Mac_Ha Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I am a bit lost how to create a bootable micro SD card with Armbian version for Pine64 board... I've downloaded Armbian_5.20_Pine64_Debian_jessie_3.10.102.7z file from Armbian site, extracted it using 7Zip on my Windows 7 machine and got following 6 files: armbian.txt armbian.txt.asc Armbian_5.25_Pine64_Debian_jessie_default_3.10.104.img Armbian_5.25_Pine64_Debian_jessie_default_3.10.104.img.asc sha256sum.sha AS I understiid, the *.img file is the disk image itself. However writing it to the SD card (using Etcher, as recommended, as well as Win32DiskImager that I've always used to write Pine64 images, then also tried with Rufus) renders the card ureadable, with a partition of 1.3GB, about the size of the IMG file.... The Getting Started page on Armbian Documentation describes how to check the SD card, but nothing about how to actually write the image to it. Several places also mention writing the RAW image using Etcher - where to find that RAW image? I'm very eager to try and compare the Armbian with other OSes running on Pine64, but it is so frustrating not being able even to boot up : -( Please, anyone can help?.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 3 minutes ago, Mac_Ha said: renders the card ureadable On Windows? Yes, that's normal. Did you try to boot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 Yes, tried, it didn't boot, though I've let it hang for more than an hour... Thanks for quick response, really appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkaiser Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 19 minutes ago, Mac_Ha said: However writing it to the SD card (using Etcher, as recommended, as well as Win32DiskImager that I've always used to write Pine64 images, then also tried with Rufus) renders the card ureadable, with a partition of 1.3GB, about the size of the IMG file.... So everything is fine. If Etcher validated burning process you can be assured that your boot media is ok. It's just that Armbian refrains from using a 2 partition scheme and so your Windows without 3rd party drivers can not mount the single ext4 filesystem on the card. Regarding potential issues please see https://docs.armbian.com/board_details/pine64/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 BTW, I've booted Pine with the "standard" PINE image, the longsleep one, then plugged the cardreader with the Armbian image's uSD - I now can see that the card actually have the whole Armbian filesystem on it. So looks like the only problem is that the card is not bootable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Can someone confirm images from download are booting fine? (I don't have this board) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkaiser Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 21 minutes ago, Igor said: Can someone confirm images from download are booting fine? Works flawlessly: http://sprunge.us/AOPF 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 How the content of the SD card should looks like? 'fdisk -l' show only one sda1 partition of 1.3GB - should it be a small boot partition, before and besides the one with filesystem? I'm at total loss.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkaiser Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 21 minutes ago, Mac_Ha said: How the content of the SD card should looks like? One single partition. All devices Armbian supports don't require proprietary crap like FAT boot partitions (that's a 'privilege' of Raspberries since the VideoCore IV VPU/GPU is controlling the SoC in reality and can't deal with anything else than FAT16 or FAT32). On real SBC there's no need for a 'boot partition' and so we don't use one. The real bootloaders are located before the partition starts: http://linux-sunxi.org/Bootable_SD_card#SD_Card_Layout So everything is fine and I even tested the image you use for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 Thank you very much for clarification, @tkaiser! So looks like I need to find another microSD card. Although H2testw didn't find any errors.... I really want to try Armbian on my Pine64 with the LCD panel - looking quite long time for some ways to run GNURadio on Pine as a handheld device! Would share to the forum if successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkaiser Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Just now, Mac_Ha said: I really want to try Armbian on my Pine64 with the LCD panel Please be aware that there might be an issue with the LCD panel preventing to boot: When activated in DT the LCD's controller and backlight might add significantly to consumption so in case you power Pine64 through the horrible Micro USB connector (maybe even using an average USB cable?) then you might run in undervoltage situations and the board crashes/freezes with connected LCD (simple test: Is Armbian booting without LCD connected?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 Yes, I'm aware of that, so currently the Pine is without the LCD. Once I'm sure it can boot Armbian, then I'll connect the LCD. BTW, do you know if/when the touch screen will be supported too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkaiser Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 43 minutes ago, Mac_Ha said: BTW, do you know if/when the touch screen will be supported too? Pardon? If/when? It's supported since 4 months now in Armbian legacy builds: https://github.com/igorpecovnik/lib/commits?author=mbergstrand (Zador did then some tweaks later to ease enabling LCD related stuff). If you look at my first answer above there is the link to Armbian's device documentation for Pine64+ where this is also outlined: https://docs.armbian.com/board_details/pine64/ BTW: Yeah, I know that over in Pine64 forums even a few moderators constantly spread BS about LCD and/or touch not working (or only in Android or only at full moon singing stupid things and dancing naked). I gave up a long time ago to try to contribute there since without stopping a few folks constantly misleading people it's such an insane waste of time. Dislcaimer: Never tried touch out myself. I got a sample sometime ago, started Android once to confirm that it's working (and was somewhat shocked about quality and resolution) and then sent it to @jernej to enable him improving display stuff for A64 since I was focussing on the Gigabit Ethernet issue and USB performance back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 Oh, sorry, I've missed that "with touch"!! And I agree, the Pine64 forum is not very helpful, to say the least. Have to admit that the though of touch still not being supported was from there! Anyway, will have to find another *good* microSD - not an easy task where I am now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 Just want to report that the image is indeed working! The problems was not only the quality of the microSD card, but also the quality of the power supply! I've connected a fully charged LiPo battery to the Pine, and it booted OK. Connected the LCD, enabled both LCD and touch screen, everything's working too. Now I need to find out how to have my Bluetooth keyboard connected and working before the login, so I don't have to use the USB keyboard... But that's for another thread, I think?... Anyway, thanks a lot for you help, @Igor and @tkaiser, my experience here is much better than in Pine forum!... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xalius Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Can confirm that legacy and development images of Armbian work on my Pine64's with/without LCD and touch. If you need help with BT give me a shout... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac_Ha Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 @Xalius, taking you on the offer: how do I get a bluetooth keyboard paired and connected at boot, so I can use it to login? I got this keyboard paired under Debian 8 for Pine64 (longsleep's image), and connected under GUI, with some quirks. But still have no idea how to get it connected without GUI - I'm mostly a Windows person, not very much experienced in Linux. Would very much appreciate your advise that will spare me long trips to uncle Google :-) Thank you in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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