I just researched and ordered a microSD card and SD to micro adapter for my laptop so I can flash and install OS's for Pinephone. In reading through the wiki and elsewhere I also read about flashing the eMMc, which I gather happens from putting what's needed on the microSD which you then put in the phone.
However, I also read about "usb to emmc" adapter, and see one offered in the Pine Store. This would seem to imply a removable eMMc drive that you mess with when removed from the phone. Where is it? I see the 2 card slots, but I don't see anything else removable. I've done google image search, but don't see anything like that in the phone. I've never owned an eMMc. I thought there might be an arrow pointing to it in the wiki.
thanks
(01-09-2021, 01:32 AM)tgz Wrote: I just researched and ordered a microSD card and SD to micro adapter for my laptop so I can flash and install OS's for Pinephone.
Won't help you in this case, as the emmc chip is soldered to the board. Everything else, eg SBCs and pinebook have removable chips..
(01-09-2021, 01:59 AM)evilbunny Wrote: (01-09-2021, 01:32 AM)tgz Wrote: I just researched and ordered a microSD card and SD to micro adapter for my laptop so I can flash and install OS's for Pinephone.
Won't help you in this case, as the emmc chip is soldered to the board. Everything else, eg SBCs and pinebook have removable chips.. OK, thanks, I suspected that. I must have got confused reading all the instructions combined with multiple threads, somewhere along the line I thought a removable eMMc on the Pinephone was inferred. Hopefully will have a better handle on things when I've actually gone through the process of getting the phone flashed and up and running. thanks again!
(01-09-2021, 02:08 AM)tgz Wrote: OK, thanks, I suspected that. I must have got confused reading all the instructions combined with multiple threads, somewhere along the line I thought a removable eMMc on the Pinephone was inferred. Hopefully will have a better handle on things when I've actually gone through the process of getting the phone flashed and up and running. thanks again!
JumpDrive is the easiest way to flash the emmc chip
(01-09-2021, 03:11 AM)evilbunny Wrote: (01-09-2021, 02:08 AM)tgz Wrote: OK, thanks, I suspected that. I must have got confused reading all the instructions combined with multiple threads, somewhere along the line I thought a removable eMMc on the Pinephone was inferred. Hopefully will have a better handle on things when I've actually gone through the process of getting the phone flashed and up and running. thanks again!
JumpDrive is the easiest way to flash the emmc chip
Thanks, yes I saw that mentioned can't remember where, I will review and start there once my microSD cards and SD-micro adapters arrive.
Reflashing the PinePhone is pretty much straightforward, just boot it from a Micro SD card and use " dd" to write the same image you initially wrote to the Micro SD card to the phone's eMMC. You really don't need any fancy utilities to do all that.
(01-10-2021, 10:58 AM)dsimic Wrote: Reflashing the PinePhone is pretty much straightforward, just boot it from a Micro SD card and use "dd" to write the same image you initially wrote to the Micro SD card to the phone's eMMC. You really don't need any fancy utilities to do all that.
Hi! I am a very, very new in linux. (please forgive me that)
Can i ask you please, if it is not so hard to do, to write here step by step how i can " write the same image i initially wrote to the Micro SD card to the phone's eMMC." using terminal in OS on the PnePhone.
I can work with terminal in Plasma OS( installed on sd card ) , but i afraid not to create another mess.
I use Win32 Disk Imager before to install OS, but now it not "see" eMMC anymore to put OS .
When i install jumdrive to sd card, put in the phone , OS(not matter which), can be installed only on the same SD card, because eMMC is not visible to Win32 Disk Imager after Ubuntu touch.(this is what i mean- i hope i explain right and not to talk stupid things)
So i see it is time for me to learn how to flash this "invisible" eMMC( for Win32 Disk Imager) using terminal where eMMC is visible.
Also if there is any way to make eMMC visible for Win32 Disk Imager again, will be good, because i am curious how this work.(i suppose i must format eMMC in any way, but i still don`t know how).
Name in terminal of sd card is mmcblk0 ( it is7.4gb)
partitions:
mmcblk0p1
mmcblk0p2
Name in terminal of eMMC is mmcblk2 ( it is29.1gb)
Thank you!
02-08-2021, 12:11 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-08-2021, 01:45 AM by 7horns7eyes.)
In wind@ws that work
on sd card -Jumpdrive
run as admin CMD
diskpart
select disk (emmc) you recognized it by size around 16 or 32 GB depend what you have
clean
And it is visible again for imaging apps
02-10-2021, 12:05 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-10-2021, 12:10 AM by dsimic.)
(02-07-2021, 01:37 AM)7horns7eyes Wrote: Can i ask you please, if it is not so hard to do, to write here step by step how i can "write the same image i initially wrote to the Micro SD card to the phone's eMMC" using terminal in OS on the PnePhone. I can work with terminal in Plasma OS( installed on sd card ) , but i afraid not to create another mess.
Basically, the whole thing boils down to understanding the PinePhone boot options. One of the ways to boot it is to use a Micro SD card, which can be used to access the phone's internal eMMC module. Therefore, simply boot the phone from a Micro SD card, and write the image to the phone's eMMC. I'll try to explain this further.
In Linux, almost everything is a file. Hence, a Micro SD card is a file, the eMMC is also a file, and writing an operating system image to each of them is actually writing data to a file. However, a Micro SD card is a file that you can literally hold in your hand, while the eMMC is not that easily accessible. That's why you need to boot from a Micro SD card to be able to access the eMMC.
You might also want to boot your PC under Linux and write an image to a Micro SD card that way. While doing that, use the image file from a USB flash drive. Once you get comfortable with that, you'll realize that writing an image to the eMMC is very much the same thing, it's just that your PinePhone takes the role of your computer.
That way, you'll be able to actually learn something new, instead of just following a tutorial.
In the spirit of dsimic trying to "teach a man to fish" I will add my $0.02.
It also depends where the boot loader is located. I am new to Pine64 devices (and so cannot state specifics offhand just yet), but I have been around other devices over at Armbian for a while. And there is wide variation in how different devices boot. Some require bootloader at a specific location on certain media, etc.
I am assuming (you know what happens when you assume, lol) that if you can just dd the image, that the bootloader must be located somewhere else then?
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