Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

El 24/4/24 a las 6:39, Ramiro Aceves escribió:

Hello,


My RPi4 arrived yesterday and everything worked and booted fine from the 128 GB 
SD using UEFI. Network was working fine also through ethernet without 
configuring anything. 3GB limit disabled.

Today I will continue configuring the OS.

The only nasty thing was that SD card reader in my NUC8i7 did not work in 
NetBSD and needed to flash it under Linux. I think I will buy a card reader for 
the next time. Should I fill a bug report?

Thanks guys!

Regards.
Ramiro.



Hello, I made the suggested somewhere symbolic link to avoid the "bwfm0: 
autoconfiguration error: NVRAM file not available", even that I am not 
going to use the WIFI interface.


lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   44 Apr 27 11:54 
brcmfmac43455-sdio.Raspberry Pi 4 Model B.txt -> 
brcmfmac43455-sdio.raspberrypi,4-model-b.txt


Will that fix be applied in next 10.1 release?

Thanks.
Ramiro

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

Hello,


My RPi4 arrived yesterday and everything worked and booted fine from the 128 GB 
SD using UEFI. Network was working fine also through ethernet without 
configuring anything. 3GB limit disabled.

Today I will continue configuring the OS.

The only nasty thing was that SD card reader in my NUC8i7 did not work in 
NetBSD and needed to flash it under Linux. I think I will buy a card reader for 
the next time. Should I fill a bug report?

Thanks guys!

Regards.
Ramiro.





El 22 de abril de 2024 22:16:09 CEST, Ramiro Aceves  escribió:
>
>
>El 22/4/24 a las 20:09, John Klos escribió:
>> Hi,
>> 
>>> Cause lighttpd was familar to me, I  have used it under raspbian and Debian.
  Lighttpd Web server, home minidlna film server.
>> 
>> If your usage is simple, then bozohttpd's setup will be very simple. For 
>> instance, my setup is just four lines in /etc/inetd.conf (two each for IPv4 
>> and IPv6 http, and two for https).
>> 
>> I'm interested in minidlna. Currently I can send web links to mp4 files and 
>> people know how to Airplay them to their TVs, but I'd love to be able to set 
>> up a simple media server that'd let people browse their media straight from 
>> their TVs.
>> 
>> BTW - here's my Raspberry Pi 4 server:
>> 
>> https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/w3yaes/my_updated_1u_raspberry_pi_4_server/
>
>Oh, beautiful 1U server, well done!
>
>Minidlna seems simple to configure. I have only used it to serve films for my 
>wife and daughter at home, nothing exotic.
>
>About bozohttpd. I use lighttpd for very simple experimental WEB pages using 
>https, PHP and digest auth sha256 authentication. I think that bozohttpd 
>server only support basic authentication:
>
>   HTTP BASIC AUTHORIZATION
> bozohttpd has support for HTTP Basic Authorization.  If a file named 
> .htpasswd exists in the directory of the current request, bozohttpd will 
> restrict access to documents in that directory using the RFC 2617 HTTP 
> "Basic" authentication scheme.
>
> Note: This does not recursively protect any sub-directories.
>
>I have to experiment.
>
>Thanks so much.
>Ramiro.
>
>
>
>
>
>> 
>> John

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

El 22/4/24 a las 20:09, John Klos escribió:

Hi,

Cause lighttpd was familar to me, I  have used it under raspbian and 
Debian.

 Lighttpd Web server, home minidlna film server.


If your usage is simple, then bozohttpd's setup will be very simple. For 
instance, my setup is just four lines in /etc/inetd.conf (two each for 
IPv4 and IPv6 http, and two for https).


I'm interested in minidlna. Currently I can send web links to mp4 files 
and people know how to Airplay them to their TVs, but I'd love to be 
able to set up a simple media server that'd let people browse their 
media straight from their TVs.


BTW - here's my Raspberry Pi 4 server:

https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/w3yaes/my_updated_1u_raspberry_pi_4_server/


Oh, beautiful 1U server, well done!

Minidlna seems simple to configure. I have only used it to serve films 
for my wife and daughter at home, nothing exotic.


About bozohttpd. I use lighttpd for very simple experimental WEB pages 
using https, PHP and digest auth sha256 authentication. I think that 
bozohttpd server only support basic authentication:


   HTTP BASIC AUTHORIZATION
 bozohttpd has support for HTTP Basic Authorization.  If a file 
named .htpasswd exists in the directory of the current request, 
bozohttpd will restrict access to documents in that directory using the 
RFC 2617 HTTP "Basic" authentication scheme.


