Can you tell me if the Odroid HC4 (Cortex A55) is supported by the ARM64EFI image?
@aquada Hello again.
Lets take the processor first.
From: https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-hc4/hardware/hardware
The Odroid HC4 has, as you say, A Cortex A55 ARM processor:
Amlogic S905X3 Processor
L1 instruction cache: 32 KB, 4-way set associative (128 sets), 64 byte lines, shared by 1 processor
L1 data cache: 32 KB, 4-way set associative (128 sets), 64 byte lines, shared by 1 processor
L3 data cache: 512KB , 16-way set associative (512 sets), 64 byte lines, shared by 4 processorsQuad-Core Cortex-A55 (1.800GHz)
ARMv8-A architecture with Neon and Crypto extensions
Mali-G31 MP2 GPU with 4 x Execution Engines (650Mhz)
which from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ARMv8-A_processors
is a 64 bit processor. And from: https://www.anandtech.com/show/11441/dynamiq-and-arms-new-cpus-cortex-a75-a55
it looks to be a go-faster-stripe verssion of the A53. But still a lot slower than a Pi4’s A72:
https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/specifications/
So from a performance perspective, addressing only the CPU, it would be under-powered but I think compatible.
However the big question here is the boot requirements. Our ARM64EFI images depend upon the underlying hardware/firmware being Embedded Boot or Server boot compatible. Hence the EFI bit. From our installer README: https://github.com/rockstor/rockstor-installer#readme
We have:
“The resulting installer is intended to supports 64-bit ARM systems that implement the Embedded Boot or Server boot standard.”
I don’t think the Odroid C4 does. But I don’t know. However we build our installers using kiwi-ng as does openSuse. So if you can find a kiwi-ng definition for Leap 15.3 JeOS/Appliance then it should inform you of what modifications would be required to our kiwi
openSUSE Leap 15.3, our base OS, is pretty good ARM64 wise so if you can find info for the Odroid C4 that could inform what is required to add a Odroid C4 profile to our installer.
From:
https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-c4/
it looks like the c4 is marketed as a faster C2 which uses a similar CPU:
Amlogic S905 SoC
4x ARM Cortex-A53 CPU
Take a look for example at openSUSE’s page on the C2:
https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:OdroidC2
Do you have one of these devices?
@mcbridematt do you have any knowledge regarding the C4’s Embedded Boot/Server boot compatibility?
But all-in this will be a overly slow performer so I wouldn’t purchase for Rockstor specifically. But if you have one then by all means dig in and see if you can test or develop a new kiwi-ng profile if it is in fact required. You may want to try the C2 images linked in that last openSUSE link.
Hope that helps.
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Hi again @phillxnet. Thank you for the very thorough reply.
As for CPU performance I don’t see as a big problem. The unit makes up for this by having 2 SATA ports, which are more important for me. It’s replacing a Pi2 which has been doing the job well enough for 5 years 
so it’s a step up.
I do have one of these devices so I tried the C2 image, but it would not boot. I am happy to test anything you have on the unit.
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@aquada Hello again.
Re:
Agreed. It will mostly likely shop up while using the Web-UI anyway so once any re/configuration is done that CPU should do general services OK. The Ten64 we support is based on the slightly slower A53 cores but it does have 8 of them.
Nice. SATA ports are definitely preferred.
From: https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-c4/hardware/hardware
I don’t see any build in SATA. Are these provided by a usb adapter?
But from a little digging around I see there is an Odroid HC4:
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-hc4/hardware/hardware
which does have a couple of build-in SATA ports in a back-plane type arrangement.
Could this be your actual model?
This may be important from a support/compatibility perspective?
That would be great. Thanks.
OK, so that’s one option down. Look out for any Leap 15.3 JeOS images you can find that do boot and work. Once we have that info we can use that config to develop our own installer profile. It would be good to have another profile added. And thanks again for the offer to test any installer we do get going.
So next step, if you have time, is to find a Leap 15.3 image build for your hardware, or compatible with this board.
Let us know how you get on.
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@aquada Re some booting info I just found for the Odroid HC4
The following may be relevant:
Apparently u-boot now supports Odroid HC4 from version U-Boot v2022.01:
https://baylibre.com/?cat=-1
and from the same page it looks like at least a 5.14 kernel is required.
So that’s something, and u-boot can in turn bootstrap Grub.
If anyone finds info on this board do feel free to post here. I’m hoping for stuff to inform us how we add a kiwi-ng profile for this board.
Hope that helps.
Yes, this is the one
These are the only OpenSuse builds I could find for Odroid
HCL:OdroidC1
Also I’m not sure if this is relevant, but yes the HC4 does support uboot.
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The configuration in the latest U-Boot source looks like it turns on distro boot and EFI, so that’s good.
It would be worth seeing if the Rockstor ARM64EFI or openSUSE JeOS-EFI image boots. The best way to do this would be with Rockstor loaded onto a SATA or USB drive, and the normal system firmware (with latest U-Boot) on the SD card.
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I’m not familiar with uboot. How do I get it on the SD card?
The SD card images provided by distributions running on the HC4 almost certainly use U-Boot already. The challenge is to find one that has a recent enough version and has the right settings.
I’m not familiar with the ODROID hardware so I can’t be of much help.
Unfortunately the only way to do this might be to build an SD card image with a newer U-Boot in it.
For example:
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-hc4/software/building_u-boot
https://u-boot.readthedocs.io/en/latest/board/amlogic/odroid-c4.html
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thanks @mcbridematt
the instructions look clear. I’ll see if I can find some time to do this.
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