[PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[Andre Przywara]

The Cubie A5E board comes with 16MiB of SPI NOR flash.

Enable the SPI0 DT node and describe the configuration.

Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>
---
 .../boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts  | 15 +++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
index bfdf1728cd14b..7ad22fc85d1fd 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
+++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
@@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ &r_pio {
 	vcc-pm-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
 };
 
+&spi0  {
+	pinctrl-names = "default";
+	pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_pc_pins>, <&spi0_cs0_pc_pin>,
+		    <&spi0_hold_pc_pin>, <&spi0_wp_pc_pin>;
+	status = "okay";
+
+	flash@0 {
+		compatible = "winbond,w25q128", "jedec,spi-nor";
+		reg = <0>;
+		spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;
+		#address-cells = <1>;
+		#size-cells = <1>;
+	};
+};
+
 &uart0 {
 	pinctrl-names = "default";
 	pinctrl-0 = <&uart0_pb_pins>;
-- 
2.46.4

Re: [PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[Jernej Škrabec]

Dne torek, 12. maj 2026 ob 00:17:41 Srednjeevropski poletni čas je Andre Przywara napisal(a):
> The Cubie A5E board comes with 16MiB of SPI NOR flash.
> 
> Enable the SPI0 DT node and describe the configuration.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>

Acked-by: Jernej Skrabec <jernej.skrabec@gmail.com>

Best regards,
Jernej

Re: [PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[sashiko-bot]

Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 2 potential issue(s) to consider:
- [Medium] Missing `spi-rx-bus-width` and `spi-tx-bus-width` properties restrict the SPI flash to 1-bit mode despite hardware Quad SPI configuration.
- [Low] Unnecessary `#address-cells` and `#size-cells` defined in the `flash@0` node without child nodes.
--

commit 90d57abd1dc9fc1a77a15be6ce437a4b3378df17
Author: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>

arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

This commit enables the SPI0 device tree node for the Cubie A5E board.
It describes the configuration for the 16MiB SPI NOR flash connected
to the SPI0 bus.

> diff --git a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> --- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> +++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> @@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ &r_pio {
>  	vcc-pm-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
>  };
>  
> +&spi0  {
> +	pinctrl-names = "default";
> +	pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_pc_pins>, <&spi0_cs0_pc_pin>,
> +		    <&spi0_hold_pc_pin>, <&spi0_wp_pc_pin>;
> +	status = "okay";
> +
> +	flash@0 {
> +		compatible = "winbond,w25q128", "jedec,spi-nor";
> +		reg = <0>;
> +		spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;

Since the pinctrl-0 configuration explicitly maps the hardware WP and HOLD
pins to the SPI controller, should this node also include
spi-rx-bus-width = <4> and spi-tx-bus-width = <4>?

Without these properties, the SPI driver defaults to standard 1-bit mode,
failing to utilize the board's wired Quad SPI capabilities. Additionally,
if the board lacks external pull-ups, could muxing the active-low WP and
HOLD pins to the SPI controller in 1-bit mode leave the pins floating and
risk unintended write-protect or hold states?

> +		#address-cells = <1>;
> +		#size-cells = <1>;

This isn't a bug, but since this flash node does not contain any child
partition nodes, these #address-cells and #size-cells properties are
unnecessary and trigger standard dtc warnings.

> +	};
> +};

-- 
Sashiko AI review · https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260511221741.25888-1-andre.przywara@arm.com?part=1

Re: [PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[Chen-Yu Tsai]

Hi,

On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 6:18 AM Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com> wrote:
>
> The Cubie A5E board comes with 16MiB of SPI NOR flash.
>
> Enable the SPI0 DT node and describe the configuration.
>
> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>
> ---
>  .../boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts  | 15 +++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> index bfdf1728cd14b..7ad22fc85d1fd 100644
> --- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> +++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> @@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ &r_pio {
>         vcc-pm-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
>  };
>
> +&spi0  {
> +       pinctrl-names = "default";
> +       pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_pc_pins>, <&spi0_cs0_pc_pin>,
> +                   <&spi0_hold_pc_pin>, <&spi0_wp_pc_pin>;

This whole thing needs to be an overlay. The HOLD and WP pins
conflict with eMMC usage, so it seems that Radxa only populates
one or the other.

