UBoot 2015.d for Sam440ep mini-itx and Sam440ep flex boards available - Software News - News

Software News : UBoot 2015.d for Sam440ep mini-itx and Sam440ep flex boards available

Posted by m3x on 2025/4/14 19:22:40 (705 reads) News by the same author

Bassano del Grappa, Italy - 14 April 2025

ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the U-Boot firmware for its Sam440 line of motherboards.

Following the recent update for the Sam460, the Sam440 now also benefits from enhanced support, including compatibility with NVMe SSDs. Additionally, this update introduces support for Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards.

This release represents a significant investment of time and resources. Nevertheless, we have chosen to offer it at the symbolic price of €3.99.

Highlights of this release include:

Support for Radeon RX graphics cards (*)
Improved support for Radeon HD graphics cards (*)
NVMe SSD driver: boot directly from NVMe devices using a PCIe adapter (*)
Driver for the PCIe SATA2 Silicon Image 3132 controller, with support for booting from SSDs and DVDs (*)
Enhanced RAM access speed on Sam440ep-flex boards
New graphical interface style
Revised ‘sata’ command, now displaying more detailed information about drivers and connected devices
Serial console improvements: menu navigation via the W (up) and S (down) keys
General bug fixes and overall improvements
Unified source code for the 460ex and 440ep platforms

Note:

Features marked with an asterisk (*) require a PCI-to-PCIe bridge.
Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards also require a specific driver (to be sold separately by A-EON Technology once available) for use with AmigaOS 4.

Purchase the update:

The update is available through our online store.
For those not comfortable performing the update themselves, we also offer pre-programmed, fully updated U-Boot chips.

Additional Information:

UBoot makes use of GPL-licensed code and is therefore released under the terms of the GPL.

Source code downloads:

U-Boot:
https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz

Parthenope:
https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

Screenshot:
Resized Image

The comments are owned by the author. We aren't responsible for their content.

Author	Thread
NinjaCyborg	Published: 2025/4/14 20:14 Updated: 2025/4/14 20:14
Not too shy to talk Joined: 11/17/2020 From: Slough Comments: 345	You guys are the best Absolute heroes of the community

mr2	Published: 2025/4/15 17:32 Updated: 2025/4/15 17:32
Not too shy to talk Joined: 12/02/2006 From: Poland Comments: 405	Wow! Amazing! Who will be the first to test Radeon RX? Sailor, geennam or me? What is improved in support for Radeon HD graphics cards?

sailor	Published: 2025/4/15 18:54 Updated: 2025/4/15 18:54
Quite a regular Joined: 04/23/2021 From: Central Bohemia, Czech Republic Comments: 525	Nice update Absolutely amazing update, thanks ACube! I have Sam440ep-flex several years with Southern island card and I am very satisfied. Of course, I will test Polaris, but probably on weekend, I have no freetime now - so @mr2, you have chance! In any case, it is super, finally I put something also in empty PCI slot.

mr2	Published: 2025/4/15 19:16 Updated: 2025/4/15 19:16
Not too shy to talk Joined: 12/02/2006 From: Poland Comments: 405	Wow! Firmware Updated! I have to find a graphic card now. Probably RX550 is enough for my little SAM. @Sailor ;-) Im really curious how UVD works on such system?

