Booting PandaBoard with Fedora 20 GA

So I’ve always thought the fix for Fedora 20 booting on the PandaBoard devices would be a simple fix. I’ve always assumed it would be a minor kernel config change. I was wrong, it was even more simple once we worked it out with some help of our friends!

So to make it work you can do the following. First get a Fedora ARM Image, I used the Minimal Image, you’ll need the VFAT variant for which ever one you choose.

As root (or use sudo) run the following commands but remember to change the device path:

xzcat Fedora-Minimal-VFAT-armhfp-20-1-sda.raw.xz > /dev/mmcblk0; sync

Eject the card and put back it back in so it gets the new partition table etc and then copy the uboot over to the uboot partition. In my case I did (but change the path to your mount points):

cd /run/media/USERNAME/__/usr/share/uboot-panda/
cp MLO u-boot.img /run/media/USERNAME/uboot/
cp uEnv.txt.panda_es /run/media/USERNAME/uboot/uEnv.txt
umount /run/media/USERNAME/__/ /run/media/USERNAME/uboot/
sync

At this point you’ll likely want to use gparted or similar tools to expand the root filesystem. Once complete run screen or your favourite serial console application:

screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

Put the SD card into the panda, apply power, and boot through to u-boot but interrupt the boot process and get the Panda# u-boot prompt and enter the following set of commands:

setenv bootm_size 0x20000000
setenv bootargs console=${console} vram=${vram} root=LABEL=_/ ro rootwait
ext4load mmc 0:3 0x82000000 /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.10-301.fc20.armv7hl
ext4load mmc 0:3 0x88080000 /boot/uInitrd-3.11.10-301.fc20.armv7hl
ext4load mmc 0:3 0x88000000 /boot/dtb-3.11.10-301.fc20.armv7hl/omap4-panda-es.dtb
bootz 0x82000000 0x88080000 0x88000000

From there it should boot all the way through to the first boot configuration tool on the serial console, once you set a root password, create new user and set the timezone it will boot you thought to the login prompt.

That will get you to the point of being able to play. Networking works fine as does USB and a bunch of other core functionality, X doesn’t appear to with the first look and if you update the kernel (I’ve tested the shipping 3.11.10-301.fc20 and latest 3.113.13.6-200) you’ll just need to follow the process above with updated kernel details to reboot.

We’re working to get updated arm-boot-config to ensure the expected automated boot process plus some updates for X etc but I wanted to get this process out for those chomping at the bit to play while we review the changes! As always please report any issues (or success) to the Fedora ARM mailing list or IRC channel.

In terms of working devices I’ve personally tested my Panda-ES prototype (which never successfully booted anything later than 3.6.x) and Panda-ES B2, I’ve had reports of a number of variants of the vanilla Panda and ES working. I’m not sure about the B3 revisions with the Elpida DDR2 RAM but you might want to try the above with the Fedora 2014.01 uboot as it has the uboot components needed.

Lastly I’d like to explicitly call out Paul Whalen for his persistence on this one and Tom Rini who ultimately provided the tiny bit of glue we needed to solve this so simply!

I’m glad to be able to add this mainstay of the Fedora ARM project back into the supported list with fan fair, I just wish we’d found this prior to F-20 GA!

Update: It appears that X with at least the XFCE image works with the GA image.