HUAWEI QingYun W515

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HUAWEI QingYun W515 is a desktop computer featuring a Kirin 990 mobile phone SoC.

This product is not meant for the consumer market but government usage, which makes it niche and expensive to get (as brand new).

Despite in the form factor of a desktop computer, this device is designed more like an oversized SBC rather than an ARM SystemReady compliant desktop computer/server.

Hardware

Standard

Device Make/model Status Vendor ID / Product ID Kernel driver(s) Kernel version Notes
CPU HiSilicon Kirin 990 Works - - 4.19.71-46-kr990
NAND SKHynix HN8T15BZGKX016 Works - ufshcd 4.19.71-46-kr990
SATA Controller ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1064 Serial ATA Controller Works 1b21:1064:2116:2116 / 01-06-01 ahci 4.19.71-46-kr990
SSD Dell-EMC/Micron MTFDDAK480TDS Works - ahci,sd 4.19.71-46-kr990
DVD-RW LiteOn DU-8AESH Works - ahci,sr 4.19.71-46-kr990
USB Controller Renesas Electronics Corp. uPD720202 USB 3.0 Host Controller Works 1912:0015 / 0c-03-30 - 4.19.71-46-kr990
Internal USB hub Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub Works 05e3:0610 / 09-00-00 - 4.19.71-46-kr990
Internal USB hub VIA Labs, Inc. VL820 Hub Works 2109:0820 / 09-00-00 - 4.19.71-46-kr990
LAN Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Works 0bda:8153 / ff-ff-00 r8152_n 4.19.71-46-kr990 Onboard, but on USB Bus
WLAN HiSilicon Hi1103CPC Works ? plat_1105,wifi_1105 4.19.71-46-kr990
Bluetooth HiSilicon Hi1103CPC Works ? plat_1105 4.19.71-46-kr990
Audio HiSilicon Hi6405 Works ? - 4.19.71-46-kr990
GPU Mali-G76 Limited ? - 4.19.71-46-kr990 Cannot get EGL & WayLand HW Accel working
UEFI Byosoft UEFI v1.00.71 Limited - - 4.19.71-46-kr990 Cannot properly register efivars

Accessories

Device Make/model Status Bus ID Kernel driver(s) Kernel version Notes
Keyboard Holtek Semiconductor, Inc. Gaming Keyboard Works 04d9:0024 usbhid 4.19.71-46-kr990 Random branded mechanical keyboard
Keyboard SayoDevice 2x6F RGB Works 8089:0008 usbhid 4.19.71-46-kr990 4x6 programmable keypad
Mouse Dell MS116 Optical Mouse Works 413c:301a usbhid 4.19.71-46-kr990

Prototypes

There are prototype units being sold on second-hand markets. They could be identified by such identities:

  • The front bezel is golden (which is the same as a W510), rather than pure black
  • Sticker on the side with product name XXXXXXXX
  • BIOS and EC version < 1.00

The hardware of prototype and retail units are mostly identical. Most of the content in this document also applies to prototypes (unless explicitly pointed out), but they could run into strange issues that retail units won't have.

Installation

Firmware

The UEFI environment vaguely follows UEFI 2.7 standard. DeviceTree is passed from the UEFI environment. ACPI is not used.

Boot Sequence

The boot sequence of this device is closer to an SBC rather than ARM SystemReady compliant desktop computers/servers.

  1. The first stage BootROM loads the payload from the UFS storage module, which is the UEFI environment as second stage bootloader.
    • The detailed process is similar to an Android phone that cannot find the OS, then boots into Recovery mode which is actually the UEFI ?
  2. The second stage bootloader loads UEFI executables (GRUB etc.) as third stage bootloader
  3. The third stage bootloader loads Linux.
Important
The second stage bootloader is prone to damage caused by improper disk operations, resulting in devices no longer able to boot, and very hard to recover considering there are literally no off-the-shelf devices that could read/write these UFS storage modules. Hence it's highly recommended to install Gentoo in extra SATA disks rather than replacing the OS in the UFS storage module.
  • Accessories (cable and mounting tray) for SATA disks are optional and may not come with each device. In this case:
    • If there is a DVD-ROM, it could be replaced with a laptop optical drive to 2.5 inch SATA disk tray converter.
    • If there isn't a DVD-ROM, a mini 8-pin to SATA power cable and a disk mounting tray is required. This could be acquired either from HUAWEI customer support or third party.
Tip
Technically speaking, the second stage bootloader could be trimmed out and boots Linux directly from first stage bootloader, similar to how postmarketOS boots. This is very risky and should only be taken out by expert users.

