5b59f8de8d
Documents the dd + EEPROM configuration approach for booting Talos from NVMe on RPi5/CM5. Includes BOOT_ORDER, PCIE_PROBE settings, and optional PCIe Gen 3 configuration. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
152 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
152 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
# Talos CM5 Builder
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Custom Talos Linux images for Raspberry Pi 5 / CM5 on Compute Blade hardware.
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<a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/docker/v/svrnty/talos-rpi5?sort=semver&label=talos-rpi5&logo=docker&arch=arm64" alt="Docker Hub"></a>
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<a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/svrnty/talos-rpi5?logo=docker" alt="Docker Pulls"></a>
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<a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/docker/image-size/svrnty/talos-rpi5?sort=semver&logo=docker&arch=arm64" alt="Docker Image Size"></a>
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The official Talos Image Factory does not support CM5 — the mainline kernel lacks CM5 device trees and RP1 driver support. This builder uses the RPi downstream kernel (via [talos-rpi5/talos-builder](https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder) patches) to produce working CM5 images with our extensions and overclock config.
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## Current versions
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| Component | Version |
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|-----------|---------|
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| Talos Linux | <a href="https://github.com/siderolabs/talos" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/talos-v1.12.3-blue?logo=kubernetes&logoColor=white" alt="Talos version"></a> |
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| RPi Kernel | <a href="https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/kernel-6.12.47-blue?logo=linux&logoColor=white" alt="Kernel version"></a> |
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| iscsi-tools | <a href="https://github.com/siderolabs/extensions" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/iscsi--tools-v0.1.6-blue?logo=docker" alt="iscsi-tools version"></a> |
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| util-linux-tools | <a href="https://github.com/siderolabs/extensions" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/util--linux--tools-2.40.4-blue?logo=docker" alt="util-linux-tools version"></a> |
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## Image tags
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Release images are published to <a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><code>docker.io/svrnty/talos-rpi5</code></a> with the format:
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```
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v<talos>-k<kernel>-<revision>
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```
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For example: `v1.12.3-k6.12.47-2`
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| Segment | Meaning |
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|---------|---------|
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| `v1.12.3` | Upstream Talos Linux version |
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| `k6.12.47` | RPi downstream kernel version |
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| `2` | Build revision (bumped for config/patch changes on the same upstream versions) |
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## Usage
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### Install from raw disk image
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Download `metal-arm64.raw.zst` from the [latest release](../../releases/latest) and flash to eMMC:
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```bash
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zstd -d metal-arm64.raw.zst -o metal-arm64.raw
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# Flash to eMMC/SD via your preferred tool (dd, balenaEtcher, etc.)
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```
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### Upgrade an existing node
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```bash
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talosctl upgrade --image docker.io/svrnty/talos-rpi5:v1.12.3-k6.12.47-2
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```
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> **Note:** In-place upgrades use GRUB with `--no-nvram` to work around the RPi5/CM5 `SetVariableRT` firmware limitation. This patch is included but not yet tested in production — re-flashing the disk image is the proven fallback.
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```bash
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# Fallback: re-flash method
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zstd -d metal-arm64.raw.zst -o metal-arm64.raw
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# Flash to eMMC/SD via your preferred tool
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```
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### What's included
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- RPi downstream kernel with CM5/RP1 support (4K page size, aligned with upstream Talos)
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- GRUB bootloader with `--no-nvram` for reliable `talosctl upgrade` on RPi5/CM5
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- Overclock: 2.6GHz (`arm_freq=2600`, `over_voltage_delta=50000`, `arm_boost=1`)
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- Extensions: `iscsi-tools`, `util-linux-tools`
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## Known issues
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### ~~No serial console output after boot~~ (Fixed)
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The overlay was using `console=ttyAMA0` (GPIO 14/15 UART) but the RPi5/CM5 debug UART is `ttyAMA10`. Fixed by switching to `console=ttyAMA10,115200` and adding `earlycon=pl011,0x107d001000,115200n8` for early boot output. Also added `[pi5] enable_uart=0` to `config.txt` to match upstream and avoid U-Boot compatibility issues.