If you look at the pictures on their official website, you'll see the
SPI NOR chip populated, but not the eMMC chip. On the linux-sunxi wiki
page, you'll see the opposite.

And you probably want to enable QSPI, like Sashiko mentioned.


ChenYu


> +       status = "okay";
> +
> +       flash@0 {
> +               compatible = "winbond,w25q128", "jedec,spi-nor";
> +               reg = <0>;
> +               spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;
> +               #address-cells = <1>;
> +               #size-cells = <1>;
> +       };
> +};
> +
>  &uart0 {
>         pinctrl-names = "default";
>         pinctrl-0 = <&uart0_pb_pins>;
> --
> 2.46.4
>

Re: [PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[Andre Przywara]

Hi Chen-Yu,

thanks for chipping in!

On 5/13/26 07:21, Chen-Yu Tsai wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 6:18 AM Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com> wrote:
>>
>> The Cubie A5E board comes with 16MiB of SPI NOR flash.
>>
>> Enable the SPI0 DT node and describe the configuration.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>
>> ---
>>   .../boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts  | 15 +++++++++++++++
>>   1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
>> index bfdf1728cd14b..7ad22fc85d1fd 100644
>> --- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
>> +++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
>> @@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ &r_pio {
>>          vcc-pm-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
>>   };
>>
>> +&spi0  {
>> +       pinctrl-names = "default";
>> +       pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_pc_pins>, <&spi0_cs0_pc_pin>,
>> +                   <&spi0_hold_pc_pin>, <&spi0_wp_pc_pin>;
> 
> This whole thing needs to be an overlay. The HOLD and WP pins
> conflict with eMMC usage, so it seems that Radxa only populates
> one or the other.
> 
> If you look at the pictures on their official website, you'll see the
> SPI NOR chip populated, but not the eMMC chip. On the linux-sunxi wiki
> page, you'll see the opposite.

Well, I have a hard time spotting any actual eMMC SKUs in the shops anyway.
But you are right, the hold and WP pins conflict with eMMC, whereas the 
other pins are not.

> And you probably want to enable QSPI, like Sashiko mentioned.

Well, in the interest of keeping this simple and enabling the usage of 
SPI flash for all the users out there, I'd rather drop the extra pins.
This is mostly really useful for booting the firmware, maybe loading a 
tiny kernel or other data once, so performance is not a big concern in 
this use case. The BootROM surely does not use QSPI.

And as you say, if people are really interested in the last bit of 
performance, they can use an overlay.

Cheers,
Andre

> 
> 
> ChenYu
> 
> 
>> +       status = "okay";
>> +
>> +       flash@0 {
>> +               compatible = "winbond,w25q128", "jedec,spi-nor";
>> +               reg = <0>;
>> +               spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;
>> +               #address-cells = <1>;
>> +               #size-cells = <1>;
>> +       };
>> +};
>> +
>>   &uart0 {
>>          pinctrl-names = "default";
>>          pinctrl-0 = <&uart0_pb_pins>;
>> --
>> 2.46.4
>>
> 

Re: [PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[Chen-Yu Tsai]

