+- PINE64 (https://forum.pine64.org)
+-- Forum: PinePhone Pro (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=177)
+--- Forum: PinePhone Pro Software (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=179)
+--- Thread: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices (/showthread.php?tid=15998)
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - 3460p - 04-21-2022
(04-21-2022, 06:00 AM)wibble Wrote: The multiboot image is built to use and take advantage of the features of megi's p-boot. It doesn't have the config file that tow-boot looks to for the kernel, initrd, boot args etc. so tow-boot doesn't find anything that it knows how to boot. Even if the partition layout is something tow-boot could read, and you translated the p-boot config for the boot options to the format tow-boot uses, I don't think you'd have a way to select which multi-boot option you wanted as tow-boot doesn't have a GUI on the pinephone. It's the wrong tool for the job - stick to p-boot for multiboot.
Thanks for that explanation! I was thinking “yeah, of course that makes sense and I’d completely forgotten that Megi’s p-boot was what enabled his multiboot menu...” so I shouldn’t expect it to work unless Megi were to make some changes to his multiboot image.
But then I thought: how come Tow-Boot correctly booted the multiboot menu from the microSD card install and let me select which distro/OS I wanted to launch?
If I’ve understood your explanation correctly, Tow-Boot shouldn’t have been able to “see” anything to boot from the microSD card? So my experience should have been the same as with the multiboot install on the eMMC?
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - wibble - 04-22-2022
You're using a PinePhone not a Pro, so the boot search order is uSD then eMMC. If you got the multiboot menu then your uSD still has p-boot on it, and this was run before it even looked at the eMMC. tow-boot wasn't involved in that one at all.
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - 3460p - 04-23-2022
(04-22-2022, 07:39 AM)wibble Wrote: You're using a PinePhone not a Pro, so the boot search order is uSD then eMMC. If you got the multiboot menu then your uSD still has p-boot on it, and this was run before it even looked at the eMMC. tow-boot wasn't involved in that one at all.
You’re quite right - my apologies, I had thought that I’d managed to do what I described above with the PP starting on a red LED as well as enabling me to access USB mode with the blue LED Up volume button (i.e. indicating that Tow-Boot was still the functioning bootloader) but I just tried to replicate that and my PP started with a green LED then displayed Megi’s multiboot menu so I can only assume I got slightly muddled when I first tried this late into the night...
Ok so there’s no way of having ones main OS on the microSD card, Megi’s multiboot on the eMMC and be able to switch between the two without removing the microSD card?
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - wibble - 04-25-2022
(04-23-2022, 09:28 AM)3460p Wrote:(04-22-2022, 07:39 AM)wibble Wrote: You're using a PinePhone not a Pro, so the boot search order is uSD then eMMC. If you got the multiboot menu then your uSD still has p-boot on it, and this was run before it even looked at the eMMC. tow-boot wasn't involved in that one at all.
You’re quite right - my apologies, I had thought that I’d managed to do what I described above with the PP starting on a red LED as well as enabling me to access USB mode with the blue LED Up volume button (i.e. indicating that Tow-Boot was still the functioning bootloader) but I just tried to replicate that and my PP started with a green LED then displayed Megi’s multiboot menu so I can only assume I got slightly muddled when I first tried this late into the night...
Ok so there’s no way of having ones main OS on the microSD card, Megi’s multiboot on the eMMC and be able to switch between the two without removing the microSD card?
I think you could do that in two ways, both using p-boot. One is to remove the bootloader from the uSD so that the process skips the uSD and uses the p-boot on the eMMC. The other is to install p-boot on the uSD. In either case you'll need to check the p-boot docs to see what config changes you need to make to p-boot to provide the extra boot options.
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - 3460p - 05-05-2022
(04-25-2022, 02:59 AM)wibble Wrote:(04-23-2022, 09:28 AM)3460p Wrote:(04-22-2022, 07:39 AM)wibble Wrote: You're using a PinePhone not a Pro, so the boot search order is uSD then eMMC. If you got the multiboot menu then your uSD still has p-boot on it, and this was run before it even looked at the eMMC. tow-boot wasn't involved in that one at all.
You’re quite right - my apologies, I had thought that I’d managed to do what I described above with the PP starting on a red LED as well as enabling me to access USB mode with the blue LED Up volume button (i.e. indicating that Tow-Boot was still the functioning bootloader) but I just tried to replicate that and my PP started with a green LED then displayed Megi’s multiboot menu so I can only assume I got slightly muddled when I first tried this late into the night...