 Note: This does not recursively protect any sub-directories.

I have to experiment.

Thanks so much.
Ramiro.







John

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[John Klos]

Hi,


Cause lighttpd was familar to me, I  have used it under raspbian and Debian.

 Lighttpd Web server, home minidlna film server.


If your usage is simple, then bozohttpd's setup will be very simple. For 
instance, my setup is just four lines in /etc/inetd.conf (two each for 
IPv4 and IPv6 http, and two for https).


I'm interested in minidlna. Currently I can send web links to mp4 files 
and people know how to Airplay them to their TVs, but I'd love to be able 
to set up a simple media server that'd let people browse their media 
straight from their TVs.


BTW - here's my Raspberry Pi 4 server:

https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/w3yaes/my_updated_1u_raspberry_pi_4_server/

John

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

Cause lighttpd was familar to me, I  have used it under raspbian and Debian.

El 22/4/24 a las 16:03, Justin Parrott escribió:

why do you choose lighttpd over the one distributed with n?

On Sun, Apr 21, 2024 at 4:08 PM Ramiro Aceves > wrote:




El 21/4/24 a las 20:33, Justin Parrott escribió:
 > what do you use it for?

Lighttpd Web server, home minidlna film server.

 >
 > On Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 2:24 PM Ramiro Aceves mailto:ea1...@gmail.com>
 > >> wrote:
 >
 >     Hello,
 >
 >     I am thinking about buying a more powerful Raspberry Pi than
my actual
 >     Raspberry Pi ZeroW. I like very much how NetBSD operating
system is
 >     working although I was a bit dissapointed with WIFI driver
for the
 >     builtin WIFI device, I feel that I can control the OS and it
is the
 >     OS I
 >     was looking for, simple and straightforward without bells and
whistles.
 >
 >     In general NetBSD works fine in the Pi once you get used to it,
 >     everything makes sense soon, you fell confortable and why not
to say, I
 >     am in a new world after many years using Linux and needed new
 >     sensations. On the Zero W WIFI bwfm driver did not work well and
 >     overcome that buying a USB WIFI dongle with RTL 8188EU chip
that works
 >     almost ok (with no channel switching  in the router). Now I
am going to
 >     use only ethernet network connection so WIFI will not be a
problem.
 >
 >
 >     I have been reading
 > https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/raspberry_pi/

 >     >
 >     but information is a bit confusing.
 >
 >     "As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."
 >
 >     Reading that I inmediatly discarded the Raspberry Pi 5
choice. Being
 >     realistic I think It does not work in NetBSD 10 now and I
estimate it
 >     will not work well for perhaps some years. Life is short, I
cannot wait
 >     and so I think RaspberryPi 4 should be my buying target.
 >
 >
 >     "NetBSD 10"
 >
 >           "RPI4 general support (but there are issues)"
 >
 >     Seems explained below.
 >
 >
 >           "RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for
 >     genet(4) is
 >     missing)"
 >
 >     Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable?
Network speed?
 >
 >
 >           "builtin bluetooth on RPI3 (RPI0W? RPI4?)"
 >
 >     Does bluetooth work on the Pi4?
 >
 >
 >           "builtin WiFi on RPI0W, RPI3 and RPI4 - bwfm(4)"
 >
 >     Does WIFI bwfm  driver work as badly as in the ZeroW? Not
relevant for
 >     my future use of the Pi 4 cause I will use it through
ethernet but that
 >     will be a bonus, just curious.
 >
 >
 >           "RPI4 xhci does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"
 >
 >     I seems that below is the explanation.
 >
 >           "RPI4 hardware rng does not work with a straight netbsd-10
 >     install"
 >
 >     I seems that below is the explanation.
 >
 >
 >     The following chapter is very confusing for me:
 >
 >
 >     "Issues and Workarounds"
 >     "RPI4 xhci"
 >
 >     "With the netbsd-10 arm64.img on a RPI4 (most of them), the
pci driver
 >     is missing and therefore xhci will not attach, so the USB
ports will
 >     not
 >     work. One workaround is to switch to UEFI, but that leads to
a 3GB
 >     memory limit and needing a monitor. Another is to add kernel
config.
 >     One
 >     can also add the hardware rng. Adding the following to
GENERIC64.local
 >     results in both working; you likely also need a dtb that
includes the
 >     RNG. \todo Explain why this isn't in GENERIC64 or link to a PR.
 >
 >     GENERIC64
 >
 >     bcm2838pcie* at fdt?                    # STB PCIe host
controller
 >     bcm2838rng* at fdt?                     # RPI4 RNG
 >
 >     There is some need to load firmware for the xhci driver, but
apparently
 >     that works, once the above is added"
 >
 >
 >     Does it mean that using  "traditional booting" you end with
non working
 >     USB ports? Will you even end without keyboard? I mainly will
use the Pi
 >     headless via ssh but need the keyboard in the first
configuring steps.
 >
 >     After switching to UEFI you will make USB ports work but 8 GB
 >     RapberryPi
 >     will be reduced to 3 GB only with no workaround? What do
"needing 

