[Arm-dev] Cubieboard5 performance

Sun Aug 26 12:21:50 UTC 2018
Robert Moskowitz <rgm at htt-consult.com>


On 08/26/2018 06:53 AM, Johnny Hughes wrote:
> On 08/26/2018 05:21 AM, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>>
>> On 08/26/2018 06:05 AM, Johnny Hughes wrote:
>>> On 08/22/2018 04:38 PM, Iván Chavero wrote:
>>>> El lun, 20-08-2018 a las 16:06 -0300, Pablo Sebastián Greco escribió:
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>>>> Iván, I didn't have time today to build 4.18 today, but I pushed
>>>>> 4.17.17, and it should appear here
>>>>> https://armv7.dev.centos.org/repodir/community-kernel-latest/kernel/
>>>>> between today and tomorrow.
>>>>> It has smp for a83t (bananapi-m3 and cubieborard5)
>>>>> Your hdmi patch for cubieboard5.
>>>>> Some other fixes for R40.
>>>>>
>>>>> It would be great if you could test it.
>>>> I will and report on this thread, thanks!
>>>>
>>> OK Guys,
>>>
>>> I bought a Cubieboard5 a very long time ago to test on CentOS-7.  Years
>>> later, it finally works :).
>>>
>>> I worked with Pablo to test his 4.17.17 kernel, using this thread,
>>> specifically this post:
>>>
>>> https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/arm-dev/2018-August/003399.html
>>>
>>> I am happy to say that I now have it working now.
>>>
>>> My only real issues were:
>>>
>>> 1. The '/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-link.sh' needing to be
>>> deleted and a permanent MACADDR added.
>> I have not deleted my ifcfg-link script (mine does not have the .sh
>> extension?)  I just made the eth0
>>
> no '.sh' , that is the hazard of doing things from memory at 5am and not
> looking in the actual directory :)
>
> I deleted my file after deleting the connection .. no need for spare /
> extra files in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/  to confuse me later.

OK.  Makes sense.  Since I have full steps.txt for each of my servers, I 
don't have THIS confusion problem.


>
>> But then I have cubie 2 and 3 (truck).
>>
>>> This post by Robert used to
>>> Delete the ifcfg-link.sh and I created a static IP with a MACADDR:
>>>
>>> https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/arm-dev/2018-August/003366.html
>>>
>>> (don't forget to edit ifcfg-eth0.sh and change HWADDR= to MACADDR=)
>> Per the Network Manager list:
>>
>> nmcli con mod $ifname ethernet.cloned-mac-address "$your_mac"
>>
>> We did have an interesting discussion on the historical origin of these
>> names and why they will remain as they are.
>>
>>> 2.  I am getting a usb bus hang .. it normally takes about 5 minutes for
>>> the bus to reset, then everything seems to be OK.
>>>
>>> After setting everything up, I did try using the latest Fedora 29
>>> Cubieboard5 u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin.  That one did not fix either the
>>> MACADDR issue or the usb bus hang.
>> Are you running on a sata drive with only uboot on the uSD card?  I
>> would like to know how sata performance is.  Does it even boot (given
>> your usb hang issue) from sata?  I remember way back Hans working on
>> getting usb sata (in general) boot working for Allwinner, but I never
>> tested the later uboot versions.
> I am currently using just the uSD card on the cubietruck_plus .. I do
> have a 5400 2.5" sata on a cubieboard3 .. but I boot from uSD on there
> too .. and just mount in the sata drive for /home

I was field testing uboot for Hans back at the time and was locally 
building my own uboot from his source.  I have since long deleted all of 
that environment and Hans has moved on to other work.

But he DID get sata boot working with only uboot (no partitions allowed) 
and was working on a bug for usb boot.  He did not get things like the 
wifi working and a few other odds and ends.  Never checked in to see if 
later uboot maintainer finished up the work.

> But, I am not doing anything important on these test cards (I have a
> cubieboard3, cubieboad5, Raspberry Pi 2B, and Raspberry Pi 3B).

I run all my servers on Cubies (well not my Samba which is ClearOS, and 
they don't have an arm image last I checked)  That picture on the web 
site is my webserver, internal and external DNS servers, and backup 
(that I may move to my neighbor's, as I have ethernet running to his 
house).  The 4th is a spare.

My mailserver is a Cubietruck.  Antispam pretty much kills one 
processor, and that is why I am interested in the C5.  I have limited my 
attachment size to 20MB.  My wife complains, and I really need more 
cores so I can handle bigger attachments without slowing everything 
down.  Well I/O would still be an issue and that is why the sata 
performance concern.

> I basically only use these to test the new install images when we do
> point released and to run the t_functional suite (Prior to pushing updates):
>
> https://github.com/CentOS/sig-core-t_functional

Hopefully now that you have C5 working with a new kernel, you will push 
out a new image so that it is 'easy' to use.  Also an update to Centos 
of uboot-images with those in F29.

> I also have an armhfp VM running on an aarch64 local machine using
> Fabian's guide:
>
> https://www.arrfab.net/posts/2017/Sep/29/using-centos-7-armhfp-vm-on-centos-7-aarch64/
>
> We are working on getting a couple armhfp VMs into our CI system so that
> I can do my normal Pre-Updates testing:
>
> https://ci.centos.org/view/CentOS-Core/
>
> Until we get some VMs rolled into the CI system, I run those preupdates
> tests locally.
>
> So I can't really answer your question about the sata performance .. but
> I might consider buying a ssd and seeing what I can do with that at some
> point soon.

You can get a 100GB from ebay really cheap.  Make sure it is 500ma, so 
it powers easily from the board that is powered by a 3A USB source.  I 
use the ANKAR 40W to power 5 Cubies.  600ma seem to work ok.  Not 1A drives.

> Can we not use the NAND/TSOP to boot / run on the cubieboards?

I don't know anyway to move the uboot to NAND.  If I were shown how, I 
would risk a C2.  I mean it is not bad to tie up the uSD slot with 
uboot.  I am not going to use it for anything else, and everything boots 
fast enough with all the partitions on sata.

> I have never tried this, as I really only use these to demo stuff at
> conferences or test the images and having them on a replaceable uSD card
> is very convenient and I don't have any performance needs.

And with the Fedora-arm testing I do, I have a pile of uSD cards.  I am 
using F29 as a source of openssl 1.1.1 for my EDDSA pki testing 
(https://github.com/rgmhtt/draft-moskowitz-ed25519-pki).

I need to finish this up before I work on my mailserver.

And 1.1.1 is a requirement for TLS 1.3, so I hope when it goes live, you 
port it to C7!

> Thanks,
> Johnny Hughes