Single Armbian image for RK + AML + AW (aarch64 ARMv8)

[DevShanky]

46 minutes ago, dbsharpe said:

Having taken a quick look at the ssv6x5x sources available, there is no way you'll get a 3.4.x kernel driver working on
a 5.x system as the interfaces have changed. Anyway, wifi drivers beginning s**** are pretty much toxic on this forum and other aftermaket O/S boards.

 

There was a recent port for ARMv7 RK322X boxes by @jock for mainline kernel or at least I believe it will work for mainline kernel.

 

The source code is available @ https://github.com/paolosabatino/ssv6x5x

 

I just wanted to give it a try.

 

-R

 

[hexdump]

@balbes150 - as you have changed to use a chainloaded u-boot.bin on amlogic now everywhere, maybe have a look at https://github.com/hexdump0815/u-boot-misc - the gxl and gxb u-boots i got to the point that they display properly on hdmi from the beginning on and can be used with a usb keyboard - so no more serial console required ... i guess gxm should be possible too (not yet tested) and g12/sm1 look like they support it too (not tested yet neither) ... in case you want to play around with it, here are some precompiled binaries with that functionality:

https://github.com/hexdump0815/u-boot-misc/releases/download/200718-01/gxl-u-boot.bin.gz

https://github.com/hexdump0815/u-boot-misc/releases/download/200718-01/gxb-u-boot.bin.gz

 

while i'm at it: i think i also got native installation of u-boot (i.e. wiping the legacy u-boot) working quite reliable on gxl, but i'll have to test that on more boxes and the procedure is not really trivial ...

 

best wishes - hexdump

[DevShanky]

15 minutes ago, Rajesh said:

 

There was a recent port for ARMv7 RK322X boxes by @jock for mainline kernel or at least I believe it will work for mainline kernel.

 

The source code is available @ https://github.com/paolosabatino/ssv6x5x

 

I just wanted to give it a try.

 

-R

 

 

@dbsharpe  I had another look at the documentation and as you mentioned it is for legacy kernel after all.

 

 

Well at lease it saves me trouble of integrating the drivers.

 

-R

 

[balbes150]

Version 20200815 with the 5.7.15 kernel.

Added support for launching with a new mode (extlinux.conf) for Odroid N2 and C2.

There are several options available for running on N2.

When using UbootSPI, the startup order.

 

1. Write the image to the media USB SD eMMC.

2. Configure (extlinux.conf).

3. Rename the file (u-boot-s922) to (u-boot.ext).

 

At startup, when the switch is enabled on SD\eMMC.

 

1. Write an Armbian image SD eMMC.

2. Configure (extlinux.conf).

3. Write an image to SD\eMMC (u-boot-odroid-n2.img) for N2 (writing is performed by the same program that writes the Armbian image itself).

 

To run on Odroid C2, you need to use the second option, as for N2 (write an image, configure extlinux.conf, write u-boot).

 

Image u-boot for N2 and C2

https://yadi.sk/d/IUB1JWW9oS5vJA

[Turgus]

Had no luck to boot  20200815 or 20200814 on my x96mini p281 2/16 boxes. I always get some rows of multi coloured dots in the lower part of screen but I couldn't get the system boot up.

What I did:

1. write image to sdcard

2. point extlinux.conf to meson-gxl-s905w-p281.dtb (and comment other hw out)

3. rename a copy of u-boot-s905x-s912 to u-boot.ext

4. (trying to) boot from that card

Did I miss anything?!

[balbes150]

42 minutes ago, Turgus said:

Had no luck to boot  20200815 or 20200814 on my x96mini p281 2/16 boxes. I always get some rows of multi coloured dots in the lower part of screen but I couldn't get the system boot up.

What I did:

1. write image to sdcard

2. point extlinux.conf to meson-gxl-s905w-p281.dtb (and comment other hw out)

3. rename a copy of u-boot-s905x-s912 to u-boot.ext

4. (trying to) boot from that card

Did I miss anything?!

Now checked USB media x96mini (s905w) with DTB from khadas-vim and u-boot-s905x-s912 (u-boot.ext). Everything starts and works (HDMI LAN and sound). Yes, at the beginning there will be a color image with different pixels, but after a while the startup process starts to appear in the console.

 

Checked the SD card, the same everything works as described above for the USB flash drive.

 

I checked the DTB for p281, it also works.

[balbes150]

21 hours ago, hexdump said:

in case you want to play around with it, here are some precompiled binaries with that functionality:

Checked your file for GXL on model s912, works, including console management. Can stop the startup and get the u-boot settings data. Good job. If you don't mind, I may include these files in future versions of images.

