Recently I became a (not very proud) owner of Acer Aspire Switch 10E, a small notebook/tablet convertible based on Intel baytrail platform. Replacing preinstalled (32-bit!) Windows 8.1 with (64-bit) openSUSE proved more challenging than expected, mostly because the device is haunted by a 32-bit UEFI so that it took me a week to make it boot without an external USB flash disk.

Even today, a lot of issues persist. As I do not want to waste a (partially) good hardware, I would like to make it as usable as possible. This is much less selfish than it sounds as there are many other devices based on Intel baytrail platform so that the effort is going to help their owners as well (if successful, that is).

Most pressing issues:

  • kernel needs to be built with CONFIG_EFI_MIXED enabled to be able to interact with 32-bit UEFI properly (enabled now in recent openSUSE kernels)
  • grub2 needs a commit from mainline to use i386-efi target when needed (available in home:mkubecek:baytrail OBS project, going to submit)
  • UEFI seems to keep resetting EFI variables to point to the original location of the windows EFI loader; find if it can be persuaded not to or at least to accept other loader as fallback if that one doesn't exist
  • Realtek 8723BS wi-fi adapter is not supported by mainline kernel; there is an out-of-tree driver available; according to Larry Finger, the chances of it getting it into mainline are negligible but there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel; for the time being, a KMP with the driver from github would be handy
  • the keyboard/touchpad device in the base needs HID_MAX_USAGES to be raised to an insanely high value; according to Jiří Kosina, this usually means the device reports too many capabilities (without actually providing those); a proper way to handle this is writing a driver which fixes the descriptor (there is also a table of HID device quirks, could it be employed instead?).
  • there definitely is a sound device inside; however, none is detected by openSUSE or seen by lspci or lsusb; I guess it uses some more esoteric interface ({SD,MM,GP}IO?); learn more about those and try to find a way to
  • suspend to disk/RAM doesn't work at all
  • since 4.3.0 (persists with 4.4-rc4), playing fullscreen video in mpv ends up freezing the system; trying to get a crash dump but Alt-SysRq-C is ignored and automatic lockup detectors reboot the system instead of executing kdump for some reason
  • getting "Atomic update failure on pipe A" errors from i915 driver; these seem to be fixed for Haswell GPU's but apparently this Atom APU is also affected
  • when the lid is taken out of the base for long time (1-2 hours), USB sometime stops working; occasionally a message about IRQ#8 being disabled appears; last seen with 4.1 kernel, not sure if this issue can be reproduced with current kernel (haven't tried).
  • rotating the screen in Plasma 5 is way slower than it used to be in KDE4
  • touchscreen tap leads to completely different action than a mouse click when Plasma 5 desktop is displayed; may be intentional but I have no idea how to configure it

Looking for hackers with the skills:

hardware kernel bootloader opensuse

This project is part of:

Hack Week 13

Activity

  • about 9 years ago: randybb liked this project.
  • about 9 years ago: pluskalm liked this project.
  • about 9 years ago: alnovak liked this project.
  • about 9 years ago: mlin7442 liked this project.
  • about 9 years ago: aspiers liked this project.
  • about 9 years ago: mkubecek added keyword "opensuse" to this project.
  • about 9 years ago: mkubecek added keyword "hardware" to this project.
  • about 9 years ago: mkubecek added keyword "kernel" to this project.
  • about 9 years ago: mkubecek added keyword "bootloader" to this project.
  • about 9 years ago: mkubecek started this project.
  • about 9 years ago: mkubecek originated this project.

  • Comments

    • mkubecek
      about 9 years ago by mkubecek | Reply

      End of hackweek status: I spent a lot of time on trying to get a crash dump after video playback freezes. No luck so far - and I didn't get to some other interesting topics (like getting rid of the HID_MAX_USAGES hack).

