OpenBSD 7.6 HiFive Unmatched Test Report

Test Environment

Operating System Information

System Version: OpenBSD 7.6
Download Link: https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.6/riscv64/install76.img
Reference Installation Document: https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.6/riscv64/INSTALL.riscv64

Hardware Information

HiFive Unmatched Rev A
A microUSB cable (included with HiFive Unmatched)
An ATX power supply
A microSD card pre-flashed with Freedom U SDK
A USB drive

Installation Steps

For HiFive Unmatched there are multiple ways to boot, according to the software reference manual.

For booting OpenBSD, we have two options:

Choose a image that comes with U-Boot, (e.g. Freedom U SDK), flash it to microSD and set DIP switch to MSEL[3:0]=1011 (factory default)
Manually compile mainline U-Boot, flash it to SPI Flash, DIP switch set to MSEL[3:0]=0110
- Requires an OS already installed and is capable of flashing SPI
- See U-Boot’s documentation here: https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/board/sifive/unmatched.html

U-Boot on microSD

Ensure the DIP switches are set to boot from the microSD card. The factory default is to boot from the microSD card if unchanged.

The DIP switch settings should be: MSEL[3:0]=1011

Flashing Freedom U SDK

Download the demo-coreip-cli-unmatched.rootfs.wic.xz image from here.

Decompress and flash the image to the microSD card. Replace /dev/sdc with the location of your microSD card.

xz -dk demo-coreip-cli-unmatched.rootfs.wic.xz
sudo dd if=demo-coreip-cli-unmatched.rootfs.wic of=/dev/sdc status=progress

U-Boot on SPI Flash

Assuming you already have an OS up and running on Unmatched.

You need to manually build U-Boot.

Building U-Boot

Below is only a rough guideline: you’ll need to install required packages, and configure toolchains (both cross build and native build are okay).

For full documentation please check out U-Boot’s official website: https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/board/sifive/unmatched.html

git clone https://github.com/riscv/opensbi.git
pushd opensbi
make PLATFORM=generic -j$(nproc)
popd
wget https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/archive/refs/tags/v2025.04.tar.gz
tar xvf v2025.04.tar.gz
cd u-boot-2025.04
export OPENSBI=../opensbi/build/platform/generic/firmware/fw_dynamic.bin
make sifive_unmatched_defconfig
make -j$(nproc)

Flash U-Boot images to SPI

The following steps are from the official U-Boot documentation.

sgdisk --clear -a 1 \
    --new=1:40:2087     --change-name=1:spl   --typecode=1:5B193300-FC78-40CD-8002-E86C45580B47 \
    --new=2:2088:10279  --change-name=2:uboot --typecode=2:2E54B353-1271-4842-806F-E436D6AF6985 \
    --new=3:10280:10535 --change-name=3:env   --typecode=3:3DE21764-95BD-54BD-A5C3-4ABE786F38A8 \
    /dev/mtdblock0
dd if=spl/u-boot-spl.bin of=/dev/mtdblock0 bs=4096 seek=5 conv=sync
dd if=u-boot.itb  of=/dev/mtdblock0 bs=4096 seek=261 conv=sync

Flashing Installation Image to USB Drive

Use the dd command to flash the image to the USB drive.

/dev/sdX is our drive here, change accordingly.

sudo dd if=install76.img of=/dev/sdX status=progress

Logging into the System

Logging into the system via the onboard serial port using the microUSB cable connected to another computer.

Expected Results

The system should boot normally and allow login via the onboard serial port.

Actual Results

The system booted successfully and login via the onboard serial port was also successful.

Boot Log

Test Criteria

Successful: The actual result matches the expected result.

Failed: The actual result does not match the expected result.

Test Conclusion

Test successful.

System Version

Status

Last Update