piCore and Wolfson Audio Card

[Mucke]

For Wolfson wait a bit for piCore 6.0 with 3.16.3 kernel with Wolfson support.

May I kindly ask about the intended release date?
Or is there another way to get it running before piCore 6.0 ?

[bmarkus]

If you dot need GUI, only the usual console tools, it is available:

http://www.tinycorelinux.net/6.x/armv6/test_releases/

Archive contains the kernel and initrd with config files, just copy them to /mnt/mmcblk0p1 overwriting existing files. After reboot install kernel module extensions from the repo and update system with tce-update.

Please note it is an alpha test.

Let me know your result.

[Mucke]

If you dot need GUI, only the usual console tools, it is available:

http://www.tinycorelinux.net/6.x/armv6/test_releases/

Archive contains the kernel and initrd with config files, just copy them to /mnt/mmcblk0p1 overwriting existing files. After reboot install kernel module extensions from the repo and update system with tce-update.

Sorry for my dumb question but what do you exactly mean by "kernel module extensions". I understand you mean tcz extensions but which ones? Or which ones are not included in comparison to piCore5.3.1 ?

[bmarkus]

alsa-modules-...tcz

[Mucke]

Today I have got my Wolfson Audio Card.
In the meantime I have got the system running as intended with the onboard sound.

But the WAC is not recognized by piCore 6 alpha.
The driver logic seems to be quite different compared to usual ALSA drivers (it seems no modprobe of the driver)
So there is no corresonding snd-... module in alsa-modules...tcz
Unloading the onboard sound snd-bcm2835 results in 'no soundcard' with cat /proc/asound/cards

A parallel setup of a Raspbian system recognizes the WAC though. Also ALSA reports the soundcard capabilities e.g. by amixer controls.
cat /proc/asound/cards then reports

0 {sndrpiwsp     ]: snd_rpi_wsp - snd_rpi_wsp
                              snd_rpi_wsp

So piCore 6 alpha is not working properly with the WAC right now.
Can you check? Do you need some further information?
What can I further check on my side?

[bmarkus]

Wait for sbp's comment.

[sbp]

Hi Mucke.

We are in the same boat as I would also like to support the Wolfson audio card in the piCorePlayer.

However, as far as I understand the status it is not supported officially in the kernel yet. There seems even to be some uncertainty among the developer of the raspberry kernel whether it is merged into the 3.12.y kernel https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/pull/672 . But I'm quite sure that it is not supported by the 3.16.y kernel which is the basis for the current piCore.

So  I think at the moment it is very difficult to get WAC running in a piCore environment as it is even not properly supported in the official raspberry kernels which are used by Bela to build piCore. So we/you will have to wait for Wolfson to develop their drivers so the can be properly incorporated.

I think that such a well known audio company should have done that from the very beginning. Look at the smaller companies like HiFiBerry or IQaudIO they managed to get their cards supported even before they release their actual hardware.

Steen

   

[bmarkus]

Kernel 3.17.0 supports Wolfson. Will make a new alpha available if it works.

[bmarkus]

Not suprized, 3.17.0 doesn't build due to error in Wolfson code. Usual issues with x.y.0 releases. Upstream ticket opened.

[bmarkus]

6.0alpha501 built on kernel 3.17.0 uploaded to http://www.tinycorelinux.net/6.x/armv6/test_releases/ alsa and wireless modules are in the repo. Please try specially the Wolfson audio.

Let me know your findings.

[bmarkus]

Updated to 6.0alpha502

[lykkedk]

  Cool... Bleeding edge kernel all time piCore...

Regards ... Jesper

[sbp]

Hi Bela

Sorry for the delay, but I have just started with looking into the wolfson card and kernel 3.17.1.

I have tried to load the needed modules, however, there seems to missing "arizona-spi" at least piCore complains that this module is not found in modules.dep. All the other modules needed for the wolfson card are there.

Maybe that is the reason for not being able to see the wolfson card using aplay -l.

I just noticed that you have updated to 3.17.2 - I'm not sure if support for the wolfson card has been removed from this version?
When looking at the commits at the raspberry github for 3.17.2 I can't find any info on the wolfson pull request.

regards
Steen

[bmarkus]

Same in 3.17.2 It can be a kernel configuration issue. I have enabled all sound soc related modules, but there can be a problem with one of the Kconfigs in kernel source with dependencies. Made a fast search in kernel source but didn't find this module, but maybe I was not careful enough. Look around in kernel source.

BTW, which module is claiming for missing arizona-spi ?

[bmarkus]

Found, it is in drivers/mfd

I will upload the new alpha510 with 3.17.2 and corrected alsa modules later today and PM when ready