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

Hi John

El dom, 21 abr 2024 a las 23:44, John Klos () escribió:
>
> Hi,
>
> > "As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."
>
> I've lost interest in any new Raspberry Pi models since the
> corporatization of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. For higher performance ARM
> machines than the Raspberry Pi 4 hardware I already have, I'd go for a
> Rock Pro 5 or Orange Pi 5.

Interesting...

>
> >"RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for genet(4) is
> > missing)"
> >
> > Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable? Network speed?
>
> There were some issues last year with npf which I observed on one of my
> RPi 4 systems, but that's been addressed(-ish - not fixed, but mitigated).
>

Fine

> I've been running a RPi 4 with an uptime of 225 days as an NFS server for
> a fleet of machines that're running pkgsrc bulk builds.

Good!
>
> > "Issues and Workarounds"
> > "RPI4 xhci"
>
> I've never run any RPi 4 hardware without UEFI, although I tried a few
> times and don't remember any successes.

I will do it with UEFI as everybody says it is the way to go. Perhaps
the Install document should document this better in
https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-10.0/evbarm-aarch64/INSTALL.html,
showing the different booting options.

>
> One of the things that UEFI does provide is that it makes having a serial
> console very easy. My colocated RPi 4 was connected to an RPi 3 so that I
> could boot the 4 with a serial console, get access to UEFI menus, boot
> single user, et cetera. This, together with a GPIO on the RPi3 wired to be
> able to reset the RPi 4, makes the RPi very useful as a remote server.

That is a good tip, one Rpi can resurrect the other in case of hang.

>
> > What is your final opinion about NetBSD in that board? Are there better
> > supported boards perhaps?
>
> I think different hardware has different uses. For almost instant booting,
> low power and small size, I use NanoPi Neo. For hardware-based VPN,
> for NAT / IPv6 / DNS / DHCP, et cetera, I use NanoPi R2S. For systems that
> need PCIe, I use RockPro64.
>
> I picked the Raspberry Pi 4 with a Flirc case for my 1U server because at
> the time it was not easy to find boards with 8 gigs of memory and with two
> USB 3 ports. I'm using the USB 3 ports to connect two large (8 TB)
> spinning rust disks in a raidframe mirror. For this configuration, it was
> ideal.
>
> What do you plan to use your Pi for?

Well, lighhttpd little personal web server, minidlna film server for
home. I am also thinking to use the RPi 4 to record audio from amateur
radio receivers with external USB cards (amateur radio and electronics
is my other hobby) or data from SDR network receivers. Also GPIO for
some automated tasks.

>
> > Many thanks and sorry for so many questions, just I want to be sure that I 
> > am
> > going to make a good and useful purchase. If I purchase a Rpi 4 instead of
> > Rpi 5 to have NetBSD support and It does not work ok, it will be a absolute
> > nonsense.
>
> Indeed. It's no fun to get something we can't use. The RPi 4 is very
> usable with NetBSD, although all of my experiences with things working
> very well is based on using UEFI.

Having received several positive reviews from you and others, I  have
just ordered my new RPi4,  is coming home on thursday. I think I am
going to have fun with it!.

We'll keep in touch, I will share the experience.
Regards.
Ramiro.


>
> > I appreciate your work very much and your comments and advice will be 
> > welcome
> > and very valuable for me.
>
> :)
>
> John Klos

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[John Klos]

Hi,


"As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."


