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

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

 

To build your own image:

git clone https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build.git --branch Radxa-A7A

./compile.sh

"do not change the kernel configuration"

"show csc/wip/eos/tvb"

"I understand and agree"

"radxa-cubie-a7a" or "radxa-cubie-a7z"

rest is up to you...

 

- 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 11 hours 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.  

Edited Thursday at 01:44 PM by Nick A

[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 Thursday at 12:53 PM by Nick A

[Pop Alex]

Just tested a build i made locally from your branch, on the A7Z build, build with the latest Debian + XFCE Nice job @Nick A.

 

Seems to work fine, but it's lacking GPU acceleration, in both Chrome and VLC, same as the official builds.

 

Do you have any info on that? Is there any work going on the Armbian team for supporting the Imagination GPU? I know Imagination has pretty shitty software support.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Pop Alex

[Nick A]

@Pop AlexI haven't spent a lot of time on GPU acceleration but I know there's another member here who has. He's using the official Radxa's GPU drivers.

https://github.com/chainsx/build/blob/a0527bd977bbe55b13c1f46ec46d0aab4369c798/extensions/radxa-bxm-img-gpu.sh

 

 

Edited 40 minutes ago by Nick A