Kernels and chromebooks, Oh MY!

[clm1919]

@bigpup

So you did what I posted and are sure you did it correctly?

I am not trying to be hard on you.

trust me my friend, you are NOT being hard on me I have mild dyslexia - I usually assume, if it required typing terminal commands out - or manually entering a long http link, if it didn't work, it's probably my fault

fresh_PITA_boot.png (384 KiB) Viewed 1691 times

Why do I feel this is one of those slap your forehead kind of moments!

Not sure - but instead of a V8, i had a mudslide with dinner to celebrate my YogaPuppy!

[bigpup]

Your image of etc/modprobe.d/

The file you made is named inteldsp.comf it needs to be inteldsp.conf (with an n not an m)

Correct the name

Then do a reboot.

Anything change in Volume Control?

Note:
BookwormPup64 needs to be using a save so these changes are used on reboot.

[clm1919]

The file you made is named inteldsp.comf it needs to be inteldsp.conf (with an n not an m)

three classes in accounting
1 in pascal
1 in modula2
2 in C++

what did i learn - typo's are a bi*ch...and i'm not cut out to be a coder or accountant.

rebooting now

[clm1919]

I may have made another mistake somewhere - but things now look like "two steps back"

PITA_stands_for_Pain_In_The_Ass.png (296.89 KiB) Viewed 1670 times

nothing in the "Hardware output Devices" either

...I'm so feeling this with PITA right now....and myself. Sorry for wasting your time with a typo.

[bigpup]

Well, That inteldsp.conf file is no help at all.

So delete it.

I am out of ideas.

I keep seeing other people having same issue with apolo lake chromebooks.

some special Linux kernel is needed. Setup specifically for apolo lake.

But I have no idea how you are going to get it changed in BookwormPup64 to this special kernel.

Puppy Linux provides the kernel in a special way and any kernel needs to be provided in that way to use it.

So one provided for Debian is not going to work, unless it is put together the Puppy way.

[clm1919]

@bigpup

In all honesty - it makes me feel a tiny bit better. I was out of ideas a LONG time ago - I had "banged so many rocks" that i broke the system a few times and had to reinstall a few times before i came here. I was pretty sure it was a Kernel thing (which is beyond me).

PITA works under Debian 12 (no big feat...debian runs on almost everything...well, maybe not your toaster).

and thanks to you guys I learned enough to upgrade the firmware on the Yoga AND boot it off the SD card - leaving ChromeOS intact - which was my original goal for PITA. I had no idea this was possible for EOL machines.

I'll keep researching, but i think the Mac-mini will be my next project. Or maybe a franken-puppy-box. Or maybe i'll buy another chromebook - just to drive myself crazy (they ARE dirt cheap...and make good "smart-monitors".)

PITA is going on the back burner for the time being.

Thanks to ALL for your help - I learned a LOT!!! And i want to continue along the Puppy-path

[dancytron]

FWIW, other than being slow, Debian Bookworm LXQT with the First Rib script seemed to work as well as MX and Puppy on my Ultima gen3 lenovo.

I have to start over with it in a more organized fashion and it's not a super high priority, but if anyone else wants to try it...

I think there are ways to set it up to be faster (zram and full pseudo full install maybe).

[clm1919]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this (I seem to start posts this way a lot)

Since I have decided to put the "get sound working on PITA" project on hold - i decided to wipe PITA and do a fresh Debian 12 /LXDE install. I thought about recording the steps and all that, but this is the Puppy Linux forum, not a DebianLinux on Chromebooks forum....<edited for rambling>

the TL;DR of it is - WeirdTreeThing's script works again
- complete with custom "chrultrabook" kernel 6.6.43

after purging libreoffice, apt upgrade and installing git there is still almost 6 gigs of space left.

sound, wifi and everything work.

I guess i just wanted to close (for now) this thread with a "I'm happy with it" statement. Thanks again to everyone for all the help. Happy side affect - YogaPuppy

you never know what you will find while exploring the forest of all knowledge!

@bigpup @mikewalsh @mikeslr @wizard @mouldy @ozsouth (and anyone i forgot - thank you)

[bigpup]

I just found some more info on getting sound working on a Apolo Lake Chromebook.

It is something we already tried, but we did not replace a file that is needed to be changed.

Fixing audio
Apollolake based models

A potential solution for solving audio issues on Apollolake based models is using the SOF DSP driver and redefining the topology used in the audio processing pipeline by the firmware.

This will most likely solve issues relating to no audio devices being found or errors relating to topology in the kernel buffer.

The topology was created by a Sound Open Firmware maintainer and tested by MrChromebox. As stated by MrChromebox, this may introduce audio scaling issues (E.g. audio output range is 0-10 instead of 0-100) and incorrect audio output device types (E.g. headphones instead of speaker).

Install sof-firmware.
Download sof-apl-da7219.tplg

sof-apl-da7219.tplg.gz

remove the fake .gz from the name (needed this to get it to attach to post)

(33.91 KiB) Downloaded 29 times

Copy the .tplg topology file to /lib/firmware/intel/sof-tplg/ directory.
Use this new one to replace the file that is already there.