I've lost interest in any new Raspberry Pi models since the 
corporatization of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. For higher performance ARM 
machines than the Raspberry Pi 4 hardware I already have, I'd go for a 
Rock Pro 5 or Orange Pi 5.


   "RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for genet(4) is 
missing)"


Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable? Network speed?


There were some issues last year with npf which I observed on one of my 
RPi 4 systems, but that's been addressed(-ish - not fixed, but mitigated).


I've been running a RPi 4 with an uptime of 225 days as an NFS server for 
a fleet of machines that're running pkgsrc bulk builds.



"Issues and Workarounds"
"RPI4 xhci"


I've never run any RPi 4 hardware without UEFI, although I tried a few 
times and don't remember any successes.


One of the things that UEFI does provide is that it makes having a serial 
console very easy. My colocated RPi 4 was connected to an RPi 3 so that I 
could boot the 4 with a serial console, get access to UEFI menus, boot 
single user, et cetera. This, together with a GPIO on the RPi3 wired to be 
able to reset the RPi 4, makes the RPi very useful as a remote server.


What is your final opinion about NetBSD in that board? Are there better 
supported boards perhaps?


I think different hardware has different uses. For almost instant booting, 
low power and small size, I use NanoPi Neo. For hardware-based VPN, 
for NAT / IPv6 / DNS / DHCP, et cetera, I use NanoPi R2S. For systems that 
need PCIe, I use RockPro64.


I picked the Raspberry Pi 4 with a Flirc case for my 1U server because at 
the time it was not easy to find boards with 8 gigs of memory and with two 
USB 3 ports. I'm using the USB 3 ports to connect two large (8 TB) 
spinning rust disks in a raidframe mirror. For this configuration, it was 
ideal.


What do you plan to use your Pi for?

Many thanks and sorry for so many questions, just I want to be sure that I am 
going to make a good and useful purchase. If I purchase a Rpi 4 instead of 
Rpi 5 to have NetBSD support and It does not work ok, it will be a absolute 
nonsense.


Indeed. It's no fun to get something we can't use. The RPi 4 is very 
usable with NetBSD, although all of my experiences with things working 
very well is based on using UEFI.


I appreciate your work very much and your comments and advice will be welcome 
and very valuable for me.


:)

John Klos

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

El 21/4/24 a las 20:33, Justin Parrott escribió:

what do you use it for?


Lighttpd Web server, home minidlna film server.



On Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 2:24 PM Ramiro Aceves > wrote:


Hello,

I am thinking about buying a more powerful Raspberry Pi than my actual
Raspberry Pi ZeroW. I like very much how NetBSD operating system is
working although I was a bit dissapointed with WIFI driver for the
builtin WIFI device, I feel that I can control the OS and it is the
OS I
was looking for, simple and straightforward without bells and whistles.

In general NetBSD works fine in the Pi once you get used to it,
everything makes sense soon, you fell confortable and why not to say, I
am in a new world after many years using Linux and needed new
sensations. On the Zero W WIFI bwfm driver did not work well and
overcome that buying a USB WIFI dongle with RTL 8188EU chip that works
almost ok (with no channel switching  in the router). Now I am going to
use only ethernet network connection so WIFI will not be a problem.


I have been reading
https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/raspberry_pi/

but information is a bit confusing.

"As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."

Reading that I inmediatly discarded the Raspberry Pi 5 choice. Being
realistic I think It does not work in NetBSD 10 now and I estimate it
will not work well for perhaps some years. Life is short, I cannot wait
and so I think RaspberryPi 4 should be my buying target.


"NetBSD 10"

      "RPI4 general support (but there are issues)"

Seems explained below.


      "RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for
genet(4) is
missing)"

Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable? Network speed?


      "builtin bluetooth on RPI3 (RPI0W? RPI4?)"

Does bluetooth work on the Pi4?


      "builtin WiFi on RPI0W, RPI3 and RPI4 - bwfm(4)"

Does WIFI bwfm  driver work as badly as in the ZeroW? Not relevant for
my future use of the Pi 4 cause I will use it through ethernet but that
will be a bonus, just curious.


      "RPI4 xhci does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"

I seems that below is the explanation.

      "RPI4 hardware rng does not work with a straight netbsd-10
install"

I seems that below is the explanation.


