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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

#91

Post by greghines »

silicon2401 wrote: post #77

As a pi noob: does this make it more reliable/feasible to use a pi to run a home server/application/etc? I've read in the past that SD cards aren't good with repeated read/writes, which makes it somewhat unreliable in the long run. If a pi is configured to run via USB, does that make it as reliable as other consumer hardware like a pc/laptop?

Several manufacturers offer endurance-oriented microSD cards. They're designed to store footage from security cameras and the like, so they should have the write endurance to handle most any workload you throw at them. Depending on the write endurance you desire, they range from only a few bucks more than a regular microSD card to roughly double the cost.

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#93

Post by systemvoltage »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #68
systemvoltage wrote: post #32

Not a fan of Raspberry Pi. It hides behind proprietary Broadcom chip, no DSI/MIPI support and you're at the mercy of Raspberry PI for any sort of commercial implementation (RPi Zero and independent module). They do guarantee upto 2026 availability for their DIMM modules which is nice. We wanted to build commercial device using RPi but its a no go due to its blackbox nature. What they should do is to leverage their po…

> Raspberry Pi is an ecosystem which is based on proprietary technologies and masquerading as an open source friendly thing. In a world increasingly more virtualized, multilayered, and interconnected, how would you ensure "purity" in that regard? And can you?

I think if they had the following done right, it would be pretty much on par with open source hardware/software expectations:

1. Hardware datasheets for all components

2. Bootloader available to view the source for, if not completely open source. I understand bootloader can be proprietary tech and they can use non-commercial compete license but allow people to hack them and at the very least view it.

3. All PCB and gerber files available. Clean schematic documentation.

4. HAL/Middleware - this is by far the most crucial portion. The user should be able to write drivers for anything. Right now, if I want to connect a VR 2048x2048 LCD (3.5" square) with a DSI/MIPI interface, I cannot write a driver for this with RPi. It's not entirely their problem either - the DSI org gatekeeps the datasheet and development for it unless you fork out a generate multi thousand dollar membership.

That's all. Obviously they cannot compel each component manufacturer to open source their silicon... at some point the expectation fades.

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#94

Post by lioeters »

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 see in the docs for "Pi 4 Bootloader Configuration", under the BOOT_ORDER setting:

- 0x4 - USB mass storage boot (since 2020-09-03)

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberry...

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#95

Post by systemvoltage »

grahamm wrote: post #82
systemvoltage wrote: post #32

Not a fan of Raspberry Pi. It hides behind proprietary Broadcom chip, no DSI/MIPI support and you're at the mercy of Raspberry PI for any sort of commercial implementation (RPi Zero and independent module). They do guarantee upto 2026 availability for their DIMM modules which is nice. We wanted to build commercial device using RPi but its a no go due to its blackbox nature. What they should do is to leverage their po…

I think people forget what it was designed for. It was to reboot IT education which was (is) badly floundering. It's success was so good it started to be used in small commercial applications. The Foundation tried to help fill this gap in the market with the compute module. Even though there is a lot of open source features the use of the Broadcom chipset was probably driven by cost as keeping the Pi price down was a…

No doubt, RPi has been a boon to the world and the popularity speaks for itself.

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#96

Post by blibble »

joshspankit wrote: post #51
LeoPanthera wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two play music, one into my hifi, one into my home audio distribution system. One is setup for RetroPie. One has LibreELEC installed, showing TV from my HDHomeRun. One has a GPS hat and is a local NTP server. And one boots into an Amiga emulator because I'm very old and nostalgic.

(If you’re able to play to both simultaneously) Do the music playback devices stay in sync?

I actually tried this and it turned out to be quite a bit more complicated than predicted, due to clocks on the pis being slightly different

"I'll just sling udp multicast of the PCM samples around the network, can't be that hard right?"

ended up using MPD with pulseaudio over TCP, and they get out of sync after a few minutes, but good enough

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#97

Post by paulmd »

grahamm wrote: post #82
systemvoltage wrote: post #32

Not a fan of Raspberry Pi. It hides behind proprietary Broadcom chip, no DSI/MIPI support and you're at the mercy of Raspberry PI for any sort of commercial implementation (RPi Zero and independent module). They do guarantee upto 2026 availability for their DIMM modules which is nice. We wanted to build commercial device using RPi but its a no go due to its blackbox nature. What they should do is to leverage their po…

I think people forget what it was designed for. It was to reboot IT education which was (is) badly floundering. It's success was so good it started to be used in small commercial applications. The Foundation tried to help fill this gap in the market with the compute module. Even though there is a lot of open source features the use of the Broadcom chipset was probably driven by cost as keeping the Pi price down was a…

I can't imagine having to sysadmin a bunch of raspberry pis in a serious "production" setting with all the reliability problems they have, that would be godawful, you'd go through a brace of SD cards every month

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#98

Post by entropie »

enobrev wrote: post #86
LeoPanthera wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two play music, one into my hifi, one into my home audio distribution system. One is setup for RetroPie. One has LibreELEC installed, showing TV from my HDHomeRun. One has a GPS hat and is a local NTP server. And one boots into an Amiga emulator because I'm very old and nostalgic.

Can I ask what software you're using for music on your home audio system? I have an HTD system with speakers throughout and while Chromecast Audio was great for a while, stability has been an issue that I'm no longer interested in hassling with. (Also looking forward to researching this netboot solution you speak of)

Do you know homeassistant?

https://github.com/home-assistant/plugin-audio

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#99

Post by pbalau »

thisisbrians wrote: post #89
LeoPanthera wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't documented it, but it's very simple.

I, too, would appreciate a brief Google Doc or Pastebin on this if you can spare the time. I've never setup netboot before, but have been interested for years... reply

Unless you are running your own router, like the op, most likely his setup won't help you. You should start by understanding all the components of the system and then figure out how to make it fit in your environment and maybe what changes you need to make. Start here [0]

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment

Re: Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

#100

Post by [deleted] »

blibble wrote: post #96
joshspankit wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(If you’re able to play to both simultaneously) Do the music playback devices stay in sync?

I actually tried this and it turned out to be quite a bit more complicated than predicted, due to clocks on the pis being slightly different "I'll just sling udp multicast of the PCM samples around the network, can't be that hard right?" ended up using MPD with pulseaudio over TCP, and they get out of sync after a few minutes, but good enough

[deleted]
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