      • ToDo: grub2 submitrequest
      • UEFI ignores BootOrder but one can select his preferred EFI loader in the setup
      • packaged rtl8723bs KMP and added to home:mkubecek:baytrail OBS project; ToDo: check status of the additional patches in patches/ subdirectory
      • keyboard/touchpad usages issue: still ToDo
      • enabling few additional config options allows me to see the sound device; no success to get an actual sound out of it yet, will need to get more familiar with ALSA configuration
      • suspend to disk/RAM: no progress
      • freezing video: spent a lot of time trying to get a crash dump, no success
      • atomic update failures: modified the workaround for freedesktop.org bug 91579 to be used with ValleyView chipsets but the messages are still there; ToDo: report a bug to bugs.freedesktop.org
      • IRQ getting disabled: irqpoll kernel parameter seems to help
      • with current Tumbleweed, screen rotation is as fast as it used to be with KDE4

    Similar Projects

    SUSE Prague claw machine by anstalker

    Project Description

    The idea is to build a claw machine similar to e.g. this one:

    example image

    Why? Well, it could be a lot of fun!

    But also it's a great way to dispense SUSE and openSUSE merch like little Geekos at events like conferences, career fairs and open house events.

    Goal for this Hackweek

    Build an arcade claw machine.

    Resources

    In French, an article about why you always lose in claw machine games:

    We're looking for handy/crafty people in the Prague office:

    • woodworking XP or equipment
    • arduino/raspi embedded programming knowledge
    • Anthony can find a budget for going to GM and buying servos and such ;)


    Framework laptop integration by nkrapp

    Project Description

    Although openSUSE does run on the Framework laptops out-of-the-box, there is still room to improve the experience. The ultimate goal is to get openSUSE on the list of community supported distros

    Goal for this Hackweek

    The goal this year is to at least package all of the soft- and firmware for accessories like the embedded controller, Framework 16 inputmodule and other tools. I already made some progress by packaging the inputmodule control software, but the firmware is still missing

    Resources

    As I only have a Framework laptop 16 and not a 13 I'm looking for people with hardware that can help me test

    Progress:

    Update 1:

    The project lives under my home for now until I can get an independent project on OBS: Framework Laptop project

    Also, the first package is already done, it's the cli for the led-matrix spacer module on the Framework Laptop 16. I am also testing this myself, but any feedback or questions are welcome.

    You can test the package on the Framework 16 by adding this repo and installing the package inputmodule-control

    Update 2:

    I finished packaging the python cli/gui for the inputmodule. It is using a bit of a hack because one of the dependencies (PySimpleGUI) recently switched to a noncommercial license so I cannot ship it. But now you can actually play the games on the led-matrix (the rust package doesn't include controls for the games). I'm also working on the Framework system tools now, which should be more interesting for Framework 13 users.

    You can test the package on the Framework 16 by installing python311-framework16_inputmodule and then running "ledmatrixctl" from the command line.

    Update 3:

    I packaged the framework_tool, a general application for interacting with the system. You can find it some detailed information what it can do here. On my system everything related to the embedded controller functionality doesn't work though, so some help testing and debugging would be appreciated.

    Update 4:

    Today I finished the qmk interface, which gives you a cli (and gui) to configure your Framework 16 keyboard. Sadly the Python gui is broken upstream, but I added the qmk_hid package with the cli and from my testing it works well.

    Final Update:

    All the interesting programs are now done, I decided to exclude the firmware for now since upstream also recommends using fwupd to update it. I will hack on more things related to the Framework Laptops in the future so if there are any ideas to improve the experience (or any bugs to report) feel free to message me about it.

    As a final summary/help for everyone using a Framework Laptop who wants to use this software:

    The source code for all packages can be found in repositories in the Framework organization on Github

    All software can be installed from this repo (Tumbleweed)

    The available packages are:

    • framework-inputmodule-control (FW16) - play with the inputmodules on your Framework 16 (b1-display, led-matrix, c1-minimal)

    • python-framework16_inputmodule (FW16) - same as inputmodule-control but is needed if you want to play and crontrol the built-in games in the led-matrix (call with ledmatrixctl or ledmatrixgui)

    • framework_tool (FW13 and FW 16) - use to see and configure general things on your framework system. Commands using the embedded controller might not work, it looks like there are some problems with the kernel module used by the EC. Fixing this is out of scope for this hackweek but I am working on it

    • qmk_hid (FW16) - a cli to configure the FW16 qmk keyboard. Sadly the gui for this is broken upstream so only the cli is usable for now


    Build a split keyboard from scratch by mpagot

    Description

    I'm getting older... this summer I experienced an annoying and persistent tingling in one hand and arm. That was the initial motivation to get more interested in ergonomic work gadgets, and from that to split keyboards. And that was the entrance in a rabbit hole.