The following chapter is very confusing for me:


"Issues and Workarounds"
"RPI4 xhci"

"With the netbsd-10 arm64.img on a RPI4 (most of them), the pci driver
is missing and therefore xhci will not attach, so the USB ports will
not
work. One workaround is to switch to UEFI, but that leads to a 3GB
memory limit and needing a monitor. Another is to add kernel config.
One
can also add the hardware rng. Adding the following to GENERIC64.local
results in both working; you likely also need a dtb that includes the
RNG. \todo Explain why this isn't in GENERIC64 or link to a PR.

GENERIC64

bcm2838pcie* at fdt?                    # STB PCIe host controller
bcm2838rng* at fdt?                     # RPI4 RNG

There is some need to load firmware for the xhci driver, but apparently
that works, once the above is added"


Does it mean that using  "traditional booting" you end with non working
USB ports? Will you even end without keyboard? I mainly will use the Pi
headless via ssh but need the keyboard in the first configuring steps.

After switching to UEFI you will make USB ports work but 8 GB
RapberryPi
will be reduced to 3 GB only with no workaround? What do "needing a
monitor" mean? Why?
If the fix for USB and rng is recompiling the KERNEL, why is not
enabled
by default in the standard image?


"RPI4 UEFI 3 GB"

"To work around bugs in hardware (that may or may not be fixed in
recent
RPI4) and because not all OSes have workarounds, the UEFI firmware's
default is to limit RAM to 3GB. NetBSD 10 can be used with more, so
this
needs to be configured in UEFI."

That should be explained more in detail for newcomers.

Last questions:

Do GPIO pins work ok?

Does I2C work? That is important for me cause I plan to read some
sensors.

Does HDMI output work or should I use serial console? traditional boot
vs UEFI difference in this matter?

What is your final opinion about NetBSD in that board? Are there better
supported boards perhaps?

Many thanks and sorry for so many questions, just I want to be sure
that
I am going to make a good and useful purchase. If I purchase a Rpi 4
instead of Rpi 5 to have NetBSD support and It does not work ok, it
will
be a absolute nonsense.

I appreciate your work very much and your comments and advice will be
welcome and very valuable for me.

  

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

El 21/4/24 a las 2:24, Michael escribió:

Hello,

On Sat, 20 Apr 2024 11:46:51 +0200
Ramiro Aceves  wrote:


"As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."

Reading that I inmediatly discarded the Raspberry Pi 5 choice. Being
realistic I think It does not work in NetBSD 10 now and I estimate it
will not work well for perhaps some years. Life is short, I cannot wait
and so I think RaspberryPi 4 should be my buying target.


Not sure what's missing - there is now at least beta UEFI firmware for the Pi5.


"NetBSD 10"

  "RPI4 general support (but there are issues)"


I've been using an 8GB Pi4 and a Pi400 with UEFI for a while now.


  "RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for genet(4) is
missing)"

Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable? Network speed?


Works fine on mine, good enough for NetBSD and pkgsrc builds with
sources over NFS.


  "builtin bluetooth on RPI3 (RPI0W? RPI4?)"

Does bluetooth work on the Pi4?


Never tried.


  "builtin WiFi on RPI0W, RPI3 and RPI4 - bwfm(4)"

Does WIFI bwfm  driver work as badly as in the ZeroW? Not relevant for
my future use of the Pi 4 cause I will use it through ethernet but that
will be a bonus, just curious.


IIRC I got it to connect to my router but never really stress tested
it. I prefer wired ethernet wherever practical.


  "RPI4 xhci does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"

I seems that below is the explanation.


Both my Pi4* boot from USB3 disks connected to USB3 ports.


After switching to UEFI you will make USB ports work but 8 GB RapberryPi
will be reduced to 3 GB only with no workaround? What do "needing a
monitor" mean? Why?


The 3GB limit is on by default for some old linux kernels that don't
have the DMA workaround. It takes about 10 seconds to get into the UEFI
setup menu and turn it off.

[ 1.00] NetBSD 10.99.7 (GENERIC64) #0: Thu Aug 24 06:18:05 EDT 2023
[ 1.00] 
ml@paddy:/disk/build/obj_earm64/sys/arch/evbarm/compile/GENERIC64
[ 1.00] total memory = 8029 MB
[ 1.00] avail memory = 7740 MB
[ 1.00] entropy: ready
[ 1.00] ptyfs_hashinit: 0001feef5b00
[ 1.00] timecounter: Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
[ 1.00] armfdt0 (root)
[ 1.00] armfdt0: using EFI runtime services for RTC
[ 1.00] simplebus0 at armfdt0: Raspberry Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi 4 
Model B
[ 1.00] simplebus1 at simplebus0
[ 1.00] acpifdt0 at simplebus0
[ 1.00] acpifdt0: SMBIOS rev. 3.3.0 @ 0x371d
...


