Circumference: OpenStack Progress with Network Booting

Circumference is a miniaturised datacentre-in-a-box, complete with programmable power distribution and sequencing, instrumentation, cooling, networking, and a switchable remote console — all packaged in custom-designed desktop enclosures which eliminate cable clutter and give you complete control over the hardware inside.

Chris Dent has a blog post about netbooting the Circumference.

https://www.crowdsupply.com/ground-electronics/circumference
https://groundelectronics.com/products/circumference/

In my previous posting on the Circumference I said that I wanted to get the eight Raspberry Pi nodes to netboot from the front end processor so I could more easily manage the nodes on which I wanted to install nova-compute. This post provides a very quick update on those explorations. Newer Pi 3 B have firmware that can allow them to netboot without any SD card in place, but it requires a fair bit of set up. I was struggling to make headway, never seeing bootpc packets from the nodes. Turns out a newer firmware is needed. Andrew Back, from Ground Electronics the company building the Circumference, pointed to a useful cookbook blog post, Network Booting a Raspberry Pi 3 from an Ubuntu Server, that includes pointers to the new firmware. That got me a bit further. I’m now able to see some nodes, sometimes choosing to send bootpc packets and otherwise talking to the network.[…]

https://anticdent.org/circumference-25-netbooting.html
https://anticdent.org/circumference-25-beta.html
https://www.crowdsupply.com/ground-electronics/circumference/updates/openstack-progress-with-network-booting

 

RaspberryPiPkg – 64-bit Tiano Core UEFI for the Raspberry Pi 3

64-bit Tiano Core UEFI for the Raspberry Pi 3

Last updated December 14th, 2017.

This is an implementation of a 64-bit UEFI firmware for the RPi3 platform, based off Ard Bisheuvel’s 64-bit http://www.workofard.com/2017/02/uefi-on-the-pi/ and Microsoft’s 32-bit https://github.com/ms-iot/RPi-UEFI/tree/ms-iot/Pi3BoardPkg. Initially, this was supposed to be an easy walk in the park, where the Microsoft drivers just sorta slide into Ard’s UEFI implementation, and I call it a day. It turned out to be a bit more frustrating of an experience than that :-). This is meant as a generally useful 64-bit UEFI implementation for the Pi3, good enough for most kinds of UEFI development and good enough for running real operating systems. It has been validated to install and boot Linux and FreeBSD.[…]

https://github.com/andreiw/RaspberryPiPkg

OSCON post-conference proceedings

OSCON2015, the O’Reilly Open Source Convention, just ended. In addition to Matthew’s TPM CloudOS talk, there were a few other interesting talks:

Building a trustworthy computer
Matthew Garrett (CoreOS)
As we become more and more reliant on our computers, attackers become more and more sophisticated. How can we build a computer that’s resilient to some of the more subtle attacks such as firmware modification?
http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/en/assets/1/event/129/Building%20a%20trustworthy%20computer%20Presentation.odp

Closed devices powered by open source software? The IoT Paradox.
Peter Hoddie (Marvell)
The Internet of Things is built on open source software, and yet the devices are far from open. This isn’t the future that free and open source contributors have been working toward. It’s a disappointment for the Open Source Community, but we can lead the way to freedom, transparency, and collaboration in IoT. And we must—to avert impending frustration for increasingly savvy consumers.
http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/en/assets/1/event/129/Closed%20devices%20powered%20by%20open%20source%20software_%20The%20IoT%20Paradox_%20Presentation.pdf

Hacking smart electronics
Robert Gallup (XOBXOB)
Prototypes allow us to see, touch, feel, and refine ideas and designs. Starting from zero, this hands-on workshop explores smart hardware prototyping using a micro-controller and basic electronic components. You’ll connect LEDs, buttons, and knobs, then program a micro-controller to define behavior. Through this you’ll better understand the tools and process of designing smart, connected products.
http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/en/assets/1/event/129/Hacking%20smart%20electronics%20Presentation.zip
http://robertgallup.github.io/get/OSCONCourseware.zip

Introduction to developing embedded Linux device drivers
Nick Gudman (Hewlett Packard)
Learning to develop device drivers can be intimidating, but Linux makes it simpler than ever to write your own device driver. Using a simple driver for a monochromatic character display as a guide, we will briefly explore important topics for developing embedded Linux device drivers.
http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/en/assets/1/event/129/Introduction%20to%20developing%20embedded%20Linux%20device%20drivers%20Presentation.odp

Ironic: A modern approach to hardware provisioning
Devananda van der Veen (HP Cloud)
Ironic is a modern tool for hardware provisioning. Combining a RESTful API, scalable control plane, and pluggable hardware drivers, Ironic installs operating systems efficiently and repeatably on diverse hardware. We will demonstrate Ironic with Ansible, install, build, and deploy a machine image, and discuss the project’s architecture, history, and goals. Deep knowledge is not required.
http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/en/assets/1/event/129/Ironic_%20A%20modern%20approach%20to%20hardware%20provisioning%20Presentation.pdf

Raspberry Pi hacks
Ruth Suehle (Red Hat), Tom “spot” Callaway (Red Hat)
Ruth Suehle and Tom Callaway, authors of _Raspberry Pi Hacks_ (O’Reilly, December 2013) offer technical tips for makers, hackers, and tinkerers who want to take advantage of the Raspberry Pi. You’ll learn universally useful things, like how to add a power switch, followed by a show-and-tell of fun things that Ruth and Tom as well as many others have built.
http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/en/assets/1/event/129/Raspberry%20Pi%20hacks%20Presentation.pdf

Using open source tools to secure containers and clouds
Derek Thurston (Booz Allen Hamilton)
Is your cloud secure? Is your cloud of containers secure? Security should be built-in from Day Zero, and not layered in as an afterthought. What open source tools are out there now to help you in your quest to not be on the front page of the news? How are all of the latest hacks happening, and how can we put tools in place to prevent these from happening again?
http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/en/assets/1/event/129/Using%20open%20source%20tools%20to%20secure%20containers%20and%20clouds%20Presentation.ppt

I’m sure there’re some other gems too, the above list is what caught my eye… Mr. O’Reilly, please make the video — or at least audio — publicly-available too, don’t just for post-conference proceedings!

http://www.oscon.com/open-source-2015/public/schedule/proceedings

Rasberry Pi firmware revised to use Linux 4.0

As reported by Michael Larabel in Phoronix, the Raspberry Pi firmware has been changed, it now uses the Linux 4.0 kernel.

As Michael says, “For this low-cost ARM single board computers, the newer kernel is beneficial for new features, file-system improvements, and new device support like when it comes to USB peripherals and adapters.”

More information:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Raspberry-Pi-Linux-4.0
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=113753&p=778141