512 MB RAM How To

[truehl]

Is it only possible to use the new version with increased RAM only after a rpi-update? I'm wondering how to manage an update process for 256 and 512 RPi's. From what I saw the only possibility is to run rpi-update to perform a self update, delete some files, because otherwise rpi-update thinks the FW is already up to date, run rpi-update once more to proceed the update, edit config.txt for the memory split settings and then reboot!

Is this the right and only way?

[Lob0426]

So far yes.

I had to run rpi-update twice also.

run

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sudo apt-get update

next

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sudo apt-get upgrade

You need to run these to make sure you have the latest kernel and header changes

I recommend that you reboot at this point.

Then run

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sudo rpi-update

It will tell you that you set the gpu memory with
gpu_mem=
it then drops back to the prompt after a couple of minutes

I then had to run

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sudo rpi-update

again, it then carries out the firmware changes, then reboot

Then in config.txt

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sudo nano /boot/config.txt

there are several options to set your gpu memory.
gpu_mem= this sets gpu memory for both RasPi memory sizes (256MB or 512MB).

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gpu_mem=64

Either a 256MB or 512MB board will have the GPU memory set to 64MB

gpu_mem_256= if the board is a 256MB the size will be set to what you specify here

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gpu_mem_256=96

gpu_mem_512= if the board is a 512MB the size will be set to what you specify here

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gpu_mem_512=128

example in config.txt

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gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=192

The GPU will be set to 128MB if the card is used with a 256MB board and to 192MB if the card is put into a 512MB board.

[truehl]

Thanks a lot for this detailed informations! That's what I expected! So we have to install the latest and maybe unstable FW version. apt-get update and apt-get upgrade is not enough! That's bad because this will update the Pi to a stable FW.

Two more questions:
1. Does rpi-update has a trigger to perform a self-update only?
2. What are the valid options for the memory splits with both version (256 and 512) ?

[Joe Schmoe]

FWIW, the number of times that I had to run "rpi-update" was zero. I guess that balances out for the people for whom that number was two.

Details:
1) My 512M Pi, running the latest/recommended image, was only using 256M (as shown in the output of "free")
2) I ran "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade", then rebooted.
3) After the reboot, "free" shows:

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             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        448996      70644     378352          0       9904      42380
-/+ buffers/cache:      18360     430636
Swap:       102396          0     102396

So, I guess we're done!

[tnadolecki]

Hi,
If I'm not connected to any video display device, should I set GPU_MEM_512=0 ?
Currently it's set to 316. I'm using ArchLinux, and I'm only connecting via ssh.
Thanks.

[rpdom]

16 is the lowest value you can set. The GPU does a lot more than just running the video and needs at least 16MB for the Pi to run. Setting any value lower than that will be ignored.