Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi Stefan, good to hear! Happy new year to everyone! On Tue, 6 Jan 2026 13:53:00 +0100 Stefan Seyfried wrote: > The HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 page has a note that "As of now user needs to > connect a debug probe otherwise boot gets stuck at U-Boot." which was > not true for me, but I am not sure if this is a peculiarity of the Pi5 > vs Pi500, so I did not edit that page to remove the hint. As always: the documentation is outdated :( This got fixed in December. Technical background: Suse is among the few distros to use U-Boot, and U-Boot has this "press any key to stop autoboot". The debug port is also the only serial available up to now at that point, and if the line is configured as RX and left floating, it looks like a key press... The debug probe (or any USB-to-serial, like all we developers here have connected ;) would pull it up and we'd never notice. IIRC Ivan somehow managed to tell U-Boot to ignore the floating UART RX, so this should no longer be a problem. If it still is, please report here, otherwise we can remove the caveat. Torsten
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
This is all awesome news! https://github.com/openSUSE/kudos-badges/blob/main/arm.png awaits for all who were involved once we have Kudos instance running :-) On Tue, Jan 6, 2026 at 1:53 PM Stefan Seyfried wrote: > > To follow up on this... > > Am 10.12.25 um 13:18 schrieb Stefan Seyfried: > > Hi Ivan, > > > > Am 10.12.25 um 12:46 schrieb Ivan T. Ivanov: > >> No, no special repos are needed, even for older RPi generations. But > >> special image is > >> needed. It is single image which support all 64 bit RPi devices. > > > > Ok, this sounds promising. > > > >> But ... at the moment booting only from MicroSD card for RPi5 is > >> supported. > > [...] > > >> See: https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 > > > > Ah yes. Should have re-read the docs before asking. I swear, the last > > time I looked at that page it talked about special repos still :-) > > The Pi500+ is a truly boring machine to install and use with openSUSE > (and that's a good thing, don't get me wrong ;-)) > > Everything just worked according to the documentation. > > I just copied the image onto the SD card, added a partition on the > internal NVME as /var/cache/obs, installed the obsworker according to my > documentation and it works just fine. > > The HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 page has a note that "As of now user needs to > connect a debug probe otherwise boot gets stuck at U-Boot." which was > not true for me, but I am not sure if this is a peculiarity of the Pi5 > vs Pi500, so I did not edit that page to remove the hint. > > Bonus: I kept the original raspi OS on the NVME, just downsized it to > about 32GB, so if something goes wrong with a Tumbleweed update, I can > just eject the micro-SD, boot into raspi OS and use it as a rescue > system to get everything running again. > > Best regards, > > seife > -- > Stefan Seyfried > > "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over > public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman -- Best regards Luboš Kocman openSUSE Leap Release Manager
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
To follow up on this... Am 10.12.25 um 13:18 schrieb Stefan Seyfried: Hi Ivan, Am 10.12.25 um 12:46 schrieb Ivan T. Ivanov: No, no special repos are needed, even for older RPi generations. But special image is needed. It is single image which support all 64 bit RPi devices. Ok, this sounds promising. But ... at the moment booting only from MicroSD card for RPi5 is supported. [...] See: https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 Ah yes. Should have re-read the docs before asking. I swear, the last time I looked at that page it talked about special repos still :-) The Pi500+ is a truly boring machine to install and use with openSUSE (and that's a good thing, don't get me wrong ;-)) Everything just worked according to the documentation. I just copied the image onto the SD card, added a partition on the internal NVME as /var/cache/obs, installed the obsworker according to my documentation and it works just fine. The HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 page has a note that "As of now user needs to connect a debug probe otherwise boot gets stuck at U-Boot." which was not true for me, but I am not sure if this is a peculiarity of the Pi5 vs Pi500, so I did not edit that page to remove the hint. Bonus: I kept the original raspi OS on the NVME, just downsized it to about 32GB, so if something goes wrong with a Tumbleweed update, I can just eject the micro-SD, boot into raspi OS and use it as a rescue system to get everything running again. Best regards, seife -- Stefan Seyfried "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman
Re: Re : Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi Guillaume,
Am 10.12.25 um 15:26 schrieb Guillaume GARDET:
You can use higher end systems such as:
* MINISFORUM MS-R1
https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ms-r1-workstation?variant=47289624690933
* Radxa Orion O6 https://radxa.com/products/orion/o6/
With the radxa I need to build a system -- find and buy a case, etc.
Things I stopped doing 20 years ago ;-) Also, they state "Debian 12
Native, Integrated with CIX P1 Kernel Package and Extensions" which
sounds like "frankenstein Kernel, good luck!" but I might be wrong.
