Yocto Project Summit 2024.12

What Makes the Raspberry Pi 5 So Special?
2024-12-04 , kirkstone

The Raspberry Pi 5, introduced in 2023, arrives with a range of exciting new hardware features. Shortly after its release, support was added for it as a machine in the community-maintained BSP layer meta-raspberrypi.
In this presentation, we will dive into the Raspberry Pi 5’s advanced hardware capabilities, explore key software changes, and share real-life war stories. We will also discuss optional build configurations in meta-raspberrypi, U-Boot support across Yocto releases Scarthgap and Styhead, and review various strategies for over-the-air software updates specifically tailored to the Raspberry Pi 5.


Over the years, Raspberry Pi single-board computers have become the de facto standard for technology demonstrations utilizing embedded Linux distributions. The Raspberry Pi 5, launched in 2023, is equipped with various exciting new hardware features. Soon after its release, it gained support as a machine in the community-maintained BSP layer meta-raspberrypi.

In this presentation, we will dive into the advanced hardware capabilities of the Raspberry Pi 5, including the addition of the UART port on the Raspberry Pi Debug Probe, native PCIe support for expanded connectivity, and the new cable designed to connect DSI displays to the 22-way FPC connector. The PCIe support allows connecting NVMe SSDs, significantly enhancing storage performance and capabilities. We'll also explore software changes, share real-life war stories, and discuss optional build configurations within meta-raspberrypi.

Additionally, we will have a look at U-Boot support for Yocto releases Scarthgap and Styhead. We will briefly discuss various over-the-air update strategies tailored for the Raspberry Pi 5 that rely on U-Boot, such as Mender, RAUC and SWUpdate as well as the integration with Balena.io.

The talk is suitable for anyone with a basic understanding of embedded Linux, the Yocto Project, and OpenEmbedded. Hopefully, the presentation will simplify the process of getting started with the Yocto Project on the Raspberry Pi 5 and encourage more engineers, developers, and students to get involved.

See also: Slides (2.8 MB)

Leon Anavi is an open source enthusiast and a senior software engineer at Konsulko Group. He is an active contributor to various Yocto/OpenEmbedded meta layers. His professional experience includes web and mobile application development for various platforms as well as porting and maintaining embedded Linux distributions to Raspberry Pi and devices with x86-64, i.MX6, NVIDIA Tegra, RISC-V, Amlogic, Rockchip and Allwinner (aka sunxi) SoC. Leon holds a masters in Information Technology from the Technical University Sofia. His previous speaking experience includes talks about open source software and hardware during events in San Francisco, San Diego, Portland (OR), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Brussels, Lyon, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Cambridge, Bratislava, Prague, Sofia and his hometown Plovdiv.