Flash Pinephone Pro image from SD card to eMMC?

[jcun4128]

Sorry if there is an obvious answer to this eg. no.

I am at manjaro-arm-installer but that does not seem to be for Pinephone.

So... I know for live images eg. Ubuntu via USB there's a nice little button like "install to hard drive".

I think I've read in a few places you're not supposed to flash eMMC from SD card. However it seems there's no JumpDrive yet. I have not looked too much into Tow boot if it's applicable...

Am I supposed to while booted in SD card wipe the eMMC and setup a partition ext4 boot and all that/write the Pinephone Pro Beta 11 image onto eMMC directly?

Just confirm before I brick this device that I just received today.

edit: My main goal is starting the OS from scratch, if there was a factory reset option I would use that (doesn't really make sense, tin foil hat I know).

---

Oh it's manjaro-arm-flasher not installer my bad, let me try that
Well it's deprecated and meant for Pinebook... ha

Looking into Gnome-Disks restore
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/how-do-i-ins...osh/103816
Oh wait... this might be for Pinephone only ahh

Also seems like you could just dd an image onto the eMMC but people are saying you should not do that.

Well... I guess I'll wait. I'll use some burner creds on this phone till I can wipe it completely. I don't really want to use the SD card as the main OS drive.

[magdesign]

if I get your question right:

- download the newest image for your phone: [KDE](https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...pro/100272) or [Phosh](https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...pro/104120)

- flash it to a SD card

- boot from the sd card (maybe you need to push the RE button on the backside of phone to boot from sd)

- then install gnome-disks

- download the image again from the link to your phone, unpack it.

- run gnome disks, remove all partitions from the mmc, then in the top right menu click: Restore Disk Image

- select the unpacked manjaro image and write it to mmc

thats it.

I'm sure there other ways, I solved it like this and it works.
If you run mobian from SD, it will ask you if you want to install directly to mmc, every distribution is it doing their own way....




just

[jcun4128]

That's including Pinephone Pro right? Idk I guess gnome is gnome.

The link I posted above has a video outlining what you posted, I just thought it was for Pinephone only.

Yeah I'm not sure why I'm scared to do dd I've done it before.

I ended up going with Mobian Phosh because of the external monitor support specifically and generally more stable experience.

I used JumpDrive in the past to flash Mobian to the Pinephone's eMMC.

Anyway thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll try it out. I would like the full speed of eMMC over SD.

Ugh the sd card will go to sleep then I can't wake it ha. Anyway I forgot I was doing the disk write thing, can't wake it up. So restarted, not booting from eMMC will boot from SD card again and see what's up.

Got it to start again, don't think it's using SD as the LED didn't turn on, Used reset button. Mobian logo appeared nothing yet on screen but backlit.

Nope can't start it... wonder if this is what they're talking about the pain of booting from internal vs. SD first.

Saw Mobian logo again SD is in, had to do reset button, then nothing on screen but screen is on.

Guess I'll reflash Mobian on the SD card if that does something (lol sounds stupid saying) idk man I'm pushing buttons.

Huh... I guess it worked? It's hard to tell what I'm on since both my SD card and eMMC are 128GB

I didn't get a setup screen is the thing like choose your language.

Lol I can't boot it reliably like the screen is just black so I idk if it's working... I'm pretty sure it's the SD card, it's just odd that with a fresh flashing it's not starting from nothing.

I mean both should be starting from nothing, I'll try it again, won't let it sleep this time.

Final update for this post

I did the disk restore, was fine, phone still working

Rebooted, no SD in, won't boot, can't tell if it's turning on. Tried reset too

Anyway I'll just stick with the SD card for now, I can get what I need done with that

So stressful when it won't boot into SD haha, think I need to do that thing where I wipe part of the eMMC if not enitrely or just don't let it die.

Not sure if it matters having it plugged in, that seems to help?

[fxc]

That's including Pinephone Pro right? Idk I guess gnome is gnome.

The link I posted above has a video outlining what you posted, I just thought it was for Pinephone only.

Yeah I'm not sure why I'm scared to do dd I've done it before.

I ended up going with Mobian Phosh because of the external monitor support specifically and generally more stable experience.

I used JumpDrive in the past to flash Mobian to the Pinephone's eMMC.

Anyway thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll try it out. I would like the full speed of eMMC over SD.

Ugh the sd card will go to sleep then I can't wake it ha. Anyway I forgot I was doing the disk write thing, can't wake it up. So restarted, not booting from eMMC will boot from SD card again and see what's up.

Got it to start again, don't think it's using SD as the LED didn't turn on, Used reset button. Mobian logo appeared nothing yet on screen but backlit.

Nope can't start it... wonder if this is what they're talking about the pain of booting from internal vs. SD first.

Saw Mobian logo again SD is in, had to do reset button, then nothing on screen but screen is on.

Guess I'll reflash Mobian on the SD card if that does something (lol sounds stupid saying) idk man I'm pushing buttons.

Huh... I guess it worked? It's hard to tell what I'm on since both my SD card and eMMC are 128GB

I didn't get a setup screen is the thing like choose your language.

Lol I can't boot it reliably like the screen is just black so I idk if it's working... I'm pretty sure it's the SD card, it's just odd that with a fresh flashing it's not starting from nothing.

I mean both should be starting from nothing, I'll try it again, won't let it sleep this time.

Final update for this post

I did the disk restore, was fine, phone still working

Rebooted, no SD in, won't boot, can't tell if it's turning on. Tried reset too

Anyway I'll just stick with the SD card for now, I can get what I need done with that

So stressful when it won't boot into SD haha, think I need to do that thing where I wipe part of the eMMC if not enitrely or just don't let it die.

Not sure if it matters having it plugged in, that seems to help?