The Minisforums is three times the price of the Pi500+ I ordered. Yes, I
get three times the number of cores and double the memory, but maybe
relative to the price, the performance is similar.
Also "*For the best experience, please use the official OS image until
the driver is merged into the main branch." => Frankenstein kernel.
Yes, they are more expensive, but also much more powerful (armv9+ with lots of
RAM, etc.) and with a proper EFI boot and a good upstream support.
Fpr the Raspberries, for me the proven track record of
raspberrypi.{org,com} in ways of supporting their stuff for a long time
is more convincing than the vague marketing on the other vendor's pages.
Maybe better to buy one of this higher end system instead of multiple RPi 5?
I just bought one, the pi500+ will replace the pi400 (and probably keep
the two pi4b's switched off more often ;-)).
In a few years, when I want to phase out the pi4b's, the situation might
be different and I might buy something else.
The good thing: I know today that I'll be able to use the pi's for other
hobby projects 5 years from now :-D
Best regards and thanks for the advice. It is appreciated, even if I did
not follow it this time :-)
Stefan
--
Stefan Seyfried
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over
public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi Lubos, Am 10.12.25 um 15:25 schrieb Lubos Kocman: Stefan would you be so kind and would you missing information from this discussion that helped you to https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 RPi5 popularity with openSUSE is on a rise and this could significantly help others. If I find things missing there after installing my pi500+, I'll add them to the wiki. Right now the page looks pretty OK to me, my error was not looking at it again before asking ;-) It will probably be installed only after the holidays, though. Best regards, Stefan -- Stefan Seyfried "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman
Re: Re : Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
On Wed, Dec 10, 2025 at 6:26 AM Guillaume GARDET wrote: > Hi Stefan, > > - Stefan Seyfried a écrit : > > Hi Torsten, > > > > Am 10.12.25 um 13:55 schrieb Torsten Duwe: > > > > > Knowing you and knowing the RPi5, I strongly suggest you have a look > at alternate > > > platforms; my personal favourites are rk3588 based; YMMV. > > > > > > The Pi5 NVME IF has only a single lane, which only works reliable at > Gen2 speed. > > > To compare, the Rock5B I'm currently typing to has a quad-lane Gen3. > The Rock 5B+ > > > splits that into 2x2 Gen3 if you prefer. There are some boards with > 2.5Gb Ether, > > > if you want to extend into NFS. The quad-core CPU is not bad, but the > current state > > > seems to be to add at least 4 more "little" cores, if not another 4 > medium-sized ones. > > > So long story short: the Pi5 might not be the best choice starting > already with the > > > hardware, let alone the documentation. > > > > I am biased here. > > > > Just last week, i put a raspi os on my first Raspberry Pi Model B, to > > use my RaspyRFM module for a POC decoding my wmbus watermeter. > > > > What do I want to convey with this nice story? > > With a Raspberry Pi I can, more than 10 years after it was initially > > sold, download a up-to-date OS image *from the original vendor* and use > it. > > > > All other ARM board vendors from boards I have, provide, if at all, a > > badly hacked together debian or ubuntu image with a frankenstein'd > > Kernel where you are lucky to find sources at all. You can download this > > image from some crazy google drive account or a dropbox link which might > > be available tomorrow -- or not. > > You can use higher end systems such as: > * MINISFORUM MS-R1 > https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ms-r1-workstation?variant=47289624690933 > * Radxa Orion O6 https://radxa.com/products/orion/o6/ > > Yes, they are more expensive, but also much more powerful (armv9+ with > lots of RAM, etc.) and with a proper EFI boot and a good upstream support. > https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/minisforum-stuffs-entire-arm-homelab-ms-r1 looking at Jeff's review I'm not sure how well supported they are, the ms-r1 I feel is not worth it until its supported by mainline kernel > > Maybe better to buy one of this higher end system instead of multiple RPi > 5? > > Cheers, > Guillaume > > > > > > Maybe this situation has changed, and 10 years from now I will be able > > to tell. Today, I continue to just use what worked well for me and > > that's Raspberry Pies. I'm too old to waste time with the cheap SOC of > > the day and I'd rather trade some performance for ease of use and > > hassle-free operations :-D > > > > Oh, just checked and found that the Rock5 would be significantly more > > expensive than the Raspi500+ I just ordered, so remove the "cheap" in > > the last sentence ;) > > > > My obsworkers have been running on a RPi400 and two RPi4B/8GB, all with > > USB-Connected SSDs, so replacing the 400 with the 500+ will be a welcome > > improvement, even if theoretically there would be more performant > > options available. > > > > Best regards, and thanks for your concerns, but I prefer to not follow > > your suggestion :-) > > > > Stefan > > > > (And yes, I know, the raspberry pi also needs frankenstein kernel hacks, > > the first model until today does not run right with a mainline kernel, > > this is why I use raspi os on it, but at least I can get a raspi os for > > it after > 10 years). > > -- > > Stefan Seyfried > > > > "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over > > public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman >
