Latest firmware 2-21-24

Gadgetjack

I found the latest file and thought i would try again. 2 different boards and 3 different sd cards completely wiped each time. No luck. Both boards said all usb ports in use with only a 1 keyboard plugged in. No response to keyboard , but phantom characters every time it booted. Down loaded twice from different computers just to be sure. Still works on older firmware. Just some feedback.

uli

Gadgetjack Still no go.

What exactly happens?

Does the board selection screen show up?
Do you get any video output afterwards?
Does the "Partitioning SD card" screen show up?
If so, what happens after that? Does it show again after the reboot?
What board(s) are you using anyway?
Have you tried using a different USB port for the keyboard? (Rationale: The bootloader is built for the OPi Lite, which has two USB ports; your board(s) may have more or fewer USB ports, and they may be connected to different USB controllers. I'm mentioning that because I find it annoying when people ask you to do pointless "have you tried turning it on and off again" things when you have a problem...)
Is that keyboard a multi-function device or something like that?

Gadgetjack Both boards said all usb ports in use with only a 1 keyboard plugged in.

I presume you are referring to the bootloader messages about USB devices found. These refer to the USB root hubs that are built into the SoC.

Gadgetjack phantom characters

What's that? Is that something on screen or on the serial port?

In the meantime I have tried to fix a few (potential) issues with the partitioning script that caused issues when I tried using the latest build (2024-03-07) on a wiped SD card.

The first one was that the partitioning screen showed up twice because the file system took a long time to populate after repartitioning. That hadn't happened to me before; it seems to be triggered by using a slower SD card. In spite of this everything works fine when restarting the device after the file system has been set up, but it's still confusing/annoying.

The other change is that I switched from piping input into fdisk to using sfdisk, which is actually intended to be used in unattended scripts. That may prevent issues with fdisk asking additional questions and then hanging because they aren't handled properly. I have had that problem quite a while ago, but I could not reproduce it anymore.

These changes should show up in the next build (2024-03-08). Please check if that works any better for you. Thanks.

Dmian

Yes, 2024-02-21 is not working for me either. Tried on my Opi Lite. The 2023-11-13 version works quite well.

uli

Thanks for testing. I just tried, and it does indeed not work (on H3). I guess one of the changes for the H616 port must have broken something. Or it's the nightly build system, which I have completely rewritten so it supports H616 and OSX builds...

Unfortunately I have absolutely ZERO time to look into this right now, so I'll just remove the broken build so nobody stumbles over it.

I hope I'll find the time to look into this soon, but it won't be in the next couple of days.

Dmian

uli Great! Don’t worry Ulrich, I think nobody is in a hurry around here. 😄
Personally, with the previous version and the desktop version I’m more than happy. I can test a lot of things, and then test it on the real hardware. So, actually happy with everything, so far. 😊

uli

Should be fixed now.

Gadgetjack

I tried again and got the same results. Still no go.

Dmian

Works for me on my Opi Lite (I think both work). It partitions the SD, at which point I reset the machine, and I can get into EB without problems (I'm seeing version v0.91-jh-30-g58b20).

Gadgetjack

Yes , the board selection screen comes up. It's printing garbage characters where your choice of board number should be. It never lets you type anything , it does it itself and never stops. I have tried all 3 usb ports on my board , an orange pi pc board that i have been using since i started testing your software. The board is still good as I have tried a linux and a retro game image on it and it works fine. I have tried several different sd cards now with no different results. If i go back to an image 5 or 6 back , it works ok. I have not tried the one you just posted today as i have not been out to my shop yet today.
If i let the screen go on for a while , the characters wrap for a couple of lines and then it locks. Seems like something in the keyboard input section is not right. Not sure why it keeps typing random numbers and characters.

uli

Gadgetjack It's printing garbage characters where your choice of board number should be.

That's a bug in the bootloader, I think, that I have as well, but it should not keep anything from working.

Gadgetjack It never lets you type anything , it does it itself and never stops.

You're supposed to select the board with the cursor keys. I don't know if typing in anything will work.

Gadgetjack I have tried all 3 usb ports on my board , an orange pi pc board that i have been using since i started testing your software.

I pulled out my OPi PC and tried it, and it works fine for me (save for the issues I described earlier). Keyboard is plugged into the single upright USB socket.

Gadgetjack If i let the screen go on for a while , the characters wrap for a couple of lines and then it locks.

The timeout for the board selection screen is 10 minutes (600 seconds). After that it should just select the default (OPi Lite), but I never waited that long to see if it actually does...

Gadgetjack I have not tried the one you just posted today as i have not been out to my shop yet today.

The current one (2024-03-07) probably won't make a difference, it just fixes an issue that causes the shmup demo to lock up. Try the next one tomorrow (2024-03-08).

Also, from what I've seen the only component you have not switched out is the keyboard. Maybe that will do something.