Ok so there’s no way of having ones main OS on the microSD card, Megi’s multiboot on the eMMC and be able to switch between the two without removing the microSD card?
I think you could do that in two ways, both using p-boot. One is to remove the bootloader from the uSD so that the process skips the uSD and uses the p-boot on the eMMC. The other is to install p-boot on the uSD. In either case you'll need to check the p-boot docs to see what config changes you need to make to p-boot to provide the extra boot options.
Hmm that’s effectively what I thought I’d achieved by putting a more recent build of Mobian on the microSD because IIUC Mobian’s removed the bootloader from their recent builds since they’re now relying on Tow-Boot being in place...but yeah as we’ve already discussed, Megi’s multiboot currently only works with p-boot and Tow-Boot doesn’t recognise p-boot as something into which to boot.
I’ll see what I can manage with getting p-boot on the microSD!
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - brb78 - 06-14-2022
I've been getting ~48 hours on standby with latest Tow-boot, as opposed to ~4 hours on stock u-boot. Seems usable. Not sure about audio wake-from-suspend issues, haven't gotten a chance to test yet.
The suspend issues where the first text received while suspended wakes the suspension, but fails to be pulled into Chatty but subsequent texts are pulled from the modem into Chatty persists with tow boot. Phone calls, after about 3 rings, are to get through on a suspended device.
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - Simon Belmont - 07-10-2022
(04-13-2022, 09:22 AM)magdesign Wrote: Also tried on PinePhonePro Explorer Edition
with latest Tow-Boot 2021.10-004 spi.installer.img from github.
You need to hold the RE button very long (make sure its really pressed!).
However I am not able to flash the spi:
![[Image: 163212781-f6680660-73a2-472c-b698-9843818ed17f.jpg]](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/5273166/163212781-f6680660-73a2-472c-b698-9843818ed17f.jpg)
When I was getting that error, I was using pine64-pinephonePro-2021.10-004-pre.tar.xz (note the "PRE"). At which point I made two changes to my attempted install process; not sure which made the bigger difference; if either!
I switched to using pine64-pinephonePro-2021.10-004.tar.xz and I added a Volume Label to the SD Card when I flashed that onto it. Seems unlikely that the Volume Label had anything to do with it. But, who knows!? If you're still having trouble, it's worth a try.
One thing is for sure though; if you're getting to that point, the issue hasn't got anything to do with how you're holding whatever button in whatever way. At that point, there's an issue with the flash or the code. I made a list of all the steps I followed to get Tow-Boot installed; on page 4 of this thread.
Good Luck!
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - shulamy - 07-14-2022
(02-07-2022, 07:52 AM)tmschmitz Wrote: I expect that I am missing the obvious, somewhere. I will explain my train of logic, and I would be grateful if you would help me find the path.
The getting-started.md file says to dd spi-installer.img to an sd card, and to boot from it. I watched the videos, and all that looks pretty easy. However, there is no file spi-installer.img in the git download, so I assume that I need to build it. I find no makefiles or instruction on how to do this, just .nix files.
after 2 7zip extracts you can find this file
ezik
i installed tow-boot to pinephone beta eddition
but when i start it from tow-boot it dos't vibrate twice and boots from sd card
ezik
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - Diagon - 07-30-2023
(03-15-2022, 12:27 AM)EwigeBlumenkraft Wrote: Forcing boot from SD card by holding the volume down key does not work on my PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition.
I wiped the internal storage and now Tow Boot boots from the SD card.
Ewige/ Did you ever solve this problem? I also have a PPP, Explorer Edition, from Jan 2022. I've installed tow-boot and it allows me to boot eMMC, it even gets me into mass storage mode, but it refuses to let me boot any OS on SD, even though I can boot those OS's using the "RE" switch.
RE: Tow-Boot, a new U-Boot option for Pinephone Pro and other devices - spyro - 02-13-2024
Looks like the last comment in this thread is from the middle of 2023...
Anyone know how to get an apparently perfectly electronically and mechanically functional PPP to boot from ... well, anything would be nice?
I only want to run mobian. I dont want ANY other OS on this phone. I assume I must have had tow boot working (Ive never seen a screen showing tow boot, I just assumed it does nothing visible before booting the OS kernel...) or the thing would never have worked before.
It was working until I ran an apt-dist-upgrade earlier, and now it's e-waste.
help?