Does HDMI output work or should I use serial console? traditional boot
vs UEFI difference in this matter?


I'm typing this on a Pi400 with a monitor hooked to it. My Pi400 even
came with a micro-HDMI to regular HDMI cable.

have fun
Michael


Thanks so much Michael for the details about de RPi4 working in NetBSD. 
Nice to see that UEFI is the way to go. Nice also to see that 3 GB limit 
can be eliminated.


I have also received other people direct positive feedback. Chances to 
buy it are increasing.


Thanks.
Ramiro.

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Thomas D. Dean]

On 4/20/24 17:24, Michael wrote:

The 3GB limit is on by default for some old linux kernels that don't
have the DMA workaround. It takes about 10 seconds to get into the UEFI
setup menu and turn it off.


What is the UEFI setup menu? How do I get in to it?

I used dd to write arm64.img to the USB 3 flash drive.

Is the NetBSD installer available in the arm64.img? Is it possible to 
use the installer on the RPi 4b (booted from the SD card) to install 
NetBSD 10 on the USB 3 flash drive?


Tom Dean

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Michael]

Hello,

On Sat, 20 Apr 2024 11:46:51 +0200
Ramiro Aceves  wrote:

> "As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."
> 
> Reading that I inmediatly discarded the Raspberry Pi 5 choice. Being 
> realistic I think It does not work in NetBSD 10 now and I estimate it 
> will not work well for perhaps some years. Life is short, I cannot wait 
> and so I think RaspberryPi 4 should be my buying target.

Not sure what's missing - there is now at least beta UEFI firmware for the Pi5.

> "NetBSD 10"
> 
>  "RPI4 general support (but there are issues)"

I've been using an 8GB Pi4 and a Pi400 with UEFI for a while now.

>  "RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for genet(4) is 
> missing)"
> 
> Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable? Network speed?

Works fine on mine, good enough for NetBSD and pkgsrc builds with
sources over NFS.

>  "builtin bluetooth on RPI3 (RPI0W? RPI4?)"
> 
> Does bluetooth work on the Pi4?

Never tried.

>  "builtin WiFi on RPI0W, RPI3 and RPI4 - bwfm(4)"
> 
> Does WIFI bwfm  driver work as badly as in the ZeroW? Not relevant for 
> my future use of the Pi 4 cause I will use it through ethernet but that 
> will be a bonus, just curious.

IIRC I got it to connect to my router but never really stress tested
it. I prefer wired ethernet wherever practical.

>  "RPI4 xhci does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"
> 
> I seems that below is the explanation.

Both my Pi4* boot from USB3 disks connected to USB3 ports.

> After switching to UEFI you will make USB ports work but 8 GB RapberryPi 
> will be reduced to 3 GB only with no workaround? What do "needing a 
> monitor" mean? Why?

The 3GB limit is on by default for some old linux kernels that don't
have the DMA workaround. It takes about 10 seconds to get into the UEFI
setup menu and turn it off.

[ 1.00] NetBSD 10.99.7 (GENERIC64) #0: Thu Aug 24 06:18:05 EDT 2023
[ 1.00] 
ml@paddy:/disk/build/obj_earm64/sys/arch/evbarm/compile/GENERIC64
[ 1.00] total memory = 8029 MB
[ 1.00] avail memory = 7740 MB
[ 1.00] entropy: ready
[ 1.00] ptyfs_hashinit: 0001feef5b00
[ 1.00] timecounter: Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
[ 1.00] armfdt0 (root)
[ 1.00] armfdt0: using EFI runtime services for RTC
[ 1.00] simplebus0 at armfdt0: Raspberry Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi 4 
Model B
[ 1.00] simplebus1 at simplebus0
[ 1.00] acpifdt0 at simplebus0
[ 1.00] acpifdt0: SMBIOS rev. 3.3.0 @ 0x371d
...

> Does HDMI output work or should I use serial console? traditional boot 
> vs UEFI difference in this matter?