Make the inteldsp.conf file as you did before with these entries in it.
options snd-intel-dspcfg dsp_driver=3
options snd-sof-pci fw_path="intel/sof"

Put it In /etc/modprobe.d/

Makes sure the save gets updated and do a reboot.

Not totally sure this will give you working speakers or working headset.

See if Volume Control now provides something for output device, that has speaker or headphone.

any help?

[clm1919]

@bigpup *heart* - thanks for that post (above)!!

I will definetly take a peek at this Wednesday. I'll be gone almost all of tomorrow and I was booked solid today.

*********************************
*side note* - now that i have two "smart monitors" I decided to attempt to install Debian12 onto one of the spare micro-sd cards (not the puppy one). It took some "popping in and out" at certain times - but the install completed. Do have to also pop in-and-out during boot, just like in puppy. but it works. - thanks to the three students in a row who were VERY late today and me being bored out of my skull

PITA can now boot puppy or debian from a micro SD card.

*****the important part of my rambling-rant-story*****@wizard , @mouldy @mikewalsh
I only did the LEGACY firmware update on PITA - original goal was a dual Linux and ChromeOS machine. but now that YogaPuppy has fulfilled that goal...

Do you think doing mrchromebox's second option (the COMPLETE -no return to ChromeOS - firmware replacement) might "do something" that might make this "sound on puppy" thing...easier? simpler? possible?

IN THEORY, of course, at least for the moment. - thanks again @bigpup for continuing the project - I'm game!

[bigpup]

The sound issue is not a bios firmware issue.
It is the way the sound hardware works in Apolo Lake ChromeBooks.

Replacing the bios firmware, will make the ChromeBook bios work, basically like a regular computers bios.

I am not sure why, you have to take SD cards, in and out, to get stuff done using them.
I have never had to do that to boot, do installs to it, access, etc.....
Maybe something in the specific version of the Chrome bios, in this computer.
If you are doing stuff to the SD card using Chrome OS, Well who knows.

The ChromeBook I have, that has the bios firmware replaced fully with the mrchromebox version.
Everything I do is using some version of Puppy Linux on a SD card.
I have it setup with a bunch of Puppy versions on a SD card and this card never needs to be removed.
It boots the computer the same as if it was the internal drive.
In fact, I only use the internal drive as storage. It is only 16GB size.
The SD card is 32GB.

[clm1919]

@bigpup

I am not sure why, you have to take SD cards, in and out, to get stuff done using them.

Me neither - I suspect PITA just hates me
YogaPuppy works just fine from the SD card.
but the ApolloLake entry on the chromebook compatibility pages all mention issues with sound and the sd card. Lucky me lol.

as for the firmware, i think i'll just leave it "as is" for now - "if it ain't broke...."

will be gone almost all day today, just checking in. Will try your suggestions tomorrow (Wednesday) - thanks again for all your enlightening insights - they are much appreciated.

[wizard]

@clm1919

Do you think doing mrchromebox's second option (the COMPLETE -no return to ChromeOS - firmware replacement) might "do something" that might make this "sound on puppy" thing...easier? simpler? possible?

What @bigpup says is right. My experience with UEFI Full BIos vs Lecacy is UEFI is faster to boot and provides more options. It might fix your sdcard popping issue.

You might look at backing up your ChromeOS, that way you could restore it if you wanted. Have no experience with that, but knows it can be done.

wizard

[dancytron]

That tracks with my experience using the Legacy Boot.

I managed to corrupt an SD Card and have been using a USB key instead.

[clm1919]

@bigpup

I'm pretty sure i followed your directions properly - and i didn't see any changes. It's late and I will go everything again in the morning.

WeirdTreeThing made this comment on github a while back:

Using kernel 6.6 or newer is the preferred solution, since that's when my patch landed that selects the correct driver automatically.

https://github.com/WeirdTreeThing/chrom ... issues/149

I also found this from someone trying to get it to work under Alpine:

Works flawlessly with SOF after installing both alsa-ucm-conf and sof-firmware using

Code: Select all

doas apk add sof-firmware alsa-ucm-conf,

as if I was using another distro.

But i confess i have no idea what that means....
https://github.com/WeirdTreeThing/chrom ... issues/143#

I'm just exhausted and can't sleep and grasping as straws.....good night.

[bigpup]

The big problem with all ChromeBooks is they are all different.

The only time they seem to be in any way the same, is if they are using the exact same motherboard and CPU setup.
But that is not even 100% correct, from different manufactures of the ChromeBooks.

Yours is just one of the ones that sound is a real issue, to get working.

On my HP 14 ChromeBook
BookwormPup64 10.0.7 is the first Puppy Linux version, that had working sound, the first time I booted it.
All other Puppy Linux versions, needed some type of tweaking, and most needed the Linux kernel replaced.
ozsouth (the Puppy kernel expert) actually compiled a special kernel for ChromeBooks, to use with Puppy Linux.
Basically, he took and configured it, with a lot of the stuff activated, for support of ChromeBooks.
But not sure, it is good to use in newest versions of Puppy or even if, it would fix your issues, with Apolo Lake sound issues.

