Firefly Station P2 (rk3568) M2 (rk3566)

[balbes150]

Perhaps someone will be interested in the new model, as long as there is a discount.

 

https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=140

[@lex]

Price: US$ 119.00 Promotion Price: US$ 65.00 . This lasted a few seconds then Price raised to 95.00.

Did anyone get that board for US$ 65.00?

 

Ouch, sorry. I realized it was for 2GB.

Edited May 31, 2021 by @lex
65 for 2GB

[balbes150]

info

https://bbs.t-firefly.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2948&extra=page%3D1

[balbes150]

Those interested can buy Station P2 \ M2 models or separate roc-rk3566-pc and roc-rk3568-pc boards.

 

 

https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=140

 

https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=142

 

https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=145

 

https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=147

 

 

[Werner]

Yeah...well... no thanks.

[TRS-80]

Quote

Promotion

 

You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

 

[wtarreau]

FWIW, I've ordered two StationPC-M2 (one for me and one for a friend). The devices look really awesome and perfectly match what I expect from a small fanless machine (i.e. sturdy metal enclosure and good I/O).

 

HOWEVER, as often with many rockchip SoC vendors, the images "provided" (i.e that you have to figure by yourself) by t-firefly fail to flash, and their crappy flashing tools can even segfault. There's a tool to turn these to SD images but the tool is only provided for windows instead of just explaining the layout and how to convert the image (I guess there are just some headers to be added or removed). And of course they do not provide bootable SD images for now, it wouldn't be fun.

 

Thus I guess that it will take quite some time before these devices get supported since for now they are sold as bricks that cannot even be flashed, and that once someone figures how to reach that point, there will be some effort to get away from this mess. For now I'm giving up, spending the whole afternoon on it drove me sufficiently crazy that I want to crush the device under a hammer!

 

[balbes150]

I received samples of P2 and M2. the first impressions are very positive. I checked the launch of the official versions of Ubuntu 18.04 from Fyrefly. Everything starts and works from the SD card. The startup process is very simple, I downloaded the image, unpacked it, wrote it to the SD card, connected it to P2\M2, turned on the power and the system automatically updated the bootloader in eMMC, rebooted and the Ubuntu system automatically started from the SD card (the regular Station system in eMMC is saved and works if there is no SD card).

 

I really liked the mechanism for connecting SATA devices (SSD\HDD) to P2, it is very simple. I immediately connected a 240GB SSD drive. It was automatically detected and appeared in the system. WiFi antennas on P2 are full-fledged and large, they obviously did not save money here and will ensure proper operation. 

[balbes150]

I collected the Ubuntu version from official Firefly sources with minor edits (to see the kernel and u-boot sources). Now the next step is to create a  Armbian test system with a legacy core for M2 and P2.

[balbes150]

The primary version of Armbian test images for Firefly Station P2 rk3568. You can see the details in this topic. 

 

https://bbs.stationpc.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=209&extra=page%3D1%26filter%3Dauthor%26orderby%3Dlastpost

 

screen

https://disk.yandex.ru/i/o6j6W7myad9qqw

[Winguo]

On 7/20/2021 at 2:00 AM, wtarreau said:

FWIW, I've ordered two StationPC-M2 (one for me and one for a friend). The devices look really awesome and perfectly match what I expect from a small fanless machine (i.e. sturdy metal enclosure and good I/O).

 

HOWEVER, as often with many rockchip SoC vendors, the images "provided" (i.e that you have to figure by yourself) by t-firefly fail to flash, and their crappy flashing tools can even segfault. There's a tool to turn these to SD images but the tool is only provided for windows instead of just explaining the layout and how to convert the image (I guess there are just some headers to be added or removed). And of course they do not provide bootable SD images for now, it wouldn't be fun.

 

Thus I guess that it will take quite some time before these devices get supported since for now they are sold as bricks that cannot even be flashed, and that once someone figures how to reach that point, there will be some effort to get away from this mess. For now I'm giving up, spending the whole afternoon on it drove me sufficiently crazy that I want to crush the device under a hammer!

 

Hi, sorry for your bad experience. We have updated new images and tutorials.

Please refer to https://www.stationpc.com/download

And you can check out our Wiki - https://wiki.stationpc.com/docs/stationpc

[balbes150]

For those who are interested in reducing the price of Firefly RK3566\rk3568 boards. I am trying to convince Firefly representatives of the need to add rk3566\rk3568 boards without the eMMC module to the line of products sold. This will significantly reduce the price. This is especially noticeable on the variants of the eMMC module with 64\128GB. For those who plan to use these models with SATA or NVMe (after the version of the u-boot loader for SPI is finalized, for direct launch with SATA\NVMe). At the first stage, to fully start the entire system with SATA\NVMe, you can use the bootloader from the SD card. I invite everyone interested to express their opinion, so that Firefly representatives could assess the prospect of such an option for delivery.