I'm typing this on a Pi400 with a monitor hooked to it. My Pi400 even
came with a micro-HDMI to regular HDMI cable.

have fun
Michael

need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Ramiro Aceves]

Hello,

I am thinking about buying a more powerful Raspberry Pi than my actual 
Raspberry Pi ZeroW. I like very much how NetBSD operating system is 
working although I was a bit dissapointed with WIFI driver for the 
builtin WIFI device, I feel that I can control the OS and it is the OS I 
was looking for, simple and straightforward without bells and whistles.


In general NetBSD works fine in the Pi once you get used to it, 
everything makes sense soon, you fell confortable and why not to say, I 
am in a new world after many years using Linux and needed new 
sensations. On the Zero W WIFI bwfm driver did not work well and 
overcome that buying a USB WIFI dongle with RTL 8188EU chip that works 
almost ok (with no channel switching  in the router). Now I am going to 
use only ethernet network connection so WIFI will not be a problem.



I have been reading https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/raspberry_pi/ 
but information is a bit confusing.


"As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."

Reading that I inmediatly discarded the Raspberry Pi 5 choice. Being 
realistic I think It does not work in NetBSD 10 now and I estimate it 
will not work well for perhaps some years. Life is short, I cannot wait 
and so I think RaspberryPi 4 should be my buying target.



"NetBSD 10"

"RPI4 general support (but there are issues)"

Seems explained below.


"RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for genet(4) is 
missing)"


Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable? Network speed?


"builtin bluetooth on RPI3 (RPI0W? RPI4?)"

Does bluetooth work on the Pi4?


"builtin WiFi on RPI0W, RPI3 and RPI4 - bwfm(4)"

Does WIFI bwfm  driver work as badly as in the ZeroW? Not relevant for 
my future use of the Pi 4 cause I will use it through ethernet but that 
will be a bonus, just curious.



"RPI4 xhci does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"

I seems that below is the explanation.

"RPI4 hardware rng does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"

I seems that below is the explanation.


The following chapter is very confusing for me:


"Issues and Workarounds"
"RPI4 xhci"

"With the netbsd-10 arm64.img on a RPI4 (most of them), the pci driver 
is missing and therefore xhci will not attach, so the USB ports will not 
work. One workaround is to switch to UEFI, but that leads to a 3GB 
memory limit and needing a monitor. Another is to add kernel config. One 
can also add the hardware rng. Adding the following to GENERIC64.local 
results in both working; you likely also need a dtb that includes the 
RNG. \todo Explain why this isn't in GENERIC64 or link to a PR.


GENERIC64

bcm2838pcie* at fdt?# STB PCIe host controller
bcm2838rng* at fdt? # RPI4 RNG

There is some need to load firmware for the xhci driver, but apparently 
that works, once the above is added"



Does it mean that using  "traditional booting" you end with non working 
USB ports? Will you even end without keyboard? I mainly will use the Pi 
headless via ssh but need the keyboard in the first configuring steps.


After switching to UEFI you will make USB ports work but 8 GB RapberryPi 
will be reduced to 3 GB only with no workaround? What do "needing a 
monitor" mean? Why?
If the fix for USB and rng is recompiling the KERNEL, why is not enabled 
by default in the standard image?



"RPI4 UEFI 3 GB"

"To work around bugs in hardware (that may or may not be fixed in recent 
RPI4) and because not all OSes have workarounds, the UEFI firmware's 
default is to limit RAM to 3GB. NetBSD 10 can be used with more, so this 
needs to be configured in UEFI."


That should be explained more in detail for newcomers.

Last questions:

Do GPIO pins work ok?

Does I2C work? That is important for me cause I plan to read some sensors.

Does HDMI output work or should I use serial console? traditional boot 
vs UEFI difference in this matter?


What is your final opinion about NetBSD in that board? Are there better 
supported boards perhaps?


Many thanks and sorry for so many questions, just I want to be sure that 
I am going to make a good and useful purchase. If I purchase a Rpi 4 
instead of Rpi 5 to have NetBSD support and It does not work ok, it will 
be a absolute nonsense.


I appreciate your work very much and your comments and advice will be 
welcome and very valuable for me.


Thanks in advance.


Ramiro.

Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[adr]

On Sat, 20 Apr 2024, Ramiro Aceves wrote:


 Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 11:46:51 +0200
 From: Ramiro Aceves 
 To: netbsd-users@netbsd.org, port-...@netbsd.org
 Subject: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

 Hello,

 I am thinking about buying a more powerful Raspberry Pi than my actual
 Raspberry Pi ZeroW. I like very much how NetBSD operating system is working
 although I was a bit dissapointed with WIFI driver for the builtin WIFI
 device, I feel that I can control the OS and it is the OS I was looking for,
 simple and straightforward without bells and whistles.

