[brkosebay]

iPad 5 (J71t) port: three PRs, in release order

1. Add iPad 5 Wi-Fi (J71t) hardware support orchard#6: kernel series, device data, firmware recipe, recovery and runtime
2. Add the iPad 5 Wi-Fi (J71t) adapter and multi-adapter discovery cli#2: J71t adapter and multi-adapter discovery
3. Build Omarchy A for iPad 5 Wi-Fi (J71t) beside J71b #4: J71t image and release

Kernel source: brkosebay/linux a9/orchard-j71t · Project: brkosebay/omarchy-ipad5

Depends on the hardware PR (j71t-components.tar.gz) and a CLI release with
the J71t adapter.

Summary

• Multi-device release metadata. release/manifests.py takes the device,
  and release/merge.py pins several per-device manifests in one
  index.toml, sorted, and refuses duplicates. J71b's manifest and index text
  are unchanged (a test checks this).
• Device as a parameter. Root, recovery and audit assembly read
  per-device facts from release/devices.py.
  • J71b keeps its artefact names.
  • J71t files are prefixed (j71t-rootfs.tar.zst, j71t-recovery.bin, …),
    so one release can carry both. The branded pongo.bin is shared.
• image/j71t/: image policy and permissions. Helper
  j71t-check-platform; no charge lease, because J71t charging policy is in
  the kernel.
• system/j71t/: package list (the J71b desktop userspace) and an
  overlay:
  • platform-ready gate and getty drop-in;
  • backlight permissions for 20e200000.backlight;
  • USB networking and the tablet network polkit rule;
  • battery poll interval through tmpfiles.d (the J71t gauge driver is
    built in).
  • It reuses J71b's device-independent session files through an explicit
    list (suspend stays disabled, as on J71b).
  • It does not carry the separate omarchy-ipad5 Hyprland tablet layer:
    gestures and the on-screen keyboard are Hyprland-specific, and
    auto-rotate needs the AOP driver, which this port does not ship yet.
• Screen toggle selects the built-in panel backlight by name.
• Loader. boot/build-loader --device defaults to j71b. The splash
  patch is device-independent and applies on top of the J71t m1n1 patches.
• CI. ci/dependencies and build.yml build additional devices listed in
  a new extra_devices input, empty by default. J71b jobs, steps and
  artefacts keep their names.
• J71t kernel features (from the hardware PR): native display (KMS, panel
  eDP-1) and the H.264 decoder. No image change is needed for them: the
  firmware mixin carries vxd-deva.bin like any other recipe file, the
  shell's brightness control already uses /sys/class/backlight (the display
  driver adds no backlight device), and nothing here assumes simpledrm. The
  decoder's firmware starts only on request, through debugfs.
• Docs. The README "Supported devices" table gains iPad 5 Wi-Fi.
  docs/devices.md is a per-feature matrix for J71b and J71t; the J71b column
  states only what this repository's code and docs show, with sources. J71t:
  • Works: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, touch, display (1536×2048), brightness, audio
    out, microphones, battery, USB gadget.
  • Partial: charging (computers charge at up to 2.4 A, verified on the
    device; wall and USB-C chargers do not charge correctly with this kernel,
    the input stays at the 500 mA floor and the battery drains with the screen
    on; a fix will follow as a separate change after device validation),
    video decode, NVMe install, the Lightning camera adapter.
  • Not yet: accelerometer/auto-rotate, suspend, cameras, GPU.

Testing done

• Unit tests. python -m unittest discover -s tests on Python 3.12 and
  3.9 with the hardware and CLI wheels from the companion PRs installed: 72
  tests.
  • The only failures are the 3 in tests/test_host_bootstrap.py that also
    fail on main (upstream HEAD mismatch).
  • 2 skipped: the existing skip, and the ci/dependencies bundle test, which
    needs GNU sha256sum --strict and passes in a Linux container.
  • New tests/test_j71t_layer.py covers the J71t layer.
• Splash patch. It applies on m1n1 d5a10ac52a together with the J71t m1n1
  patches and the hardware quiet patch.

Not tested

• Orchard flow on a J71t. The Orchard recovery, install and handoff path
  has not yet run on a J71t. The same kernel drivers passed 13 of 13 device
  checks through the omarchy-ipad5
  port's own boot path; the J71t column's footnote says so.
• Builds. No J71t Arch rootfs, desktop smoke test or full release build
  has run. No J71t components are published yet, and the CI extra-device path
  has never executed.
• Launcher. orchard launch is not available for J71t until a J71t shared
  launcher exists (see the hardware PR).

How to test

1. Install published hardware and CLI wheels, then run
   python -m unittest discover -s tests.
2. With extra_devices=j71t and a hardware release containing
   j71t-components.tar.gz, run the workflow, or follow BUILD.md with
   release.j71t.build.
3. Device: orchard install omarchy-a with a local index for a J71t whose
   Linux-data partition is unformatted or has room for /omarchy.

Credits

• Hardware. The J71t hardware support comes from the
  omarchy-ipad5 iPad 5 port
  (kernel source:
  brkosebay/linux a9/orchard-j71t),
  which builds on Paul Praschl's (Pauli1Go) HoolockLinux A10 work and
  HoolockLinux.
• Desktop and release design. The J71b image and release design is reused
  as the reference.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[brkosebay]

Update: J71t charging now Works (one new commit, nothing rewritten)

The new commit changes only docs/devices.md:

• Charging: Works. Computers (USB-A, and a Mac USB-C port through Apple's USB-C to Lightning cable), USB-C wall chargers and a Mac USB-C power adapter charge at up to 2.4 A, the board maximum. This was verified on the device on 2026-10-27. Charging is 5 V only: the iPad 5 has no USB Power Delivery.
• Battery: the status reads Discharging whenever current flows out, also at 100 %.
• Footnote: dated for the charging verification.

The kernel change is patch 0013 in OrchardLinux/orchard#6 (commit 0dd7ae0 on a9/orchard-j71t). No image change is needed: the J71t layer does not read charger internals.

Unit tests: 72 run; the only failures are the same 3 test_host_bootstrap tests that fail on main. The Orchard install path on a J71t has still not run; statuses come from the omarchy-ipad5 port's device tests of the same drivers.

[henrikklee]

Thank you, Berkay. The release is device-generic now, so the per-device build isn't needed. Your screen-toggle fix and the 10 s battery poll apply to every device and are merged on main with your authorship (81e6941, 1f02264); the polkit rule was already there. main also pins the cli with the iPad 5 recipe steps, so a fresh clone of it is the test workspace (setup in docs/integration/j71t.md on the hardware branch feature/j71t-integration). Closing this one as merged that way.