Optional: Upgrading the Bootloader

Warning
Do not upgrade the bootloader of a prototype. This could result in device no longer able to boot.
Important
Upgrading the bootloader should be done under NeoKylin or Uniontech UOS. The upgrade package/script may work under other distros if all userland dependencies are met, but only those two distros are officially tested.

Upgrading the Bootloader, both first stage and second stage (officially referenced as HiSilicon Firmware and BIOS) may improve the stability of the device.

Note
KVM features may have issues with first stage bootloader version lower or equal than 2.1.203.27 .

Upgrade files could be downloaded from Support Page.

Upgrading the First Stage Bootloader

A command in NeoKylin/Uniontech UOS could be used to check the current first stage bootloader version:

user $hwfirmware -v
 current hisi Version: 2.1.203.51
Warning
Do not rollback the firmware below version 2.1.202.13 if the device comes with 16GB of RAM. This would result in device no longer able to boot.

If the first stage version of the firmware is below 2.1.203.27, upgrade to this version first. Otherwise, the newer firmware version may not install due to changed validation algorithms.

Upgrade files are installed the same way as a Debian binary package file. On NeoKylin or Uniontech UOS, this could be done by just double-clicking on the file. On other Linux distros this could be done by command:

root #apt install path/to/package.deb

After the installation of the package, a popup will show up on the bottom right of the desktop. Click the blue start button and the device will reboot and start upgrading.

Important
Do not disconnect or shut off the monitor, as the popup indicated. Despite doing so may not cause actual trouble, better safe than sorry.
  • NeoKylin/Uniontech UOS may not be able to boot after a first stage bootloader upgrade; This is an expected behavior as each version of NeoKylin and Uniontech UOS is specifically adapted to each version of first stage bootloader. A reinstall of these OS with the corresponding version is required.
Upgrading the Second Stage Bootloader (UEFI)

Upgrade files are executable files. Run the following command to install:

root #chmod 777 path/to/executable.sh && path/to/executable.sh 1

Upgrade applies once the script has successfully finished.

Partitioning

This unit doesn't need a "hard disk" by common means to function. Instead, it has a 256/512GB UFS protocol NAND storage module underneath the CPU fan, which functions both as firmware and storage device.

Warning
Partitioning the UFS storage module should be taken with extra care. Improper partitioning/reformatting could damage the first/second stage bootloader and cause the device no longer able to boot.

The UFS storage module is emulated into 3 logical devices:

root #fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 4 MiB, 4194304 bytes, 1024 sectors
Disk model: HN8T15BZGKX016  
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 524288 bytes / 524288 bytes

Disk /dev/sdb: 4 MiB, 4194304 bytes, 1024 sectors
Disk model: HN8T15BZGKX016  
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 524288 bytes / 524288 bytes

GPT PMBR size mismatch (327680 != 327679) will be corrected by write.
Disk /dev/sdc: 1.26 GiB, 1342177280 bytes, 327680 sectors
Disk model: HN8T15BZGKX016  
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 524288 bytes / 524288 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: F9F221FF-A8D4-5F0E-9746-594869AEC34E

Device      Start    End Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdc1     128    255     128  512K Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc2     256    383     128  512K Linux filesystem
(...)
/dev/sdc32 271360 271871     512    2M Linux filesystem

Disk /dev/sdd: 237.1 GiB, 254577475584 bytes, 62152704 sectors
Disk model: HN8T15BZGKX016  
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 524288 bytes / 524288 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 1B7CF424-F98E-4EFB-A37A-0CE833407518
  • /dev/sda and /dev/sdb are the first stage bootloader that should not be modified in any ways.
  • /dev/sdc is the second stage bootloader that should not be modified in any ways.
  • /dev/sdd is the safe part to modify. The OS should be installed here.

Procedures of partitioning SATA disks are trivial.

Kernel

This device seems cannot boot mainline Linux kernel. The kernel of NeoKylin is used here as an alternative.

Till the last edit of this article, NeoKylin only provides kernel 4.19 for this device and it seems to be based on the kernel for Android.

