Re: need your advice before new Raspberry Pi purchase

[Michael <macallan1888%gmail.com@localhost>]

Hello,

On Sat, 20 Apr 2024 11:46:51 +0200
Ramiro Aceves <ea1abz%gmail.com@localhost> 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.

[     1.000000] NetBSD 10.99.7 (GENERIC64) #0: Thu Aug 24 06:18:05 EDT 2023
[     1.000000]         ml@paddy:/disk/build/obj_earm64/sys/arch/evbarm/compile/GENERIC64
[     1.000000] total memory = 8029 MB
[     1.000000] avail memory = 7740 MB
[     1.000000] entropy: ready
[     1.000000] ptyfs_hashinit: ffff0001feef5b00
[     1.000000] timecounter: Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
[     1.000000] armfdt0 (root)
[     1.000000] armfdt0: using EFI runtime services for RTC
[     1.000000] simplebus0 at armfdt0: Raspberry Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
[     1.000000] simplebus1 at simplebus0
[     1.000000] acpifdt0 at simplebus0
[     1.000000] acpifdt0: SMBIOS rev. 3.3.0 @ 0x371d0000
...

> 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