12-26-2020, 04:14 PM
@aviks There is no ability to boot a USB flash drive on the Rockchip RK3399 SoC. (Well their is, but it's not usable in the normal sense...)
That said, the boot loader U-Boot CAN have a module that allows booting off a USB flash drive. But, the OS on the flash drive needs to know about the USB drives... So, not just one step. Since their are literally dozens of U-Boot images out their in the wild, it's no certainty which you have loaded. And if it has USB support.
As for the SD Card boot, it's possible you have a bug in the U-Boot loaded. Or, if I remember correctly, the original Debian U-Boot did not give preference to SD Cards over the eMMC. Later updates "fix" this boot device priority. You could try to update the Debian and make sure it updates the U-Boot too.
Another way to deal with this, is to make a bootable SD Card and disable the eMMC via the internal switch.
There are other ways, but it gets complicated pretty fast.
Ideally a newer U-Boot could be installed. One version supports a boot device menu, and then a second menu to select which kernel to boot. I've played with it, and it's quite nice but has it's quirks. So it's "not ready for prime time".
In essence, the Pinebook Pro is still under software development, (by us community members...).
That said, the boot loader U-Boot CAN have a module that allows booting off a USB flash drive. But, the OS on the flash drive needs to know about the USB drives... So, not just one step. Since their are literally dozens of U-Boot images out their in the wild, it's no certainty which you have loaded. And if it has USB support.
As for the SD Card boot, it's possible you have a bug in the U-Boot loaded. Or, if I remember correctly, the original Debian U-Boot did not give preference to SD Cards over the eMMC. Later updates "fix" this boot device priority. You could try to update the Debian and make sure it updates the U-Boot too.
Another way to deal with this, is to make a bootable SD Card and disable the eMMC via the internal switch.
There are other ways, but it gets complicated pretty fast.
Ideally a newer U-Boot could be installed. One version supports a boot device menu, and then a second menu to select which kernel to boot. I've played with it, and it's quite nice but has it's quirks. So it's "not ready for prime time".
In essence, the Pinebook Pro is still under software development, (by us community members...).
--
Arwen Evenstar
Princess of Rivendale
Arwen Evenstar
Princess of Rivendale