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Rpi2 + Cirrus/Element14 Audio Board + Arch Linux

Former Member

This is my first post here, hopefully this is in the right place.

 

I have an Rpi2 and the Cirrus/Element14 Audio board.  I've been able to make it work under raspbian Linux (kernel 4.1.13) using the precompiled kernel from hiassoft (thank you!)

 

I prefer Arch Linux and have spent time searching for posts regarding using the audio board with Arch Linux and I've found nothing I can use.

 

So I started my own little adventure.  Since the kernels are both version 4.1.13, I thought it might be possible to get the board working with Arch Linux using the precompiled kernel.  My first attempt basically followed the same procedure as for raspbian, that is, to expand the tar file at the file system root and then edit the two files that need special attention.  The first time I did this with Arch Linux, the tar file extract deleted the link from /lib to /usr/lib which broke a lot of things and of course, did not work.  Once I realized what happened, I tried something a bit different - I extracted the tar file to a benign location and then used cp -a to copy the files to /usr/lib and then I edited the two files.  When I rebooted, the red LED went out (which also happened in raspbian - which worked).  So I installed mplayer in Arch, but it wouldn't play an mp3 that played with raspbian.  An error message was printed that said something like:   The sound card got stuck!

 

Anyway, this is as far as I can go with this, I hope maybe this is helpful to someone else.

 

The question is - has anyone successfully made the Cirrus/Element14 Audio board work with Arch Linux?

  • 0

    hi Jovianpyx,

     

    with Arch Linux I have not set the CL but doind this with the Raspian wheezy, the previous kernel version, I met a lot of issues basically because the audio board need a real time kernel. So I think that you should point your attention to this aspect also in the rebuild of the Arch Linux version for the Raspberry PI. The general problem of the real time linux distribution is that it is not aligned with the standard distribution, resulting an impossibility to make updates / upgrades to the system as we usually do. When all works fine (on the raspbian linux AFAIK by my experience) if you try to upgrade the real time components of the kernel are upgraded by the standard kernel and all stop working. I suppose that something similar will happen in the other linux distro.

     

    Enrico

  • 0

    jovianpyx wrote:

     

    When I rebooted, the red LED went out (which also happened in raspbian - which worked).

    The red led indicates: "power supply OK: we have more than 4.65V where 5V should be present".

     

    The 'pi will work down to 3.3V, but peripherals like USB keyboards or HDMI->VGA converters might require something closer to 5V at that location. It's a warning if the red led goes out. As long as everything works, don't worry about it. But in your case it doesn't work. So, to eliminate possible causes I would suggest you look at your "power supply". This includes the cable that you use to connect to the 'pi.

  • 0 in reply to rew

    My bad - there is more than one red LED.  The red LED on the Rpi2 remains illuminated at all times, the red LED on the Cirrus audio board goes out when it's driver loads.

  • 0

    I seem to have answered my own question - so for others who may also have interest in running Arch Linux with the Cirrus/Element14 audio board, here is the solution:

     

    ArchLinux ARM kernel packages with driver for Cirrus Logic/Wolfson Audio Card

     

    I followed the instructions there and bingo, the card works.