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Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

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Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#21

Post by kondu »

sokoloff wrote: post #16
sdfhbdf wrote: post #2

From this page [1] on Raspberry Pi's Docs it seems like it's been like that for a while. Had there been a big change with this ROM specifically? [1]: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberry...

I've been doing this on a 3B for almost a year now. (At least I think it's a 3B; it's not a 4 in any case. The article title has since been updated to clarify that the change is relevant to the 4.)

IIRC, enabling usb mass storage boot involves setting some OTP bits, which permanently disables usb host boot. But AFAIK, the 3B doesn't support usb host boot anyways. Is there any feature you could lose by enabling mass storage boot in this case?

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#22

Post by FullyFunctional »

Uehreka wrote: post #9

This sounds pretty cool! Features like this really open up exciting ways to deploy RPis, even for DIY folks like me who use them to do things like control projectors in a theatre show. But man oh man, this page is a striking reminder that GitHub could probably use finer grained controls for commenting on issues. I sympathize with the person who wanted to close the issue originally, it looks like it just became a magn…

Honest question, why couldn't you do this before, having the boot loader on an SDcard and everything else hanging off USB?

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#23

Post by tyingq »

vkaku wrote: post #20

This is such a misleading title. 2 and 3 have had this for a while, one can do this with 4. I'm currently using a recent MicroSD card on my Pi 4 though, haven't had any real issues with it.

"Finally available for the RPI4 in the default bootloader" is probably more accurate.

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#24

Post by FullyFunctional »

FullyFunctional wrote: post #19

It's nice but I'm honestly baffled that it's seen as such a big deal as it's pretty trivial to make grub boot off USB, leaving the SDcard only being used doing the initial boot. Is it just about the convenience?

Instead of downvoting me, maybe you could explain what I'm missing?

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#25

Post by segfaultbuserr »

FullyFunctional wrote: post #22
Uehreka wrote: post #9

This sounds pretty cool! Features like this really open up exciting ways to deploy RPis, even for DIY folks like me who use them to do things like control projectors in a theatre show. But man oh man, this page is a striking reminder that GitHub could probably use finer grained controls for commenting on issues. I sympathize with the person who wanted to close the issue originally, it looks like it just became a magn…

Honest question, why couldn't you do this before, having the boot loader on an SDcard and everything else hanging off USB?

You can. See the other comments.

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#26

Post by sokoloff »

kondu wrote: post #21
sokoloff wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been doing this on a 3B for almost a year now. (At least I think it's a 3B; it's not a 4 in any case. The article title has since been updated to clarify that the change is relevant to the 4.)

IIRC, enabling usb mass storage boot involves setting some OTP bits, which permanently disables usb host boot. But AFAIK, the 3B doesn't support usb host boot anyways. Is there any feature you could lose by enabling mass storage boot in this case?

I think (but haven't checked) that you lose the ability to boot from a microSD. I just switched it to USB because I wanted higher reliability for a semi-permanent installation and never checked if it would boot from SD if I removed the USB.

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#28

Post by ggm »

pronoiac wrote: post #15

Oh man I feel for the maintainers here, with the many "this isn't the place for that" and now-deleted comments. It's on my mind, as I just set up a vpn gateway on a Pi, and while I sorta want to document the process, I don't want to support randos.

Yes, the sense of frustration in the threads is palpable. Its a no-win situation: bleed time/labour dealing with "no" answers and the consequences, and get hated, or, be harsh up front, and get hated.

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#29

Post by sigjuice »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #4

Which devices now support this? Does this require updating some built-in flash/eeprom memory?

I just did an "apt dist-upgrade" and looks like my EEPROM got updated. These are the before and after versions.

  pi@4b:~ $ vcgencmd bootloader_version
  Apr 16 2020 18:11:26
  version a5e1b95f320810c69441557c5f5f0a7f2460dfb8 (release)
  timestamp 1587057086
   
  pi@4b:~ $ vcgencmd bootloader_version
  Sep  3 2020 13:11:43
  version c305221a6d7e532693cc7ff57fddfc8649def167 (release)
  timestamp 1599135103
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