Raspberry Pi as Thin Client

[Rich]

Hi Paul_123

It's a mess. The problem is that board type (revision number) is not relevant to the kernel...... ...

The revision code contains much more information than just the board type. It also contains the CPU type which is what we were after.

... Then just make sure the appropriate kernel extensions fall in the right spot.

Those are dependent on the CPU type, aren't they?

I think one of the goals here is to maintain a common infrastructure between x86, x86_64, and ARM. That means scripts like
tc-functions, tc-config, tce-load, etc. are identical for all of the supported architectures.

know I don't control the repo, but I would just keep 3 repos

armv6*) echo "armv6"      (Would contain one set of v6 kernel extensions)
armv7*) echo "armv7"      (Would contain kernel extensions for pi2/3 in 32 bit mode, and a pi4 in 32bit mode)
aarch64)  echo "aarch64"    (Future for piCore, 64bit kernels.......it may never com to pass)

I think a change like that might require changes to  tce-load  to handle ARM differently from the other architectures. You would
have separate repos for the kernel modules and a common repo for the remaining extensions. Since multiple architectures
are supported by the same scripts I don't think think it's a good idea to create special code to handle corner cases for
one particular architecture if you don't have to.

    [EDIT]: Crossed out my incorrect statement. See reply #18.  Rich

[Juanito]

At the moment, it seems to me that we can use the existing scripts with all versions of RPi if we copy the kernel module extensions from the piCore-11.x armv7l repo to the armv7 repo (since my RPi3 and RPi4 are using the same tce/optional folder without problems).

[Paul_123]

Yes, since we are only doing 32bit stuff right now, knowing the cpu is fine.  But forward thinking that same processor can run in 32 or 64 bit, in which case you need more than the processor type.

For now, Yes, just moving the rpi4 kernel modules to the armv7 directory will work just fine.  Outside of the kernel module extensions, all the tcz binaries are compatible with all boards, compiler is set to give code for an armv6.   I've never seen any real improvement in applications where I tried to enable optimizations for the rpi4.

[Rich]

Hi Paul_123
You're right. I forgot that while  tce-load  uses  getBuild  to select which repo to use, it uses  uname -r  to select which modules to use.

... For now, Yes, just moving the rpi4 kernel modules to the armv7 directory will work just fine.  Outside of the kernel module extensions, all the tcz binaries are compatible with all boards, compiler is set to give code for an armv6. ...

If that's the case, it sounds like all of the kernel modules could be placed in the armv6 repo. Then the armv7 and armv7l repos
could just be links back to the armv6 repo. Or am I missing something?

[Paul_123]

That's what I do on the pCP repo.....  as long as the web server and mirror servers handle the symlinks.   Saves alot of disk space, and forgetting to update an extension in one of the armxx repos.

[Juanito]

For the moment, the path of least resistance has been taken and the RPi4 kernel module extensions have been copied to the piCore-11.x armv7 repo.