Re: Booting BeagleBone Enhanced (update u-boot)

[Brook Milligan <brook%nmsu.edu@localhost>]

> On Jun 30, 2022, at 2:10 PM, Michael van Elst <mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost> wrote:
> 
> brook%nmsu.edu@localhost (Brook Milligan) writes:
> 
>> So far, I have heard no response to my inquiries about booting a
>> Beaglebone [1] and no specific direction on debugging bootarm.efi [2].
>> I have also heard no specific examples of anyone successfully booting
>> a Beaglebone Black with NetBSD, although some have indicated that it
>> is (has been?) possible.
> 
> I played a bit with a BBB in the last days, it was always booting NetBSD-9
> (and -8 before that), and now also boots NetBSD-current.
> 
> But not with EFI.
> 
>> I have, however, determined that u-boot v2022.04 will boot a current
>> kernel via UEFI on both BBB and BBE boards.
> 
> NetBSD-8 and -9 can boot with the ancient u-boot that comes
> pre-installed. NetBSD-current can be booted with the 2018.11 version
> from pkgsrc. The latter however requires that it is either installed
> in the EMMC (not yet successful) or that the EMMC gets erased or
> that you press the boot select button.

Thanks for the report.

It sounds like we are doing the same thing, but getting different results, which confuses me.

I definitely have not succeeded with u-boot 2018.11 and any version of NetBSD-current, even with pressing the boot select button to avoid whatever is on the MMC.  Even with 2018.11, though, mine attempts to boot via EFI.  I wonder if you are somehow avoiding EFI, even with. current and 2018.11.  

Perhaps you could try updating u-boot to 2022.04 with the config mentioned (let me know if you want a proper patch) to see if there are any regressions.

Overall, it seems preferable to move forward with EFI, but I’m still confused about apparent inconsistencies.

Thanks again for your input.

Cheers,
Brook