Progress on Boss 2 driver issue

[Tim Curtis]

See Git issue below
https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/5505

[TheOldPresbyope]

See Git issue below
https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/5505

Has anyone possessing the Allo Boss 2  tried the patched kernel which pelwell posted to that issue just an hour or so ago?

Regards,
Kent

[Yawarakaimono]

Command 

Code:

sudo rpi-update pulls/5510

On a newly installed 8.3.3 image first resulted in a “Invalid hash given”, trying shortly later again (maybe after reboot?) the patch was installed without problems.
And after another reboot and configuration and reboot the Allo Boss 2 device is producing sound as expected!

[Tim Curtis]

Nice!

The Boss 2 fix will appear in a future Raspberry Pi kernel bump. If it's released in Q3 2023 then it will be included it in upcoming moOde 8.3.4 :-)

[nosferatu_cat]

Command 

Code:

sudo rpi-update pulls/5510

On a newly installed 8.3.3 image first resulted in a “Invalid hash given”, trying shortly later again (maybe after reboot?) the patch was installed without problems.
And after another reboot and configuration and reboot the Allo Boss 2 device is producing sound as expected!

I had the same experience with a fresh install of 8.3.3.  The first update resulted in the hash error but the second worked.  I'm glad for an open source operating system.

[nosferatu_cat]

Nice!

The Boss 2 fix will appear in a future Raspberry Pi kernel bump. If it's released in Q3 2023 then it will be included it in upcoming moOde 8.3.4 :-)

I'm happy.  If the kernel isn't updated before the next Moode release will we need to apply the patch again?

[Tim Curtis]

On a fresh image, yes.

Be aware that overwriting the kernel means loss of the 3 enhanced drivers we include in our kernel install: aloop and pcm1794a (enhanced to support 384K) and rtl88xxau (Comcast CF-912AC WiFi adapter)

[fdealexa]

Hi all,
Thank you very much: now is up and running again!!!
Best regards and thanks again,
Francesco

[diist]

I also just bumped on this while upgrading today, it did my head in! The fix works, I had to run the command `sudo rpi-update pulls/5510` twice in a row to get over the hash issue.

[chaetura]

A summary and an update, now that Moode Audio 8.3.4 and 8.3.5 are out.

Both 8.3.4 and 8.3.5 are still based on kernel 6.1.21, which has the broken driver for the Boss 2. It appears from the relnotes that this kernel was introduced in 8.3.1. (Personally, I can confirm only that the driver works in 8.2.x and does not in 8.3.3 and 8.3.5.)

Regarding updates and patches with the new versions: I have 4 RPi4+Boss2 machines. 3 were at at 8.3.3 and patched as described above, which results in a kernel version reported as "6.1.34-v8+". I successfully updated these machines in place from 8.3.3 to 8.3.5. The update log warns that the step which replaces the kernel fails, because the existing kernel version is newer. This also means that the patch does not need to be re-applied, you can just update and reboot as expected, and the working patched kernel remains.

My final machine was running 8.2.x (unpatched, because 8.2.x runs a working v5.x kernel). I forgot to note which revision of 8.2 and kernel version I was running. I successfully updated this machine in place to 8.3.5 and *then* applied the driver patch. It works fine now with a patched 8.3.5.

As mentioned in the final 2 posts by user pelwell on this thread, the kernel patch will be in the next RPi kernel released after 6/20/2023 (with superficial research, I have not found a release date). The first Moode Audio version released after the fixed RPi kernel will have the fix. Meanwhile, patching the broken Moode 6.1.21 kernel is easy, and you need to do it only once: updating in-place to higher Moode point releases will not* overwrite your patched kernel with a broken kernel, but will overwrite your patched kernel after the upstream kernel is also patched. It's not relevant to Moode users, but potentially of interest: the patch is queued for Linux kernel 6.4 (upstream of RPi kernel), and it will be backported to earlier 6.x Linux kernels.

* ...unless a new Moode version bumps its kernel to >= 6.1.35 before the next (i.e. fixed) RPi kernel is released. I'm not sure if this could / would happen, but if it does, I'll revise / reply to this post.