Tow Boot - How to Flash a New OS?

[arkadione]

Currently, I am running Mobian + phosh on a PP Beta. I have the latest version of Mobian, so I have tow boot installed on the eMMC.

I am thinking about switching to Manjaro + phosh. How can I do this safely while preserving my tow boot boot loader?

I have searched online but can't find a definitive answer for this as tow boot is so new. Most people talking about tow boot online are PPP users.

My Idea:
- flash Manjaro installer installation to sd card
- boot from sd card and install to eMMC
(will that erase tow boot? or cause me boot problems?)

I'm wondering if anybody here has tried to do this? or could offer some guidance on this?

[kmsgli]

I am curious about this also, as I have just installed tow boot and from what I understand it replaces the /boot section on the eemc which is why after booting up with tow boot my manjaro os was exactly as i left it while i was on uboot.

Also what happens when I take an update and uboot updates will it overwrite towboot? Should we be removing the uboot package?
Sorry I don't mean to thread jack but it seems you are looking for similar answer as I am.

[dukla2000]

Currently, I am running Mobian + phosh on a PP Beta. I have the latest version of Mobian, so I have tow boot installed on the eMMC.

I am thinking about switching to Manjaro + phosh. How can I do this safely while preserving my tow boot boot loader?

I have searched online but can't find a definitive answer for this as tow boot is so new. Most people talking about tow boot online are PPP users.

My Idea:
- flash Manjaro installer installation to sd card
- boot from sd card and install to eMMC
(will that erase tow boot? or cause me boot problems?)

I'm wondering if anybody here has tried to do this? or could offer some guidance on this?

Your idea will work fine. Tow-boot on the original PinePhone is installed on a special partition of the eMMC that should not be touched by any installation (or indeed other daily use) software, namely /dev/mmcblk2boot0. So the Manjaro installer should not fiddle with that and Tow-boot will be intact after your Manjaro installation.

@kmsgli - there is no need to remove uboot - it is neutered by the Tow-boot installation (in that it no longer matters what happens to is or what state it is in)

{BTW - I have read elsewhere that is prudent to AVOID using Tow-boot USB Mass Storage mode on the original PinePhone as there is a slight chance of unregulated voltages ruining your day!}

[kmsgli]

Currently, I am running Mobian + phosh on a PP Beta. I have the latest version of Mobian, so I have tow boot installed on the eMMC.

I am thinking about switching to Manjaro + phosh. How can I do this safely while preserving my tow boot boot loader?

I have searched online but can't find a definitive answer for this as tow boot is so new. Most people talking about tow boot online are PPP users.

My Idea:
- flash Manjaro installer installation to sd card
- boot from sd card and install to eMMC
(will that erase tow boot? or cause me boot problems?)

I'm wondering if anybody here has tried to do this? or could offer some guidance on this?

Your idea will work fine. Tow-boot on the original PinePhone is installed on a special partition of the eMMC that should not be touched by any installation (or indeed other daily use) software, namely /dev/mmcblk2boot0. So the Manjaro installer should not fiddle with that and Tow-boot will be intact after your Manjaro installation.

@kmsgli - there is no need to remove uboot - it is neutered by the Tow-boot installation (in that it no longer matters what happens to is or what state it is in)

{BTW - I have read elsewhere that is prudent to AVOID using Tow-boot USB Mass Storage mode on the original PinePhone as there is a slight chance of unregulated voltages ruining your day!}

Thanks for the input. I switched to tow boot as uboot seems to get stuck in suspend or at least i thought it was uboot but i think tow boot just got stuck in suspend as well and its been a day. Does anyone have these issue? Maybe I should start a thread specifically for this but I have not see anyone else complaining about it. Maybe not many people daily drive there pinephones?