Ubuntu Frame not working on Core 24 on Raspberry Pi 5

[jpm-canonical]

Starting with a clean Core 24 image made with Pi Imager. When you ssh into the device you get a motd with example commands:

In this image, why not create an IoT web-kiosk. First, connect a 
screen, then run: 

   snap install ubuntu-frame wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk
   snap set wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk url=https://ubuntu.com/core

Before running these commands I have a blank black screen actively being displayed on the monitor.

Executing the first command results in a black screen with a flashing text cursor in the top left hand corner.

$ snap install ubuntu-frame wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk
ubuntu-frame (22/stable) 144-mir2.17.0 from Canonical✓ installed
wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk (22/stable) 2.38.5 from GLANCR labs (glancr) installed

core-24-frame-22-logs.txt

Further guidance suggest one should use the 24 channel of ubuntu-frame on core 24:

$ snap refresh --channel 24 ubuntu-frame
ubuntu-frame (24/stable) 152-mir2.17.0 from Canonical✓ refreshed
$ sudo reboot

This still only showed the black screen with flashing cursor. Log file from journalctl attached. core-24-frame-24-logs.txt

Further debugging suggested to check if the kms dtoverlay is enabled.

On the SD card in the ubuntu-seed partition, there is a config.txt file containing the lines:

# Enable the FKMS ("Fake" KMS) graphics overlay, and allocate 128Mb to the
# GPU memory
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d,cma-128

Workaround

Changing the last line from fkms to kms solves the problem.

dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,cma-128

After startup the grey grandiented background is displayed and shortly afterwards replaced by the webkit kiosk browser.

[Saviq]

I can't confirm that on my side, flashed the image that Pi Imager chooses for Pi5 / Core 24, and indeed it had fkms in there - but it worked just fine…

Would be good to check what graphics-test-tools.drm-info says when you flip it back to fkms?

[jpm-canonical]

Before I revert the output of graphics-test-tools.drm-info is: drm-info-kms.txt

After I revert to fkms I again get the black screen with flashing text cursor. Running graphics-test-tools.drm-info responds with:

jpm@localhost:~$ sudo graphics-test-tools.drm-info
drmGetDevices: No such file or directory

I swapped the SD Card to a second Raspberry Pi 5. The results are the same.

jpm@localhost:~$ uname -a
Linux localhost 6.8.0-1006-raspi #6-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon Jun 17 11:30:51 UTC 2024 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

core24-fkms-dmesg.txt

[Saviq]

Well, that makes it clear it's not a Frame issue, but I wonder what's different with mine, that it's happy on both kms and fkms.

I can also confirm on the devices in our lab that using the below image things work out of the box… with the fkms overlay o.O

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/24/dangerous-stable/pending/ubuntu-core-24-arm64+raspi.img.xz

ubuntu@localhost:~$ grep kms /run/mnt/ubuntu-seed/config.txt 
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d,cma-128

ubuntu@localhost:~$ uname  -a
Linux localhost 6.8.0-1006-raspi #6-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon Jun 17 11:30:51 UTC 2024 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

ubuntu@localhost:~$ sudo snap install graphics-test-tools
graphics-test-tools (22/stable) 22.04 from Canonical✓ installed

ubuntu@localhost:~$ sudo graphics-test-tools.drm-info | head
drmModeGetResources: Operation not supported
Node: /dev/dri/card0
├───Driver: vc4 (Broadcom VC4 graphics) version 0.0.0 (20140616)
│   ├───DRM_CLIENT_CAP_STEREO_3D supported
│   ├───DRM_CLIENT_CAP_UNIVERSAL_PLANES supported
│   ├───DRM_CLIENT_CAP_ATOMIC supported
│   ├───DRM_CLIENT_CAP_ASPECT_RATIO supported
│   ├───DRM_CLIENT_CAP_WRITEBACK_CONNECTORS supported
│   ├───DRM_CAP_DUMB_BUFFER = 1
│   ├───DRM_CAP_VBLANK_HIGH_CRTC = 1
│   ├───DRM_CAP_DUMB_PREFERRED_DEPTH = 24

Only thing comes to mind is somehow your display hardware is making the Pi firmware unhappy with fkms?…

Either way, closing here as it's not a Frame issue.

[jpm-canonical]

Only thing comes to mind is somehow your display hardware is making the Pi firmware unhappy

Just to note here, I've tried booting the Pi 5 connected to a different monitor, also connected using the micro-HDMI to HDMI cable. This display had the same effect.