 In general NetBSD works fine in the Pi once you get used to it, everything
 makes sense soon, you fell confortable and why not to say, I am in a new
 world after many years using Linux and needed new sensations. On the Zero W
 WIFI bwfm driver did not work well and overcome that buying a USB WIFI
 dongle with RTL 8188EU chip that works almost ok (with no channel switching
 in the router). Now I am going to use only ethernet network connection so
 WIFI will not be a problem.


 I have been reading https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/raspberry_pi/ but
 information is a bit confusing.

 "As of early 2024, NetBSD does not support the Raspberry Pi 5."

 Reading that I inmediatly discarded the Raspberry Pi 5 choice. Being
 realistic I think It does not work in NetBSD 10 now and I estimate it will
 not work well for perhaps some years. Life is short, I cannot wait and so I
 think RaspberryPi 4 should be my buying target.


 "NetBSD 10"

"RPI4 general support (but there are issues)"

 Seems explained below.


"RPI4 ethernet (Broadcom GENETv5) (but the man page for genet(4) is
 missing)"

 Can I be sure that ethernet will work fine and reliable? Network speed?


"builtin bluetooth on RPI3 (RPI0W? RPI4?)"

 Does bluetooth work on the Pi4?


"builtin WiFi on RPI0W, RPI3 and RPI4 - bwfm(4)"

 Does WIFI bwfm  driver work as badly as in the ZeroW? Not relevant for my
 future use of the Pi 4 cause I will use it through ethernet but that will be
 a bonus, just curious.


"RPI4 xhci does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"

 I seems that below is the explanation.

"RPI4 hardware rng does not work with a straight netbsd-10 install"

 I seems that below is the explanation.


 The following chapter is very confusing for me:


 "Issues and Workarounds"
 "RPI4 xhci"

 "With the netbsd-10 arm64.img on a RPI4 (most of them), the pci driver is
 missing and therefore xhci will not attach, so the USB ports will not work.
 One workaround is to switch to UEFI, but that leads to a 3GB memory limit
 and needing a monitor. Another is to add kernel config. One can also add the
 hardware rng. Adding the following to GENERIC64.local results in both
 working; you likely also need a dtb that includes the RNG. \todo Explain why
 this isn't in GENERIC64 or link to a PR.

 GENERIC64

 bcm2838pcie* at fdt?# STB PCIe host controller
 bcm2838rng* at fdt? # RPI4 RNG

 There is some need to load firmware for the xhci driver, but apparently that
 works, once the above is added"


 Does it mean that using  "traditional booting" you end with non working USB
 ports? Will you even end without keyboard? I mainly will use the Pi headless
 via ssh but need the keyboard in the first configuring steps.

 After switching to UEFI you will make USB ports work but 8 GB RapberryPi
 will be reduced to 3 GB only with no workaround? What do "needing a monitor"
 mean? Why?
 If the fix for USB and rng is recompiling the KERNEL, why is not enabled by
 default in the standard image?


 "RPI4 UEFI 3 GB"

 "To work around bugs in hardware (that may or may not be fixed in recent
 RPI4) and because not all OSes have workarounds, the UEFI firmware's default
 is to limit RAM to 3GB. NetBSD 10 can be used with more, so this needs to be
 configured in UEFI."

 That should be explained more in detail for newcomers.

 Last questions:

 Do GPIO pins work ok?

 Does I2C work? That is important for me cause I plan to read some sensors.

 Does HDMI output work or should I use serial console? traditional boot vs
 UEFI difference in this matter?

 What is your final opinion about NetBSD in that board? Are there better
 supported boards perhaps?

 Many thanks and sorry for so many questions, just I want to be sure that I
 am going to make a good and useful purchase. If I purchase a Rpi 4 instead
 of Rpi 5 to have NetBSD support and It does not work ok, it will be a
 absolute nonsense.

 I appreciate your work very much and your comments and advice will be
 welcome and very valuable for me.

 Thanks in advance.


 Ramiro.


Thas what happens when you have an official wiki, people write
wrong information even after been told that that information is
not correct and doing an effort to explain in