armbian stretch graphical user interface on orange pi one

[renky]

Armbian Stretch

 

Is there an instruction on getting a graphical user interface on the

orange pi one?

Thanks.

[Igor]

How did you try?

 

An armbian-config way was broken for Stretch and fixed a few hours ago.

Try cloning https://github.com/armbian/config and run it again.

 

[renky]

Thank you. I understood the stretch version has no graphic user interface when you start the computer, but it has?

[ag123]

ok i did:

as root:

 

apt-get upgrade armbian-config

next run

armbian-config

 

under the system menu, i found "Default install desktop with browser and extras" as well as "Minimal install minimal desktop"

my thoughts are it would still help to distribute an image with "install desktop with browser and extras" done as a compressed image.

installing this way in armbian-config would take more bandwidth than is necessary, and if users goofed and they 'reinstall' the image writing it to sd, they would run install desktop with browser and extras again consuming double the bandwidth.

distributing the "desktop" image for orangepione would let users download that via bittorrent and if they goofed simply overwrite the sd card with the image downloaded prior

i think there are 2 groups of users, those who want a 'minimal' distribution, basically just that console based one, no 'desktop' etc. and the other group who wants 'everything', well the 'desktop' that is

 

[Igor]

2 hours ago, ag123 said:

distributing the "desktop" image for orangepione would let users download

It is impossible to satisfy everyone. We provide one (most optimal) desktop image for every board that is capable of running a desktop. Some people want Debian Stretch with desktop, others want Ubuntu. There are two versions of each. Next, we have different kernels which significantly influence overall (desktop) performance ... multiply this variety by about 70 different board models. That's why we provide this "upgrade to the desktop" within armbian-config which doesn't consume more bandwidth - a desktop image is bigger for approximately the size of this download.

 

We put a lot of efforts to keep build script in a good shape that images can be rebuilt in any moment. To build yourself a combination that suits your need.

[ag123]

thanks for the response !
i tried ""upgrade to the desktop" in armbian-config, it looks just as nice as it is in ubuntu, things are a little different , a little rougher (some things may be 'broken'), it seem to work well

 

chromium browser breaks on launch, some libs seem missing, would post more about that later

[Igor]

1 hour ago, ag123 said:

some things may be 'broken'

It shouldn't be. Can you provide a screenshot? Mobile phone photo is good enough.

 

1 hour ago, ag123 said:

chromium browser breaks on launch

Strange. It shouldn't.

 

Please also provide armbianmonitor -u

[ag123]

$ chromium

Received signal 11 SEGV_MAPERR 000000000000
#0 0x000001c53b8c <unknown>
#1 0x000001beed58 <unknown>
#2 0x000001c53e7e <unknown>
#3 0x000001c540c0 <unknown>
#4 0x0000b2d73fe0 <unknown>
#5 0x000000b2b948 <unknown>
#6 0x000001e91400 <unknown>
#7 0x00000219d9de <unknown>
#8 0x000002ad875c <unknown>
#9 0x000002ad8828 <unknown>
#10 0x000002ad8902 <unknown>
#11 0x000002ad8988 <unknown>
#12 0x000002ad89ba <unknown>
#13 0x000001b1b01c <unknown>
#14 0x000001b1b052 <unknown>
#15 0x0000019f025c <unknown>
#16 0x0000019f9620 <unknown>
#17 0x0000019f988a <unknown>
#18 0x000000f16312 <unknown>
#19 0x000001138ed6 <unknown>
#20 0x000000f1d2f2 <unknown>
#21 0x000000f1e13e <unknown>
#22 0x000000f1e32e <unknown>
#23 0x0000019cb166 <unknown>
#24 0x0000019cb264 <unknown>
#25 0x0000019d0558 <unknown>
#26 0x0000019ca572 <unknown>
#27 0x00000099e95c ChromeMain
#28 0x0000b2d654aa __libc_start_main
[end of stack trace]

$sudo armbianmonitor -u
System diagnosis information will now be uploaded to
http://ix.io/1iVc

seem like not a lib error, but ... oh well chromium do use a large number of libs, the ldd output attached

ldd.chromium

[Igor]

 

Spoiler

1 hour ago, ag123 said:

$ chromium

Received signal 11 SEGV_MAPERR 000000000000
#0 0x000001c53b8c <unknown>
#1 0x000001beed58 <unknown>
#2 0x000001c53e7e <unknown>
#3 0x000001c540c0 <unknown>
#4 0x0000b2d73fe0 <unknown>
#5 0x000000b2b948 <unknown>
#6 0x000001e91400 <unknown>
#7 0x00000219d9de <unknown>
#8 0x000002ad875c <unknown>
#9 0x000002ad8828 <unknown>
#10 0x000002ad8902 <unknown>
#11 0x000002ad8988 <unknown>
#12 0x000002ad89ba <unknown>
#13 0x000001b1b01c <unknown>
#14 0x000001b1b052 <unknown>
#15 0x0000019f025c <unknown>
#16 0x0000019f9620 <unknown>
#17 0x0000019f988a <unknown>
#18 0x000000f16312 <unknown>
#19 0x000001138ed6 <unknown>
#20 0x000000f1d2f2 <unknown>
#21 0x000000f1e13e <unknown>
#22 0x000000f1e32e <unknown>
#23 0x0000019cb166 <unknown>
#24 0x0000019cb264 <unknown>
#25 0x0000019d0558 <unknown>
#26 0x0000019ca572 <unknown>
#27 0x00000099e95c ChromeMain
#28 0x0000b2d654aa __libc_start_main
[end of stack trace]