On Wed, May 13, 2026 at 5:19 PM Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Chen-Yu,
>
> thanks for chipping in!
>
> On 5/13/26 07:21, Chen-Yu Tsai wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 6:18 AM Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> The Cubie A5E board comes with 16MiB of SPI NOR flash.
> >>
> >> Enable the SPI0 DT node and describe the configuration.
> >>
> >> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>
> >> ---
> >>   .../boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts  | 15 +++++++++++++++
> >>   1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)
> >>
> >> diff --git a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> >> index bfdf1728cd14b..7ad22fc85d1fd 100644
> >> --- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> >> +++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> >> @@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ &r_pio {
> >>          vcc-pm-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
> >>   };
> >>
> >> +&spi0  {
> >> +       pinctrl-names = "default";
> >> +       pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_pc_pins>, <&spi0_cs0_pc_pin>,
> >> +                   <&spi0_hold_pc_pin>, <&spi0_wp_pc_pin>;
> >
> > This whole thing needs to be an overlay. The HOLD and WP pins
> > conflict with eMMC usage, so it seems that Radxa only populates
> > one or the other.
> >
> > If you look at the pictures on their official website, you'll see the
> > SPI NOR chip populated, but not the eMMC chip. On the linux-sunxi wiki
> > page, you'll see the opposite.
>
> Well, I have a hard time spotting any actual eMMC SKUs in the shops anyway.
> But you are right, the hold and WP pins conflict with eMMC, whereas the
> other pins are not.
>
> > And you probably want to enable QSPI, like Sashiko mentioned.
>
> Well, in the interest of keeping this simple and enabling the usage of
> SPI flash for all the users out there, I'd rather drop the extra pins.
> This is mostly really useful for booting the firmware, maybe loading a
> tiny kernel or other data once, so performance is not a big concern in
> this use case. The BootROM surely does not use QSPI.

Given that the pins are tied on physically, if someone then enables mmc2
for a potentially present eMMC, the two pins could be toggled by the
MMC controller, causing the flash to misbehave. I'm slightly concerned
about this possibility.


ChenYu

> And as you say, if people are really interested in the last bit of
> performance, they can use an overlay.
>
> Cheers,
> Andre
>
> >
> >
> > ChenYu
> >
> >
> >> +       status = "okay";
> >> +
> >> +       flash@0 {
> >> +               compatible = "winbond,w25q128", "jedec,spi-nor";
> >> +               reg = <0>;
> >> +               spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;
> >> +               #address-cells = <1>;
> >> +               #size-cells = <1>;
> >> +       };
> >> +};
> >> +
> >>   &uart0 {
> >>          pinctrl-names = "default";
> >>          pinctrl-0 = <&uart0_pb_pins>;
> >> --
> >> 2.46.4
> >>
> >
>

Re: [PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[Andre Przywara]

On Sat, 16 May 2026 00:12:17 +0800
Chen-Yu Tsai <wens@kernel.org> wrote:

> On Wed, May 13, 2026 at 5:19 PM Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Chen-Yu,
> >
> > thanks for chipping in!
> >
> > On 5/13/26 07:21, Chen-Yu Tsai wrote:  
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 6:18 AM Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com> wrote:  
> > >>
> > >> The Cubie A5E board comes with 16MiB of SPI NOR flash.
> > >>
> > >> Enable the SPI0 DT node and describe the configuration.
> > >>
> > >> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>
> > >> ---
> > >>   .../boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts  | 15 +++++++++++++++
> > >>   1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)
> > >>
> > >> diff --git a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> > >> index bfdf1728cd14b..7ad22fc85d1fd 100644
> > >> --- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> > >> +++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> > >> @@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ &r_pio {
> > >>          vcc-pm-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
> > >>   };
> > >>
> > >> +&spi0  {
> > >> +       pinctrl-names = "default";
> > >> +       pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_pc_pins>, <&spi0_cs0_pc_pin>,
> > >> +                   <&spi0_hold_pc_pin>, <&spi0_wp_pc_pin>;  
> > >
> > > This whole thing needs to be an overlay. The HOLD and WP pins
> > > conflict with eMMC usage, so it seems that Radxa only populates
> > > one or the other.
> > >
> > > If you look at the pictures on their official website, you'll see the
> > > SPI NOR chip populated, but not the eMMC chip. On the linux-sunxi wiki
> > > page, you'll see the opposite.  
> >
> > Well, I have a hard time spotting any actual eMMC SKUs in the shops anyway.
> > But you are right, the hold and WP pins conflict with eMMC, whereas the
> > other pins are not.
> >  
> > > And you probably want to enable QSPI, like Sashiko mentioned.  
> >
> > Well, in the interest of keeping this simple and enabling the usage of
> > SPI flash for all the users out there, I'd rather drop the extra pins.
> > This is mostly really useful for booting the firmware, maybe loading a
> > tiny kernel or other data once, so performance is not a big concern in
> > this use case. The BootROM surely does not use QSPI.  
> 
> Given that the pins are tied on physically, if someone then enables mmc2
> for a potentially present eMMC, the two pins could be toggled by the
> MMC controller, causing the flash to misbehave. I'm slightly concerned
> about this possibility.