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*Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/4" target="_blank">talos-builder#4</a>*
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### Install disk config ignored on SBCs
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Talos ignores the `machine.install.disk` config field on SBC platforms. You **must flash the disk image directly** to your target disk (eMMC, SD, NVMe). For NVMe boot, `dd` the metal image to the NVMe drive and configure the EEPROM boot order (`BOOT_ORDER=0xf416`, `PCIE_PROBE=1`).
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*Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/22" target="_blank">talos-builder#22</a>*
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## Roadmap
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This project targets production-ready Talos clusters on RPi5/CM5 hardware.
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| Status | Milestone | Description |
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|--------|-----------|-------------|
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| Untested | **4K page size** | Aligned with upstream Talos kernel config. Reduces memory overhead and improves workload compatibility (Longhorn, jemalloc, F2FS, etc.). |
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| Untested | **Reliable in-place upgrades** | Force GRUB bootloader with `--no-nvram` on arm64 to work around the `SetVariableRT` firmware limitation (<a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/21" target="_blank">talos-builder#21</a>). |
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| Untested | **Serial console fix** | Use correct debug UART (`ttyAMA10`) with `earlycon` for early boot output. |
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| Untested | **NVMe boot support** | `dd` image to NVMe + set EEPROM `BOOT_ORDER=0xf416` and `PCIE_PROBE=1`. Kernel has `CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NVME=y` built-in. |
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## NVMe boot (untested)
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The kernel has NVMe built-in (`CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NVME=y`), so booting from NVMe should work by flashing the disk image directly and configuring the RPi5/CM5 EEPROM.
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### 1. Flash the image to NVMe
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Connect the NVMe drive via a USB adapter and flash:
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```bash
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zstd -d metal-arm64.raw.zst | sudo dd of=/dev/<nvme-device> bs=4M status=progress
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sync
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```
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### 2. Configure EEPROM boot order
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Boot into Raspberry Pi OS on an SD card and run:
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```bash
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sudo rpi-eeprom-config --edit
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```
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Set these values:
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```ini
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BOOT_ORDER=0xf416
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PCIE_PROBE=1
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```
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`BOOT_ORDER` is read right-to-left: try NVMe (`6`) first, then SD (`1`), then USB (`4`), then restart (`f`). `PCIE_PROBE=1` is required for non-HAT+ NVMe adapters (Compute Blade, most M.2 carrier boards).
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### 3. Boot from NVMe
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Remove the SD card and power on. The RPi firmware should find the boot partition on NVMe, load U-Boot, and boot Talos.
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### Optional: enable PCIe Gen 3
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Add to your `configTxtAppend` overlay option or directly to `config.txt` on the boot partition:
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```ini
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dtparam=pciex1_gen=3
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```
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This doubles throughput (~400 MB/s Gen 2 to ~800 MB/s Gen 3). Not officially certified by Raspberry Pi but works on most NVMe drives.
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## Building
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For local builds, CI/CD setup, runner configuration, and project structure, see [TECHNICAL.md](TECHNICAL.md).
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## License
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This project is licensed under the [Mozilla Public License 2.0](LICENSE).
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It builds upon the following MPL 2.0 licensed upstream projects:
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- [siderolabs/talos](https://github.com/siderolabs/talos) — Talos Linux OS
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- [siderolabs/pkgs](https://github.com/siderolabs/pkgs) — Talos package definitions
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- [talos-rpi5/sbc-raspberrypi5](https://github.com/talos-rpi5/sbc-raspberrypi5) — Raspberry Pi 5 SBC overlay
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Our patches to these projects are in the `patches/` directory and are distributed under the same MPL 2.0 terms.
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