[balbes150]

Good news. Full-fledged working images (20210826) of ArmbianTV for P2 are ready. All the equipment works in them and you can start and configure the system via an HDMI monitor and a keyboard/mouse. 

[DMC]

On 8/26/2021 at 4:36 PM, balbes150 said:

Good news. Full-fledged working images (20210826) of ArmbianTV for P2 are ready. All the equipment works in them and you can start and configure the system via an HDMI monitor and a keyboard/mouse. 

 

I noticed that You built both 4.19 and 5 kernels for rk3568, do 5.x version works? is it stable? RK3568 was recently added to mainline but it's first build with v5. I see some changes on Your repo for rockchip kernel and rk35xx-next branch. 

[balbes150]

4 часа назад, DMC сказал:

I noticed that You built both 4.19 and 5 kernels for rk3568, do 5.x version works? is it stable? RK3568 was recently added to mainline but it's first build with v5. I see some changes on Your repo for rockchip kernel and rk35xx-next branch. 

Support will be available only for Station P2\M2 models.

[DMC]

On 10/29/2021 at 3:09 PM, balbes150 said:

Support will be available only for Station P2\M2 models.

 

Hello, that is clear  I'm just curious about 5.x kernel on this soc. I plan to get at least one after new year. 

Is it already in github armbian build repo? I could find p1/m1 configs only

[balbes150]

48 минут назад, DMC сказал:

I'm just curious about 5.x kernel on this soc.

Kernel 5 starts and runs on P2\M2, but some of the hardware is not working yet (HDMI). Network, USB, NVME\SATA\eMMC - work and can be used as a server.

 

52 минуты назад, DMC сказал:

Is it already in github armbian build repo? I could find p1/m1 configs only

I have not yet sent a PR to be included in the official version (I hope to choose the time and send it to build.git). All ready-made working images with different cores and systems are available and available for download.

 

 

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, balbes150 said:

Kernel 5 starts and runs on P2\M2, but some of the hardware is not working yet (HDMI). Network, USB, NVME\SATA\eMMC - work and can be used as a server.

 

Can You start directly from NVME? 

I will be using them on cluster so I don't really need HDMI for now. Have You tested docker and AI features on it? 

 

2 minutes ago, balbes150 said:

I have not yet sent a PR to be included in the official version (I hope to choose the time and send it to build.git). All ready-made working images with different cores and systems are available and available for download.

 

I know about them but i can't do anything with them till I get one of those boards

Thanks for Your work on it

[balbes150]

8 минут назад, DMC сказал:

Can You start directly from NVME? 

Unlike M1\P1 on these models, eMMC is soldered, so I don't see the need for this function. u-boot in eMMC ensures the operation of the entire system on NVMe without any problems.

 

12 минут назад, DMC сказал:

tested docker and AI features on it? 

No, I haven't tested these options.

 

 

[DMC]

29 minutes ago, balbes150 said:

Unlike M1\P1 on these models, eMMC is soldered, so I don't see the need for this function. u-boot in eMMC ensures the operation of the entire system on NVMe without any problems.

 

NVME is still much faster option than any eMMC. I can't find information how many pcie lanes are attached to m.2 slot. 1x is slightly better than usb3 and eMMC.

Some boards have 1x (like khadas vim3) some 2x (like some jetsons and rock 3a) and some 4x (like nano pc-t4 or rockpro64 via pcie slot). 

 

29 minutes ago, balbes150 said:

No, I haven't tested these options.

 

Here is simple script from k3s to check basic things, It does not cover everything but report obvious things about kernel:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/k3s-io/k3s/master/contrib/util/check-config.sh | bash

 

[balbes150]

15 минут назад, DMC сказал:

NVME is still much faster option than any eMMC

It looks like you didn't understand my answer. I will explain in detail. There are several options for working with NVMe. 1. Starting the system + u-boot completely immediately from NVMe (this option is not known to me on RK). 2. Placing the u-boot on an intermediate medium (SPI\SD\eMMC\USB) and placing the entire system completely on NVMe. This is the simplest and most common way to use the entire NVMe system use SPI.  3. Placing the u-boot and boot partition with the kernel on intermediate media, and placing the system on NVMe. I repeat, u-boot is placed on Station P2\M2 on eMMC and the /boot partition can be placed, during normal operation of the system it is used only during boot and works mainly in read-only mode, it is not used in the rest of the system. The working system uses only NVMe and, accordingly, the speed of the system is determined by the speed of NVMe only. This option works well on all Station M1\M2\P1\P2.

