uConsole/R-01 BSP Linux packaged

This is a ArchLinux package for uConsole/R-01, built with BSP toolchain.

About how to download the BSP code, read: https://d1.docs.aw-ol.com/en/study/study_2getsdk/ . It requires an account. Every step fetching the code there is tested in a Ubuntu Jammy chroot. The tutorial may be not updated. Be flexible.

Kernel config is changed a little bit. BINFMT_MISC enabled, and I forget other changes.

Original instruction by ClockworkPi devs: https://github.com/clockworkpi/uConsole/blob/master/Code/patch/r01/20230614/README.md

How to build this package?

This is a bit tricky under the hood. After installing all requirements, run the following command in linux-bsp:

makepkg -Cf
# -C: clean src
# -f: force rebuild
# -A: ignore architecture, but not required here

This is tested on a x86_64 ArchLinux host. (Yeah, it's a riscv64 package built on a x86_64 host XD.)

The kernel source and toolchain are hosted in 2 separated repo(to avoid using LFS, which has limited bandwidth), uconsole-r01-bsp-linux and uconsole-r01-bsp-toolchain, respectively.

For users new to makepkg: it's basically a shell script to execute the tasks listed in PKGBUILD(also shell script) in a predefined way. So if you want to reuse the kernel config and patches without makepkg, just rewrite PKGBUILD in the way you favor.

Notes on common problems

Setup bootloader

TBW in detail.

An example of extlinux/extlinux.conf:

default uc-arch-5.4.61

label uc-arch-5.4.61
        linux /vmlinuz-linux-uconsole-r01-bsp
        fdt /dtbs/sunxi/uc_board.dtb
        append root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 earlyprintk=sunxi-uart,0x02500000 clk_ignore_unused initcall_debug=0 earlycon=sbi console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=3 cma=16M LANG=en_US.UTF-8 fbcon=rotate:1 rootwait vt.cur_default=0xF00058

Use block path to refer your partitions. DON'T USE UUIDs!.

Missing WiFi firmware

The firmware for the on board WiFi module AP6256(detected as BCM4345/9) is not included in linux-firmware. The corresponding firmware(brcmfmac43456-sdio) can be installed with an AUR package(brcmfmac43456-firmware).

How to enable the 4G module

It's simple, but still WIP.

How to enable bluetooth

Build your kernel with config & patches in this repo, and install the bluetooth firmware from Armbian's repo to /usr/lib/firmware/brcm.

If you want to enable it in your own kernel:

Add this node to uart0 uart1 in your dts:

bluetooth {
		compatible = "brcm,bcm4345c5";
		interrupt-parent = <&pio>;
		interrupts = <PG 17 IRQ_TYPE_LEVEL_HIGH>; /* PG 17/GPIO6 */
		interrupt-names = "host-wake";
		device-wakeup-gpios = <&pio PG 16 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>; /* PG 16/GPIO7 */
		shutdown-gpios = <&pio PG 18 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>; /* PG 18/GPIO5 */
		max-speed = <4000000>;
		vbat-supply = <&reg_dldo1>;
		vddio-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
	};

Then remove node bt: bt@0 and btlpm: btlpm@0 because they occupy the pins for bluetooth driver.

In your kernel config, enable CONFIG_SERIAL_DEV_BUS, CONFIG_BT_HCIUART, CONFIG_BT_HCIUART_BCM and other interesting options.

Now it should work after you update the kernel.

Want a cursor on framebuffer

R-01 doesn't have a hardware cursor(that's default), and you can use a cmdline parameter to change the default to a softcursor.

Format:: vt.cur_default=0x{p3}{p2}{p1}, note the order.

Example: vt.cur_default=0xF00058 white background block, with highlight.

Explaination(click to expand):

• p1: shape & shape style
• p2: color bits to clear
• p3: color bits to set

Set(OR) happens before clear(XOR)

About shape:

0=default
1=invisible
2=underline
3=lower_third
4=lower_half
5=two_thirds
8=full block
+ 16 if you want the __software cursor__ to be applied
+ 32 if you want to always change the background color
+ 64 if you dislike having the background the same as the
     foreground.

About color bits:

It is a 8bit binary integer:

 0b MRGB MRGB
    |    |
    |    Foreground(text) color
    |
    Background

M: set 1 to highlight, or blink, depend on the implementation(softcursor, hardcursor, etc.)
R: bit for red
G: bit for green
B: bit for blue

Want a bootloader(u-boot)

I haven't built a usable bootloader for the BSP kernel, so I simply copied one from the image released by clockwork devs. See bootloader-backup.

Shutdown is slooooooooow

It looks like the spinlock is not enabled in original kernel config. I enabled it and the shutdown process become so smooooooth and fast.

PS. When a program waits a spinlock, it will loop and do nothing. It's suitable for tasks only wait a very short time, so the overhead of task switching can be saved.

About hacks

cross compile with makepkg

Well, you just need to inject code to trick makepkg that your current arch is riscv64, and the rest is just shell scripting work.

prebuild the kernel scripts

To workaround an issue with cross compiling, I prebuilt the kernel helper scripts and packed them in advance.

If you don't trust me(DON'T TRUST ME), you can generate the prebuilt scripts package by running the following commands against the patched kernel source on a riscv64 host(or chroot):

make mrproper && make sun20iw1p1_d1_r01_defconfig && make scripts
tar c scripts | zstd > riscv64-prebuilt-scripts.tar.zst