Tuvok	Published: 2025/4/15 22:52 Updated: 2025/4/16 15:19
Just popping in Joined: 12/21/2022 From: Richmond Vancouver Comments: 88	Awesome! Thank you so much a-cube! :-))) Update installed, the new U-Boot design looks really nice, the Sam440flex feels like an Amiga now! As a note: the OS-selection menu looks a little different, not like in the preview that can be seen in the Update instructions PDF. I guess it's because I'm using SLB instead of Parthenope. Also the SLB "OS selection list" feels a little slow in comparison to before with U-Boot 1.31g. I'll test Parthenope soon, it scrolls up very slowly. But to me it really is secondary. I was eager to test a Radeon RX 550, I have 2 different models here, but the OS does not launch, the booting process stops once all the kickstart modules are loaded. This might be because I'm using the lates public version of the RadeonRX.module from Enhancer 2.2, and as the news read: "Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards also require a specific driver (to be sold separately by A-EON Technology once available) for use with AmigaOS 4." So probably the RX driver needs an update, so @mr2 and @Sailor, I can not beat you at testing the cards! hahaha I hope you have access to the beta-test drivers! p.s. thanks @Sailor for the detailed tutorial on how to install the PCI-Bridge cards!

afxgroup	Published: 2025/4/16 6:16 Updated: 2025/4/16 6:16
Amigans Defender Joined: 12/02/2006 From: Taranto, Italy Comments: 1393	Re: Awesome! @Tuvok Make sure also your card ID is supported by driver. If you can, try to use a serial console and take a look at message from RadeonRX driver. If it isn't supported send the vendorid and productid to Hans.

m3x	Published: 2025/4/16 8:09 Updated: 2025/4/16 8:09
Just popping in Joined: 12/01/2006 From: Anzio (Rome), Italy Comments: 197	Re: Awesome! @Tuvok Quote: As a note: the OS-selection menu looks a little different, not like in the preview that can be seen in the Update instructions PDF To change U-Boot aspect, enter the Menu, Video Options -> Console and select 'Silent', save, exit and reboot.

mr2	Published: 2025/4/16 8:58 Updated: 2025/4/16 8:58
Not too shy to talk Joined: 12/02/2006 From: Poland Comments: 405	Re: Awesome! Quote: So probably the RX driver needs an update, so @mr2 and @Sailor, I can not beat you at testing the cards! hahaha I hope you have access to the beta-test drivers! My HD7750 works OK so probably we do not need a newer driver...I do not have access to the beta drivers so I will wait until someone confirms which cards work ok. I don't have any RX card yet. Here is a part of the list from the UBoot for SAM460 announcement: Radeon RX 460, XFX, 2GB GDDR5, 0x67EF, 0xCF , polaris 11 * x86 emu set to medium Radeon RX 550, Yeston, 4 GB GDDR5, 0x67FF, 0, polaris 11 Radeon RX 550, Phantom, 2 GB GDDR5, 0x699F, polaris 12 Radeon RX 550, Yeston, 4 GB GDDR5, 0x699F, 0, polaris 12 Radeon RX 550, Sapphire, 4 GB GDDR5, 0x699F, 0, polaris 12 Radeon RX 560, Asus, 4 GB GDDR5, 0x67FF, 0, polaris 11 Radeon RX 570, XFX, 4 GB GDDR5, 0x67DF, 0xEF, polaris 10 Radeon RX 570 Pulse, Sapphire, 4 GB GDDR5, 0x67DF, 0, polaris 10

Tuvok	Published: 2025/4/16 14:13 Updated: 2025/4/16 15:11
Just popping in Joined: 12/21/2022 From: Richmond Vancouver Comments: 88	Re: Awesome! @m3x Quote: To change U-Boot aspect, enter the Menu, Video Options -> Console and select 'Silent', save, exit and reboot. That worked!! Thanks! Now that I think of it, I faintly remember it was similar in the previous U-Boot. I had selected the "verbose" option to have more room for "linux configs". But I don't use them anymore on the Sam440. Great update! Thank you!! I hope I'll find out what I'm doing wrong and to make the RadeonRX work with AmigaOS

Tuvok	Published: 2025/4/16 15:09 Updated: 2025/4/16 15:10
Just popping in Joined: 12/21/2022 From: Richmond Vancouver Comments: 88	Re: Awesome! @afxgroup I had checked both RX550 cards in the X1000 and they work fine there. It must be something with the driver, I guess. The "firmware drawer" is in the SYS: root directory too. With any of the RX550 card U-Boot stops after the Kickstart loading progress is full. I have connected a 0-modem cable to the serial port, but the output on the 2nd computer remains blank. Other than "setenv stdout serial" and "setenv baudrate 115200", Is there any other variable in U-Boot I need to set? The 0-modem-cable works, tested the output, again with X1000.

