Plebian Linux
#1
Hello,

this shall be the thread for my new pet project, which is somewhat vanilla Debian live images for the (SO)Quartz devices. To flash, use something like
Code:
xzcat imagename.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M oflag=dsync status=progress
where /dev/sdX is your target block device.

Currently Supported Boards:
  • Quartz64 Model A
  • Quartz64 Model B
  • SOQuartz in CM4 IO Board
  • SOQuartz in Model A Board
  • SOQuartz in Blade Board
Why use Plebian? Simply put, it doesn't try to be overly quirky. We use Debian's kernel package. If I get hit by a blimp tomorrow and die, you'll still get kernel updates through Debian's regular channels.

Most importantly, these aren't bespoke artisanally hand-crafted images, but the output of an automated pipeline. You, yes you, can fork the repository and make your own with your adjustments to the debos recipes.

Consider these images to be in a "Beta" phase for now, they're generally ready for you to use but at some point you might need to do manual intervention if we end up deciding we want a third party repository after all. If and when it comes to that, I'll let you know.

Occasional Linux Kernel Contributor, Avid Wiki Updater, Ask Me About Quartz64
Open Hardware Quartz64 Model A TOSLink Adapter
Pi-bus GPIO Extender For ROCKPro64 And Quartz64 Model A
Plebian GNU/Linux
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#2
(01-02-2023, 01:44 PM)CounterPillow Wrote: Hello,

this shall be the thread for my new pet project, which is somewhat vanilla Debian live images for the (SO)Quartz devices. To flash, use something like
Code:
xzcat imagename.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M oflag=dsync status=progress
where /dev/sdX is your target block device.

Currently Supported Boards:
  • Quartz64 Model A
  • Quartz64 Model B
  • SOQuartz in CM4 IO Board
  • SOQuartz in Model A Board
  • SOQuartz in Blade Board
Why use Plebian? Simply put, it doesn't try to be overly quirky. We use Debian's kernel package. If I get hit by a blimp tomorrow and die, you'll still get kernel updates through Debian's regular channels.

Most importantly, these aren't bespoke artisanally hand-crafted images, but the output of an automated pipeline. You, yes you, can fork the repository and make your own with your adjustments to the debos recipes.

Consider these images to be in a "Beta" phase for now, they're generally ready for you to use but at some point you might need to do manual intervention if we end up deciding we want a third party repository after all. If and when it comes to that, I'll let you know.

Thanks, looking forward on the new OS build.
  Reply
#3
A little update on what I'm working on.

I've been working on rewriting the u-boot stuff based on a newer version of mainline u-boot (2023.04-rc1). I've tried getting device tree overlays to work, but am running into issues where device trees of a certain size make u-boot not boot anymore. I'll try to debug this further, but in the meantime will go ahead and port all the boards to the newer u-boot version too.

Since there is no u-boot package in Plebian, an u-boot upgrade would be a manual process, but I'll post instructions when it comes to that.

Occasional Linux Kernel Contributor, Avid Wiki Updater, Ask Me About Quartz64
Open Hardware Quartz64 Model A TOSLink Adapter
Pi-bus GPIO Extender For ROCKPro64 And Quartz64 Model A
Plebian GNU/Linux
  Reply
#4
I've finished porting all the boards to the newer u-boot yesterday and spent today getting device tree overlays to work. This will require using a Plebian specific device tree package so we can have DTBs with symbols in them. That means I won't tag a new release of Plebian quite yet, as I first want to set up a third party repository to distribute the package through.

Here's a video of me using a Bosch BMM150 Magnetometer connected to a Quartz64 Model B running Plebian, with the device added through device tree overlays: MP4 (H.264) Video, MP4 (AV1) Video

Once everything is in place and a new release is cut, I'll also make some example overlays at CounterPillow/overlay-examples for the Quartz64 devices. If you have any I²C/SPI devices in particular you'd like to know how to properly use through device tree overlays, let me know and I can look into acquiring them.

Occasional Linux Kernel Contributor, Avid Wiki Updater, Ask Me About Quartz64
Open Hardware Quartz64 Model A TOSLink Adapter
Pi-bus GPIO Extender For ROCKPro64 And Quartz64 Model A
Plebian GNU/Linux
  Reply
#5
New Release: v2023-02-28-2

If you are on a previous install of Plebian and don't want to reinstall, please consult the the UPGRADING.md file.

There's now the ability to use device tree overlays, though I still need to write documentation on how to use them. This release also comes with a newer version of u-boot, a newer bl31 and a newer ddr init blob.

Edit: Documentation on how to use device tree overlays now available here: https://github.com/Plebian-Linux/quartz6...VERLAYS.md

Occasional Linux Kernel Contributor, Avid Wiki Updater, Ask Me About Quartz64
Open Hardware Quartz64 Model A TOSLink Adapter
Pi-bus GPIO Extender For ROCKPro64 And Quartz64 Model A
Plebian GNU/Linux
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#6
Here's some news for you: Plebian has a website now! You can visit it at https://plebian.org. It contains some bare-bones flashing instructions and documentation for now, but I hope to expand it with rich illustration in the future to help people identify their boards, plug stuff in right, etc. etc.

Furthermore, diederik managed to get the Quartz64 Model B Wi-Fi firmware represented in Debian's firmware-brcm80211 package, so Quartz64 Model B owners can install that package to get Wi-Fi working.

Occasional Linux Kernel Contributor, Avid Wiki Updater, Ask Me About Quartz64
Open Hardware Quartz64 Model A TOSLink Adapter
Pi-bus GPIO Extender For ROCKPro64 And Quartz64 Model A
Plebian GNU/Linux
  Reply
#7
I wrote some documentation on how to use GPIO with libgpiod, the preferred way to interact with GPIOs on mainline Linux: https://plebian.org/running/gpio/

So far there's Python examples for the version of libgpiod Debian Bookworm ships (1.6.x), I plan on writing C examples for it as well, and then focus on examples for the next version of libgpiod that brings breaking changes, which will likely be present in Debian Trixie (the next Debian version after Bookworm).

Occasional Linux Kernel Contributor, Avid Wiki Updater, Ask Me About Quartz64
Open Hardware Quartz64 Model A TOSLink Adapter
Pi-bus GPIO Extender For ROCKPro64 And Quartz64 Model A
Plebian GNU/Linux
  Reply
#8
Just to let you know that I've been testing Plebian for last days with my Quartz64A boards and your bookworm image.
All works fine, I flashet it on eMMC and installed gnome-desktop-session with apt-get.
A regular dell touchsceen monitor works like a charm (HDMI+USB). Eth Network and USB ports as well.
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#9
New release: v2023-07-19-1

Biggest user-facing change is that the ethernet MAC now is unique per device.

Release: https://github.com/Plebian-Linux/quartz6...23-07-19-1
Upgrade instructions for previous systems: https://github.com/Plebian-Linux/quartz6...o-20230719

Occasional Linux Kernel Contributor, Avid Wiki Updater, Ask Me About Quartz64
Open Hardware Quartz64 Model A TOSLink Adapter
Pi-bus GPIO Extender For ROCKPro64 And Quartz64 Model A
Plebian GNU/Linux
  Reply


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