Re : Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi Stefan, - Stefan Seyfried a écrit : > Hi Torsten, > > Am 10.12.25 um 13:55 schrieb Torsten Duwe: > > > Knowing you and knowing the RPi5, I strongly suggest you have a look at > > alternate > > platforms; my personal favourites are rk3588 based; YMMV. > > > > The Pi5 NVME IF has only a single lane, which only works reliable at Gen2 > > speed. > > To compare, the Rock5B I'm currently typing to has a quad-lane Gen3. The > > Rock 5B+ > > splits that into 2x2 Gen3 if you prefer. There are some boards with 2.5Gb > > Ether, > > if you want to extend into NFS. The quad-core CPU is not bad, but the > > current state > > seems to be to add at least 4 more "little" cores, if not another 4 > > medium-sized ones. > > So long story short: the Pi5 might not be the best choice starting already > > with the > > hardware, let alone the documentation. > > I am biased here. > > Just last week, i put a raspi os on my first Raspberry Pi Model B, to > use my RaspyRFM module for a POC decoding my wmbus watermeter. > > What do I want to convey with this nice story? > With a Raspberry Pi I can, more than 10 years after it was initially > sold, download a up-to-date OS image *from the original vendor* and use it. > > All other ARM board vendors from boards I have, provide, if at all, a > badly hacked together debian or ubuntu image with a frankenstein'd > Kernel where you are lucky to find sources at all. You can download this > image from some crazy google drive account or a dropbox link which might > be available tomorrow -- or not. You can use higher end systems such as: * MINISFORUM MS-R1 https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ms-r1-workstation?variant=47289624690933 * Radxa Orion O6 https://radxa.com/products/orion/o6/ Yes, they are more expensive, but also much more powerful (armv9+ with lots of RAM, etc.) and with a proper EFI boot and a good upstream support. Maybe better to buy one of this higher end system instead of multiple RPi 5? Cheers, Guillaume > > Maybe this situation has changed, and 10 years from now I will be able > to tell. Today, I continue to just use what worked well for me and > that's Raspberry Pies. I'm too old to waste time with the cheap SOC of > the day and I'd rather trade some performance for ease of use and > hassle-free operations :-D > > Oh, just checked and found that the Rock5 would be significantly more > expensive than the Raspi500+ I just ordered, so remove the "cheap" in > the last sentence ;) > > My obsworkers have been running on a RPi400 and two RPi4B/8GB, all with > USB-Connected SSDs, so replacing the 400 with the 500+ will be a welcome > improvement, even if theoretically there would be more performant > options available. > > Best regards, and thanks for your concerns, but I prefer to not follow > your suggestion :-) > > Stefan > > (And yes, I know, the raspberry pi also needs frankenstein kernel hacks, > the first model until today does not run right with a mainline kernel, > this is why I use raspi os on it, but at least I can get a raspi os for > it after > 10 years). > -- > Stefan Seyfried > > "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over > public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Stefan would you be so kind and would you missing information from this discussion that helped you to https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 RPi5 popularity with openSUSE is on a rise and this could significantly help others. Thank you! On Wed, Dec 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM Stefan Seyfried wrote: > > Hi Torsten, > > Am 10.12.25 um 13:55 schrieb Torsten Duwe: > > > Knowing you and knowing the RPi5, I strongly suggest you have a look at > > alternate > > platforms; my personal favourites are rk3588 based; YMMV. > > > > The Pi5 NVME IF has only a single lane, which only works reliable at Gen2 > > speed. > > To compare, the Rock5B I'm currently typing to has a quad-lane Gen3. The > > Rock 5B+ > > splits that into 2x2 Gen3 if you prefer. There are some boards with 2.5Gb > > Ether, > > if you want to extend into NFS. The quad-core CPU is not bad, but the > > current state > > seems to be to add at least 4 more "little" cores, if not another 4 > > medium-sized ones. > > So long story short: the Pi5 might not be the best choice starting already > > with the > > hardware, let alone the documentation. > > I am biased here. > > Just last week, i put a raspi os on my first Raspberry