Using Binary NeoKylin Kernel

A NeoKylin binary kernel could be acquired from either the LiveCD or full installation of NeoKylin.

Assuming Gentoo rootfs has been mounted to /mnt/gentoo.

Copying the kernel and modules from NeoKylin to Gentoo:

root #cp /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.71-46-kr990 /mnt/gentoo/boot/vmlinuz-4.19.71-46-kr990
root #cp -r /lib/modules/4.19.71-46-kr990 /mnt/gentoo/lib/modules/4.19.71-46-kr990

Then reference to Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Base#Chrooting to chroot into the Gentoo rootfs.

Regenerate initramfs:

Note
The following command use dracut and grub for example. If preferring other ways of generating initramfs and/or bootloaders, check out the corresponding articles.
root #dracut --kver 4.19.71-46-kr990 && grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Alternative: Configure and Compile NeoKylin Kernel from Source

NeoKylin kernel source code could either be acquired from apt in a full installation of NeoKylin, or downloaded directly from NeoKylin apt repository.

To get the kernel source code in NeoKylin:

root #apt install linux-source
Note
An apt search linux-source may reveal more version options but currently only 4.19.71 is the valid option and will be brought in by installing linux-source package. Other versions are either missing HiSilicon platform-specific options & drivers, or just dummy packages that install nothing but an empty folder.

Assuming the Gentoo rootfs has been mounted, extracting the tarball into the corresponding location:

root #tar -xf /usr/src/linux-source-4.19.71.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr/src --verbose

Copying the default configuration file into the corresponding location. This file is the one being used to compile the kernel in NeoKylin:

root #cp /boot/config-4.19.71-46-kr990 /mnt/gentoo/usr/src/linux-source-4.19.71/.config

Reference to Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Base#Chrooting to chroot into the Gentoo rootfs.

Compiling the kernel requires GCC 9.5.0. On ARM64, this package has to be unmasked first:

FILE /etc/portage/package.unmaskUnmasking GCC 9.5.0
=sys-devel/gcc-9.5.0

Then emerging GCC 9.5.0:

root #emerge --ask sys-devel/gcc:9.5.0

Enabling GCC 9.5.0:

root #eselect gcc set aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu-9.5.0
Note
Do not forget to switch GCC version back after compiling the kernel so compilation of other packages won't be interfered. For more information about switching between GCC version, reference to Eselect#Gcc.

Finally, reference to Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Kernel to compile and install the kernel.

Kernel Configuration

Most of the configurations required are already set in the default configuration, besides some debloating.

KERNEL Disable NeoKylin Specific Security Mechanisms
Security options  --->
    [ ] Kylin security enhanced plug-ins
    [ ] Enable Box protect
    [ ] uos elfverify support

Kernel Features  --->
    [ ] No protection for Meltdown and Spectre

Make sure all the framebuffer supports are disabled except Simple framebuffer support has been enabled (including EFI-based Framebuffer Support), otherwise the system will boot without any display:

KERNEL Framebuffer Supports
Device Drivers  --->
    Graphics support  --->
        Frame buffer Devices  --->
            [*] Simple framebuffer support
Note
Not recommended to enable more platform-specific features than actually needed, which are basically fully covered by the initial configuration. Many of them aren't (properly) implemented and could cause compilation errors or other issues that are hard to diagnose.

Bootloader

Due to UEFI environment oddities, GRUB may have trouble installing :

root #grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi
Installing for arm64-efi platform.
Could not prepare Boot variable: Invalid argument
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Input/output error.

This is due to efibootmgr unable to write boot entries. Adding --no-nvram would solve the issue:

root #grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi --no-nvram
Tip
No need to worry if efibootmgr shows lots of invalid boot entries after trying to install GRUB for many times. Those are dummy entries and will be cleared after a reboot.

As the UEFI is so shabby that it doesn't support multiple hard disk boot entries, even multiple boot entries in the same hard disk, users that would like to boot from both the UFS storage module and SATA disks would have to :

  • Put GRUB in the EFI partition of the UFS storage module and adding the Gentoo Linux boot entry to it.
  • Put GRUB in the EFI partition of the UFS storage module and adding another GRUB executable in the EFI partition in the SATA disk to chainload it, which would then boot Gentoo.
  • Boot from another boot manager in the CD-ROM or USB drive then either loads Gentoo in the SATA disk directly, or chainloads the GRUB in the SATA disk which would then boot Gentoo.
Note
Obviously the UFS storage module couldn't be removed to make space for an EFI boot entry, as the system won't even have UEFI environment to begin with.