    Which keyboard I like to create:

    • Split keyboard for ergonomic (I'm not primary interested in having it portable)
    • I have big hands: I like it to fit as much as possible my hands measures
    • Columnar stagger keys position
    • Not too few keys (at the moment I'm at 24 + 24)
    • One row thumb cluster
    • No wireless, not to have batteries and for security reason
    • CherryMX, or generally speaking no low profile/corne choc
    • Hot swap Socket switches

    Goals

    • Create PCB design for a split keyboard
    • Get it produced
    • Mount it
    • Evaluate FWs

    Resources

    Progress

    Day1

    Get the existing Ergogen project working on my TW machine Get Kicad as flatpack Go back to the https://flatfootfox.com/ergogen-part3-pcbs/ Join the #ergogen Discord channel and ask for help about the nets

    Day2

    Redesign the keyboard matrix on Inkscape Implement it in the Ergogen YAML format Create a Kicad PCB file Start routing it Iterate over the matrix arrangement to try to implement it like 2 layer board and ideally with not vias Get some Kicad tutorials

    Day3

    Get my hand dirty building a 2x2 key matrix --> welcome to nne Look at ZKM and how to configure it --> https://github.com/michelepagot/zmk-config-nne Get the FW built by github, try to flash it: get matrix scan pulse but no keys to the PC Get in contact with ceoloide, an Ergogen maintainer, about net issue.


    Capyboard, ESP32 Development Board for Education by emiler

    Description

    Capyboard 3D

    Capyboard is an ESP32 development board built to accept individual custom-made modules. The board is created primarily for use in education, where you want to focus on embedded programming instead of spending time with connecting cables and parts on a breadboard, as you would with Arduino and other such devices. The board is not limited only to education and it can be used to build, for instance, a very powerful internal meteo-station and so on.

    I already have one initial prototype ready and tested. The next iteration addresses several issues the first prototype had. I am planning on finishing up the mainboard and one of the modules this week.

    This project is also a part of my master's thesis.

    Goals

    • Finish testing of a new prototype
    • Publish source files
    • Documentation completion
    • Finish writing thesis

    Resources


    Create a DRM driver for VGA video cards by tdz

    Yes, those VGA video cards. The goal of this project is to implement a DRM graphics driver for such devices. While actual hardware is hard to obtain or even run today, qemu emulates VGA output.

    VGA has a number of limitations, which make this project interesting.

    • There are only 640x480 pixels (or less) on the screen. That resolution is also a soft lower limit imposed by DRM. It's mostly a problem for desktop environments though.
    • Desktop environments assume 16 million colors, but there are only 16 colors with VGA. VGA's 256 color palette is not available at 640x480. We can choose those 16 colors freely. The interesting part is how to choose them. We have to build a palette for the displayed frame and map each color to one of the palette's 16 entries. This is called dithering, and VGA's limitations are a good opportunity to learn about dithering algorithms.
    • VGA has an interesting memory layout. Most graphics devices use linear framebuffers, which store the pixels byte by byte. VGA uses 4 bitplanes instead. Plane 0 holds all bits 0 of all pixels. Plane 1 holds all bits 1 of all pixels, and so on.

    The driver will probably not be useful to many people. But, if finished, it can serve as test environment for low-level hardware. There's some interest in supporting old Amiga and Atari framebuffers in DRM. Those systems have similar limitations as VGA, but are harder to obtain and test with. With qemu, the VGA driver could fill this gap.

    Apart from the Wikipedia entry, good resources on VGA are at osdev.net and FreeVGA


    Modularization and Modernization of cifs.ko for Enhanced SMB Protocol Support by hcarvalho

    Creator:
    Enzo Matsumiya ematsumiya@suse.de @ SUSE Samba team
    Members:
    Henrique Carvalho henrique.carvalho@suse.com @ SUSE Samba team

    Description

    Split cifs.ko in 2 separate modules; one for SMB 1.0 and 2.0.x, and another for SMB 2.1, 3.0, and 3.1.1.

    Goals

    Primary

    Start phasing out/deprecation of older SMB versions

    Secondary

    • Clean up of the code (with focus on the newer versions)
    • Update cifs-utils
    • Update documentation
    • Improve backport workflow (see below)

    Technical details

    Ideas for the implementation.