 

52 минуты назад, DMC сказал:

Here is simple script from k3s to check basic things, It does not cover everything but report obvious things about kernel:

My equipment is in heavy use right now, try asking other owners to run your tests.

[DMC]

On 11/16/2021 at 12:22 PM, balbes150 said:

It looks like you didn't understand my answer. I will explain in detail. There are several options for working with NVMe. 1. Starting the system + u-boot completely immediately from NVMe (this option is not known to me on RK). 2. Placing the u-boot on an intermediate medium (SPI\SD\eMMC\USB) and placing the entire system completely on NVMe. This is the simplest and most common way to use the entire NVMe system use SPI.  3. Placing the u-boot and boot partition with the kernel on intermediate media, and placing the system on NVMe. I repeat, u-boot is placed on Station P2\M2 on eMMC and the /boot partition can be placed, during normal operation of the system it is used only during boot and works mainly in read-only mode, it is not used in the rest of the system. The working system uses only NVMe and, accordingly, the speed of the system is determined by the speed of NVMe only. This option works well on all Station M1\M2\P1\P2.

 

I know that, this just adds some cost and complexity for installation. I hope that some day nvme will be supported in SPI and there will be no need for SD or eMMC. 

Have You convinced firefly for non-emmc versions? are there chances for that? 

 

On 11/16/2021 at 12:22 PM, balbes150 said:

My equipment is in heavy use right now, try asking other owners to run your tests.

 

No worries, probably it requires some extra work and more kernel config. I will come back to this after new year. For now I need to focus on rk3399 (t4, rockpro64 and r4s). 

Thanks for your time

[itsme]

@balbes150 Thanks for your explanation on booting a board directly from the nvme. I just got the M2 station from firefly with a m2 nvme. I am not a very technical person, but would like to install ubuntu as start up on the SSD. Do you happen to have a tutorial or pointers in how to install this? Thanks a lot in advance.

[balbes150]

4 часа назад, itsme сказал:

Thanks for your explanation on booting a board directly from the nvme. I just got the M2 station from firefly with a m2 nvme. I am not a very technical person, but would like to install ubuntu as start up on the SSD. Do you happen to have a tutorial or pointers in how to install this? Thanks a lot in advance.

To install Armbian, use the standard armbian-config menu, there is everything you need for easy installation of the system on NVMe.

[tenox]

Thank you for making Armbian images for Stationpc. I have a P2. How do I use it? Do I `dd` it to a TF/SD card or do I use Firefly tool to write it to eMMC? Thanks!

[balbes150]

1 час назад, tenox2 сказал:

Thank you for making Armbian images for Stationpc. I have a P2. How do I use it? Do I `dd` it to a TF/SD card or do I use Firefly tool to write it to eMMC? Thanks!

 

 

 

https://bbs.stationpc.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=209&extra=page%3D1%26filter%3Dauthor%26orderby%3Dlastpost

[tenox]

Oh thanks so much!

[redjr]

On 7/19/2021 at 2:00 PM, wtarreau said:

FWIW, I've ordered two StationPC-M2 (one for me and one for a friend). The devices look really awesome and perfectly match what I expect from a small fanless machine (i.e. sturdy metal enclosure and good I/O).

 

HOWEVER, as often with many rockchip SoC vendors, the images "provided" (i.e that you have to figure by yourself) by t-firefly fail to flash, and their crappy flashing tools can even segfault. There's a tool to turn these to SD images but the tool is only provided for windows instead of just explaining the layout and how to convert the image (I guess there are just some headers to be added or removed). And of course they do not provide bootable SD images for now, it wouldn't be fun.

 

Thus I guess that it will take quite some time before these devices get supported since for now they are sold as bricks that cannot even be flashed, and that once someone figures how to reach that point, there will be some effort to get away from this mess. For now I'm giving up, spending the whole afternoon on it drove me sufficiently crazy that I want to crush the device under a hammer!

 

Sounds like what I went through too.    I gave up for awhile and I’m back to see what’s changed.  I don’t spend my day job buried in Linux stuff, but I like to play with these little SBC, especially now that there’s better support for nvmes,

.  I got my P2 running some version of Armbian late last Summer,  but it didn’t support nvme.  I set the P2 on my bench tonight, and see what status it’s in tomorrow.  Also sounds like TwisterOS has been configured on a VIM3 branded SBC as well.  Have a couple of those around too.  I need a Linux buddy to help me out with this stuff.  I’m getting older and more forgetful!