$sudo armbianmonitor -u
System diagnosis information will now be uploaded to
http://ix.io/1iVc

seem like not a lib error, but ... oh well chromium do use a large number of libs, the ldd output attached

ldd.chromium

 

I see ... I just test it on Orangepi PC+ with Ubuntu 18.04 and Chromium works fine, while it breaks on Debian Stretch (Opi One or PC+) ...  it would not be the first time, that Chromium was broken upstream. I am investigating further.

[Igor]

5 hours ago, ag123 said:

chromium browser breaks on launch, some libs seem missing, would post more about that later

It looks like its broken upstream. Desktop with Chromium installed on CLI Bionic runs fine ... damn. This means you will need to install Chromium from elsewhere, from Ubuntu repository perhaps.

[ag123]

yup chromium browser works fine on Ubuntu Xenial . it breaks on Debian Stretch. And i think you are right about 'upstream', as it breaks on different boards, it is rather likely a missing dependency. i think it may be some missing lib, if i've a some time i'd check the ldd list to see if i may find the culprit.

[ag123]

chromium breaks but firefox runs well, typing this post in firefox from my armbian stretch opi pc (using the same sd card i used on opi one)

there is one other message when chromium runs (yup this is in opi pc, it happens in both opi one and opi pc)

Quote

ATTENTION: default value of option force_s3tc_enable overridden by environment.
[2885:2885:0906/051541.086752:ERROR:sandbox_linux.cc(378)] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.

i am not sure if it is relevant

 

firefox runs with a bunch of messages/warnings on stdout but it works no crashes, so i just ignored them

and this is what it looks like

 

another thing though i'm running my orange pi one sd card on a orange pi pc (1g ram), it literally works (with some issues, it seemed only 1 usb port is recognised)

 

but running a full desktop do use quite a bit of memory, it would seem the 'smaller' boards with less memory may have some trouble coping

$free
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:        1024052      557780       51328       52520      414944      526576
Swap:        643084        4096      638988

$swapon
NAME       TYPE      SIZE USED PRIO
/var/swap  file      128M   0B   -2
/dev/zram0 partition 125M 1.1M    5
/dev/zram1 partition 125M 936K    5
/dev/zram2 partition 125M 1.1M    5
/dev/zram3 partition 125M 852K    5

i'm using zram-config in armbian stretch as posted here

 

the above is for orange pi pc, i tested the same (firefox) in orange pi one 512m

it works too, just that this time round it hits both zram and on disk swap

there are some lags and freezes, but firefox still runs ok, this edit is done in firefox on opi1 armbian stretch

$ free
total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:         505152      397292        8468       39996       99392       67580
Swap:        383628      164420      219208

$ /sbin/swapon
NAME       TYPE       SIZE  USED PRIO
/var/swap  file       128M  4.5M   -2
/dev/zram0 partition 61.7M 38.7M    5
/dev/zram1 partition 61.7M   38M    5
/dev/zram2 partition 61.7M 38.8M    5
/dev/zram3 partition 61.7M 37.8M    5

and oh well on opi1 while i'm editing this

$sudo armbianmonitor -m
Stop monitoring using [ctrl]-[c]
Time        CPU    load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq   CPU  C.St.
10:14:39:  912MHz  1.74  22%   3%  18%   0%   0%   0% 78.4°C  4/8
10:14:44:  912MHz  1.92  39%   5%  33%   0%   0%   0% 77.2°C  4/8
10:14:49:  912MHz  1.85  49%   8%  40%   0%   0%   0% 79.4°C  4/8
...
10:16:27:  912MHz  1.30  34%   2%  30%   0%   0%   0% 77.9°C  4/8
10:16:32:  912MHz  1.27  48%   3%  45%   0%   0%   0% 81.3°C  4/8
10:16:38:  912MHz  1.41  56%   8%  44%   0%   3%   0% 80.3°C  4/8
10:16:43:  912MHz  1.54  38%   3%  33%   0%   1%   0% 78.5°C  4/8^C

i'd warm my coffee on the h3

[tkaiser]

1 hour ago, ag123 said:

i'm using zram-config in armbian stretch

 

My personal opinion on this: Linux sucks.

 

While zram is a nice way to make more use of the physically available DRAM the whole approach still sucks since we would need to take care also about our attempts to store browser profiles and caches in RAM (uncompressed -- what a waste). Since there's nothing like a globally acting memory compressor task in the background (as in macOS) it would need some more work to enhance psd/cache behavior (using compressed RAM of course).

 

And then still the only reasonable way to run a fully blown desktop environment on those boards with low RAM is adding a fast UAS connected SSD, putting the rootfs on it and use properly configured zswap instead of zram. But why? Adding all the costs together a properly sized board with eMMC is the cheaper variant that sucks less.

