Status of Ubuntu MATE 18.04 for Raspberry Pi 3 B & B+?

Another bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/livecd-rootfs/+bug/1765628

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Bug to enable hardware accelerated video playback in chromium https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1799686

FWIW, I have Ubuntu 18.04.1 / MATE 1.20.1 running on an ODROID XU4 and it is MUCH smoother and faster than a MATE install I did on a Pi. Don't get me wrong, I am a Pi user and in fact have built a major work-related printed-circuit board interface gizmo around the Pi that works great. However, the Korean-built XU4 is a much more capable small computer than the Pi and is what I use for my cheap home Linux machine. The ODROID community is smaller but very devoted. Worth a look.

Check out the direct Pi3-to-XU4 comparison graphs in the links below:

https://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php

Here's a drop-in, ready -to-burn Bionic Beaver disk image for the XU4:

https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-xu4/os_images/linux/ubuntu_4.14/20180501

https://www.hardkernel.com/main/shop/good_list.php?lang=en

Does mainline kernel manage VPU video hardware decoding for pi ?
I am not sur about that, I think that only work wirh raspberry pi kernel and binary blob (32 bits only so armhf).
So I don’t think omxplayer neither tomxplayer will work with ubuntu kernels (~mainline).

Not currently, but it should do soon*. Patches for vc4 using v4l2 have been knocking about since early this year.

Ubuntu has a Linux-raspi2 kernel which is what is used in ubuntu-core and the server images.

*I say soon, but note that 6 years after the original pi, they still have not had a sound driver fully accepted into the mainline kernel.

I currently can’t install linux-image*raspi2 on my Pi 3. Wish I know what’s missing.

Edit: I just realized you’re the same guy who replied :smiley:

Hi wimpy,
New raspbian image include VLC with hw decode. Still some bugs but almost perfect. Maybe it can be a good idea and package it with next release ?

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What a mess https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/bionic/+source/livecd-rootfs/+bug/1805668

@Wimpy Any updates? Not many sleeps to Christmas.

Yeah, what’s going on regarding this? Is this update coming in 10 days or slipping to 2019?

@Wimpy If santa is not delivering a 18.04 mate, then please update the website so that it is clear that the current version is not suitable for the 3B+. I’m sure thousands of 3B+'s will be given as presents.

Whilst talking about websites, pretty sure your flavour maker site is hacked Website hacked?

I believe that if and when Ubuntu MATE 18.04 is released for the Pi, it should use the raspi3-firmware kernel provided by Ubuntu instead of the Raspbian kernel. I’m planning to do the same with my Debian ARM64 images when Debian Buster becomes stable.

https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/raspi3-firmware

For your debian image I would recommend grub2 instead of raspi3-firmware.

@code_exec Just to add a bit more info…

The reason I recommend grub2 is mainly because fedora and openSUSE use it. I think the distros outside of Raspbian should be forming a consensus on how to boot the pi.

They use u-boot to emulate uefi. The pi’s bootloader (config.txt etc) loads the device tree and applies any overlays. This is passed on to u-boot. Which then passes it on to grub2. Grub2 then loads the kernel and initrd like any other system.

raspi3-firmware contains the firmware, but it also contains scripts/hooks to modify the config.txt and copy kernels etc to the firmware partition.

Doesn’t GRUB2 only work on computers with a BIOS/UEFI?

Just saw your second reply. I’ve used u-boot in the past on the Pi 3 with the Ubuntu 18.04 generic arm64 kernels, but it appears it used the OpenGL driver which causes the display output to go off screen.

But doesn’t debian’s generic kernel also use the vc4 driver?

I have the same problem with my monitor, but it is still usable.

When I used the generic Ubuntu kernel, any application which used 3D graphics froze the Pi, leaving me with no other option than to reboot.

That’s just a bug with the ubuntu config.

In Xorg you can always make the screen fit correctly with an xorg.conf. I haven’t yet figured how to do it outside of X as my normal way doesn’t work on the pi.

Any way to fix this issue?