The Linux kernel, has hundreds of config settings, that can be setup, when it is compiled.
More and more settings are being provided, specifically for ChromeBooks, in newer and newer kernel versions.
The people controlling what is in the kernel, seem to be embracing the idea, that Linux is good to use on ChromeBooks.
So, trying to get the kernel to support them more.
Basically, the kernel is what provides the drivers and firmware to run, control, and use the hardware.

your issue seems to be about the needed firmware and config settings, in the Linux kernel.
the last idea I offered is doing exactly that.
Changing the firmware software file and putting commands in modprobe.d, to change/activate kernel config settings.

We offered you the way to change the kernel in BookwormPup64, earlier in this topic.

You want to try it??

Note:
What is done to some other Linux operating system, is usually never going to work exactly, in a Puppy Linux version.
About all Puppy has in common, is using the same core Linux files and programs, that all Linux OS's have to use, to be Linux.
The newest Puppy versions are trying to have a common Linux file system layout.
But Puppy even has a few things different in it.

[bigpup]

BookwormPup64 10.0.7

I changed the kernel to this one:
6.9.9 64bit Hi-Freq Kernel USRMERGE Aufs/Overlayfs
viewtopic.php?t=12175

Does need the edit to the boot loader menu entry linux line, so Overlays is used. (Using Grub boot loader)
The information is in the link topic.
Add punionfs=overlay to the end of the line.
Example:

Code: Select all

linux /bookwormpup64107/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash pdrv=81D9-1E0F psubdir=/bookwormpup64107 pfix=fsck,fsckp TZ=EST5EDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0 punionfs=overlay

Booted my HP ChromeBook 14 and it also has fully working sound.
In fact it is a little better than the original kernel that comes in BookwormPup64 10.0.7

So this newer kernel works for me.

It may or may not help you with your ChromeBook, but everyone says it needs a newer kernel to work in yours.

[clm1919]

@bigpup

I truly appreciate the help and guidance in this project. I decided I needed to take some time to "try other things" after a few fallbacks..

-the SD card reader on PITA just doesn't really work - lots of errors because it just "stops" - PITA seems to "forget" that a card is inserted.
---->everything on the card seemed to get corrupted - puppy wouldn't boot from it anymore.

-the MacMini I was backing up just up and died - no video, no HDA spinup, speaker has been dead for years....So no Linux-on-Intel-Mac project.

Grandpa once said - "walk away, try something else for a while, don't let it bother you". Good advice....hard sometimes, but good.

I might try again at some point, but PITA runs fine under Deb12, I think for the time being I'm taking a break from "Puppy on ApolloLake"

My thinking was - "I still have my YogaPuppy to play with and learn more about actually USING puppy and how it works."

BUT - then fate intervened - Welcome AcerPuppy_01

[bigpup]

One thing to check on SD card readers.

Look very closely inside the SD card slot for anything in it.

check all the contacts for proper position and not bent.

Take some alcohol and try cleaning all the contacts.

I assume this laptop is closed with no air vents.
so dirt inside is not an issue.

But I have opened the back of this type laptop and found some piece of metal over a contact point.
One time it was a loose screw that was left inside.
Leaking capacitors was a big issue, but that was years ago.

[clm1919]

@clm1919

Ventoy is a great tool and I use it often, not only for many Pups, but also for other Linux distros like MX and PrimeOS. Additionally, mine contains major system tools like Hiren BootCD, Rescuezilla and Memtest86.

Forum member @Clarity is our resident Ventoy champion and has done much to promote its understanding and use.

Thanks
wizard

Thank you Mr. @wizard - I've been having a terrible time making SD card images... until Rescuezilla!!

I hope to have some more updates on the Chromebook topic thread soon. I've been fighting with coreboot on my latest chromebooks and trying to update kernels on puppy (I keep getting messages about bad elves or something...which cause the boot process to "wait 60 seconds") although it says I have 6.9.0-rt5 installed. I dunno - *BANG*BANG* rocks.... or should i say "!! rocks"

PITA remains a decent Deb12 machine and I've "moved on" to trying other stuff (zoom app, learning about coreboot and grub, and more)

thanks to all for the help, guidance and patience you've shown me. Hope to contribute more soon.
@mikewalsh @bigpup @mouldy @mikeslr @ozsouth and any others I forgot!

[clm1919]

Much earlier in this thread I made a kinda-sorta-joke on wanting a "Grub for Dummies Book".

While i never found a decent Grub chapter in any ebook i could find through the NYC library system (and many the physical books at the library were older than some of MINE and no better)....

...long story short i found: https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items ... s/grub.pdf

"the GNU GRUB manual" which has been posted online and often quoted at many a website in hypertext format, but i found it confusing to follow those....

While not exactly at "for dummies" level, I'm finding it easier to read/follow than a lot of the online stuff, maybe it's just the pdf format and that i can print out pages of the pdf and "take notes"....

might be some other nuggets there at :https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/os-dev-manuals/

for people more technically adept than myself.

Just thought I'd share.