Introduction to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on the Raspberry Pi

To be able to use SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on the Raspberry Pi, an Arm compatible Raspberry Pi* is required. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 for ARM is tested to work on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B board.

1.1 Technical Details of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B #

  

The Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board computers based on a System on a Chip (SoC) by Broadcom*, featuring various peripherals on the board.

Figure 1: Overview of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Connectors, © Efa / English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0 #

  

Figure 2: Photo of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Connectors, © Evan-Amos / Own work / Public Domain #

  

Selected Features of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B #

  

CPU

The Broadcom BCM2837 SoC includes a quad-core Arm* Cortex*-A53 Application Processor supporting the ARMv8 32-bit and 64-bit instruction sets. With the default configuration, it is clocked up to 1.2 GHz.

RAM

1024 MiB DDR2 memory mounted on the back of the board.

Graphics

Broadcom* VideoCore* IV providing OpenGL* ES 2.0 support. Displays can be connected over HDMI or composite (TRRS jack).

Ethernet

A USB Ethernet adapter on the board provides 10/100 MBit/s Ethernet.

WLAN

The BCM43438 chip supports IEEE-802.11b, IEEE-802.11g and IEEE-802.11n in the 2.4 GHz band. It also provides Bluetooth 2.0-4.1 (Low Energy).

Storage

The microSDHC card slot allows for a memory card to be inserted as primary boot medium.

Power

The Raspberry Pi's main power source is the Micro USB connector. If your Raspberry Pi comes with a power supply, it is recommended to use the bundled power supply only.

USB

A total of four USB 2.0 ports is available.

Connectors

A 0.1 inch multi-function pin header is also available. Note that not all functionality of this header is exposed in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on the Raspberry Pi.

1.2 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 12 SP3 #

  

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 12 SP3 is the first fully supported commercial Linux operating system release available for the Raspberry Pi. You can purchase subscriptions which entitle you to receive all released bug and security fixes, feature updates, and technical assistance from SUSE's worldwide support. Learn more about subscription and support options at https://www.suse.com/support/programs/subscriptions/?id=SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server

Note: Trial Version

If you want to try out SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 12 SP3 on the Raspberry Pi, SUSE will provide you with a trial version. This gives you access to free patches and updates for a period of 60 days. You must sign in to the SUSE Customer Center at https://scc.suse.com/login using your Customer Center account credentials to receive this free offer. If you do not have a Customer Center account, you must create one to take advantage of the trial version.

Minimum System Requirements for Installation#

• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

• SD Card with at least 8GB capacity

• USB keyboard, mouse

• HDMI cable and monitor

• Power supply with at least 2.5A capacity

1.2.1 Differences Compared to the Previous Release “SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for the Raspberry Pi” #

  

The previous release of “SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for the Raspberry Pi” (based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2) was intended for experimental users of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on the Raspberry Pi platform. It included several large packages such as the C compiler and development tools. The commercial release of the Raspberry Pi image of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM is different in several ways:

• It is based on the later code base from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3.

• It uses the normal SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM support channels instead of a special purpose “SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for the Raspberry Pi” channel.

• The image is significantly smaller than the previous release to allow the installation to be tailored for the actual use.

Additional packages can be installed by YaST or Zypper after registration. Since many of our customers are interested in using SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on a Raspberry Pi for industrial monitoring and digital signage, it makes more sense to provide a minimal image that can easily be expanded.

1.2.2 Differences Compared to Raspbian #

  

Raspbian is the de-facto default distribution for the Raspberry Pi. The following paragraphs provide a short overview of differences between SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on the Raspberry Pi and Raspbian.

Based on Upstream Kernel

Raspbian uses a kernel with modifications especially for the Raspberry Pi. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM uses the default SUSE Linux Enterprise kernel for AArch64 which is derived from the official mainline kernel.

AArch64 Instruction Set

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on the Raspberry Pi is the first distribution for the Raspberry Pi using the AArch64 instruction set.

