Beta board distribution -- action requested

I should be getting a tiny number of beta X15 boards on Wednesday. I’d like to minimize the turn-around from arrival with me to boards in key developer hands, I’d like for people anxious for boards to reply to this list with:

  1. What your plans for the boards would be.
  2. What open source repositories (URLs please) will host your contributions.
  3. What expertise you have to accomplish your goals.

If there is someone you don’t see replying to this list that you feel should be getting a board (like a kernel maintainer that doesn’t read this particular list) then don’t hesitate to put them in direct CC and make the case for them. There are a couple people I’ll do that for myself if I don’t see them show up on this thread.

If I like your proposal, you will get a private e-mail from me with a URL to a Google spreadsheet where I’d like you to update me on your latest shipping address and phone number. There’s also some info in there to help us record this as a donation to help assist the goals of the non-profit foundation, so I appreciate your help in that regard.

Please don’t be hurt if you don’t get a board in this round. There just aren’t many to go around.

By-the-way, I don’t think I made it clear that I want this even if you have ALREADY provided this information to me in the past. I will be digging back through my old traffic to see who I promised boards and for what, but I am MOST likely to miss it or to decided you really aren’t ready to start development. Your reply here is critical.

Hi,

To reply the points:

  1. To evaluate the performance of QEMU VMs running on this board, focusing on storage applications (but not limited to them).
  2. https://github.com/daynix
  3. We are a very experienced team when it comes to virtualization, with several major contributions to QEMU code, and several more in the works.

Regards,
Leonid.

1-Upgrading my pentesting Linux distro (Deck Linux) to work on the new hardware. Also, producing the first ever USB 3.0 forensics device and attack device.
2-https://github.com/ppolstra multiple projects some of which are also at http://facstaff.bloomu.edu/ppolstra
3-Numerous presentations around the world on using Beagles for security and forensics (3 at DEFCON alone) and two books on the same.

  1. Build an a drone out of it and benchmark it.
  2. https://github.com/erlerobot
  3. Built several drones and robots based on the BeagleBone Black (a new one is actually being launched next week).

Quick note on the "beta" boards, a regulator was changed (video), so
don't run any of the "bbx15" example rootfs prior to:

2015-08-31

Here's a couple quick links:

microSD - console:
http://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-08-31/console/bbx15-debian-8.1-console-armhf-2015-08-31-2gb.img.xz

eMMC flasher - console:
http://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-08-31/console/bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.1-console-armhf-2015-08-31-2gb.img.xz

microSD - lxqt:
http://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-08-31/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.1-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-08-31-4gb.img.xz

eMMC flasher - lxqt:
http://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-08-31/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.1-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-08-31-4gb.img.xz

We also have a lightly tested script, to move your running image, to
either usb or sata media, and u-boot will detect that and boot from
it.. (u-boot is still loaded from microSD/eMMC, but it'll init
usb/scsi and look for /boot/uEnv.txt in the first partition)

Regards,

  1. Realtime image and audio processing with DSP core acceleration and custom daughter board
  2. https://github.com/compeoree/
  3. My expertise is in the hardware/software interaction realm. In hardware, I’m familiar with Serial, I2C, SPI, CAN, and PCB layout. In software, I’m familiar with Linux Kernel compilation, device tree, Yocto, and Qt. I could also help with verifying or proofreading the SRM and/or data sheets.

Louis

For folks who would like to use kernel.org and denx.de u-boot: please pick up https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/7118701/ until it is merged. (status as of kernel.org master dd5cdb48edfd Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net-next )

Regards,
Nishanth Menon

I should be getting a *tiny* number of beta X15 boards on Wednesday. I'd
like to minimize the turn-around from arrival with me to boards in key
developer hands, I'd like for people anxious for boards to reply to this
list with:

1) What your plans for the boards would be.

The Machinekit project would appreciate a board. We are actively
working on making the HAL layer multi-thread and multi-CPU safe, and I
feel the X15 is a perfect board for developing and testing this code.
In particular, I think combined with other ongoing work integrating
Machinekit and ROS, the X15 is a near ideal academic robotics and
machine control development platform with the various ARM, DSP, and
PRU cores available.

2) What open source repositories (URLs please) will host your contributions.

...with experimental stuff possibly in other person github repos
(likely cdsteinkuehler and/or mhaberler).

3) What expertise you have to accomplish your goals.

Our existing work with the BeagleBone and PRUs, plus a general
background in real-time systems development from hardware through
application levels.

beta boards + 2015-08-31 image

a couple really important memory changes have been pushed to ti's u-boot tree:

http://git.ti.com/gitweb/?p=ti-u-boot/ti-u-boot.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/ti-u-boot-2015.07

So make sure you update the bootloader...

