PinePhone image 2023-04-06 (wifi, software-add tab, Jitsi preset)

[Norman Feske]

Hi Cedric,

thanks for having tested the new image!

> Now Wi-Fi networking works, I can "check for updates", get the index
> for "Add.." and so on, and get actual listings.
> 
> The software presets don't seem to work though, they go into an
> infinite loop (reminiscent of that attempt I had made with mobile
> connectivity climbing up that hill ;) ). I can end the infinite loop
> by returning to "empty" preset, and the the phone returns to idle.
> Also tried the "Add" pane, specifically the depot/nfeske branch, but
> the items I tried (morph 3d, system shell, etc) don't seem to work. I
> periodically tap the left edge to switch back and forth to "user
> screen" but it's blank (black).
It is interesting that the download of the index worked for you (so 
network connectivity works on principle) but the actual packages didn't. 
That's strange because both rely in the same infrastructure and tools 
(same server, same fetchurl program, same TCP/IP stack, same signature key).

To investigate this issue further, we will ultimately need a way to 
inspect the log without depending on a preset (such as the system 
shell). I'll have to ponder a bit how to achieve that on target.

Do you happen to own the UART cable for the PinePhone? If yes, I could 
prepare an image that directs all of Sculpt's log output to the serial.

> In some cases the "Status" pane says " diagnostics: x needs y",
> closes and re-opens loop-de-loop In some cases I get an "!" mark next
> to the "Software" tab's label (and an empty "Status" pane, no error
> diag)
The '!' merely indicates that the status tab might have something 
interesting to tell. From what you describe, I guess that - for some 
reason - you get an error 404 for some package(s). Since the chosen 
preset depends on this package, Sculpt tries to install it. But if it is 
not available, Sculpt will repeatedly fail at doing so, but is quite 
stubborn about it.

But I'm just guessing. Down the road, we will for sure need to collect 
such error conditions and reflect them to the user, letting the user 
decide about retrying failed downloads instead of repeatedly running 
against the wall.

> That's with a PinePhone 2 GB, and 16 GB SD card. Hope this helps somewhat,

The 2 GiB may indeed be a problem because the image assumes a 3 GiB 
model. I'm noting down [1] that we should at least detect the PinePhone 
version at boot time and limit the RAM allocations depending on the used 
variant. The 2 GiB model might not be able to host the heaviest presets 
but you could at least play with the simple ones without the risk of 
accessing RAM that isn't there.

[1] https://github.com/genodelabs/genode-allwinner/issues/18

Cheers
Norman

-- 
Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
Genode Labs

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