That's a good point, but that means it's really a hardware design
issue: you cannot have SPI together with eMMC on this board.

I don't know if Radxa ships the eMMC SKUs without SPI flash, I
will try to query Tom Cubie about this.

I would prefer to go with SPI flash, at least for now: I think that's
what most users have, and the eMMC versions are rare so far? Since we
don't have an eMMC node in the DT anyway, that should be fine for now.
If someone adds eMMC support later, we would need to figure this out.
We could mark one as disabled, and leave it up to users (or U-Boot)
to decide which to enable.
On the H6 there is a similar problem: PC5 is both SPI0_CS and MMC2_CMD,
so on the PineH64 we disable the SPI flash, in favour of eMMC, which is
more useful for users (but sunxi-fel SPI access and U-Boot SPI loading
work nevertheless). But given the apparent prevalence of SPI boards vs.
those with eMMC for the Cubie A5E, I would go with SPI on this one.

Does that make sense? Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Andre

> > And as you say, if people are really interested in the last bit of
> > performance, they can use an overlay.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Andre
> >  
> > >
> > >
> > > ChenYu
> > >
> > >  
> > >> +       status = "okay";
> > >> +
> > >> +       flash@0 {
> > >> +               compatible = "winbond,w25q128", "jedec,spi-nor";
> > >> +               reg = <0>;
> > >> +               spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;
> > >> +               #address-cells = <1>;
> > >> +               #size-cells = <1>;
> > >> +       };
> > >> +};
> > >> +
> > >>   &uart0 {
> > >>          pinctrl-names = "default";
> > >>          pinctrl-0 = <&uart0_pb_pins>;
> > >> --
> > >> 2.46.4
> > >>  
> > >  
> >  
> 

Re: [PATCH] arm64: dts: allwinner: Cubie A5E: enable SPI flash

[M.samet Duman]

Looks good.

--
Samet

> 2026. 5. 12. 오전 2:46, Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com> 작성:
> 
> The Cubie A5E board comes with 16MiB of SPI NOR flash.
> 
> Enable the SPI0 DT node and describe the configuration.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>
> ---
> .../boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts  | 15 +++++++++++++++
> 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> index bfdf1728cd14b..7ad22fc85d1fd 100644
> --- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> +++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts
> @@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ &r_pio {
>    vcc-pm-supply = <&reg_aldo3>;
> };
> 
> +&spi0  {
> +    pinctrl-names = "default";
> +    pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_pc_pins>, <&spi0_cs0_pc_pin>,
> +            <&spi0_hold_pc_pin>, <&spi0_wp_pc_pin>;
> +    status = "okay";
> +
> +    flash@0 {
> +        compatible = "winbond,w25q128", "jedec,spi-nor";
> +        reg = <0>;
> +        spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;
> +        #address-cells = <1>;
> +        #size-cells = <1>;
> +    };
> +};
> +
> &uart0 {
>    pinctrl-names = "default";
>    pinctrl-0 = <&uart0_pb_pins>;
> --
> 2.46.4
> 
>