and crosscompiled qmake, so it is reather experimental in this release.


    4. Improved Image versioning


    The exact versions of Nboot, U-Boot and Linux Kernel will now be printed during the boot process.

    If the image is build with an tagged commit the tag name will be printed.

    If the commit is not tagged, the git commits hash will be printed.

    If the image is based on an uncommitted git, the flag "-dirty" will be added to the last commits name.


    We use an own Linux version string that will be printed additionally to the mainline Linux version. This way modules that are built for the same Linux version with just some slight changes, can still be loaded without rebuilding the whole rootfile system.


    Linux device trees are also versioned with the current version of the linux git.


    You can check the versions of the different components at runtime at /sys/bdinfo/


    5. New Release concept over github


    We now provide our Linux gits over github at https://github.com/FSEmbedded.

    All release and pre-release states will be pushed here.

    For now, we will not push each single commit to github.


    Also the release sources are not added to the release tar anymore, but will be downloaded from github during the setup process.


    The versions of the different gits of a release can be looked up in the fs-release-manifest.xml file in the release tar directory.


    Known Issues:


    1. The ADP-mPCIe-Wlan adapter does not work with this release


    The PCIe card is recogniced correctly, but the mwifiex-pcie driver load.


    =========================================================================


    The following list shows the most noticeable changes in this release in more detail since our last release for this platform. Please note that the

    source code is also used for other platforms. This is why you will also find references to other CPU types and F&S boards here in the change log.


    nbootimx6_51.bin (VN51)

    ------------------------------------

    Supported boards: armStoneA9, armStoneA9r2, armStoneA9r3, armStoneA9r4,

    efusA9, efusA9r2, PicoMODA9, NetDCUA9, QBlissA9, QBlissA9r2


    [VN49]

    - 0005378: [NBoot] Ad9 support for new boards efusA9Xr2, armStoneA9R3,

    armStoneA9r4, PicoCoreMX6SXr2


    [VN50]

    - 0005541: [NBoot] NAND dump does not work

    - 0005540: [NBoot] Memory errors on armStoneA9

    - 0005542: [NBoot] Board revision is wrong on armStoneA9


    [VN51]

    - 0005951: [NBoot] Add new board NetDCUA7

    - 0005950: [NBoot] Add secure boot for UL with MMC




    u-boot-2021.04-fsimx6-2024.04

    -----------------------------------------------

    Supported boards: armStoneA9, armStoneA9r2, armStoneA9r3, armStoneA9r4,

    efusA9, efusA9r2, PicoMODA9, NetDCUA9, QBlissA9, QBlissA9r2


    - Update to NXP u-boot-2021.04

    - Improve Uboot versioning

    - Fix bootaux command

    - Fix fat_size for files bigger than 2GB

    - Drop board revision from BOARD-CFG names

    - addfsheader.sh: Check for crc32 and xxd before using them

    - Remove sha256 and led blinking support


    linux-5.15.71-fsimx6-2024.04

    -----------------------------------------------

    Supported boards: armStoneA9, armStoneA9r2, armStoneA9r3, armStoneA9r4,

    efusA9, efusA9r2, PicoMODA9, NetDCUA9, QBlissA9, QBlissA9r2


    - Update to NXP Linux Version lf-5.15.71-2.2.1

    - Switch to FSL_ASOC_CARD sound driver for sgtl5000

    - Add F&S Versioning for kernel and device tree

    - Improve uart dma support

    - Add leds-pca963x-fus driver and revert the original to the mainline driver

    - Improve SDIO stability for Azurewave wlan chips

    - Add support to disable pin controls nodes in the device tree

    - Apply patches from mainline linux-5.15.131

    - Fix Realtek Ethernet Phy Bug in Low Power Mode

    - Fix backlight flicker for inverted pwm

    - Use common dtsi files for efus and armstone boards


    buildroot-fsimx6-2024.04

    -----------------------------------------------

    Supported boards: armStoneA9, armStoneA9r2, armStoneA9r3, armStoneA9r4,

    efusA9, efusA9r2, PicoMODA9, NetDCUA9, QBlissA9, QBlissA9r2


    - Update fsimx6 to Buildroot 2023.02.6

    - Update fsimx6 IMX specific packages to NXP Yocto version lf-5.15.71-2.2.1

    - Add F&S Kernel and U-Boot versioning

    - Add F&S psplash bootscreen

    - Add support for weston fbdev-backend.




