2023-09-25 Libre Computer AML-A311D-CC Alta AI SBC Announcement

News
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Hi all!

Yes I was really excited about getting the Alta but now I am frustrated a bit. Extra 25 bucks not a lot but what I have got for it? I tried both latest Debian and latest Armbian OS for ARM.
There is no specific versions for A311D, it is recommended here the version that supports UEFI BIOS., OK maybe, one fits all and UEFI OS should support NPU since Librecomputer site linked to OS vendors such as Debian and Armbian.Nop. There does not support NPU of Alta in these. The way to check? Easy. The OS that supports NPU should have the file galcore.ko somewhere in the /usr/lib directory tree. Using >find -name gallcore.ko brings no result. It means there is no support for NPU in the OS? To be honest, Armbian does support other SBC’s with A311D since people are saying they found galcore.ko in installed OS for bananapi SBC. But that OS does not start on Alta, probably wrong BIOS? So it seems Armbian supports some SBC’s NPU’s as per each, while advertising those SBC’s in their web site, but there is no single word about Alta there. Sad.

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  1. You can use our +arm64 UEFI images per the instructions on the download page for the product.
  2. galcore.ko is the proprietary Verisilicon implementation, not the open source Mesa implementation that we support. We do not support the proprietary implementation.
  3. Armbian is a community project. They cut and paste code and binaries that are open and closed source from all over the place. There are licensing, testing, and long term maintenance issues with such a work model.
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Thank you very much for your response! Will work with Mesa,
In fact, already have figured that. My next issue is that after enabling the NPU with Libre Wiring Tool my HDMI console dies. Even in headless version of Debian 12. Need to figure way to connect over serial port? I can see despite the console dead the Ethernet lights are active blinking means not everything dead, it is just HDMI perhaps.

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Robotics noob reporting for duty!

  1. I’m using ROS2+OpenCV for object tracking, what NPU is available on the Alta and how can I determine if OpenCV can use it.
    1.1 How can I configure OpenCV to use the NPU?
  2. Where can I get detailed info on the device-tree overlays? what are their function/applications?
    • cpu-b-opp-2304
    • cpu-l-opp-2208
    • spifc-nor

Thanks

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Does this (and Tomeu’s subsequent blog updates RE Etnaviv) help?

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@librecomputer , can you help with some more info?

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  1. Libre Computer Cottonwood Alta TensorFlow Lite MobileNetV1 Guide
    1.1) Mesa provides a TensorFlow Lite delegate. OpenCV needs to pass the model to the delegate.
  2. These are overclock profiles for big and little cores and SPI NOR userspace access to read/write the board firmware.
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Hi there, how manufacturing going for the PoE hat ?