New bootable image is available, Kernel 6.8.1, 6.7.10

[jglathe]

A new bootable Desktop image for Ubuntu 23.10 is now available. It took way longer than expected, mostly because of an issue with the remoteproc firmware I came across that I tried to minimize. It is of course nothing new, but as it is with these complex things, this can bite in many ways. Anyway, it should work in most scenarios now.

Features and changes

• Based on the Ubuntu Desktop Image for Raspberry Pi, still.
• Contains Kernels 6.8.1, 6.7.10, 6.7.1 and 6.6.0 as boot options.
• Loads the required sc8280xp specific firmware files from the Windows installation. To mitigate the adsp-related issues of ending up not booting, the adsp firmware is stored in renamed form on the rootfs, but is active in the initramfs. Scripts are amended accordingly.
• has specific board file for the QCNFA765 WLAN adapter to make it usable, and newest available firmware.
• improved handling of the MAC addresses with machine-id (now getting a new one on first boot of the image) in connection with bootmac.
• has cleaned- up snap part of the installation. No snaps installed as shipped. To reinstall the default application like snap-store, run sudo reinstall_snap_apps.sh.

Preferred usage, quirks

You can write the image via the disks utility or Rufus directly to an USB-Stick (at least 16GB) or external SSD. From experience I would say an old SATA SSD in an USB enclosure works great, and is less problematic than an m.2 SSD with USB-C connector like the RTL9210 ones, but they all work. USB sticks are far slower, but work, too.
The image extends the rootfs to the edge of the free space after the rootfs partition. It fetches the firmware, and reboots (I've also seen 2 reboots on rare occasions). Then you set up your user with the installer it's coming up with.
On USB-C connectors there is a quirk: Depending on the orientation, the drive comes up as either USB-2 (swapped) or USB-3 with max capabilities (in my case, USB3.2, 10G transfer rate). Unfortunately there is no way (as of yet) to bring the boot drive up with higher capabilities as it was booted with, so a look with lsusb -tv might be useful to see where the drive is, and swap the orientation when the box is off.

Other quirks

• Kernel 6.8.1 seems to have a quirk where poweroff doesn't work.
• On my screen (Iiyama PL3288UH, 3840x2160@60) @dp the suspend/awake works only on 6.7.1, msm is working (and cursing) on these types of problems AFAICT. Other screens I tried (2560x1440 27", 1920x1080 24") don't have these issues.
• DisplayPort Altmode works only on USB1, not USB0. This should work on both, no idea yet. It is limited to 2 lanes only, seems to be a msm issue, too. The USB ports are explicitly configured to 2 lanes only in the device tree.

Other use cases

• Kernel 6.8.1 and its device tree is fit for running on EL2 with /dev/kvm support.
• The same binaries can boot and run fine on the Lenovo Thinkpad X13s. I have one external drive that can boot on both, however, bootstrapping on both is a little more work.
• You can also write the image to an nvme SSD and add the firmwares manually (or write after it has been booted up and set up once). However, I would strongly recommend not to kill the Windows installation. You need it from time to time to re-wire the thermal management, especially after failed boot attempts. So this is a little more complicated, then, have done it a few times, though.