Re: adding UEFI to NetBSD /boot/ [was Re: no HDMI on rpi4b NetBSD 10.1]

Hi Steve

El 21/7/25 a las 22:55, Steve Rikli escribió:
> On Mon, Jul 21, 2025 at 06:11:37PM +0200, Ramiro Aceves wrote:
>> El 18/7/25 a las 10:10, Ramiro Aceves escribió:
>>>
>>> Hi Steve,
>>> Thank you so much for sharing the results of your experiments and
>>> findings with the RPi4 and the UEFI firmware! It has been very helpful
>>> for me to better understand the subject.
>>>
>>> I think it would be great to include this kind of information on the WEB
>>> for new users who want to install NetBSD on the RPi4. A dedicated
>>> chapter just for the RPi4—covering all the installation methods, with
>>> sample commands—would be excellent. It could also include details about
>>> what works, what doesn’t, and other useful notes.
>>>
>>> https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/raspberry_pi/
> 
> I don't necessarily agree that my experiments and poking around with
> NetBSD on rpi4 are a great addition to the wiki.
> 
> I had several mis-steps and dead-ends which don't really add value to
> documentation; fortunately others were able to chime in with explanation
> and guidance. After re-reviewing that particular wiki page in hindsight,
> I see in several cases there were at least cursory notes about things
> where I stumbled, or incorrectly assumed about some aspect of the
> install media.
> 
> My impression is the wiki is(?) kind of a quick and dirty place for
> developers to put info and notes, likely targeted at other devs or at
> least experienced users, who can research and fiddle with things.
> 
> Whereas I view the INSTALL docs as more of a procedure guide, which
> someone could ideally follow and use to turn a supported machine with
> blank disk into a running NetBSD system. Again, just my impression.

Yes, you are right. As you suggested,  the INSTALL document is the right 
place to document it as it is the first document it is supposed to be 
read  prior to installation. As is now, it is a very generic evbarm 
document that aims to satisfy the installation of many different boards. 
But each board will have its own hints and tips. Difficult indeed to 
condense all infromation.

I would like to help but I lack knowledge about it. I can help testing 
the procedures just to see if they work (I own a RPi4 and a RpiZeroW). I 
would buy a RPi5 just for fun but I think NetBSD is far from supporting 
it in the near future.

Regards.
Ramiro.


> 
> So I started with the evbarm INSTALL guide rather than the wiki. I could
> be wrong, but my guess is other folks do too.
> 
> I do agree that installation docs could be better. I mentioned in
> port-arm@ (also the previous Subject: about HDMI) I think there are
> possible additions to the evbarm INSTALL doc which might have helped me
> avoid some wrong paths.
> 
> That is, I ended up at evbarm/ and raspberry_pi/ wiki pages after HDMI
> didn't "just work" on my rpi4b, essentially because I hadn't installed
> the full UEFI 3rd party zip bundle. I believe if INSTALL had at least
> mentioned the UEFI git zip as an option / addition, I might have avoided
> some of my subsequent mis-steps.
> 
> On that note: how are suggested changes submitted for INSTALL guides?
> Would that be a NetBSD send-pr bug for the appropriate port-* system
> type, or maybe in the install category? Other?
> 
> Cheers,
> sr.