Booting the Pinebook Pro

[bcnaz]

  In the wiki the boot order with the "OEM Debian installed" is listed as :
     1)  SD card
     2)  eMMC
           (This boot order is loaded on the original OEM eMMC install)
  
     So the SD will boot first if one is installed, or it will go to the eMMC if there is no SD card.
        --------------------------


         But the board default is listed as :
          1) SPI NOR
          2) eMMC
          3) SD card
          4) USB OTG

       Does this mean that if it does not find anything bootable on #1 or #2 that it should still default then to the SD card ?
   
      Since there is nothing on the SPI NOR from the factory, and if one was to botch their eMMC during a failed installation
      or maybe just wiped it clean, ..  ..  ..  then the SD card should 'boot'  ?
           (a botched install may cause it to hang "trying" to boot from the eMMC) ?

       BUT,  the SD card being used still must have the ''Correct boot instructions for this particular board"... (? yes ?)
            boot instructions being matched to the hardware being used... ?
                                  -----------------------------


       The OSes listed in the wiki have the correct boot software already installed ?
            SO ?  If you want to install a different OS, you need to perhaps borrow the boot portion from a working OS ?

[PineFan]

I second BCnAZ's query and very specifically would like clarification on

       " or maybe just wiped it clean, ..  ..  ..  then the SD card should 'boot'  ?"

So in slightly different words:  

If the eMMC is wiped clean (No OS, No boot code) will the PBP still  try and boot from the SD card?

Thanks to anyone who can defintively settle this.

[as400]

If the eMMC is wiped clean (No OS, No boot code) will the PBP still  try and boot from the SD card?

If you have uboot installed on eMMC and you wipe it completely clean then PBP will not boot from SD card.

[tophneal]

If the eMMC is wiped clean (No OS, No boot code) will the PBP still  try and boot from the SD card?

If you have uboot installed on eMMC and you wipe it completely clean then PBP will not boot from SD card.

It should still be able to boot SD as long as the SD install has uboot. The SoC still has SD in it's boot order, it falls after emmc. The community has just modified uboot to look at SD first. With no uboot on the emmc, the board reverts to a boot priority of emmc>SD>mask Rom mode.

[as400]

It should still be able to boot SD as long as the SD install has uboot. The SoC still has SD in it's boot order, it falls after emmc. The community has just modified uboot to look at SD first. With no uboot on the emmc, the board reverts to a boot priority of emmc>SD>mask Rom mode.

@tophneal - yes but usually there is no uboot on SD images. Or am I mistaken ?

[tophneal]

Most have it. The SDs uboot is often just ignored bc the SoC sees the emmcs first.

[bcnaz]

Am I correct in thinking the OSes listed in the wiki have the boot code in them ? (all of them) ? ?

[tophneal]

Am I correct in thinking the OSes listed in the wiki have the boot code in them ?  (all of them) ? ?

Yes, all of them should be capable of either/or (sd/emmc) booting. For example the emmc-installer images of Manjaro are essentially just doing what we do manually with dd. It's available as an option for those not knowledgeable of dd yet.

However, not all them use the same boot code. Some use the BSP u-boot, which will use the default SoC boot order (like the Android, CrOS, and ayufan Ubuntus.) So far, though, these (excluding Android) are easily updated to the SD first u-boot, using mrfixit's update script.