Tuvok	Published: 2025/4/16 15:18 Updated: 2025/4/16 15:18
Just popping in Joined: 12/21/2022 From: Richmond Vancouver Comments: 88	Re: Awesome! @mr2 Both card work with the X1000 and on Sam440flex U-Boot. At the bottom of the screen it says "Polaris 12". One card is a "Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 550 2G" and the other a low profile "AMD RX550 2G" I guess I have to plug them into the X1000 to read out the 0xXXXX code, the U-Boot "pci 0 long" command just shows 3 Bridge devices and 1 Massstorage device.

mr2	Published: 2025/4/16 17:19 Updated: 2025/4/16 17:21
Not too shy to talk Joined: 12/02/2006 From: Poland Comments: 405	Hmmm @Tuvok I have noticed (old uboot and RadeonHD driver) that if I turn on my SAM440 and THEN a monitor AOS screen does not appear and the monitor stays black. It happens very often. That's why I have to turn the monitor on first and then the computer. You may try while waiting for a solution ;-)

Tuvok	Published: 2025/4/17 10:27 Updated: 2025/4/17 10:27
Just popping in Joined: 12/21/2022 From: Richmond Vancouver Comments: 88	Re: Hmmm Quote: @Tuvok I have noticed (old uboot and RadeonHD driver) that if I turn on my SAM440 and THEN a monitor AOS screen does not appear and the monitor stays black. It happens very often. That's why I have to turn the monitor on first and then the computer. You may try while waiting for a solution Publish Comment Tried it, but It makes no difference. I will open a thread for this, discussing it here in the new section doesn't seem appropriate. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion!

328gts	Published: 2025/4/19 4:40 Updated: 2025/4/19 4:40
Home away from home Joined: 07/07/2009 From: Man Cave, Canada Comments: 3240	Re: You guys are the best ACube RuLeZ !!!

amije	Published: 2025/4/19 11:05 Updated: 2025/4/19 11:05
Just popping in Joined: 12/14/2006 From: Thessaloniki - Greece Comments: 112	sam440 me and my two sams thanks you!

nubechecorre	Published: 2025/4/20 19:28 Updated: 2025/4/20 19:28
Just can't stay away Joined: 11/24/2006 From: Sanremo Comments: 1923	Uboot Colors First of all thanks for the update, always appreciated. Second, is it possible to change the colors of the screen? I loved the black ms-dos feeling of the previous version... :-P

Tuvok	Published: 2025/4/22 8:39 Updated: 2025/4/22 8:39
Just popping in Joined: 12/21/2022 From: Richmond Vancouver Comments: 88	U-Boot Colors Ohh @nubechecorre, please let that be a late April-fools joke! I, for my part have waited 17 years for the Sam440 to "look" more like an Amiga right up when booting. Thanks again Max, Enrico, and every body else at acube for this beautiful U-Boot with amiga-look! Please let me enjoy it a little more before we go back to the dark side! :-P

utri007	Published: 2025/4/22 11:33 Updated: 2025/4/22 11:33
Not too shy to talk Joined: 01/06/2007 From: Comments: 452	What is the practical meaning of this? Improved support for Radeon HD graphics cards (*) What is now better?

m3x	Published: 2025/4/22 12:07 Updated: 2025/4/22 12:07
Just popping in Joined: 12/01/2006 From: Anzio (Rome), Italy Comments: 197	Re: What is the practical meaning of this? @utri007 Quote: Improved support for Radeon HD graphics cards (*) What is now better? there were some initialization problems with some R7/R9 cards, which have been resolved.