Emerge

GPU

Warning
Do not replace the "discrete GPU", which is just a signal breakout board for the integrated GPU with other GPU or PCIE devices. This could result in hardware damage.

As the 4.19 kernel doesn't support Panfrost DRI, the graphics can only work in software rendering mode.

VIDEO_CARDS extended use flag does not need to be set. The procedures of setting up X11-based window managers/desktop environments are trivial. Wayland-based window managers/desktop environments cannot function properly.

Important
It's possible to enable hardware acceleration by using closed-source userland drivers: bringing libmali.so.* in and replacing Mesa related libraries with the ones from NeoKylin/Uniontech UOS, but as the driver being old and missing features (gbm_bo_get_fd_for_plane, gbm_bo_map, and possibly more), compilation of many window managers/desktop environments including KDE, Niri, and Sway will fail.

Configuration

Vendor Specific Routines

Some components require vendor-specific binaries and scripts to function. A full installation of NeoKylin could provide these components.

Assuming the Gentoo rootfs has been mounted to /mnt/gentoo, execute the following command to copy them into place:

root #cp -r /vendor /mnt/gentoo
Tip
Users familiar with Android partition scheme may consider the /vendor is in a partition/image file and try to find how it's mounted - it's just a plain directory in this case.

WLAN

Execute the initialization script 1103start.sh for the wireless adapter to start functioning. This script will load the corresponding kernel modules.

root #/vendor/1103start.sh
Tip
This could be set as a systemd/OpenRC service to automatically execute on boot. A reference setup could be found as 110x.service in NeoKylin.

Mainline version of NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant have trouble with this wireless adapter that would cause themselves and programs relying on them getting stuck for minutes, if not indefinitely until forcefully stopped after changing/disconnecting from APs. Problem seems resides in power management.

Instead, use iwd in standalone mode.

dhcpcd might have to be introduced to provide DHCP for the WLAN adapter:

root #emerge --ask net-misc/dhcpcd

Then setting up the correspond USE flags:

FILE /etc/portage/package.use/iwd
net-wireless/iwd standalone
FILE /etc/portage/package.use/networkmanager
net-misc/networkmanager -wifi -wext dhcpcd

Reinstall these packages:

root #emerge -atv --deep --newuse net-misc/networkmanager net-wireless/iwd

Reconfiguring services:

Note
This part uses systemd configuration as example.
root #systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl restart NetworkManager && systemctl enable --now iwd

Then use iwd to manage wireless connections.

Tip
net-wireless/iwgtk could be a handy tool for graphical interfaces.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is also provided by HiSilicon Hi1103CPC and has to be initialized using 1103start.sh first.

After kernel modules are loaded by 1103start.sh, it has to be further initialized by a customized version of hciattach. This could be acquired from a full installation of NeoKylin/Uniontech UOS:

user $cp /usr/bin/hciattach /mnt/gentoo/vendor/hciattach

Then initialize the bluetooth adapter:

root #/vendor/hciattach -n /dev/hwbt hisi

Finally, reference to Bluetooth to set up userland tools.

Tip
This could be set as a systemd/OpenRC service to automatically execute on boot. A reference setup could be found as hciattach.service in NeoKylin.
Note
Mainline version of hciattach, which could be acquired by installing net-wireless/bluez with deprecated USE flag, doesn't know how to properly operate this Bluetooth adapter.

Audio

Important
The author doesn't fully understand the principles behind; it may become a "works on my machine" suggestion that has to be carefully treated with.

PulseAudio has to have daemon use flag enabled:

FILE /etc/portage/package.use/pulseaudio
media-sound/pulseaudio daemon

(Re)installing PulseAudio:

root #emerge --ask media-sound/pulseaudio

Then copy these files from NeoKylin to Gentoo:

root #cd /etc/pulse && cp -f client.conf daemon.conf default.pa pow-exponent.ini system.pa /mnt/gentoo/etc/pulse

Finally, enabling the PulseAudio service reference to PulseAudio#Running.

Important
The Hi6405 seems doesn't like to work with PipeWire. Using it could cause severe sound crackling/glitching on all outputs, even after referenced to PipeWire#Crackling_and_stuttering.
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