This is how you flash to eMMC easily
#1
Hello everyone,

We now have a utility to flash eMMC. Many thanks go out to @MartijnBraam @Danct12 and others who contributed to making this happen.


Here's how it works:
1) download the Jumpdrive image
2) flash the Jumpdrive image to a SD card
3) boot from the SD card
4) connect the PinePhone to your computer using USB-A -> USB-C cable.
5) flash the exposed (mounted) PinePhone drive with a chosen OS image as you'd flash any SD card
6) once the flashing process is complete, disconnect the PinePhone from your PC, power it down and remove the Jumpdrive SD card
7) boot into your OS of choice on eMMC


Download Jumpdrive

[Image: 59Jb0pS.jpg]
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#2
(03-16-2020, 03:22 PM)buffer Wrote: you could also just flash chosen OS to the SD card, boot up the SD card, open a terminal and run this command:

dd if=/dev/mmcblkX of=/dev/mmcblkY bs=1M

That works, but you just wasted a bit of your time because you flashed the OS to SD card, then boot to the SD card and flash itself to the eMMC for the second time.

While this tool exposes the eMMC as a mass storage (basically as a USB drive), you can connect the device to the computer and flash the image right away to the eMMC.
Find me in the forest, when I'm at my lowest. I don't really think you should continue..

HOLD YOUR BREATH.
#3
(03-16-2020, 03:22 PM)buffer Wrote: That's cool but you could also just flash chosen OS to the SD card, boot up the SD card, open a terminal and run this command:

dd if=/dev/mmcblkX of=/dev/mmcblkY bs=1M

and then resize partition as described in wiki

https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PinePh...on_to_eMMC

unless this tool is for people allergic to command line Wink

In that case you're copying a mounted filesystem, which usually isn't a good idea.
#4
(03-16-2020, 04:17 PM)MartijnBraam Wrote:
(03-16-2020, 03:22 PM)buffer Wrote: That's cool but you could also just flash chosen OS to the SD card, boot up the SD card, open a terminal and run this command:

dd if=/dev/mmcblkX of=/dev/mmcblkY bs=1M

and then resize partition as described in wiki

https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PinePh...on_to_eMMC

unless this tool is for people allergic to command line Wink

In that case you're copying a mounted filesystem, which usually isn't a good idea.

Point taken. Bad things can happen...

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions...nted-risks

https://superuser.com/questions/396800/i...booted-off

I mistakenly assumed that using dd was a similar process to what goes on when live distros are booted, to install to an internal drive. I haven't looked closely enough at what happens there, I would like to run commands to reproduce the same effect, perhaps the tool you've made gets us there...

Edit: IT DOES! It's like a barebones Clonezilla for phones. The image is less than 50 MB. Could install this on a tiny cheap micro SD card and pop it in any time I want to change OS. No need to update it either...
*.*.* PinePhone BraveHeart edition w/ distro: Debian + Phosh // GuixOS, Debian, Arch // pocket linux enthusiast // washed up sysadmin *.*.*
#5
great job, thank u so much!
#6
The telnet connection is presumably actually 172.16.42.2 (and not .1 as on screen)?

Would be handy to know a userid/password for ssh - tried demo/147147 and demo/demo without success. Mainly to resize the partition straight after writing it. (I did a reboot of the phone and could do it then ignoring an "in use" message.

Otherwise thumbs up - thank-you devs!
  • ROCKPro64 v2.1 2GB, 16Gb eMMC for rootfs, SX8200Pro 512GB NVMe for /home, HDMI video & sound, Bluetooth keyboard & mouse. Arch (6.2 kernel, Openbox desktop) for general purpose daily PC.
  • PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition, daily driver, rk2aw & U-boot on SPI, Arch/SXMO & Arch/phosh on eMMC
  • PinePhone BraveHeart now v1.2b 3/32Gb, Tow-boot with Arch/SXMO on eMMC
#7
Very good job. It can flash images, resize and operate with eMMC all from the computer.

Thank you.
#8
(03-18-2020, 03:37 PM)dukla2000 Wrote: The telnet connection is presumably actually 172.16.42.2 (and not .1 as on screen)?

Would be handy to know a userid/password for ssh - tried demo/147147 and demo/demo without success. Mainly to resize the partition straight after writing it. (I did a reboot of the phone and could do it then ignoring an "in use" message.

Otherwise thumbs up - thank-you devs!

The telnet connection _is_ 172.16.42.1, the 172.16.42.2 is the ip address assigned to the computer end of the network connection. There's no ssh running, only telnet. The environment accessed is only the tiny rootfs in the initramfs.

You should be able to resize partitions using something like gparted from your PC since it's just a mass storage device.
#9
(03-23-2020, 09:25 AM)MartijnBraam Wrote:
(03-18-2020, 03:37 PM)dukla2000 Wrote: The telnet connection is presumably actually 172.16.42.2 (and not .1 as on screen)?

Would be handy to know a userid/password for ssh - tried demo/147147 and demo/demo without success. Mainly to resize the partition straight after writing it. (I did a reboot of the phone and could do it then ignoring an "in use" message.

Otherwise thumbs up - thank-you devs!

The telnet connection _is_ 172.16.42.1, the 172.16.42.2 is the ip address assigned to the computer end of the network connection. There's no ssh running, only telnet. The environment accessed is only the tiny rootfs in the initramfs.

You should be able to resize partitions using something like gparted from your PC since it's just a mass storage device.

yes that works , jumpdrive to put debian-phosh on the emmc ,and gparted to increase size, and moved 650 song into the music folder ,very nice..
#10
Sorry to reopen this thread so late, but...

I would like to try Mobian on SD card on my PinePhone, and then if I liked it, flash it to the emcc...

is there a specific size SD card I need to use to do it this way?

Once I flash it to the emcc, I'd like to be able to stick a big SD card in the phone, and mount it in my home directory... is that feasible?


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