Anyone tried Mender with the Raspberry Pi CM5?

Board Integrations Debian family
1

Hi everybody,

I have spent all of yesterday trying to get Mender running on a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 without much luck. I managed to convert the raw image of 64bit Bookworm after having to tweak the default Pi 5 config (for some reason it expected that kernel8.img is gzipped and conversion fails because it can’t find kernel8.img.gz).

After loading the converted image on the CM5 I just get the U-Boot logo in the corner. I didn’t do much more customisation except making the data partition 8GB.

Unfortunately, I can’t see the serial log because I don’t have female jumper wires to connect my UART to USB module. Did anyone have more luck?

Cheers

2

UDPATE:
I got rid of the gzipping error by using the docker version of mender-convert, but still get the same issue with the Pi being stuck at the U-Boot logo.

Also, found a UART to USB converter cable with female jumper wires already attached to it but I don’t get anything from the Pi. UART is enabled in config.txt and I tried getting to the U-Boot command prompt by spamming Enter after Pi powered on but also nothing (the cable is ok).

3

Hi @zettro,

Thanks for reaching out! We have ordered a few CM5s to test, but unfortunately they haven’t arrived yet. So just guesswork here at the moment.

  • the kernel8.img is, at least in the default bookworm 64bit version, a gzipped flat Linux kernel image, and therefore that’s what the default config expects.
  • does the configuration work if you run the resulting image on a standard RPi5?
  • how is the image modified? Is it the default, Raspberry Pi OS one, or are modifications added? Specifically, device tree ones?
  • is there additional hardware connected? Especially such that blocks the UART ports? In that case, u-boot will need some tuning. I’ve seen that on a standard RPi5+AI Hat, for example.

Greetz,
Josef

4

Thank you, @TheYoctoJester, for your response and insights!

  1. That makes sense—thank you for clarifying.
  2. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to a standard RPi5 for testing, as it doesn’t align well with our specific use case.
  3. The image I’m using is unmodified.
  4. I did have additional hardware connected initially, but after disconnecting everything, I’m still not receiving any UART output.

I appreciate your support and am happy to provide more details or try any suggestions you might have.

Best regards

5

Hi @TheYoctoJester,

I hope you’re doing well! I was wondering if you’ve had a chance to try setting up Mender on the CM5 yet? I’m curious about your experience and any tips or challenges you encountered during the process.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best regards

6

Hi @zettro,

Just checked with my supplier but delivery is planned for mid-February… :frowning:

Greetz,
Josef