Mobian does not work from the eMMC, please flash something else. And for the future please use the Pine wiki, everything is explained there: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_P...o_the_eMMC. Then you also don't get wrong advises such as "remove the partition table".

[jcun4128]

fxc

Mobian does not work from the eMMC, please flash something else. And for the future please use the Pine wiki, everything is explained there: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_P...o_the_eMMC. Then you also don't get wrong advises such as "remove the partition table".

Thanks I will try arch phosh then I think people said that one was good atm.

Edit: yeah arch phosh works from eMMC

[tckosvic]

if I get your question right:

- download the newest image for your phone: [KDE](https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...pro/100272) or [Phosh](https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...pro/104120)

- flash it to a SD card

- boot from the sd card (maybe you need to push the RE button on the backside of phone to boot from sd)

- then install gnome-disks

- download the image again from the link to your phone, unpack it.

- run gnome disks, remove all partitions from the mmc, then in the top right menu click: Restore Disk Image

- select the unpacked manjaro image and write it to mmc

thats it.

I'm sure there other ways, I solved it like this and it works.
If you run mobian from SD, it will ask you if you want to install directly to mmc, every distribution is it doing their own way....




just

"run gnome disks, remove all partitions from the mmc, then in the top right menu click: Restore Disk Image"

no go.  permissions problems in deleting partitions and in restoring img.  Can't get past this step.  Need way to start gnome-disks as root.

tom kosvic

[fxc]

if I get your question right:

- download the newest image for your phone: [KDE](https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...pro/100272) or [Phosh](https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...pro/104120)

- flash it to a SD card

- boot from the sd card (maybe you need to push the RE button on the backside of phone to boot from sd)

- then install gnome-disks

- download the image again from the link to your phone, unpack it.

- run gnome disks, remove all partitions from the mmc, then in the top right menu click: Restore Disk Image

- select the unpacked manjaro image and write it to mmc

thats it.

I'm sure there other ways, I solved it like this and it works.
If you run mobian from SD, it will ask you if you want to install directly to mmc, every distribution is it doing their own way....




just

"run gnome disks, remove all partitions from the mmc, then in the top right menu click: Restore Disk Image"

no go.  permissions problems in deleting partitions and in restoring img.  Can't get past this step.  Need way to start gnome-disks as root.

tom kosvic

Same advise for you, flash it as explained in the wiki: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_P...o_the_eMMC. You just need to replace the filename of the image file in the command, so "dd is too complicated" is really no excuse.

[shabba]

That's including Pinephone Pro right? Idk I guess gnome is gnome.

The link I posted above has a video outlining what you posted, I just thought it was for Pinephone only.

Yeah I'm not sure why I'm scared to do dd I've done it before.

I ended up going with Mobian Phosh because of the external monitor support specifically and generally more stable experience.

I used JumpDrive in the past to flash Mobian to the Pinephone's eMMC.

Anyway thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll try it out. I would like the full speed of eMMC over SD.

Ugh the sd card will go to sleep then I can't wake it ha. Anyway I forgot I was doing the disk write thing, can't wake it up. So restarted, not booting from eMMC will boot from SD card again and see what's up.

Got it to start again, don't think it's using SD as the LED didn't turn on, Used reset button. Mobian logo appeared nothing yet on screen but backlit.

Nope can't start it... wonder if this is what they're talking about the pain of booting from internal vs. SD first.

Saw Mobian logo again SD is in, had to do reset button, then nothing on screen but screen is on.

Guess I'll reflash Mobian on the SD card if that does something (lol sounds stupid saying) idk man I'm pushing buttons.

Huh... I guess it worked? It's hard to tell what I'm on since both my SD card and eMMC are 128GB

I didn't get a setup screen is the thing like choose your language.

Lol I can't boot it reliably like the screen is just black so I idk if it's working... I'm pretty sure it's the SD card, it's just odd that with a fresh flashing it's not starting from nothing.

I mean both should be starting from nothing, I'll try it again, won't let it sleep this time.

Final update for this post

I did the disk restore, was fine, phone still working

Rebooted, no SD in, won't boot, can't tell if it's turning on. Tried reset too

Anyway I'll just stick with the SD card for now, I can get what I need done with that

So stressful when it won't boot into SD haha, think I need to do that thing where I wipe part of the eMMC if not enitrely or just don't let it die.

Not sure if it matters having it plugged in, that seems to help?

Mobian does not work from the eMMC, please flash something else. And for the future please use the Pine wiki, everything is explained there: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_P...o_the_eMMC. Then you also don't get wrong advises such as "remove the partition table".

Do you mean from the Pinephone or the Pinephone Pro? Maybe I'm missing something here but I have Mobian on BOTH of mine and it works just fine. I installed it on my Pro exactly the was it was described (before I found this thread) and it worked perfectly. Just make sure you have GNOME disk and a way to unpack the image... it worked perfectly. Again, maybe I'm missing something but my experience has been different.

An aside: the newest build for Mobian came out a day after you made this reply.

[magdesign]

[quote pid="107746" dateline="1646535700"]
"run gnome disks, remove all partitions from the mmc, then in the top right menu click: Restore Disk Image"

no go.  permissions problems in deleting partitions and in restoring img.  Can't get past this step.  Need way to start gnome-disks as root.

[/quote]

---

make sure to perform this step when booted into an OS on the SDcard!
and
running gnome disks as root from the terminal is like this:

sudo gnome-disks

[fxc]

make sure to perform this step when booted into an OS on the SDcard!
and
running gnome disks as root from the terminal is like this:

sudo gnome-disks

Simply use dd. Gnome-disks is not supposed to be run with sudo under Wayland (and it won't work), I find this an awful advice. Removing partitions is neither required nor advised, the disk images overwrite the partition table.