Friendlier README

[dandv]

I found this repo via the ArchLinux page on getting sound to work on this annoying downgrade of the ThinkPad X1C (sound and microphone worked fine on 6th gen machines, but not on 7th gen; how is this progress? Anyway). I'm a Linux user, but not a Linux developer (I'm a webdev). I'd still like to have sound volume control, and a functional microphone.

Trying to build SOF, I saw that the build instructions were technical (even cryptic) right off the bat. I'm not familiar with CPU architectures, but figured out that's what "Apollolake" and "Cannonlake" must be, because they sound like something I had read about the CPU in the X1, "Whiskeylake". Turns out they are. But what about Baytrail and Cherrytrail? At this point, I have no idea what those are, because the aren't included in that list of microarchitectures linked from two sentences ago.

I understand this project is for developers. Can we also help casual users build the firmware?

Mainly, how should the user determine the microarchitecture they should use for the build process? I see Whiskey Lake in my Settings -> About, but "whiskey" doesn't appear anywhere in the README. What architecture should I choose? Could the build tool autodetect the architecture?

[lgirdwood]

@deb-intel is this something you can take care of ?

[plbossart]

@dandv if you build the firmware yourself, it will not run on the ThinkPad devices which are locked by a production key - the authentication will fail. You can only compile+run the firmware on 'open' platforms, such as the Up2, Up Extreme boards and Chromebooks.

[dandv]

@plbossart: I'm confused... That ArchLinux page advises ThinkPad X1C owners to install the SOF. Are some of the releases binaries compatible with the X1C 7th gen? Which extension?

[plbossart]

@dandv they should have said 'install the binaries from https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/tree/stable-v1.4.2' The go.sh script should install everything and then the kernel will pick what's necessary for your platform (firmware binary and topology).

You will still need to make sure you have a UCM file installed from alsa-ucm-conf.

[deb-intel]

@deb-intel is this something you can take care of ?

@lgirdwood Let me see what I can do. I might ask you questions a little later. . . . . Am also following this thread.

[lgirdwood]

@deb-intel thanks, it's more about answering questions that @dandv has raised regarding getting and deploying the firmware for casual users. i.e. using the sof-bin repo as @plbossart has described. Also some text on the Intel code names, probably we cant point to wikipedia ? My understanding is that initial SOF support should be in 20.04 releases of RH/Ubuntu so users can obviously get the FW as part of their distro.

[deb-intel]

@lgirdwood Do you think a developer should go through the README page again and update it? I don't think it has been technically reviewed in a while. I can definitely correct the confusion on the Intel code names and make grammatical content updates, but I think a real user/installer should review/update this page. Thoughts?

[dandv]

I'm a real user and would be happy to test-drive the binaries, if there's a stable release.

Unfortunately I can't risk downtime due to unstable releases, or other things than sound breaking.

First off, the go.sh script is not implemented yet - https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/blob/master/go.sh.

Second, how did they ArchLinux folks who wrote that wiki page manage to install everything? Maybe one of them could chip in with working instructions?

[lgirdwood]

@deb-intel I can go through some of the details and send a PR, if you can do the codenames and clean it up for grammar. @dandv thanks, and no need to risk downtime. I think the 20.04 distro releases onwards should have all the ingredients in place for users who want to test updated firmwares and build their own topologies. I guess the arch folks had the correct kernel patches and used the sof-bin repo (i.e. manually copied the binaries from sof-bin to /lib).

[deb-intel]

@lgirdwood Deal! Thanks!

[dandv]

@lgirdwood: I'm running 18.04 LTS, and updating to 20 would risk some downtime (or take some significant downtime to avoid the risk; I usually update to the next LTS when upgrading my laptop).

Any way I can test a stable build on Ubuntu 18.04?

[lgirdwood]

@dandv sorry, I'm not really that knowledgeable about ubuntu packaging, I don't know if @tanuk plans to make deb packages for 18.04 ? This would also mean back porting kernel patches to 18.04 which is probably not trivial effort.

[tanuk]

@lgirdwood I'm not involved with Ubuntu, are you mixing me with someone else?

[lgirdwood]

@tanuk apologies if I am, are you still maintaining debian audio packages ?

[tanuk]

I have never maintained any packages in Debian. I maintain audio packages in OpenEmbedded.

[lgirdwood]

Thanks @tanuk, must be my age! I do remember you working on Pulseaudio and audio userspace when you were at Intel. I think @dbaluta is taking care of packaging SOF for OE atm.