[sle-beta] Pinebook Pro Server

[Andreas Färber]

Hello Marek,

Am 13.03.20 um 22:28 schrieb Marek Paśnikowski:
> I am a new SUSE beta tester and I would like to report my first finding.
> 
> I believe, that with the current software stack, it should be possible to run
> a CLI SUSE Server on a Pinebook Pro, which is an ARM, Rockchip based laptop.

For reference:
https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/

> However, the screen never lights up when booting from the SD card.

Thank you for taking the time to report this.

Unfortunately a black screen can have several different causes:
* Bootloader firmware might not be EBBR compliant yet (too old)
* System might boot into Linux but lacking drivers for e.g. eDP bridges
* Unified Installer initrd might be lacking some display-related module
* Drivers might have bugs

It would help if you can access a serial console to obtain further 
information on boot progress. Also please let us know exactly what 
you're testing - I assume attaching our Unified Installer .iso on USB? 
Please always mention the milestone/filename to avoid ambiguities.

> I wonder, if SUSE could get in touch with the Pine64 company to exchange
> information about what is required to boot the system? They seem to be very
> open to collaboration with software providers.
> 
> Please forgive me, if I am stepping out of line. This is my first interaction
> on a serious mailing list, and I don't really have the experience to know what
> are good or bad topics.

Thanks for taking the time to beta-test on this non-server system. We do 
not have access to a Pinebook Pro for testing ourselves.

While our Release Notes list the RK3399 as one enabled SoC, that does 
not guarantee that all available devices will boot or fully work.

https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/aarch64/SUSE-SLES/15-SP2/#aarch64

I should probably add a sentence similar to the product page:
https://www.suse.com/products/arm/

"Note: Please check with the specific hardware vendor for SUSE YES 
certification for the Arm processor in your solution. Due to the rapidly 
evolving availability of Arm System-on-a-Chip hardware, not all 
platforms have undergone the same degree of hardware testing."

Normally IHVs would work with SUSE months in advance of our Beta program 
to ensure that all necessary driver enablement gets requested. By now 
we're already headed into the Release Candidate phase, so time is 
getting short for major changes...
@TL: Does the Pinebook Pro contain a SPI flash with recent U-Boot, so 
that from your perspective our Linux should be able to boot? Or might 
Marek need to perform a firmware upgrade first? Please compare:
https://www.suse.com/media/article/UEFI_on_Top_of_U-Boot.pdf

Note that at this time neither SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop nor SUSE 
Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension products are available for Arm, 
i.e. Desktop Productivity Module packages are unavailable for aarch64.

However, that does not limit you to CLI - both minimal X11 (IceWM) and 
GNOME desktops are available for convenient system administration. HMI 
or Digital Signage are valid use cases for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 
in the context of Edge Computing.

Arm Mali 3D acceleration has been missing in previous releases and is 
still under evaluation for 15 SP2. It would need to be described in the 
bootloader's Flat Device Tree in order to be testable. However, Mali 
acceleration is independent of 2D graphics output.

Could you explain what the context of your test report is: Are you 
interested in deploying SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for Arm on this 
device as a partner/customer, or are you an ISV trying to test your 
software on an Arm based device that you happened to have around?

Thanks,

Andreas Färber
Project Manager arm64
SUSE Labs

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