Skip to content

ArchR Linux 3.0.1

Latest
Latest

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@dgateles dgateles released this 08 Nov 06:31
v3.0.1
c472421

ArchR Linux 3.0.1

3.0.1 fixes what you reported in the first days of 3.0: clones that did not start, first boots that never finished, a battery guard that could power off a console at 40%, Wi-Fi that would not come back after switching it off, and a menu that kept the CPU busy while you did nothing. It also brings the launcher to square (720x720) and small (480x320) screens and a faster Saturn emulator.

This is the first image built as an official release.

Upgrading

  • Already on 3.0: most of these fixes are already on your console through Settings › System › Updates (updates of 7 and 8 November). A few only come with the new image: the clone bootloader, the first-boot fixes, the larger system partition, and Wi-Fi staying off across a reboot. Flash 3.0.1 if your console is a clone that did not start, if the first boot hung, or if you want everything. Copy your saves to a PC first (they are in the ARCHR_ROMS drive).
  • New install: flash 3.0.1 with the Arch R Flasher 1.3.9 or any image writer, then add your panel overlay as before.
  • microSD: 32 GB or larger is recommended. The system partition grew from 4.5 GB to 6 GB to leave room for updates. On 32 GB and larger cards the first boot creates the ARCHR_ROMS exFAT partition that opens on any computer. Cards of 16 GB or less have no room for it and keep the older layout, with the ROMs on the ext4 STORAGE partition: everything works, but the ROMs are only reachable from a PC over the network (Samba or SSH). 8 GB is the minimum.

Highlights

  • R36S clones start again (#51). The clone image's bootloader stopped on a stray byte from pins that, on these boards, are the analog stick and R3, not a serial console. 3.0.1 goes back to the console settings 2.1.1 booted with.
  • The first boot always finishes. After resizing the card the console restarts by itself, even when the normal restart hangs, and the resize log is written to the card at every step.
  • The battery guard no longer powers off a console in use at 40%. It acts only on a really empty battery.
  • Wi-Fi comes back after switching it off and on, keeps the saved network, and says "Connected to …" when it joins.
  • Lower power at idle on the menu: CPU busy about 16% → 5%.
  • Square and small screens: the launcher fits 720x720 (R36 Plus) and 480x320, and no text is ever smaller than 10 pixels.
  • Saturn on yabasanshiro-pirry 1.6.2, an emulator tuned for the RK3326.

Fixed

Boot and first boot

  • R36S clones (V20, G80CA and other boards of the same family) did not start with the clone image: no LED, no screen. The clone bootloader's console is back to 1,500,000 baud, the setting 2.1.1 used (#51).
  • On some boards the first boot finished resizing the card but never restarted, and the screen stayed on "Initializing" or on the resize steps. The resize now restarts through the kernel, and if a driver hangs on the way down, an emergency restart follows after 60 seconds, with the system synced and remounted read-only first.
  • The resize log (fs-resize.log on the boot partition) is written after every step, so a hung boot still leaves it on the card. Its step results are now the real ones: a disk check that failed is no longer logged as done.
  • A card whose file system has unfixed errors is never grown, also when the ARCHR_ROMS partition cannot be created.
  • A card already set up is never resized again.
  • Optional boot trace for reporting a hang: create an empty file archr-trace on the boot partition, boot, and send us boot-trace.log from the same partition. It is off unless you create that file, and its size is capped.
  • The keyboard and serial SysRq keys are off.

Battery

  • The battery guard could power off a console in use at around 40%. Under load (Wi-Fi, heavy games) these batteries drop 200–300 mV, and the guard read that as empty. It now powers off only after six readings in a row under 3.35 V (empty under load), or at the critical percentage with six readings under 3.40 V. A reading it cannot trust is skipped, never counted.
  • The battery level could read 0% on a charged pack (#50): the voltage now decides, and a 0% reading alone never powers off a charged console.
  • A battery guard updated through Settings › Updates starts at once instead of at the next boot, without interrupting a game it is saving.

Power

  • The menu kept the CPU busy while idle: the theme sounds held the audio output open and the input wait woke up every millisecond. Sounds now release the output after 30 seconds of quiet, and the launcher sleeps between input checks. Idle on the menu, measured on an R36S: CPU busy 16.6% → about 5%, time at the lowest frequency 31% → 86%. The first sound after 30 seconds of quiet can come about 0.2 s late.

Wi-Fi

  • Switching Wi-Fi off and on did not reconnect, and the saved network looked forgotten: the system rewrote the saved profile while Wi-Fi was already reconnecting with it. It is left alone now, and a new password is only kept after it really connects.
  • Settings shows "Connecting to …" and then "Connected to …" (or why it failed) when you join a network or switch Wi-Fi on; B cancels.
  • A Wi-Fi switched off stays off after a reboot (the status bar showed it on while Settings said off).
  • The Start menu's Wi-Fi button and the status bar follow the Settings switch at once.
  • The status bar icon tells a connected network (accent colour) from a radio that is only on (grey).
  • With a router doing band steering, Wi-Fi scanned for another access point every few seconds, with latency spikes and extra power use. Roaming scans are off; after a real loss of signal Wi-Fi still joins the best access point.
  • Forgetting a network can no longer be undone by a reconnect in progress.
  • R36S V30 with built-in Wi-Fi: the overlay generator keeps its Wi-Fi chip powered. Generate your mipi-panel.dtbo again at arch-r.io.
  • Boards with a Wi-Fi module behind the USB switch get it back when Wi-Fi is switched on again.

Updates

  • Only the Stable channel is offered: Next and Dev are not published yet, and a console set to one of them could not reach the repository (#51).
  • The download progress bar moves during the download again, and downloaded packages are removed after a successful update instead of piling up on the card.

Launcher

  • Square (720x720) and small (480x320) screens: every screen lays out for the real size. Themes can adjust layouts per screen shape ([aspect.square], [aspect.wide]), documented in docs/temas.md.
  • No text is smaller than 10 pixels on any screen.
  • B on a module page opened from the Start menu goes back to the Start menu.

Emulators

  • Sega Saturn: the standalone emulator is now yabasanshiro-pirry 1.6.2 by pirrypirrypirry, built from source, with speed and compatibility fixes for the RK3326, per-game settings, multi-disc games through .m3u, cheats and RetroAchievements. Saves and save states stay where they were, and per-game settings move to the new file names on first start.

Diagnostics

  • The diagnostic report (FN + L1 + R1) lists the network addresses again.

Arch R Flasher 1.3.9

  • An image for the other console variant is refused (an Original image with R36S Clone selected, or the other way round), with a message on the image step.

Known issues

  • Some USB Wi-Fi dongles with the RTL8188FU chip drop off the USB port under traffic. A TP-Link RTL8188EU works on the same console. We are looking into it.
  • On some boards the screen still freezes during the first boot; 3.0.1 restarts and finishes on its own. If yours does not, send us the boot trace (see Boot and first boot).

Thanks

To everyone who sent reports, stock DTBs, photos and logs in #50 and #51 and on Reddit, and to pirrypirrypirry for yabasanshiro-pirry.

Downloads

Assets 5
Loading