ubuntu-pi-image

If you just want to download Ubuntu MATE images for the Raspberry Pi the go to the Ubuntu MATE website:

• https://ubuntu-mate.org/raspberry-pi/

These "docs" are not comprehensive, but should be enough to get you started with building your own Ubuntu based images for the Raspberry Pi.

Building Images

• Clone the Retro Home project
  • git clone https://github.com/wimpysworld/ubuntu-pi-image.git

It is best to run the ubuntu-pi-image on an Ubuntu 22.04 x86 64-bit workstation, ideally running in a VM via Quickemu. If using a fresh Quickemu VM you'll need to set the disk_size parameter large enough to complete the build. This can be achieved by adding disk_size="64G" to ubuntu-mate-jammy.conf before running quickemu to create the VM. Alternatively you could mount external storage into the container for the build area. You'll also need at least to sudo apt install git.

apt-cacher-ng

If you apt-get install apt-cache-ng the ubuntu-pi-image script will automatically use the apt-cache-ng proxy to accelerate build performance.

Build configuration

You can tweak some variables towards the bottom of the ubuntu-pi-image script.

FLAVOUR="ubuntu-mate"
IMG_QUALITY="-beta1"
IMG_VER="22.04"
IMG_RELEASE="jammy"
IMG_ARCH="arm64"

Usage

The following incantation will build a Ubuntu MATE 22.04 arm64 image for Raspberry Pi.

sudo ./ubuntu-pi-image

The script will create ~/Build in your home directory that will include the caches for each stages and the image for putting on your Raspberry Pi SD card, USB stick or SSD.

Other Desktop

Modify the stage_02_desktop and stage_03_snap accordingly to adapt the script for other Ubuntu flavours/desktops.

Bootloaders

This is the bootloader configuration from Ubuntu 22.04.

cloud-init

Remove these files:

• meta-data
• network-config
• user-data

README

An overview of the files on the /boot/firmware partition (the 1st partition
on the SD card) used by the Ubuntu boot process (roughly in order) is as
follows:

* bootcode.bin   - this is the second stage bootloader loaded by all pis with
                   the exception of the pi4 (where this is replaced by flash
                   memory)
* config.txt     - the configuration file read by the boot process
* start*.elf     - the third stage bootloader, which handles device-tree
                   modification and which loads...
* vmlinuz        - the Linux kernel
* cmdline.txt    - the Linux kernel command line
* initrd.img     - the initramfs
* meta-data      - meta-data for cloud-init; usually just contains the
                   instance id
* network-config - network configuration for cloud-init; edit this to set up
                   wifi access points and other networking settings
* user-data      - user-data for cloud-init; edit this to configure initial
                   users, SSH keys, packages, etc.

32bit server

From the armhf server image.

cmdline.txt

console=serial0,115200 dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=tty1 root=LABEL=writable rootfstype=ext4 rootwait fixrtc quiet splash

config.txt

[all]
kernel=vmlinuz
cmdline=cmdline.txt
initramfs initrd.img followkernel

[pi4]
max_framebuffers=2
arm_boost=1

[all]
# Enable the audio output, I2C and SPI interfaces on the GPIO header. As these
# parameters related to the base device-tree they must appear *before* any
# other dtoverlay= specification
dtparam=audio=on
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
dtparam=spi=on

# Comment out the following line if the edges of the desktop appear outside
# the edges of your display
disable_overscan=1

# If you have issues with audio, you may try uncommenting the following line
# which forces the HDMI output into HDMI mode instead of DVI (which doesn't
# support audio output)
#hdmi_drive=2

# Enable the serial pins
enable_uart=1

# Autoload overlays for any recognized cameras or displays that are attached
# to the CSI/DSI ports. Please note this is for libcamera support, *not* for
# the legacy camera stack
camera_auto_detect=1
display_auto_detect=1


[cm4]
# Enable the USB2 outputs on the IO board (assuming your CM4 is plugged into
# such a board)
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

[all]

64bit server

From the arm64 server image.

cmdline.txt

console=serial0,115200 dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=tty1 root=LABEL=writable rootfstype=ext4 rootwait fixrtc quiet splash

config.txt

[all]
kernel=vmlinuz
cmdline=cmdline.txt
initramfs initrd.img followkernel

[pi4]
max_framebuffers=2
arm_boost=1

[all]
# Enable the audio output, I2C and SPI interfaces on the GPIO header. As these
# parameters related to the base device-tree they must appear *before* any
# other dtoverlay= specification
dtparam=audio=on
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
dtparam=spi=on

# Comment out the following line if the edges of the desktop appear outside
# the edges of your display
disable_overscan=1

# If you have issues with audio, you may try uncommenting the following line
# which forces the HDMI output into HDMI mode instead of DVI (which doesn't
# support audio output)
#hdmi_drive=2

# Enable the serial pins
enable_uart=1

# Autoload overlays for any recognized cameras or displays that are attached
# to the CSI/DSI ports. Please note this is for libcamera support, *not* for
# the legacy camera stack
camera_auto_detect=1
display_auto_detect=1

# Config settings specific to arm64
arm_64bit=1
dtoverlay=dwc2

[cm4]
# Enable the USB2 outputs on the IO board (assuming your CM4 is plugged into
# such a board)
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

[all]

Desktop

From Ubuntu proper desktop image.

cmdline.txt

zswap.enabled=1 zswap.zpool=z3fold zswap.compressor=zstd dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=tty1 root=LABEL=writable rootfstype=ext4 rootwait fixrtc quiet splash

config.txt

[all]
kernel=vmlinuz
cmdline=cmdline.txt
initramfs initrd.img followkernel

[pi4]
max_framebuffers=2
arm_boost=1

[all]
# Enable the audio output, I2C and SPI interfaces on the GPIO header. As these
# parameters related to the base device-tree they must appear *before* any
# other dtoverlay= specification
dtparam=audio=on
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
dtparam=spi=on

# Comment out the following line if the edges of the desktop appear outside
# the edges of your display
disable_overscan=1

# If you have issues with audio, you may try uncommenting the following line
# which forces the HDMI output into HDMI mode instead of DVI (which doesn't
# support audio output)
#hdmi_drive=2

[cm4]
# Enable the USB2 outputs on the IO board (assuming your CM4 is plugged into
# such a board)
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

[all]

# Enable the KMS ("full" KMS) graphics overlay, leaving GPU memory as the
# default (the kernel is in control of graphics memory with full KMS)
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d

# Autoload overlays for any recognized cameras or displays that are attached
# to the CSI/DSI ports. Please note this is for libcamera support, *not* for
# the legacy camera stack
camera_auto_detect=1
display_auto_detect=1

# Config settings specific to arm64
arm_64bit=1
dtoverlay=dwc2