Edit: Oh, and you don't try to use analog video by chance, do you? (Because that doesn't work yet.)

uli

Just for reference, I just tried the 2024-03-08 build, and it fixes the hang on the "partitioning" screen.

uli Gadgetjack If i let the screen go on for a while , the characters wrap for a couple of lines and then it locks.

The timeout for the board selection screen is 10 minutes (600 seconds). After that it should just select the default (OPi Lite), but I never waited that long to see if it actually does...

I finally got around to try that as well, and it works (on the OPi PC).

Gadgetjack

That one did it uli . It works fine now. Re-tried my other cards and keyboards. All good. I loaded most of the demos and all are running. Sorry for being a pain.
Jack

Willard

I finally got around to trying the RX firmware on my Libre ALL-H3-CC (Tritium) board. I used the 2024-03-08 build.

When I turned on the board the LED stayed red and there was nothing displayed on the screen. I changed SD cards to the NG firmware and the LED changed from red to green and BE displayed on the screen.

Is anyone else using the Libre ALL-H3-CC (Tritium) board with RX firmware?

Dmian

Willard Sadly, I don't have one to check. But it seems that board has dedicated serial pins right by the HDMI connector. Maybe you'd like to check what comes from there to see where in the booting process it stops?
I guess that would help Ulrich a lot to have an idea of what's going on.

uli

Dmian But it seems that board has dedicated serial pins right by the HDMI connector. Maybe you'd like to check what comes from there to see where in the booting process it stops?

That would indeed be helpful. Also, if it's merely the HDMI initialization in the bootloader that doesn't work on that board, you may be able to select the correct device tree through the serial port.

You could also try to let it sit there for ten minutes until the boot menu times out and see if that works.
Edit: Or wait for ten seconds or so after powering it on and press Enter on the keyboard.

Willard

An update using my Libre ALL-H3-CC (Tritium) board with RX firmware. I think nothing displaying on the screen was on me for not pushing the correct button on the monitor to select the correct port. When I switched to the NG firmware I selected the correct port, it has been a while since I used the BE setup.

I created a SD card with any early version RX firmware and tried it. It displayed the U-Boot Boot Menu, but the keyboard would not work. The screen counted down with numbers and then it went to the Partitioning SD Card, Please wait screen and appeared to hang-up. I turned off the power to get out of it.

Next I tried the 2024-03-08 build of RX firmware with a new keyboard and it displayed the U-Boot Boot Menu screen, but the keyboard still would not work. The screen counted down with numbers and it went to the Partitioning SD Card, Please wait screen. This time the screen completed and went to the BE splash screen but the keyboard still didn't work. I turned it off and on and the board went to the BE splash screen and the green LED was on.

Next I changed the keyboard from the left bottom USB port, that works with the NG firmware, to the right bottom USB port and tried the RX firmware SD Card again and the keyboard now worked. After more testing, I found with the RX firmware that the keyboard works with the right USB ports and not the left USB ports. With the NG firmware all but the top left USB port works with the keyboard.

How do I get back to the U-Boot Boot Menu screen,so I can select the correct board to use now that I have a working keyboard? Or do I have to reburn the SD Card with a new image?

Dmian

Willard Mmmm… If it was me, I’d just flash the SD card again. It’s rather quick, and the easiest solution.

Willard

I decided to flash the SD Card containing the early version RX firmware and replacing it with the 2024-03-08 build of RX firmware. Next I put the keyboard in the right USB ports and started a fresh install of the RX firmware. At the U-Boot Boot Menu screen there was no input from the keyboard, no matter which USB port I used for the keyboard. All I saw was count-down numbers being displayed across the screen. I stopped the install because I all ready have a SD Card with a timed-out default RX firmware. I am just going to use this SD Card to try the RX firmware on my Libre ALL-H3-CC (Tritium) board and wait for a new build of the RX firmware to see if it fixes the keyboard issue in the U-Boot Boot Menu screen.

I did some research and found this forum post 'Engine BASIC NG and USB ports' about the RX firmware and USB ports. I don't know if the issue is using the default option in the U-Boot Boot Menu screen or something else. I wouldn't want to have less USB ports with RX firmware than with the NG firmware.

I see the 3 dedicated serial pins next to the HDMI port on the Libre ALL-H3-CC (Tritium) board. Do you have instructions or Web links about what I need to do that would help Ulrich? I am more of an end-user BASIC programmer than a firmware debugger.

What little I have seen of the RX firmware looks interesting. As I get back into using my BE set-up, I will try BASIC coding in both the NG and RX firmware.

Dmian

Willard Do you have instructions or Web links about what I need to do that would help Ulrich? I am more of an end-user BASIC programmer than a firmware debugger.

I put some information about how to access the info on the serial port here: https://betest.freeflarum.com/d/188-backstreets-back-alright/27
Hope it helps.

Willard

Thanks Dmian, I will start working on accessing info on the serial port using the directions on your Forum post.

A quick update: I switched keyboards to a simplier keyboard, less buttons on it and it let me select the correct board. I will do more tests with this simplier keyboard and see if it works in the Left bottom USB port.