[Igor]

On 9/4/2018 at 2:24 PM, ag123 said:

it is rather likely a missing dependency. i think it may be some missing lib

Just check this file history - where packages are defined.
https://github.com/armbian/build/commits/master/lib/configuration.sh

Have you tried to install Chromium 1-3 versions back? Or on non-Allwinner hardware, perhaps on some aarch64?

[ag123]

hi Igor

as stretch is effectively the 'first' debian stretch distribution i've tried (with opi one and pc), i do not know if they might be broken between the debian releases and i do not have any aarch64 boards hence i'd not be able to find out for now

i made some attempts to figure out if things might be missing but after a random check in the dlls/shared libraries, i havn't figure out what may be wrong.

 

if debian have bug trackers and that you can reproduce the symptoms on orange pi one and pc, you may like to log an issue with debian so that they could check on that as well. as chromium / firefox is rather commonly used, it may be somewhat surprising that it is broken. but when releases change, it is hard to keep every thing in sync.

 

i'm not too sure if other members using other boards (preferably different soc) has encountered a broken chromium. if it works there but breaks on opi it would suggest that the problem isn't the apps or libraries itself

[Igor]

10 minutes ago, ag123 said:

hi Igor

as stretch is effectively the 'first' debian stretch distribution i've tried (with opi one and pc), i do not know if they might be broken between the debian releases and i do not have any aarch64 boards hence i'd not be able to find out for now

i made some attempts to figure out if things might be missing but after a random check in the dlls/shared libraries, i havn't figure out what may be wrong.

12

I am just seeking ways to narrow things down. Until we don't know more it's hard to tell. Upstream problems happened in the past and it will happen again for sure. We are not in a position to debug Chromium. It works or not. If the problem is ours, we will fix it. But from what I know now I doubt it is.

[ag123]

well as i've actually uninstalled chromium, i'd try to install that via apt-get install chromium to see if that somehow that fixes it.

sometimes when a bundle of apps including windows and its suite of apps is installed together in bulk things might get broken in between

i couldn't remember if after all while i run armbian-config that there may be some error messages while the packages are installed

 

hopefully some other members with other boards running stretch could share their experiences, perhaps it works on their boards

 

** update:

@Igor

ok i've just tried that

apt-get install chromium

 

and run chromium after it is installed i'm getting exactly the same errors reported earlier

 

i've also tried something else in addition in /etc/chromium.d/chromium.conf

there is a parameter for --no-sandbox

i tried commenting that parameter and starting chromium

but i'm getting the same error

 

i think it would be necessary to get another member who is running debian stretch on a different board it could even be from allwinner but say H5, A20 etc to setup X11 desktop and run chromium

if it can be reproduced across different soc, and different boards, it would imply the app may be broken after all possibly due to some dependencies, i.e. upstream breaks

 

i've taken a casual look at the package list in configuration.sh

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/9eff058568db3e5e9a00abe54e3ee219f84d316a/lib/configuration.sh#L175-L198
superficially it didn't seem different between the releases, there are some naming changes e.g. it is chromium in stretch

but chromium-browser in bionic and xenial, but apart from the name it does not seem that we are missing out things.

my guess is that when the command apt-get install chromium is issued, apt would go about pulling in all the chromium dependencies if they are missed out

 

 

 

[tkaiser]

14 hours ago, tkaiser said:

While zram is a nice way to make more use of the physically available DRAM the whole approach still sucks since we would need to take care also about our attempts to store browser profiles and caches in RAM (uncompressed -- what a waste)

 

Prepared a potential method to workaround that: https://github.com/armbian/build/commit/098a391996a4cd56d6e493d94decc85a53254ff1

 

Needs a lot of testing of course...

[Igor]

8 hours ago, ag123 said:

is running debian stretch on a different board

Chromium working fine on NanoPC T3+ which is arm64. http://ix.io/1m9p Image was built from source yesterday.

[ag123]

thanks! that means it breaks on something related to opi and possibly H3, i'm guessing it may be related to graphics drivers or related stuff

as one of the messages is

Quote

ATTENTION: default value of option force_s3tc_enable overridden by environment.
[2885:2885:0906/051541.086752:ERROR:sandbox_linux.cc(378)] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.

 

ok i stumbled into this which seem to describe a similar problem in ubuntu

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1563184

[Igor]

No, its related to (arm only?) 32bit. It also doesn't work on Cubox which is very different.

This is a temporally workaround:

apt-get install chromium=63.0.3239.84-1~deb9u1

Which you have to repeat at each apt update & upgrade or use apt mark hold to prevent its upgrading to most recent broken version.

[ag123]

thanks, for now i'd settle with firefox as it seem to work just ok for 'normal' uses

[Frank Wu]

Here is the v67 chromium deb from Debian's archive server.

https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-security/20180701T015633Z/pool/updates/main/c/chromium-browser/chromium_67.0.3396.87-1~deb9u1_armhf.deb

That is currently latest version can be worked from Debian's pre-build package...

v68, even just released v69 all cannot execute properly...