I2C2

[Robert Pace]

I'm using an Orange Pi 5 Plus 16GB SBC, with Armbian image (https://dl.armbian.com/orangepi5-plus/Bookworm_current_cinnamon-backported-mesa) which uses Kernel 6.12. I am trying to get a BME280 I2C sensor attached to the following pins of the 40 pins; 1 (3.3v), 3 (GPIO0C0), 5 (GPIO0B7), and 6 (GND). The BME280 sensor has the VIN wired to 3.3v (pin 1), SDA wired to SDA (pin 3), SCL wired to SCL (pin 5), and GND to GND (pin 6). The device should use address 0x76, but isn't listed under the four I2C buses found in /dev.

 

This configuration worked fine when using the stock OrangePi 5 Plus Debian Bookworm image, but does not have I2C2 listed as a device under /dev under Armbian image listed above.

 

My armbianEnv.txt is:

verbosity=1
bootlogo=true
console=both
overlay_prefix=rockchip-rk3588
fdtfile=rockchip/rk3588-orangepi-5-plus.dtb
rootdev=UUID=3cbd3c35-190b-4cc5-8db3-4334fa84ccbd
rootfstype=ext4
overlays=rockchip-rk3588-i2c8-m2
usbstoragequirks=0x2537:0x1066:u,0x2537:0x1068:u

 

I have attached 4 images (screenshots) with the following captions
i2c.png - List of I2C buses and addresses (Armbian Image)

i2c_2.png - List of DTBs (Armbian Image)
i2c_3.png - List of DTBOs aka overlays (Armbian Image)

i2c_opi2.png - List of I2C buses and addresses of I2C2 (Orange Pi Debian 12 Image)

 

Why isn't I2C2 found in /dev of Armbian image? 
 

 

[Werner]

8 hours ago, Robert Pace said:

stock OrangePi 5 Plus Debian Bookworm

 

Hi

 

That one probably uses old vendor bsp kernel while the Armbian image you tried follows mainline which isn't feature-complete yet. I suggest to retry an Armbian vendor kernel based image.

[Robert Pace]

Where would one find an arbian vendor os image for the Orange Pi 5 Plus? I don't see anything on Orange Pi 5+ Download page labeled as "Armbian". I do see Orange PI OS with a similar naming structure (24.xxx). I also note that the Orange Pi OS images are still using the quite old Kernel 5.10.160 with no indication as to whether the kernel isn't as fresh as the Debian Bookworm image at Kernel 6.1.43 which has issues with RDP (even with xorgxrdp).

[ozacas]

https://sg.sbcmirror.org/armbian/dl/orangepi5-plus/archive/

 

with a download labelled as 'vendor' (6.1.x kernel derived from linux-rockchip)

[Werner]

https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-5-plus/

 

Scroll down to either server or desktop images featuring 6.1 kernel. These come with 6.1.75 I think. Shortly after the release there was a transition to the most recent rockchip sdk kernel which bumped to the version to 6.1.84. You can find a pre-made Trixie based one as pre-release image here for testing: https://github.com/armbian/os/releases

[Robert Pace]

I installed a vendor based desktop image (Armbian_24.11.2_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_vendor_6.1.75_cinnamon-backported-mesa_desktop.img.xz), loaded the i2c2-m0 kernel overlay, and rebooted. Again no i2c2 bus available. This is on an Orange Pi 5 Plus (16gig) SBC.

Here is a link to an armbian-monitor -u output

https://paste.next.armbian.com/codiqumesu
 

Attached are other diagnostic outputs. The desire is to read a bme280 sensor connected to the gpio pins via i2c. See original post for details of  gpio wiring.

 

Any help would be appreciated. I note that there is no I2C-2 device listed in /dev.

[Werner]

If you have a chance please also test against the Trixie image with updated vendor bsp kernel (6.1.84) I mentioned above. Just to be sure this wasn't fixed by rockchip already.

 

Also as a last resort check old archives for images based on 5.10.y which is (almost) the same kernel as the images provided by Orangepi: https://fi.mirror.armbian.de/oldarchive/orangepi5-plus/archive/

[Robert Pace]

Quote

If you have a chance please also test against the Trixie image with updated vendor bsp kernel (6.1.84) I mentioned above. Just to be sure this wasn't fixed by rockchip already.

 

I tested with https://dl.armbian.com/nightly/orangepi5-plus/Trixie_vendor_minimal and after installing i2c-tools and adding i2c2-m0 overlay with armbian-config I could see i2c2 with i2cdetect -l, and could see 0x76 show up on bus 2.

 

I would love to have an desktop image with support for mesa that has functional i2c2-m0 functionality do you know of such an image?

[Werner]

You're in luck

Built one this morning for testing myself. Didn't have a chance to do so yet though but feel free to use:

https://fi.mirror.armbian.de/.testing/Armbian-unofficial_25.02.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_noble_vendor_6.1.84_kde-neon-kisak_desktop.img.xz

[Robert Pace]

Quote

You're in luck 

 

Thanks! I believe kernel 6.1.84 is the solution to the I2C issues I was having.