[Turgus]

Left it for over an hour at this scrambled screen, but nothing happened..might my issues come from armbian install on eMMC that it is neccessary to start with fresh android install again?!

[balbes150]

28 minutes ago, Turgus said:

Left it for over an hour at this scrambled screen, but nothing happened..might my issues come from armbian install on eMMC that it is neccessary to start with fresh android install again?!

Have you checked other DTBS ? How is the TV connected ? Are there any other devices connected via USB ? Try using u-boot from the @hexdump message (there is output directly to the monitor, instead of the UART console).

[Turgus]

Because I used p281 dtb for years now, I didn't try others so far(could try other gxl ones..)..except usb keyboard nothing is on usb and connection to screen/TV is via hdmi cable (without apdapters).
To use hexdumps u-boot I just copy it to the card and rename the bin file to u-boot.ext or how is it used?!

[hexdump]

4 hours ago, balbes150 said:

Checked your file for GXL on model s912, works, including console management. Can stop the startup and get the u-boot settings data. Good job. If you don't mind, I may include these files in future versions of images.

sure - feel free to include it - i would recommend you to build your own version as my version is currently using uEnv.txt instead of armbianEnv ... patches are in the misc.gxl and misc.gxb subdirs and in the readme.gxl and readme.gxb is described how i patched and built them ... maybe best would be to offer two versions in your image: one for the serial console and one for hdmi/usb boot as i had to disable serial console input on the hdmi/usb version as it sometimes created noise in the early boot when no serial console was connected which stopped u-boot at the prompt so that it did not boot ... in theory something like this should also be possible for rk3288 and rk3399 (next to the already mentioned amlogic g12/sm1), but i did not yet have the time to play around with those

 

best wishes - hexdump

[Turgus]

..with hexdumps u-boot I get some messages, but except not compiled for using FDT & APPEND I see no reason producing this strange screen.

Maybe others can see what is wrong here!?..

No difference when using other gxl dtbs.
armbian 20.08 from internal (uEnv-Variant) runs flawless when I reboot without card.

[hexdump]

@Turgus - if you are playing around with my u-boot, then you'll have to copy the armbianEnv file to uEnv.txt to be recognized - it is not fully adapted to armbian yet ...

[balbes150]

13 hours ago, Turgus said:

No difference when using other gxl dtbs.

Lines must not have the equal sign (=). The variable name must be separated by a space.

It must be so

 

FDT /dtb/amlogic.......

APPEND root=.......

 

By the way, I checked the operation of the system selection mode via the menu, this allows you to run several different systems or cores to choose from, without having to change or rewrite anything in the startup files. 

 

15 hours ago, hexdump said:

is currently using uEnv.txt instead of armbianEnv

It is better to disable this completely, in order to avoid problems with extraneous data (incorrect settings) from these files.

[usual user]

48 minutes ago, balbes150 said:

It is better to disable this completely, in order to avoid problems with extraneous data (incorrect settings) from these files.

The files can coexist without any harm. As long as distro-boot is active, i.e. an extlinux.conf can be found in the search path, no other configuration files are considered. If you need a feature that distro-boot does not support, you can always switch back to the previous scheme by simply removing extlinux.conf from the search path.

[hexdump]

yes - syslinux is enabled ... @balbes150 - i did not think about this, you are right: you can with this simply offer multiple menu entries using different dtbs to make it even easier for people to use it

[balbes150]

41 minutes ago, usual user said:

The files can coexist without any harm. As long as distro-boot is active, i.e. an extlinux.conf can be found in the search path, no other configuration files are considered. If you need a feature that distro-boot does not support, you can always switch back to the previous scheme by simply removing extlinux.conf from the search path.

 

Without "boot.scr" files additional files (uEnv.txt) have no practical use. The "boot.scr" scripts themselves will use the necessary files and with the correct rules for processing them (which the developer sets and knows how they should be used). Therefore, there is no point in adding extra elements to the u-boot source code (the fewer extra elements in the code, the more stable and predictable the operation is).

 

36 minutes ago, hexdump said:

i did not think about this, you are right: you can with this simply offer multiple menu entries using different dtbs to make it even easier for people to use it

For now, this is limited to those versions of u-boot where there is screen output and keyboard control. Unfortunately, this is not yet available for all versions, so I added the file with the select menu as an extension, to use which it needs to be renamed to "extlinux.conf". By the way, I am now finishing building new images with these changes, and in which the installation in eMMC is already working. In the near future I plan to publish these new images. 

[Turgus]

Thank you @hexdump & @balbes150 with your help I managed to boot with success! ..maybe others could avoid through my experience running into stupid issues because an simple equal sign..
By the way (even when I tweaked the u-boot with uEnv.txt) I like the output on screen..it a really cool feature-is there anything like this for H6 cpu too?!