Pi Model B, to > use my RaspyRFM module for a POC decoding my wmbus watermeter. > > What do I want to convey with this nice story? > With a Raspberry Pi I can, more than 10 years after it was initially > sold, download a up-to-date OS image *from the original vendor* and use it. > > All other ARM board vendors from boards I have, provide, if at all, a > badly hacked together debian or ubuntu image with a frankenstein'd > Kernel where you are lucky to find sources at all. You can download this > image from some crazy google drive account or a dropbox link which might > be available tomorrow -- or not. > > Maybe this situation has changed, and 10 years from now I will be able > to tell. Today, I continue to just use what worked well for me and > that's Raspberry Pies. I'm too old to waste time with the cheap SOC of > the day and I'd rather trade some performance for ease of use and > hassle-free operations :-D > > Oh, just checked and found that the Rock5 would be significantly more > expensive than the Raspi500+ I just ordered, so remove the "cheap" in > the last sentence ;) > > My obsworkers have been running on a RPi400 and two RPi4B/8GB, all with > USB-Connected SSDs, so replacing the 400 with the 500+ will be a welcome > improvement, even if theoretically there would be more performant > options available. > > Best regards, and thanks for your concerns, but I prefer to not follow > your suggestion :-) > > Stefan > > (And yes, I know, the raspberry pi also needs frankenstein kernel hacks, > the first model until today does not run right with a mainline kernel, > this is why I use raspi os on it, but at least I can get a raspi os for > it after > 10 years). > -- > Stefan Seyfried > > "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over > public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman -- Best regards Luboš Kocman openSUSE Leap Release Manager
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi Torsten, Am 10.12.25 um 13:55 schrieb Torsten Duwe: Knowing you and knowing the RPi5, I strongly suggest you have a look at alternate platforms; my personal favourites are rk3588 based; YMMV. The Pi5 NVME IF has only a single lane, which only works reliable at Gen2 speed. To compare, the Rock5B I'm currently typing to has a quad-lane Gen3. The Rock 5B+ splits that into 2x2 Gen3 if you prefer. There are some boards with 2.5Gb Ether, if you want to extend into NFS. The quad-core CPU is not bad, but the current state seems to be to add at least 4 more "little" cores, if not another 4 medium-sized ones. So long story short: the Pi5 might not be the best choice starting already with the hardware, let alone the documentation. I am biased here. Just last week, i put a raspi os on my first Raspberry Pi Model B, to use my RaspyRFM module for a POC decoding my wmbus watermeter. What do I want to convey with this nice story? With a Raspberry Pi I can, more than 10 years after it was initially sold, download a up-to-date OS image *from the original vendor* and use it. All other ARM board vendors from boards I have, provide, if at all, a badly hacked together debian or ubuntu image with a frankenstein'd Kernel where you are lucky to find sources at all. You can download this image from some crazy google drive account or a dropbox link which might be available tomorrow -- or not. Maybe this situation has changed, and 10 years from now I will be able to tell. Today, I continue to just use what worked well for me and that's Raspberry Pies. I'm too old to waste time with the cheap SOC of the day and I'd rather trade some performance for ease of use and hassle-free operations :-D Oh, just checked and found that the Rock5 would be significantly more expensive than the Raspi500+ I just ordered, so remove the "cheap" in the last sentence ;) My obsworkers have been running on a RPi400 and two RPi4B/8GB, all with USB-Connected SSDs, so replacing the 400 with the 500+ will be a welcome improvement, even if theoretically there would be more performant options available. Best regards, and thanks for your concerns, but I prefer to not follow your suggestion :-) Stefan (And yes, I know, the raspberry pi also needs frankenstein kernel hacks, the first model until today does not run right with a mainline kernel, this is why I use raspi os on it, but at least I can get a raspi os for it after > 10 years). -- Stefan Seyfried "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi Stefan, On Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:18:14 +0100 Stefan Seyfried wrote: > >> On 10 Dec 2025, at 13:23, Stefan Seyfried > >> wrote: > >> I'm considering updating the "PMBS ARM64 obsworker farm" hardware-wise. Ok, valid use case ;) > > No, no special repos are needed, even for older RPi generations. But > > special image is > > needed. It is single image which support all 64 bit RPi devices. > > Ok, this sounds promising. > > > But ... at the moment booting only from MicroSD card for RPi5 is supported. > > Which should also be fine for my use case of "obsworker", as I can just > mount the OBS worker's build file system from the