gdm85

@legogris I don't have benchmarks; on ethernet it is recognized as 1Gbps/Full. Generally for SBCs I care most about not having kernel panics and other instability problems. Just avoid boards which have a single silicon for ethernet/usb/sdio and you should be good.

I noticed this commit there; would they be re-created automatically given enough time? (I am not familiar with the Armbian image building process). I can volunteer for testing images on eMMC/microSD, although this device might not always be easy to reach for me in a month or so.

@Igor I have edited the URL in first post, that was a copy/paste mistake. I intended https://www.armbian.com/nanopi-neo-plus2/ also there. Thanks, I was looking for a way to contribute specifically for this issue on GitHub, I will try.

"NO OFFICIAL SUPPORT (CSC)" as displayed in red in https://www.armbian.com/nanopi-neo-plus2/ I don't need Buster for this box; do you know where I should report the 404 missing images issue since it's missing by mistake?

Recently I wanted to give another try to a NanoPi NEO Plus2 but I noticed that it is marked as not supported and there is no Armbian Bionic image for it (the links in https://www.armbian.com/nanopi-neo-plus2/ return 404). So I checked about other FriendlyElec H5 boards: https://www.armbian.com/download/?tx_soc=h5&tx_maker=friendlyelec (I had to edit the URL as otherwise one cannot add multiple filters) And I picked the K1 plus as a close relative; the Bionic image seems working without any issue, I will keep testing and report back. The only minor issue that I could find so far is that htop will show 0 Mhz for all cores. I have reported in the past about issues with the 2nd USB however this is also not reproducible with the K1 plus image. May I suggest to add it at least as a testable image, with the proper tailoring? Other relevant thread:

@Jason Law for which board did you opt? M4 or Neo4? I have fairly similar requirements and not inclined for Odroid either.

@@lex I refuse to answer your posts if you do not read what I write. Thanks for your help, I will take the issue with other users/developers.

@@lex ^ This would exclude for me any hardware problem. In your latest post you mentioned both hardware problems and kernel problems..... I have been testing with same devices and different kernels/config combinations. The devices get power but nothing is on the log.

Wouldn't hardware malfunction be excluded by the fact that I can get it working with a certain combination of kernel + .config? I can give a try to the armbian-config approach, but I would still have to walk my way back to a working kernel + .config combination as that's what I need usually.

it's very simple. The board has two normal USB ports. Only one works when using mainline kernel (Linus' tree for example). Look at the image below of the actual product: Only the USB port closest to the ethernet works. The other one does not. I do not know if it is in OTG mode, any easy way to check? Although not interesting/useful for armbian, I was asking here how it is possible that depending on the .config used this port works or not when using FriendlyElec's kernel fork. (That was my last "progress" back then). I would like to use that 2nd port as a regular one.

To summarize the previous posts/status of 2nd USB support for FriendlyElec NanoPi-NEO-Plus2: the driver was not properly upstreamed into mainline kernel although all the pieces to do that were available (in particular they had it fixed in FreeBSD). A combination of DTS + driver changes was needed. Fast forward to today: I am fetching Linus' upstream and will try to build this again. Do you guys know if anything changed regarding this specific board and the USB support?

It can probably be explained by the different kernel; I understand one shouldn't try to fix their kernel (it's a dead end) and rather work upstream for the benefit of community..

@tkaiser I have used their github kernel fork and armbian's config and the 2nd USB does not work. With their config (exact same source code) instead the USB works. That's why I said, let's look at the kernel .config..but now I am a bit confused, I admit

Okay, I was not aware of the different kernel version (and that it takes in such a breaking change already), thanks for the explanation. I was assuming most of FriendlyELEC's patches were already in the tree (and/or upstream) you're using. So eventually someone has to fix the DTS/kernel for it so that it stays mainline on latest (at least LTS) tree. The way I see this process: cherry-picking the FriendlyELEC patches on top of 4.11, right? That's something I can do easily. But changing voltages/reading datasheets for them, not really my cup of tea, and also afraid of damaging components (I know I could be running wrong voltage for long without side effects, but I don't know enough to feel safe on that type of tweaking)

@tkaiser this is the DTS of the exact branch I used (albeit I didn't replace the .dtb yet): https://github.com/friendlyarm/linux/blob/sunxi-4.11.y/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun50i-h5-nanopi-neo-plus2.dts

You mean that differences are in the device tree but we can compile the dtb from the kernel repo sources right? Or you're saying that the .dtb file that's shipped in their image is different than the one built with the kernel? (I didn't overwrite that, on purpose, might do a test later). If the .dts file is there and corresponds to the .dtb, then we can just copy that?

I have tested their kernel with their config and the USB works fine, so it is definitely a kernel .config issue that could be fixed in the armbian .config; I do not know (yet) precisely what, but I guess it just takes a comparison with their official .config and some tests to find out. I am attaching theirs here for reference (this is the one with working USB, vanilla/untouched from their Xenial core image). config-4.11.2-h5

FYI, as I reported in this thread, the second USB works with their official Ubuntu Xenial core image (didn't test any other of theirs). So now I am trying to figure out if it's a kernel configuration issue or (more likely) DTB/kernel driver level.

An update: the official provided Ubuntu Xenial ROM (for reference, in this directory) has all working USB. So now I will try to figure out if it's a kernel config issue or rather dtb/more low-level (that probably would block me, for example if some patches to the *HCI that enable that USB are unavailable). Regarding their support: I have to say they were very nice via PayPal (although never replied to normal emails). They offered me a refund if I ship it back, but since hardware is fine I will not proceed (without mentioning that shipping cost alone would make it doubtfully convenient)

eheh..but success is making a good product (so you need less support) and then covering up with some decent support I understand it's very cheap so you get what you pay.. I will check out later that ubuntu image (I do not have the device at hand), but yeah I also expect it to not be working since they probably used the same kernel tree I used

Oh, I had read that thread but I didn't understand what "visible" meant in that context. So yeah, same issue. I am going to test with their provided image as it's not clear to me whether he's saying that the USB is working with their Ubuntu image or not. I am familiar with the process, I understand what you mean. If it's a software issue then I will not return it, going to verify with their provided image. I posted here to see if I was the only one with the issue, I understand now it's not the case and anyway you have a different sample. I have contacted FriendlyARM ("friendly", lol) via email last week about this, no reply yet. By the way, I am using their kernel (https://github.com/friendlyarm/linux.git at friendlyarm/sunxi-4.11.y) with armbian's config, I was expecting this to work out of the box. I didn't test bluetooth but wifi is working correctly (they never shipped the antenna though, I used one of mine).

Hi there! I have been playing around with my NanoPi Neo 2 plus, I managed to get initramfs working thanks to the kernel config of armbian. I have just noticed a problem: only the first of the two USBs works. The second is completely dead. Big disclaimer: I am using an HTC PSU that provides only 1A, not the 2A that should be fed, although I do not know if this could be the cause of the issue. Aside from this problem, I cannot see other issues. Wifi is working and I disabled bluetooth. lsusb without anything plugged in to USB: Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub