12-15-2015, 09:54 AM
(12-12-2015, 11:51 AM)tkaiser Wrote:(12-12-2015, 09:05 AM)taros Wrote: If there is a Linux kernel available, even an older version, then you can create an Ubuntu image (that compatible Linux kernel with the Ubuntu rootfs of your choice).
There is exactly one kernel available for the A64: A heavily patched 3.10.65 from Allwinner. And you will be surprised that everything that's really relevant for an ARM device to operate as an SBC does NOT depend on the contents of the rootfs.
I just walked through the SDK and had a laugh: http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic...#entry3173
If the Pine guys don't get this resolved rather sooner than later the 'linux experience' will be a bit crappy in the beginning
Well, apart from that issue there seem to be much more severe problems with their kernel drop (in this dodgy lichee tarball): they apparently enter the kernel in EL3, which is forbidden by the Linux arm64 boot protocol. Any upstream kernel will just crash upon being started this way. On the other hand entering their kernel in EL2 (or EL1) will crash as well, so this has to be sorted out as soon as possible to avoid serious incompatibilities.
So we should find out why they need to run Linux in secure EL1 (which they drop to in kernel/head.S) and fix that to be able to run their kernel (which is probably the base of their Android system) in non-secure EL1 (and enter in EL2 to enable virtualization). If it's just about SMP bringup, implementing proper PSCI in firmware should be doable.