Boot Process

In Raspbian, the kernel is loaded directly. This is not supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM, where the U-Boot boot loader is used to provide an EFI boot environment. A GRUB2 EFI binary is chainloaded to provide a graphical boot screen.

Root File System

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on the Raspberry Pi uses Btrfs as file system for the root partition. Compression is enabled by default for better SD card performance.

1.2.3 YaST #

  

YaST is the installation and configuration framework for SUSE Linux Enterprise. It is popular for its easy use, flexible graphical interfaces and the capability to customize your system quickly during and after the installation. YaST can be used to configure your entire system: You can configure hardware, set up networking, manage system services and tune your security settings. All these tasks can be reached from the YaST control center. To start it, choose YaST in the menu or run the command xdg-su -c yast2. You will be prompted to enter the password of the root user.

Figure 3: The YaST Control Center #

  

When started, YaST shows an overview of available modules (Figure 3, “The YaST Control Center”). Simply click an icon to open a module.

1.2.4 Zypper #

  

Zypper is the package manager for SUSE Linux Enterprise. It is the tool for installing, updating and removing packages and for managing repositories.

The general syntax for Zypper invocations is:

zypper [global-options] command [command-options][arguments] ...

Note: Short Command Form

For most commands, there is both a short and a long form. An overview is available with zypper --help.

Installing a package

zypper install mplayer

Removing a package

zypper remove mplayer

List available patches

zypper list-patches

Install available patches

zypper patch

Note: Installing Software Updates

The recommended way to install available software updates is using the YaST Online Updater. To start it, choose “Online Update” in “Settings” under “Desktop Apps” in the IceWM menu.

1.2.5 Limitations #

  

Graphics not hardware-accelerated

X.Org hardware acceleration is disabled to improve system stability and reliability.

To enable it, comment out the following line in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-kms.conf: Option "AccelMethod" "none" by prefixing it with “#”.

For other limitations refer to the online version of the Release Notes at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/12-SP3/.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for the Raspberry Pi is distributed as XZ-compressed image file for microSD cards. This section will guide you through the process of preparing the card to the first boot. If you already have a microSD card containing the image, you can skip this section and go straight to Section 3, “Booting for the First Time”.

Note: SD Card Space Requirements

It is recommended to use a card with a capacity of at least 8 GB.

Warning: All Data on the Card will be Lost!

By following the procedure below, all data on the SD card will be overwritten and therefore irrevocably lost! Be very careful when choosing the destination device of the image writing process!

xz -cd IMAGE | dd of=/dev/SDCARDDEV bs=4096

xz -cd SLE-12-SP3-Server-RaspberryPi3.aarch64-GM.raw.xz | dd of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4096

After insertion of the prepared microSD card, connect a display, Ethernet and USB keyboard and mouse first, then provide power over Micro USB. After a few seconds you should be able to see a few lines of text on the screen. If that is not the case, recheck the connection to the display.

Note: Operation Without Mouse

YaST can be used without a mouse by only using the keyboard. Every GUI element has an accelerator configured, visible as underlined letter. To activate such an accelerator, press the letter together with Alt.

On the first boot, the system will expand to fill the entire SD card, so be patient.

3.2 The Desktop Environment #

  

When the system finished booting, you will see the following login screen:

Figure 4: XDM Login Screen #

  

Type in the user name and password you chose during the initial configuration. The default IceWM desktop starts. By using the menu, you can start an XTerm terminal:

Figure 5: IceWM desktop #

  

After the initial configuration procedure and the first boot of the system, you can now use various components of the system.

root # hciattach /dev/ttyAMA0 bcm43xx 921600
bcm43xx_init
Flash firmware /lib/firmware/BCM43430A1.hcd
Set Controller UART speed to 921600 bit/s
Device setup complete

In this section it is explained how to perform the initial system configuration for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 12 SP3 on the Raspberry Pi.

