ARM – At Last, a Modern System..
As my existing ARM systems are getting a bit ‘old’ – being based on armv5 (DreamPlug) or armv6 (Raspberry Pi) – neither of which is supported by the most recent Fedora release, I have been looking for an armv7-based system for further development and testing..
After some experiences with promising designs that have – sadly – failed to materialise, I decided on the ODROID U3, which is a quad-core armv7 system.
http://hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php
I ordered one – with usb/uart connection and fan-assisted heatsink – recently, and managed to get it up and running within a couple of hours with Fedora 19, using info from the Technoids site http://www.technoids.com/index.php/odroid-u2-fedora-install/
ODROID U3, with USB/UART Connection
Next steps… Upgrade to Fedora 20, and investigate compiling a ‘newer’ kernel (currently running 3.8.13.4). Kernel source is available from GitHub https://github.com/hardkernel/linux/tree/odroid-3.12.y, but the newer kernels are – apparently – still a work-in-progress for U2/U3 support..
Fedora release 19 (Schrodinger’s Cat) Kernel 3.8.13.4 on an armv7l (ttySAC1) ................... $ uname -a Linux rgodroid 3.8.13.4 #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jul 7 00:41:00 BRT 2013 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux
The system is sufficiently powerful that for the first time, kernel compilation on the device itself is a practical possibility, rather than cross-compilation…
Robert Gadsdon. February 10, 2014.
Kernel compilation works just great actually — I use my XU and U3 to test out kernels for v7 a lot, definitely not as fast as with distcc but not that long either, 10-15 minutes usually.
Now if we can just get Hardkernel to release an ODROID laptop with a 1080p+ resolution lcd 😀
I just compiled my first kernel on the U3 – 3.8.13.16 – using the old ‘make zImage’, and it works fine… I remember using distcc on a network of (old) PIIIs and PIIs years ago!
Quite a novelty, to actually have an ARM system I can (easily) compile kernels on.. I’ve looked at the 3.12.8 code on GitHub, but it seems to be a work-in-progress, and mainly for the XU at present? Nice to actually have a uboot that can support the device tree / dtb boot properly, although I haven’t got round to testing that, yet..
RG.