I see quite a lot of mentions of the JH7110 in the changelog for 6.3 (https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/ChangeLog-6.3)
Was just wondering, can we expect to see this version used soon for VF2 builds instead of 5.15?
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The StarFive kernel is on v6.3-rc4 
One can expect that the 6.4 (or more realistically 6.5) mainline kernel to have everything for a “bare minimum” system. Though, I expect 6.4 to be the first mainline kernel to boot on VisionFive 2. Linux 6.5 should bring in some fixes which will help more beginner-level developers who are working on the VisionFive 2.
Forget the GPU support from mainline for now. That is Imagination’s job, not StarFive’s. That will happen when it happens. Use a serial console now now 
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- Official Debian 11 (Bullseye) has a 5.10 Linux Kernel (amd64/aarch64/armel/armhf/i386/MIPS/64-bit MIPS/Power/IBM System z)
- Official Devuan 4 (Chimaera), based Debian 11, currently has a 5.10.162-1 Linux Kernel (i386, amd64, ARM).
The next Debian (12 Bookworm) should be released sometime around the middle of 2023 and will have a 6.1 Linux Kernel (probably: amd64/aarch64/armel/armhf/i386/MIPS/64-bit MIPS/Power/IBM System z). The reason it will be 6.1 is because it is very latest longterm support Linux Kernel.
The hope would be that Debian 13 (Trixie), which should be released sometime in 2024 at a guess, might add initial support for the RISC-V architecture.
If you have some need to run the 6.3 mainline Linux kernel, check the StarFive JH7110 Upstream status to see what functionality you will be removing. Debian require hardware to be in stable before they consider adding official support. The very latest stable Linux Kernel is currently 6.2.12 (2023-04-20).
And the reason I mention Debian is because a very large number of Linux distributions use Debian as their base.
The good news is that Debian Testing does have RISC-V packages in it (compiled on HiFive Unmatched machines), so it is only a matter of time before they make an official release of their distribution with normal support for RISC-V.
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Super informative, thank you so much for your replies!
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Useful info. VERY useful info for a distribution dev trying to make something happen on the board… X-D
Thanks!
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What distribution do you maintain?
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Yocto derivative, PHA-Linux. I’m an Embedded LInux Plumber that’s been doing it for a Loooong time. I’m responsible for a Seed Project for the RISC-V consortium and the Linux Foundation. I’m trying to do bring up for this board in that context so anyone can make a bespoke distribution image for these.
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Aaand…as an update for all, I got my first successful boot of a core image build last night.
There’s some things I’m going to be pinging StarFive for better info on regarding SD boot partitioning, etc. to get an official first-cut of meta-riscv support cleaned up and PRed on GitHub.
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