Helios64 - Armbian Trixie with linux 6.18 (incl. opp-microvolt patch)

[ebin-dev]

The most current download images for Helios64 are now all provided with linux 6.18.xx.

 

I downloaded a minimal image and checked the dtb: it would not appear to contain the opp-microvolt patch that made Helios64 finally stable.

 

So for the ones who have stability issues again on Helios64, I attached the patched dtb compiled for linux 6.18.xx using the exact same opp-microvolt values as in the previous dtb versions I compiled for linux 6.6 and 6.12. The current linux deb files can be downloaded from beta.armbian.com, the linux 6.18.18 deb files I used can be downloaded from here (to be installed with 'dpkg -i linux*').

 

In order to install the dtb, simply unzip it, copy it into the proper location, update initramfs and reboot:

 

# install the dtb with the opp-microvolt patch:
unzip rk3399-kobol-helios64.dtb-6.18.18-opp.zip
cp rk3399-kobol-helios64.dtb-6.18.18-opp /boot/dtb/rockchip/rk3399-kobol-helios64.dtb
update-initramfs -u
reboot

rk3399-kobol-helios64.dtb-6.18.18-opp.zip

Edited March 19 by ebin-dev

[BipBip1981]

Thank a lot !

[SymbiosisSystems]

Thanks for doing this @ebin-dev. Any tips on how to load the alternate dtb if the hardware is so unstable that it won't even boot to the shell; I'm using 26.2.1 / 6.18.15 ?

[BipBip1981]

Boot on a from scratch helios64 sdcard image, cross fingers and copy / rename / replace original dtb file with ebin-dev file or mount sdcard with scratch helios64 on another computer, do the change, then boot with you ready sdcard on the helios64

Edited May 7 by BipBip1981

[SymbiosisSystems]

@BipBip1981 that is the challenge though - getting it to boot to the shell ! Copying the dtb onto the sd card isn't enough , you need to then rebuild the fs image and how do you do this if you can't boot from the image ?!

[SymbiosisSystems]

Ultimately if the only way to get the Helios64 to boot is to integrate the dtb changes do I need to be building my own image with the changes integrated (rather than copying them into a pre-built image) . @ebin-dev what would be required to get these dtb patches into the mainline build ?

[ebin-dev]

@SymbiosisSystems To get those changes into the mainline build is currently not the solution preferred by the maintainer of this board, because it is some kind of a hot fix.

 

To boot your helios64 to the command line you could try an image from the archive and boot from sd. A system on emmc could then be manipulated using chroot.

[SymbiosisSystems]

@ebin-dev good idea, I can try that. For the moment I seem to have a stable system running 25.11.2 with the 6.12.58 kernel and the l2-cache and op1-opp patches loaded as kernel overlays. My use case for the Helios64 is as a NAS with OMV8 and ZFS.

 

Who is the maintainer of this board now ? I'm happy to test images on my hardware and it would be good if the latest builds worked out of the gate without having to patch them.

[SymbiosisSystems]

@iav @prahal are you the maintainers of the Helios64 bsp ? I'd be happy to test builds if you don't have physical hardware. My motivation is that it would be useful to be able to download the current image and run it without it hanging or throwing a kernel panic because the build is unstable without patches for the RK3399K on this board.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[BipBip1981]

Hello, I use this patch since many year now, me and my brother, with out it, our helios64 are unstable and unusable... with it, our helios64 work fine for more than two year, my opinion is, push the file in mainline or distrib the file in mainline with a script that install it fast with only one command run as soon has possible when not crash on the boot.. Bye.

[iav]

Can you give a link to the patches you are talking about? Preferably not on a dropbox or pastebin-like, but to their original source — a repository or mailing list.

[SymbiosisSystems]

@iav individual dts files attached , the other part of the dtb at the top of this thread is to run the eMMC in HS400 mode but that's already in the mainline.

 

The source is this post 

 

rockchip-rk3399-l2-cache.dts rockchip-rk3399-op1-opp.dts

[ebin-dev]

@iav The kobol dtbs (rk3399-kobol-helios64.dtb) linked in the messages before are patched in the following way having the effect that helios64 is finally stable (see here) : The opp-microvolt values in opp-table-1 are just replaced by the ones given below (for all linux kernel versions).

 

opp-table-1 {
                compatible = "operating-points-v2";
                opp-shared;
                phandle = <0x0d>;

                opp00 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x18519600>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0xdbba0 0xdbba0 0x1312d0>;
                        clock-latency-ns = <0x9c40>;
                };

                opp01 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x23c34600>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0xdbba0 0xdbba0 0x1312d0>;
                };

                opp02 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x30a32c00>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0xdbba0 0xdbba0 0x1312d0>;
                };

                opp03 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x3c14dc00>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0xe7ef0 0xe7ef0 0x1312d0>;
                };

                opp04 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x47868c00>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0xfa3e8 0xfa3e8 0x1312d0>;
                };

                opp05 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x54667200>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0x10c8e0 0x10c8e0 0x1312d0>;
                };

                opp06 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x5fd82200>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0x11edd8 0x11edd8 0x1312d0>;
                };

                opp07 {
                        opp-hz = <0x00 0x6b49d200>;
                        opp-microvolt = <0x1312d0 0x1312d0 0x1312d0>;
                };
        };

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by ebin-dev