[usual user]

31 minutes ago, balbes150 said:

Therefore, there is no point in adding extra elements to the u-boot source code (the fewer extra elements in the code, the more stable and predictable the operation is).

With this you make your uboot less flexible and lock out users who want e.g. use dtb overlay features at boot time.

[hexdump]

@Turgus - no there is no hdmi support in u-boot for allwinner h6 ... as far as i know only for amlogic gxbb, gxl+gxm, g12, sm1 (not sure about the last two as i did not test them yet), rockchip rk3288 and rk3399 and allwinner h3 seems to have some hdmi console mode as well

 

@balbes150 - i think its good to have something like armbianEnv or uEnv.txt as an option around as this is the only way to fix an ethernet address in an easy way when u-boot for the board will always generate a new one on each boot as you cannot set the mac addr in extlinux.conf

 

best wishes - hexdump

[balbes150]

39 minutes ago, usual user said:

With this you make your uboot less flexible and lock out users who want e.g. use dtb overlay features at boot time.

Without additional processing scripts, additional overlay variables don't make sense. And again, you are faced with the need to have an external script that can handle loading additional parameters from any file itself.

 

31 minutes ago, hexdump said:

i think its good to have something like armbianEnv or uEnv.txt as an option around as this is the only way to fix an ethernet address in an easy way when u-boot for the board will always generate a new one on each boot as you cannot set the mac addr in extlinux.conf

There are different options for setting the MAC address. Via the command line. Through the network card settings in the system itself. Perhaps you can leave the file usage (uEnv.txt), as an element for additional parameter loading (by default, this file should not be part of the image, the user must create it manually). But the name "armbianuEnv.txt", cannot be used. It is already used for specific parameters that are used for the official version along with the "boot.scr"script. This file will either have to be edited by all users for the current system, or manually deleted each time a new image is written.

[balbes150]

Version 20200816.

Restored system installation in eMMC.

Added a file (extlinux.conf-menu) for use with the system selection mode at startup.

Replacing u-boot files for s905 and s905x-s912 with menu support for system selection.

[RMG]

Is there a way to enable KVM on armbian for k3 pro box Amlogic S912, I have setup qemu virtual machine for winxp as I want to view a html page which requires Adobe flash but the vm running very slow and litterally unusable.

[Turgus]

Cool thing with the new u-boot on s905...!
The bionic Version 20200816 (+ Desktop) runs nice from card and internal eMMC on (a part of) my vast of p281 x96mini 2/16 boxes.

 

[Reddwarf]

Running Armbian_20.07_Arm-64_focal_current_5.7.9_desktop.img and trying to connect a GPS receiver via USB. lsusb tells me that the device is device002 on bus002. I would expect it to be ttyUSB002 i /dev, but there are no ttyUSB in /dev at all. What device is it in /dev then?

[Reddwarf]

18 hours ago, Reddwarf said:

Running Armbian_20.07_Arm-64_focal_current_5.7.9_desktop.img and trying to connect a GPS receiver via USB. lsusb tells me that the device is device002 on bus002. I would expect it to be ttyUSB002 i /dev, but there are no ttyUSB in /dev at all. What device is it in /dev then?

@balbes150 ?

 

[balbes150]

18 hours ago, Reddwarf said:

connect a GPS receiver via USB

I don't do this kind of equipment, and I have no idea what's wrong with it.

 

 

 

To all

new ver 20200818-dev kernel 5.9.0-rc1

[Reddwarf]

1 minute ago, balbes150 said:

I don't do this kind of equipment, and I have no idea what's wrong with it.

 

The GPS receiver is not the problem, it work just fine under Linux Mint, transmits ascii data at 9600baud. But I'm struggeling to find what port it is connected to in /dev. As I said, lsusb tells me that it is connected to bus02 - device02. Is there not support for serial usb devices in Armbian? (since there is no ttyUSBxx in /dev)?

[RMG]

Is any body able to setup Virtual machine on Armbian on ARM processor with reasonable performance?

 

What are the changes required to boot loader to enable virtualisation ? 

 

I used qemu and virt-manager but it says KVM not enabled and vm is dead slow.

 

It would be grate if this Armbian linux image can be modified to support VMS x86-64 architecture using qemu emulator.

Edited August 19, 2020 by RMG

[Werner]

1 hour ago, RMG said:

KVM not enabled

KVM is disabled in kernel by default because almost nobody is using it.

Quote

What are the changes required to boot loader to enable virtualisation ? 

None. Just build a new kernel and enable KVM support and hope it does not break anything else.