Ethernet and SSH problems for Mini shield Nanopi Neo Core

[Rami]

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I am working on a project for which I use a Nanopi Neo Core with its mini shield. With this mini shield I encountered some problems. The first problem is when I want to know the IP address for an Ethernet connection I got the following answer:

pi@nanopiair:~$ sudo ifconfig

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536

        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0

        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>

        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)

        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

 

I have this problem only with the Armbian kernel while with that of FriendlyElec it works properly. In my case of use I need a Debian kernel.

The second problem is that when I connected a wifi dongle to my mini shield and I tried to connect in SSH I can’t do it. I created an empty file in / boot called SSH and I checked that SSH is enabled but this problem still persists. The error message is as follows: Server unexpectedly closed network connection.

 

For handling the Nanopi I use the USB-UART adapter, so the configuration interface launched with the command "sudo armbian-config" does not display correctly to better check my configurations.

Can you help me solve these problems please?

I thank you in advance.

 

 

[Igor]

Add 

fdtfile=sun8i-h3-nanopi-neo.dtb

to /boot/armbianEnv.txt and reboot.

 

13 minutes ago, Rami said:

The second problem is that when I connected a wifi dongle to my mini shield and I tried to connect in SSH I can’t do it. I created an empty file in / boot called SSH and I checked that SSH is enabled but this problem still persists. The error message is as follows: Server unexpectedly closed network connection.

Wifi is not connected automagically.  https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Getting-Started/#how-to-connect-to-wireless

 

Also, a possible problem with ssh daemon if there was not a finished first boot. In that case, you need to recreate ssh keys manually.

[Rami]

 

Thank you for your response.

 

I added the line in /boot/armbianEnv.txt using the following command:
sudo echo "fdtfile = sun8i-h3-nanopi-neo.dtb" >> /boot/armbianEnv.txt and I rebooted but the problem still persists. I use the command lines because when I type sudo nano /boot/armbianEnv.txt the result is as follows:
␛) 0␛ [1; 24r␛ [m␏␛ [4l␛ [7h␛ [39;? 49m␛ [25l␛ [1c␛ [39;? 49m␛ [m␏␛ [H␛ [J␛ [22 ; 33H␛ [0; 10; 7m␏ [Reading File] ␛ [m␏␛ [22; 32H␛ [0; 10; 7m␏ [Read 10 lines] ␛ [m␏␛ [H␛ [39; 49m␛ [ 0; 10; 7m␏ GNU nanopi @ nanopiair: ~ $ 1H [m␏ No ␛ [14G ␛ [0; 10; 7m␏ ^ C␛ [m␏ Cancel␛ [K␛ [22; 63HARD changes.] ␛ [23 1H Y␛ [m␏ Yes␛ [K␛ [? 25h␛ [? 0c Spell ␛ [0; 10; 7m␏ ^ _␛ [m␏ Go To Line

 

For wifi activation I used all of the following steps:
sudo nmcli dev
sudo nmcli r wifi on
sudo nmcli dev wifi
sudo nmcli dev wifi connect "SSID" password "PASSWORD"

[Igor]

Remove spaces between = 

 

The rest I cant help since you forget to provide diagnostic logs. 

 

armbianmonitor -u

[Rami]

Yes I wrote it without space except here I made a typo.

[Igor]

Hmm.Strange. then uboot or whole image from a normal Neo? Afaik there are no other diffs.

Wrote on mobile

[Rami]

Yes I use a Nanopi Neo Core buy on the official website of FriendlyElec and likewise for the kernel it is downloaded from the site of armbian.

[Igor]

Our nanopi core image has disabled ethernet since board does not have it. Try to use image for a normal Neo if you use ethernet.

Wrote on mobile

[Rami]

I need a Debian kernel as it is case with your kernel stretch.

And if I use a normal Neo image can I make a boot from ssd disk? 

[Igor]

8 minutes ago, Rami said:

I need a Debian kernel as it is case with your kernel stretch.

And if I use a normal Neo image can I make a boot from ssd disk? 

Our Debian and our Ubuntu always use the exact same kernel. There is no difference. But each userspace release (Debian Jessie, Debian Stretch, Ubuntu Xenial or Ubuntu Bionic) can have different kernels: default = usually old legacy one (3.4.y), next = modern 4.14.y (atm), dev = modern 4.17.y ... I assume you are not planning to use a generic "Debian" kernel from www.debian.org? It might work but it would be a step back.

 

Can Neo, regardless of the operating system, boot from SSD disk? No, it can't. You always need an SD card, but you can run it from SSD.  https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Getting-Started/#how-to-install-to-emmc-nand-sata-usb

[Igor]

@Rami Can you check if this image works for you as expected: https://dl.armbian.com/nanopineo/Ubuntu_bionic_dev_nightly.7z

[guidol]

3 hours ago, Rami said:

I have this problem only with the Armbian kernel while with that of FriendlyElec it works properly. In my case of use I need a Debian kernel.

The second problem is that when I connected a wifi dongle to my mini shield and I tried to connect in SSH I can’t do it. I created an empty file in / boot called SSH and I checked that SSH is enabled but this problem still persists. The error message is as follows: Server unexpectedly closed network connection.

 

 

The file ssh in /boot is a feature of Raspbian for the Raspberry Pi and - I think - it isnt supported by armbian.

But in armbian SSH is enabled since the first boot.

 

You cant connect via SSH/WLAN because your Core didnt know the SSID nor the password of your Wifi-network.

 

As Igor did wrote you need a image with ethernet-support.

For my Core2 I also do use a image for the Neo Plus2 where Ethernet is enabled - and this image does support also the emmc of the Core2.

 

[projetoarduino]

Try this

 

https://github.com/projetoarduino/armbian-nanopi-core

[Rami]

Hello,

I am very sorry for my late response.

lgor: Yes I have verified that with the image of armbian we can not boot directly from a SSD disk.

 

 

guidol: For the wifi connection I can use the internet on my Nanopi Core but I can not connect to SSH.
For the image of Neo Plus2 it is possible what will be a solution but on the site of armbian is still in test version so I can not download it (it's the same case as the image of Core2 ).
So can you give me the link with which I can download the image of Neo Plus2 please?

 

 

projectoarduino: I will test your solution and tell you if it works well or not.

[guidol]

1 hour ago, Rami said:

 

So can you give me the link with which I can download the image of Neo Plus2 please?

https://dl.armbian.com/nanopineoplus2/archive/Armbian_5.38_Nanopineoplus2_Debian_stretch_next_4.14.14.7z

[Rami]

My problem of the ethernet connection is solved with the projectoarduino solution.

I have another question about the WiringNP library: to match the version of Nanopi WiringNP library uses information found in this path /sys/class/sunxi_sys/ info_sys, I find the file info_sys only on the xenial image of FriendlyElec. Is there an equivalent file of this one in Armbian's image?

[Igor]

45 minutes ago, Rami said:

Is there an equivalent file of this one in Armbian's image?

This is present only on stock Allwinner kernel. For H3 we have images based on such kernels, while for H5 we skip that kernel due to overall low quality. 

[Rami]

Ok thank you for upur response