U-Boot is written directly to disk, but for NetBSD there's also a DOS partition that contains the EFI bootloader (in EFI/BOOT/bootaa64.efi).
Now that I think about it, the U-Boot supplied from Nvidia probably looks for a Linux kernel on an ext4fs filesystem. It might not be configured to boot via EFI at all, not even as a fallback. It's possible/probable that you could configure the existing U-Boot to boot from EFI, but I don't know the commands to do so.
Earlier I found a page that contained instructions on removing U-Boot from the QSPI-NOR so the Jetson will use U-Boot on the SD card, but I can't locate it now. I think that's another way to boot NetBSD, as the NetBSD U-Boot will be configured to look for an EFI loader on a DOS partition by default And a serial console, would be most helpful, if you don't already have one.
HTH,
Jason M.
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On Jan 23, 2022, at 2:09 PM, Lloyd Parkes <lloyd%must-have-coffee.gen.nz@localhost> wrote:
On 23/01/22 22:00, Dan MacDonald wrote:
I installed Jetpack 4.5 a while back which changed the boot process
for the Nano and now allows booting from USB which the recent Armbian
releases take advantage of. The Jetpack 4.5 release notes say:
"Boot firmware for all Jetson Nano developer kits updated to relocate
boot firmware to integrated QSPI-NOR."
https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/jetpack-4-5-production-release-with-l4t-32-5/166475
Nice. I saw experimental images for this, but I left it alone because I
didn't want to encourage anyone to change horses in midstream.
On Sun, Jan 23, 2022 at 2:51 AM Jason Mitchell <jmitchel%bigjar.com@localhost> wrote:
Okay, this is confusing to me. There's no U-Boot at all, unless it's further on. Where does the DOS partition start? Maybe hexdump up to the start of the DOS partition?
As I said earlier, I don't think there is a DOS partition. U-boot is
(almost certainly) written directly to its partition without a file
system. On the QSPI-NOR it'll be a proprietary partition scheme.
Do you guys have serial consoles for your Jetson Nanos? All the early
boot messages and user input is done via the serial console. I have a
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9717 and I have replaced the
connectors so that I can plug in RX, TX and GND without any of the
others (plugging the 5V line by accident might (probably will) destroy
your Jetson. Drop me an email off list if you want more details about
dealing with the connector.
I don't see how you can "press any key" to interrupt U-Boot if you don't
have a serial console, and if you can't interrupt U-Boot then you can't
ask it to boot NetBSD.
Cheers,
Lloyd