    • fs/smb/client/{old,new}.c to generate the respective modules
      • Maybe don't create separate folders? (re-evaluate as things progresses!)
    • Remove server->{ops,vals} if possible
    • Clean up fs_context.* -- merge duplicate options into one, handle them in userspace utils
    • Reduce code in smb2pdu.c -- tons of functions with very similar init/setup -> send/recv -> handle/free flow
    • Restructure multichannel
      • Treat initial connection as "channel 0" regardless of multichannel enabled/negotiated status, proceed with extra channels accordingly
      • Extra channel just point to "channel 0" as the primary server, no need to allocate an extra TCPServerInfo for each one
    • Authentication mechanisms
      • Modernize algorithms (references: himmelblau, IAKERB/Local KDC, SCRAM, oauth2 (Azure), etc.


    Improve various phones kernel mainline support (Qualcomm, Exynos, MediaTek) by pvorel

    Similar to previous hackweeks ( https://hackweek.opensuse.org/projects/improve-qualcomm-soc-msm8994-slash-msm8992-kernel-mainline-support, https://hackweek.opensuse.org/projects/test-mainline-kernel-on-an-older-qualcomm-soc-msm89xx-explore-mainline-kernel-qualcomm-mainlining) try to improve kernel mainline support of various phones.

    Result

    In the end I concentrated again to msm8994:


    Hacking on sched_ext by flonnegren

    Description

    Sched_ext upstream has some interesting issues open for grabs:

    Goals

    Send patches to sched_ext upstream

    Also set up perfetto to trace some of the example schedulers.

    Resources

    https://github.com/sched-ext/scx


    Improve UML page fault handler by ptesarik

    Description

    Improve UML handling of segmentation faults in kernel mode. Although such page faults are generally caused by a kernel bug, it is annoying if they cause an infinite loop, or panic the kernel. More importantly, a robust implementation allows to write KUnit tests for various guard pages, preventing potential kernel self-protection regressions.

    Goals

    Convert the UML page fault handler to use oops_* helpers, go through a few review rounds and finally get my patch series merged in 6.14.

    Resources

    Wrong initial attempt: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20231215121431.680-1-petrtesarik@huaweicloud.com/T/


    Create openSUSE images for Arm/RISC-V boards by avicenzi

    Project Description

    Create openSUSE images (or test generic EFI images) for Arm and/or RISC-V boards that are not yet supported.

    Goal for this Hackweek

    Create bootable images of Tumbleweed for SBCs that currently have no images available or are untested.

    Consider generic EFI images where possible, as some boards can hold a bootloader.

    Document in the openSUSE Wiki how to flash and use the image for a given board.

    Boards that I have around and there are no images:

    • Rock 3B
    • Nano PC T3 Plus
    • Lichee RV D1
    • StartFive VisionFive (has some image needs testing)

    Hack Week 22

    Hack Week 21

    Resources


    Enlightenment in Leap 16 by simotek

    Description

    Get the Enlightenment stack + X11 building and running on the Leap 16 codebase.

    Goals

    • Get enlightenment / terminology compiling for Leap 16
    • Test that they are running correctly in a Virtual Machine.

    Resources


    New migration tool for Leap by lkocman

    Update

    I will call a meeting with other interested people at 11:00 CET https://meet.opensuse.org/migrationtool

    Description

    SLES 16 plans to have no yast tool in it. Leap 16 might keep some bits, however, we need a new tool for Leap to SLES migration, as this was previously handled by a yast2-migration-sle

    Goals

    A tool able to migrate Leap 16 to SLES 16, I would like to cover also other scenarios within openSUSE, as in many cases users would have to edit repository files manually.

    • Leap -> Leap n+1 (minor and major version updates)
    • Leap -> SLES docs
    • Leap -> Tumbleweed
    • Leap -> Slowroll
    • Leap Micro -> Leap Micro n+1 (minor and major version updates)
    • Leap Micro -> MicroOS

    Hackweek 24 update

    Marcela and I were working on the project from Brno coworking as well as finalizing pieces after the hackweek. We've tested several migration scenarios and it works. But it needs further polishing and testing.

