I have a Freescale CuBox-i4 Pro mini-computer which has been running the kernel 3.14.79 for a really long time. I trying to upgrade it to a more modern version of the kernel, but all the documentation I found was either incomplete or confusing to me. I made a few attempts, but I was running into trouble which pushed to me roll back to the previous version. Today, I finally made it, and at last I have my device running on kernel 5.11.2 now!
Package upgrades:
- linux-imx6 (3.14.79-3) needs to be replaced by linux-armv7 and linux-armv7-cubox
- linux-imx6-headers needs to be replaced by linux-armv7-headers
One of the things that used to confuse me the most is the description of linux-armv7-cubox package: "The Linux Kernel - ARMv7 multi-platform - SolidRun Cubox (Marvell)". Since it just states it is for "Mavell" I thought it wouldn't work on "Freescale" which I later found to be a wrong assumption from my side. So, I suggest the package maintainer to update it with something like "The Linux Kernel - ARMv7 multi-platform - SolidRun Cubox (Freescale and Marvell)" to prevent confusion to others.
Once you upgrade those packages, please make sure you update your /etc/fstab file accordingly too. The reason for this is that the /dev/mmcblk0 device on kernel 3.14.79 becomes now /dev/mmcblk1 on kernel 5.x. If you don't do this little change, your device won't be able to boot up. When completed, you should be ready to restart your device now.
One important difference I noticed with the new kernel is that the red led of the digital sound output is now turned off by default. I didn't spend anytime trying to turn it on, since I don't use it. I also find my device runs slightly smoother and faster with the new kernel version, and more importantly, it's a lot more secure! Lastly, I needed that version to support modules such as wideguard and any other software that requires a modern kernel version.
Well, that's all. I hope it helps anyone!
Other useful links:
- viewtopic.php?f=45&t=11229
- viewtopic.php?f=45&t=11633