NVME and keep the OS > on sdcard. I have patches here in the queue to skip the SD card, FWIW, but... Knowing you and knowing the RPi5, I strongly suggest you have a look at alternate platforms; my personal favourites are rk3588 based; YMMV. The Pi5 NVME IF has only a single lane, which only works reliable at Gen2 speed. To compare, the Rock5B I'm currently typing to has a quad-lane Gen3. The Rock 5B+ splits that into 2x2 Gen3 if you prefer. There are some boards with 2.5Gb Ether, if you want to extend into NFS. The quad-core CPU is not bad, but the current state seems to be to add at least 4 more "little" cores, if not another 4 medium-sized ones. So long story short: the Pi5 might not be the best choice starting already with the hardware, let alone the documentation. HTH, Torsten
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi Ivan, Am 10.12.25 um 12:46 schrieb Ivan T. Ivanov: Hi, On 10 Dec 2025, at 13:23, Stefan Seyfried wrote: Hi, I'm considering updating the "PMBS ARM64 obsworker farm" hardware-wise. As the raspberry pi 5 is available in a 16GB version, this would be a logical choice, or the 500+ (which has the necessary ssd upgrade included already). Now the question is: is this supported out of the box with openSUSE? "supported" in this context means for me: "xzcat opensuse-tumbleweed-JEOS.xz | dd of=/dev/nvmexxx ; reboot -f" and be done with it. No special kernel repos, no whatever... ;-) No, no special repos are needed, even for older RPi generations. But special image is needed. It is single image which support all 64 bit RPi devices. Ok, this sounds promising. But ... at the moment booting only from MicroSD card for RPi5 is supported. Which should also be fine for my use case of "obsworker", as I can just mount the OBS worker's build file system from the NVME and keep the OS on sdcard. Strictly speaking, I should be able to just put kernel and initrd on SD and the rest on NVME, but that violates the "minimal complexity setup" I want to achieve :-D See: https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 Ah yes. Should have re-read the docs before asking. I swear, the last time I looked at that page it talked about special repos still :-) Thanks for all hints, I'll start hunting for a good price on an pi5/16GB or pi500+ now :-) Best regards, Stefan -- Stefan Seyfried "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi, > On 10 Dec 2025, at 13:45, Lubos Kocman wrote: > > Hello > > Before any of the SUSE folks working on actual rpi5 enablement > responds please read > https://news.opensuse.org/2025/11/04/raspberrypi5-opensuse/ > To my knowledge there was a pending fully functional PCIe support. This is a bit misleading. Linux have full support for bcm2712 (RPi5) PCIe root complex. What is missing is bcm2712 PCIe support in U-Boot. This prevent device from booting from USB and PCIe attached disks. There is on going work for bcm2712 PCIe root complex support in U-Boot. Regards, Ivan
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hi, > On 10 Dec 2025, at 13:23, Stefan Seyfried > wrote: > > Hi, > > I'm considering updating the "PMBS ARM64 obsworker farm" hardware-wise. > > As the raspberry pi 5 is available in a 16GB version, this would be a logical > choice, or the 500+ (which has the necessary ssd upgrade included already). > > Now the question is: is this supported out of the box with openSUSE? > > "supported" in this context means for me: "xzcat opensuse-tumbleweed-JEOS.xz > | dd of=/dev/nvmexxx ; reboot -f" and be done with it. No special kernel > repos, no whatever... ;-) No, no special repos are needed, even for older RPi generations. But special image is needed. It is single image which support all 64 bit RPi devices. But ... at the moment booting only from MicroSD card for RPi5 is supported. See: https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Raspberry_Pi5 Regard, Ivan
Re: Raspberry Pi5/500 "officially" supported?
Hello Before any of the SUSE folks working on actual rpi5 enablement responds please read https://news.opensuse.org/2025/11/04/raspberrypi5-opensuse/ To my knowledge there was a pending fully functional PCIe support. Lubos On Wed, Dec 10, 2025 at 12:24 PM Stefan Seyfried wrote: > > Hi, > > I'm considering updating the "PMBS ARM64 obsworker farm" hardware-wise. > > As the raspberry pi 5 is available in a 16GB version, this would be a > logical choice, or the 500+ (which has the necessary ssd upgrade > included already). > > Now the question is: is this supported out of the box with openSUSE? > > "supported" in this context means for me: "xzcat > opensuse-tumbleweed-JEOS.xz | dd of=/dev/nvmexxx ; reboot -f" and be > done with it. No special kernel repos, no whatever... ;-) > > In the past, a special u-boot and kernel was needed IIRC, this is not an > option for me as this machine should run reliably without too much fiddling. > > Best regards, > > Stefan > -- > Stefan Seyfried > > "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over > public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman -- Best regards Luboš Kocman openSUSE Leap Release Manager
