Better device identification

[ashthespy]

Currently devices are identified via the Hardware tab of /proc/cpuinfo which is a bit ambiguous. Wouldn't it be better to use /proc/device-tree/model instead?

[volumio]

Not a bad idea at all! We need however to test with all the devices we do support...

[ashthespy]

An alternative would be to just add the device info during build time. We could sneak it into os-info for example.

[gkkpch]

I agree, cpuinfo is not very reliable because it depends on what board developers/ suppliers have put in the device tree source.
But there is already a build option in the kernel command line parameters which I have used for different devices. The parameter is "hwdevice=".
So, read "/proc/cmdline" and parse "hwdevice"

[ashthespy]

Was just revisiting this, a quick grep shows that only a few boards currently use hwdevice, and is again set manually for each board.

scripts\odroidn2config.sh
hwdevice=Odroid-N2 

scripts\odroidxu4config.sh
hwdevice=OdroidXU4 

scripts\rock64config.sh
hwdevice=Rock64

scripts\boards\odroidn2config.sh
hwdevice=Odroid-N2 

scripts\boards\odroidxu4config.sh
hwdevice=OdroidXU4

scripts\boards\rock64config.sh
hwdevice=Rock64

Do you recommend that we define our own naming convention viz /proc/device-tree/model which normally is more comprehensive? Could also complement it with /device-tree/compatible

[gkkpch]

Problem is that only with mainline kernels from the last two or three years, people are paying attention to supplying a proper hw model using the device tree. Our hwdevice parameter helps to avoid issues in cases where /proc/cpuinfo does not return correct info (as with numerous pre 4.0 kernels) Cheers - Gé Sent from my iPhone

…

> On 3 Feb 2020, at 23:43, Ash ***@***.***> wrote:  Was just revisiting this, a quick grep shows that only a few boards currently use hwdevice, and is again set manually for each board. scripts\odroidn2config.sh hwdevice=Odroid-N2 scripts\odroidxu4config.sh hwdevice=OdroidXU4 scripts\rock64config.sh hwdevice=Rock64 scripts\boards\odroidn2config.sh hwdevice=Odroid-N2 scripts\boards\odroidxu4config.sh hwdevice=OdroidXU4 scripts\boards\rock64config.sh hwdevice=Rock64 Do you recommend that we define our own naming convention viz /proc/device-tree/model which normally is more comprehensive? — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[ashthespy]

@gkkpch Fair enough!
Then what would be the way forward? Should we then define a list of hwdevice's in a central location (maybe over at volumio/build) and add them to the system plugin folder during build time?

[ashthespy]

Checking back in about this.

We now have a defined list of boards and a way to identify them -- /volumio/Build/devices

Some options to refactor ControllerSystem.prototype.deviceDetect for 3.x:

1. Read VOLUMIO_DEVICENAME from /etc/os-release
   -- Pro: in our control, can be set to anything desired.
   -- Con: Need to maintain two databases of devices, one in Build, one here.
   -- Con: Non standard, etc/os-release is mutable, and could be changed arbitrarily..

2. Read /proc/device-tree/model and/or /proc/device-tree/compatible. /proc/device-tree/serial-number
   -- Pro: Give us manufacture, device, and other model details
   -- Con: Can change, but we test on kernel bumps anyway, so don't see this as a big issue.
   -- Con: Might have edge cases on various variants of models..

Essentially: this device list can then go from

  {"name":"Raspberry PI", "cpuid":"BCM2835"},
  {"name":"Raspberry PI", "cpuid":"BCM2836"},
  {"name":"Raspberry PI", "cpuid":"BCM2837"},
  {"name":"Raspberry PI", "cpuid":"BCM2709"},
  {"name":"Raspberry PI", "cpuid":"BCM2708"},
  {"name":"Raspberry PI", "cpuid":"BCM2711"},
  {"name":"Odroid-C", "cpuid":"ODROIDC"},
  {"name":"Odroid-C2", "cpuid":"ODROID-C2"},
  {"name":"Sparky", "cpuid":"gs705a"},
  {"name":"Pine64", "cpuid":"sun50iw1p1"},
  {"name":"BBB", "cpuid":"GenericAM33XX(FlattenedDeviceTree)"},
  {"name":"Tinkerboard", "cpuid":"Rockchip(DeviceTree)"},
  {"name":"NanoPi NEO2", "cpuid":"Allwinnersun50iw2Family"},
  {"name":"Amlogic", "cpuid":"Amlogic"}

To

{"name": "Cubox Pulse", "ID": "cuboxp"},
{"name": "Khadas VIM1", "ID": "kvim1"},
{"name": "Khadas VIM2", "ID": "kvim2"},
{"name": "Khadas VIM3", "ID": "kvim3"},
{"name": "Volumio MP1", "ID": "mp1"},
{"name": "NanoPi Neo2", "ID": "nanopineo2"},
{"name": "Nanopi Neo3", "ID": "nanopineo3"},
{"name": "Odroid-C1", "ID": "odroidc1"},
{"name": "Odroid-C2", "ID": "odroidc2"},
{"name": "Odroid-C4", "ID": "odroidc4"},
{"name": "Odroid-N2", "ID": "odroidn2"},
{"name": "Odroid-XU4", "ID": "odroidxu4"},
{"name": "Orange Pi Lite", "ID": "orangepilite"},
{"name": "Orange Pi One", "ID": "orangepione"},
{"name": "Orange Pi PC", "ID": "orangepipc"},
{"name": "Pine64", "ID": "pine64base"},
{"name": "Pine64+", "ID": "pine64plus"},
{"name": "soPine64-Pine64LTS", "ID": "pine64solts"},
{"name": "Raspberry Pi", "ID": "pi"},
{"name": "Rock64", "ID": "rock64"},
{"name": "ROCK Pi S", "ID": "rockpis"},
{"name": "Asus Tinkerboard", "ID": "tinkerboard"},
{"name": "Voltastream Zero", "ID": "vszero"},
{"name": "x86_64", "ID": "x86_amd64"},
{"name": "x86", "ID": "x86_i386"}

[ashthespy]

Repo (but not old issues) has been moved over to https://github.com/volumio/volumio3-backend