5.3 Registration Process #

  

It is very important to register your SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM subscription to ensure full functionality of your Raspberry Pi system. The SD card image provided by SUSE contains a minimal set of packages that are intended for the initial boot process and to get your Raspberry Pi onto the network.

When you have registered your SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM subscription, you can download other packages you may need, such as compilers. The SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version that runs on your Raspberry Pi is the same version that runs on x86, Power, IBM Z, or on other Arm-based systems.

Important: Setting the Clock

Because the Raspberry Pi does not have a persistent Real Time Clock, make sure that the clock is set to the current date and time before attempting to use Zypper or YaST to install additional packages.

You can register your system either during first boot or via the YaST Product Registration module.

Note: Evaluation Code

Sixty day evaluation subscriptions may be requested at the following page: https://www.suse.com/products/arm/raspberry-pi/

After you obtained a registration code from a subscription card, you need to activate your subscription on the SUSE Customer Center at:

https://scc.suse.com

To register your subscription, perform the following steps:

1. Log in to the SUSE Customer Center using a browser on another machine. Create an account if required:

   

2. Click Manually Activate Subscriptions:

   

3. Click the dialog field Activate a single subscription:

   

4. Enter the registration code and accept the terms and conditions:

   

5. Confirm the subscription activation and the organization assignment. Click Activate:

   

6. Your subscription is now active and ready to be used:

   

This introduction only covered the most basic tasks.

6.1 Product Documentation #

  

You can find the complete documentation for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 at https://documentation.suse.com/sles-12.

Note: Applicability of Product Documentation

Not all content in the product documentation applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM on the Raspberry Pi, because the Raspberry Pi differs largely from other hardware platforms.

6.2 SUSE Forums #

  

A valid and activated subscription entitles you to receive bug and security fixes, feature updates, and technical assistance from SUSE's support organization. Learn more at https://www.suse.com/support/. Via the SUSE Customer Center at https://scc.suse.com/login you can open an incident.

In addition, SUSE has provided conversation forums where you can get answers to questions. Go to https://forums.suse.com/. Under the main forum category SUSE Linux Enterprise Server select the sub-forum SLES for Raspberry Pi.

Important: Forums Are No Official Support Channel

The SUSE Forum is no official support channel from SUSE. The individual articles or statements were contributed voluntarily by community members and users of the respective products. SUSE cannot verify either that the actions described in the articles do what they claim to do or that they do not have unintended consequences. Therefore, neither SUSE LLC, its affiliates, nor the authors may be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.

Visit https://www.suse.com/support/ for more information about official support options.

Copyright ©2006-2024 SUSE LLC and contributors. All rights reserved.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or (at your option) version 1.3; with the Invariant Section being this copyright notice and license. A copy of the license version 1.2 is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

SUSE, the SUSE logo and YaST are registered trademarks of SUSE LLC in the United States and other countries. For SUSE trademarks, see http://www.suse.com/company/legal/. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other names or trademarks mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Documents published as part of the SUSE Best Practices series have been contributed voluntarily by SUSE employees and third parties. They are meant to serve as examples of how particular actions can be performed. They have been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy. SUSE cannot verify that actions described in these documents do what is claimed or whether actions described have unintended consequences. SUSE LLC, its affiliates, the authors, and the translators may not be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.

Below we draw your attention to the license under which the articles are published.

Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or non-commercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.

This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.

We have designed this License to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.

This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.

A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language.

A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.

The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.

The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.

A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not "Transparent" is called "Opaque".

Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes only.

The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.

A section "Entitled XYZ" means a named subunit of the Document whose title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", "Endorsements", or "History".) To "Preserve the Title" of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a section "Entitled XYZ" according to this definition.

The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.

You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.

If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent pages.

If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.

It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.

You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.

You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.

You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements".

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.

Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
 Free Documentation License".

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the "with...Texts". line with this:

with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the
Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.