(This will be fixed in 2015-09-06 snapshots)

To update the 2015-08-31 image...

cd /opt/scripts/tools/developers/

sudo ./update_bootloader.sh

It'll flash r7 (or greater)

Warning: this script will flash your bootloader with:
u-boot-mmc-spl.bin: [MLO-beagle_x15_ti-v2015.07-r7]
u-boot.bin: [u-boot-beagle_x15_ti-v2015.07-r7.img]
for: [beagle_x15]

sudo reboot:

u-boot:

U-Boot 2015.07-00106-g738d3f9 (Sep 03 2015 - 11:43:47 -0500)

Regards,

  1. Plans for the board

The primary goal is to develop a configuration for using OpenOCD with the Beagleboard X15 to enable debugging of both the Linux Kernel and U-Boot.

Additionally, I have a number of labs and experiments that I developed for the Arduino TRE beta test that I’d like to port to the X15 to test various capabilities of the X15

  1. URL for the effort:

https://github.com/taichichuan/OpenOCD-X15
https://github.com/taichichuan/X15Labs

  1. Expertise

I have many years of Linux kernel development and a history of presenting low-level debugging techniques at ELC, ESC, and ABS.

Hi -

  1. We would upgrade our open-source neuro/cardiac electrophysiology platform (used by about 60-70 labs around the world)
  2. https://github.com/PuggleBoard
  3. We’ve got this that we made with the BBB: http://www.puggleboard.com

Thanks.

If you talk to anyone that wanted a board and didn’t reply to this thread, let them know they are hosed for a week while I’m out helping my wife deliver our first baby. For everyone else that did reply, good news, your board is on the way as of today!!

We are heavily under-represented by video people and the Kodi guys didn’t follow-up. Thoughts on bringing in more people to help clean up the video experience?

Test remoteproc/rpmsg implementation on V4.1.6-bone15. I have this working on BBB and have already added the code necessary to support BeagleBoard-x15. The code includes all the updated platform code for all processors, updated devicetree and updated devices (spinlock, mailbox, rpmsg, remoteproc). The test comprises of loading PRU firmware and loading rpmsg_client_sample.ko, which sends 100 “Hello World” messages to PRU1 which receives and interrupt, copies the message and sends it back to the ARM which initiates a callback.

In addition, I notices that the TI V3.14 kernel does a proper shutdown so that the board consumes zero current. My plan is to reverse engineer this sequence and create a patch for Robert’s V4.1.6-bone15 kernel so that it does the same. Should be an interesting project.

Regards,
John

Zero current. That would be interesting to see.

Gerald

There is nothing to reverse engineer here:
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/mfd/palmas.c#n429

There will always be some leakage as the base supplies will still be
ON to PMIC.

Yes they will!

Gerald

In addition, I notices that the TI V3.14 kernel does a proper shutdown
so that the board consumes zero current. My plan is to reverse
engineer this sequence and create a patch for Robert’s V4.1.6-bone15
kernel so that it does the same. Should be an interesting project.

There is nothing to reverse engineer here:
palmas.c « mfd « drivers - kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree

There will always be some leakage as the base supplies will still be
ON to PMIC.

Yeah, I realize that, but currently my BBB with V4.1.6-bone15 consumes 335mA or 1.679W after I do a halt.

With the TI kernel, I noticed that the power LED was also off, which is what I see when I hold the power button down for 10 seconds. I’m using this instrument before my BBB:

http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G137361754360

The display says 0.000A. Now if I was to measure the current with my 5 1/2 digit fluke meter, I’m sure we would see the current consumed by the TPS65217C which in the datasheet shows Ioff as 6uA.

Regards,
John

I think this is an artifact of:

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/arch/arm/boot/dts/am335x-bone-common.dtsi?id=7a6cb0abe1aa63334f3ded6d2b6c8eca80e72302

bit long discussion about it..

Regards,

In addition, I notices that the TI V3.14 kernel does a proper shutdown
so that the board consumes zero current. My plan is to reverse
engineer this sequence and create a patch for Robert’s V4.1.6-bone15
kernel so that it does the same. Should be an interesting project.

There is nothing to reverse engineer here:
palmas.c « mfd « drivers - kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree

There will always be some leakage as the base supplies will still be
ON to PMIC.

Yeah, I realize that, but currently my BBB with V4.1.6-bone15 consumes 335mA or 1.679W after I do a halt.

With the TI kernel, I noticed that the power LED was also off, which is what I see when I hold the power button down for 10 seconds. I’m using this instrument before my BBB:

http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G137361754360

The display says 0.000A. Now if I was to measure the current with my 5 1/2 digit fluke meter, I’m sure we would see the current consumed by the TPS65217C which in the datasheet shows Ioff as 6uA.

I think this is an artifact of:

ARM: dts: am335x-boneblack: disable RTC-only sleep to avoid hardware damage - kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree

bit long discussion about it..

That is very interesting. I wonder if it would be possible to power off individual regulator outputs before initiating a TPS65217C shutdown. Could this be a work around for this issue? Also, is this going to be an issue with the BeagleBoard-x15?

Regards,
John