    Examples fs1

    --------


    (no changes)




    Toolchain

    ---------

    fs-toolchain-11.2-armv7ahf.tar.bz2 for Linux




    Documentation

    -------------


    - Update to version 4.4 of FSiMX6_FirstSteps_eng.pdf

    - Update to version 0.22 of LinuxOnFSBoards_eng.pdf


    Please download the hardware documentation directly from our website.

    Then you always have the newest version.

    Dear Support-Team,


    there seems to be a problem regarding the sound card in the latest release.

    Hardware: armstoneA9r3 Rev 2.00

    Software: Buildroot Release fsimx6-B2024.04


    Problem: In the "original" binary zImage-fsimx6-B2024.04 and the rootfs_min-fsimx6-B2024.04.ubifs (together with armstonea9r3dl-B2024.04.dtb) there will be:

    Code
    1. ALSA device list:
    2.   No soundcards found.

    Because we have to do some changes in the kernel (for our display and a few other things) and also using an for us optimized rootfs, we have to recompile kernel and rootfs anyway. In the new compiled kernel we have the same problem "No soundcards found." So I was looking for a solution and tried to include the SDMA driver directly into the kernel (not as module). This was working so far that while booting the "SGTL5000" soundcard will be found.

    But when trying to start e.g. speaker-test for testing the output I get a kernel oops. I guess some problems with multiprocessing and the sdma driver.


    Question: Can you confirm these problems or is this caused by some other changes I did on the Kernel / DevTree / RootFS?


    Here the printout of speaker-test and Kernel debug:



    Thanks in advance

    RSchubert

    Additional new info:


    I get the same kernel oops when using imx-smda as kernel module. Then while booting there is no soundcard found. After loading imx-sdma.ko (also firmware sdma-imx6q.bin is required), the soundcard appears in /dev/snd.

    But starting speaker-test again is running into the kernel oops.

    As far as I checked now, this seems not happening when using the default zImage / DevTree binaries.

    Any suggestion where to look / what to check?

    Hello,


    we definitely successfully tested speaker-test with the fsimx6_wayland_defconfig.

    However, it might be true that the fsimx6_min_defconfig is not working, because of the missing sdma firmware.


    ALSA device list:No soundcards found. with imx-smda as module is expected, as the driver is getting loaded after the rootfs.


    Could you provide a full bootlog with this error?


    Your F&S Support Team

    Hello,


    I was able to reproduce your issue by adding the following lines to the fsimx6_min_defconfig

    Code
    1. BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS=y
    2. BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_AMIXER=y
    3. BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_APLAY=y
    4. BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_SPEAKER_TEST=y

    and runnign speaker-test


    By additionally adding these lines to fsimx6_min_defconfig the error did not accrue anymore and speaker-test worked as intended


    Code
    1. BR2_PACKAGE_FREESCALE_IMX=y
    2. BR2_PACKAGE_FREESCALE_IMX_PLATFORM_IMX6Q=y
    3. BR2_PACKAGE_FIRMWARE_IMX=y

    The imx-sdma driver was build as a module.

    Could you try to add these lines to your buildroot defconfig as well?


    Your F&S Support Team

    Dear Support Team,


    yes, I already have these packages. My problem isn't the audio itself. I guess the problem is the sdma driver.

    I get the same kernel oops (in sdma_transfer_init) e.g. when using aplay. So I guess it's a sdma problem.

    As you see in the links I have provided above, some do have this problem when using sdma together with the tty.

    Hello,


    like already mentioned, i did get the same sdma errors with the fsimx6_min_defconfig as you described and was able to fix it by adding the IMX specific buildroot packages.


    And you mentioned, that you do not get these errors with the wayland_defconig.


    I also wonder, why you don't get the sdma logs in your boot messages

    Code
    1. imx-sdma 20ec000.sdma: firmware found.
    2. imx-sdma 20ec000.sdma: loaded firmware 3.6


    So my guess is that there are some missing packages in your rootfs or kernel.

    Could you send us your kernel and buildroot defconfig via mail?


    Your F&S Support Team