Radxa Cubie A7A/A7Z - Allwinner a733

[Nick A]

For those with a Radxa Cubie A7A/A7Z, I made a custom Armbian Build using the BSP kernel. 

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/tree/Radxa-A7A

 

- Display: Installed KMSCON framebuffer console (KMS/DRM-based system console) to provide a modern system console.

- Boot: Added sfdisk labeling for the 'primary' partition to ensure U-Boot splash screen and logo.bmp detection.

- U-Boot: Automated latest-release retrieval from GitHub API (radxa-pkg/u-boot-aw2501) to replace static binaries.

- Kernel Device: Automated copying of allwinner device a733 and added 0004-Add-Allwinner-Device-a733.patch generation for a7a, a7s, and a7z device tree variants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Nick A
Add KMS/DRM-based system console

[eli]

Thanks, is KVM supported?

[Nick A]

@eli It's compiled in the kernel 

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/blob/Radxa-A7A/config/kernel/linux-sun60i-legacy.config#L1659-L1672

[eli]

😄

[Nick A]

Fixed the automatic first boot configuration on Bookwarm. Now you can boot the desktop image without a usb serial device.  

Edited November 12 by Nick A

[Shubham Singh]

Hey @Nick A, first of all, thanks for providing us with the build, I flashed and tried the image, But I could not see kvm enabled in the system. Is this expected?

 

some example outputs:
 

~$ ls -l /dev/kvm
ls: cannot access '/dev/kvm': No such file or directory

~$ sudo dmesg | grep -i kvm
[    0.184039] kvm [1]: HYP mode not available

 

also no output on 

 

lscpu | grep Virtualization

 

[Nick A]

@Shubham Singh 

To check if KVM is compiled into the kernel, use the following command: 

grep CONFIG_KVM /boot/config-$(uname -r)

 

CONFIG_KVM=y
CONFIG_KVM_MMIO=y
CONFIG_KVM_VFIO=y
CONFIG_KVM_GENERIC_DIRTYLOG_READ_PROTECT=y
CONFIG_KVM_XFER_TO_GUEST_WORK=y

 

A7A: Harware Virtualization
https://forum.radxa.com/t/a7a-harware-virtualization/29745

 

Edited November 25 by Nick A

[zmxyz]

I saw a commit for the A7Z (not the A7A, the one that looks like the Raspberry Pi Zero). Is it available now?

[Nick A]

@zmxyz I added support for A7Z. But I haven't tested it yet. I don't own a A7Z. Compile an image and let me know if it works. 

Edited November 28 by Nick A

[zmxyz]

Looks like it's working fine! Thanks for your work.

[Gavin Munday]

when i do ./compile.sh i cant see the board in the list???

 

[Werner]

Try to select CSC/EOS/TVB or use EXPERT=yes

[Gavin Munday]

i have, board not there unless it using some other name?

 

[Gavin Munday]

found it wasnt using correct tree..;p

[Nick A]

@Gavin Mundayhttps://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/blob/Radxa-A7A/config/boards/radxa-cubie-a7z.csc 

Edited November 29 by Nick A

[Gavin Munday]

sadly my a7a doesnt doesnt boot with the image that outputs from the build

[Nick A]

@Gavin Munday Did you compile a desktop or server image? Did you write the image onto a reliable sdcard? Remember there’s no framebuffer support. Server images need a usb to serial device attached to the UART. Having a usb serial device attached to the UART helps with these types of problems.

https://docs.radxa.com/en/cubie/a7a/system-config/uart_debug

Also, first boot might take awhile to boot. For desktop images wait at least 5 minutes for a display manager login screen.

 

 

Edited November 29 by Nick A

[伍翠波]

 thanks~

Edited November 30 by 伍翠波

[Gavin Munday]

server image, there was no activity led tried 2 decent sd cards, nothing  

 

board and activity led works with radxa bullseye os on same sd cards

 

[Nick A]

@Gavin Munday Try these images. Extract them first before you write to the SD card.  https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/releases/tag/Radxa-a7a-v0.3

[伍翠波]

It is expected that the server image supports Framebuffer.

[Nick A]

You’re more than welcome to clone my repository and fix the frame buffer console. All the sources are there except u-boot.

[laibsch]

thank you for your work, @Nick A  Is this being pushed back to Armbian itself eventually?

[Werner]

First step is to cleanup and bump the sunxi patchset to 6.18. This is a major blocker. Once that is done. Patches for more recent Allwinner SoCs can be added.

I started doing that but it is extremely exhausting. I have no clue how the-going managed to maintain that for that long... must be sort of masochistic or something lol.

https://github.com/EvilOlaf/build/tree/sunxi-6.18

[Dalibor Pospíšil]

Great job, man!

 

Would it be possible to build the kernel SATA support in the next release? I have the PentaHAT attached to it. It works well with the sunxi kernel eng build but their systems is way too old so I prefer Armbian.

[Werner]

Once this is merged, more recent SoC code can be rebased on top:https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/9049 

[Nick A]

@伍翠波  Framebuffer console should work now. 

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/releases/tag/Radxa-a7a-v0.4

Edited 45 minutes ago by Nick A