    Projected was renamed to opensuse-migration-tool and was submitted to devel project https://build.opensuse.org/requests/1227281

    Repository

    https://github.com/openSUSE/opensuse-migration-tool

    Out of scope is any migration to an immutable system. I know Richard already has some tool for that.

    Resources

    Tracker for yast stack reduction code-o-o/leap/features#173 YaST stack reduction


    YQPkg - Bringing the Single Package Selection Back to Life by shundhammer

    tl;dr

    Rip out the high-level YQPackageSelector widget from YaST and make it a standalone Qt program without any YaST dependencies.

    See section "Result" at the bottom for the current status after the hack week.

    Current Status

    See the development status issue at the GitHub repo.

    tl;dr: It's usable now with all the key features.

    It does real package installation / removal / update with reasonable user feedback.

    The Past and the Present

    We used to have and still have a powerful software selection with the YaST sw_single module (and the YaST patterns counterpart): You can select software down to the package level, you can easily select one of many available package versions, you can select entire patterns - or just view them and pick individual packages from patterns.

    You can search packages based on name, description, "requires" or "provides" level, and many more things.

    The Future

    YaST is on its way out, to be replaced by the new Agama installer and Cockpit for system administration. Those tools can do many things, but fine-grained package selection is not among them. And there are also no other Open Source tools available for that purpose that even come close to the YaST package selection.

    Many aspects of YaST have become obsolete over the years; many subsystems now come with a good default configuration, or they can configure themselves automatically. Just think about sound or X11 configuration; when did you last need to touch them?

    For others, the desktops bring their own tools (e.g. printers), or there are FOSS configuration tools (NetworkManager, BlueMan). Most YaST modules are no longer needed, and for many others there is a replacement in tools like Cockpit.

    But no longer having a powerful fine-grained package selection like in YaST sw_single will hurt. Big time. At least until there is an adequate replacement, many users will want to keep it.

    The Idea

    YaST sw_single always revolved around a powerful high-level widget on the abstract UI level. Libyui has low-level widgets like YPushButton, YCheckBox, YInputField, more advanced ones like YTable, YTree; and some few very high-level ones like YPackageSelector and YPatternSelector that do the whole package selection thing alone, working just on the libzypp level and changing the status of packages or patterns there.

    For the YaST Qt UI, the YQPackageSelector / YQPatternSelector widgets work purely on the Qt and libzypp level; no other YaST infrastructure involved, in particular no Ruby (or formerly YCP) interpreter, no libyui-level widgets, no bindings between Qt / C++ and Ruby / YaST-core, nothing. So it's not too hard to rip all that part out of YaST and create a standalone program from it.

    For the NCurses UI, the NCPackageSelector / NCPatternSelector create a lot of libyui widgets (inheriting YWidget / NCWidget) and use a lot of libyui calls to glue them together; and all that of course still needs a lot of YaST / libyui / libyui-ncurses infrastructure. So NCurses is out of scope here.

    Preparatory Work: Initializing the Package Subsystem

    To see if this is feasible at all, the existing UI examples needed some fixing to check what is needed on that level. That was the make-or-break decision: Would it be realistically possible to set the needed environment in libzypp up (without being stranded in the middle of that task alone at the end of the hack week)?

    Yes, it is: That part is already working:

    https://github.com/yast/yast-ycp-ui-bindings/pull/71


    New openSUSE-welcome by lkocman

    Project Description

    Let's revisit our existing openSUSE welcome app.

    My goal was to show Leap 16 in a new coat. Welcome app adds to the first time use experience. We've recently added donation button to our existing welcome.

    Some things that I recently wanted to address were EOL and possibly upgrade notification.

    I've already done some experiments with mint welcome app, but not sure if it's better than the existing one.

    There is also a PR to rework existing app https://github.com/openSUSE/openSUSE-welcome/pull/36 (this should be considered as an option too)

    Goal for this Hackweek

    New welcome app, possibly with EOL notification for Leap.

    1) Welcome application(s) with (rebrand changes) maintained under github.com/openSUSE

    2) Application is submitted to openSUSE:Factory && openSUSE:Leap:16.0

    3) Updated needles in openQA (probably post hackweek)

    Resources

    Reddit discussion about the best welcome app out there.

    Github repo for the current welcome app.