How to mainline kernel on daniel thompson's debian installer?

[hellojack]

Hi, i installed debian with daniel thompson's debian installer.

I noticed that the kernel is from a repository, and it's 5.8. 
I want to install the lastest(5.10 in bullseye), mainline kernel.

Installing `linux-image-5.10-x-arm64` or something like that, and rebooting my system showed black screen.

How can i properly switch kernel on it?

[TRS-80]

I would bet there is a (good) reason he is using that particular kernel.

I personally don't like to keep up with LKML, so I use Armbian instead and let them worry about all the low level details. There are a lot of differences between ARM and x86 that you might not be aware of, even if you are an experienced GNU/Linux user.

[vajak]

The bottom line is to find the proper initramfs configuration matching the actual hardware.
Try configuring the initramfs to be build with "most" modules.
While this creates a huge initramfs file, chances are it contains all needed to boot normally.

Once booted, create a listing of all loaded modules with the lsmod command and use that to tune the actual initramfs build.

That's the way i managed to create a suitable initram configuration.
See https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=15031 for the result.

[KiteX3]

I've tried this repeatedly on and off for most of eight months now, and I've had no luck so far.

I'd just be happy to get the repeated graphics crashes that plague my Debian install fixed.

I would bet there is a (good) reason he is using that particular kernel.

I personally don't like to keep up with LKML, so I use Armbian instead and let them worry about all the low level details.  There are a lot of differences between ARM and x86 that you might not be aware of, even if you are an experienced GNU/Linux user.

I was under the impression that Armbian didn't even officially support their Pinebook Pro Ubuntu images; they don't even seem to build Debian images any more for the Pinebook Pro. I can't speak of the current stability of Armbian but I'm skeptical that they're pouring much attention on ensuring their distribution works well with the PBP.

[TRS-80]

I was under the impression that Armbian didn't even officially support their Pinebook Pro Ubuntu images; they don't even seem to build Debian images any more for the Pinebook Pro. I can't speak of the current stability of Armbian but I'm skeptical that they're pouring much attention on ensuring their distribution works well with the PBP.

The main reason I started looking at PINE64 products in the first place was because one of the main Armbian devs was raving about how well his PBP was working on the (at that time new) desktop images. And that was probably a year or more ago by now.

Armbian are very conservative with what they declare as "Supported" and that term also has some particular meaning (as well as requirements) within the Armbian project. But as I said, I have heard from very reliable sources that it works well. And I have read a number of similar comments on these very forums in addition. To the point that I am getting ready to purchase one myself.

If you have a spare sd card laying around, how about just give it a try? What have you got to lose other than a few minutes of your time?

[KiteX3]

I really should give Armbian a proper try on an SD card some time. It just hasn't appealed too much to me since it currently only offers Ubuntu, not Debian, images, and those are only offered with desktops I don't much care for; since I started using my Debian PBP as a side-daily-driver to complement my desktop, I've slowed down on experimenting with other operating systems for the most part.

[TRS-80]

FWIW, I am a Debian (not Ubuntu) user as well.  Even though Debian desktop images may not be published, I am pretty sure it should still be possible to build them.  In fact that is what Armbian project actually is, a build tool.  But since they publish images, they are often mistaken as "a distribution."  In fairness, even I was operating under this misunderstanding for years.

Choice of DE is more related to how much development resources the Armbian project have (only few volunteers in reality) as well as limitations of the hardware.  Personally I am OK with XFCE but of course DE choice is highly subjective and personal.

At any rate, if end up buying a PBP (probably will), I suppose I will need to learn more about that.  And if I do, maybe I become maintainer, and if so maybe I can get it to Supported status and start publishing images again.  No promises though.

[Der Geist der Maschine]

Hi, i installed debian with daniel thompson's debian installer.

I noticed that the kernel is from a repository, and it's 5.8. 
I want to install the lastest(5.10 in bullseye), mainline kernel.

Installing `linux-image-5.10-x-arm64` or something like that, and rebooting my system showed black screen.

How can i properly switch kernel on it?

I upgraded Daniel Thompson's Debian to 11 and 12.

Now that he does not support his 5.5 and 5.7 kernels anymore, I wanted to move to a vanilla Debian kernel by installing linux-image-arm64 (6.1.0)

Code:

apt-get install linux-image-arm64
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  firmware-linux-free linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64
Suggested packages:
  linux-doc-6.1 debian-kernel-handbook
  The following NEW packages will be installed:
  firmware-linux-free linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64 linux-image-arm64
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 57.6 MB of archives.
After this operation, 355 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main arm64 firmware-linux-free all 20200122-1
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main arm64 linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64 arm64 6.1
56% [2 linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64 35.2 MB/57.6 MB 61%]
Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main arm64 linux-image-arm64 arm64 6.1.27-1 [1,436 B]
Fetched 57.6 MB in 4min 1s (239 kB/s)                                                   
Selecting previously unselected package firmware-linux-free.
(Reading database ... 219467 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../firmware-linux-free_20200122-1_all.deb ...
Unpacking firmware-linux-free (20200122-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64.
Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64_6.1.27-1_arm64.deb ...
Unpacking linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64 (6.1.27-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package linux-image-arm64.
Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-arm64_6.1.27-1_arm64.deb ...
Unpacking linux-image-arm64 (6.1.27-1) ...
Setting up linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64 (6.1.27-1) ...
I: /vmlinuz.old is now a symlink to boot/vmlinuz-5.7.0-2-pinebookpro-arm64
I: /initrd.img.old is now a symlink to boot/initrd.img-5.7.0-2-pinebookpro-arm64
I: /vmlinuz is now a symlink to boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-9-arm64
I: /initrd.img is now a symlink to boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-9-arm64
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-9-arm64
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/yy-update-pinebookpro-fdt:
P: Found /usr/lib/linux-image-6.1.0-9-arm64/rockchip/rk3399-pinebook-pro.dtb
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-u-boot-menu:
P: Checking for EXTLINUX directory... found.
P: Writing config for vmlinuz-6.1.0-9-arm64...
P: Writing config for vmlinuz-5.7.0-2-pinebookpro-arm64...
P: Writing config for vmlinuz-5.5.0-1-pinebookpro-arm64...
P: Updating /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf...
Setting up linux-image-arm64 (6.1.27-1) ...
Setting up firmware-linux-free (20200122-1) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.142) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-9-arm64

That installs a new device tree, initrd and vmlinux into /boot. It also hooks them up in /boot/extlinux/

Code:

root@pinebook-pro:~# dir /boot/
total 108469
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root    1024 Jun 25 18:57 .
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root    4096 Jun 25 18:56 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  209169 Feb 13  2020 config-5.5.0-1-pinebookpro-arm64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  212744 Sep 25  2020 config-5.7.0-2-pinebookpro-arm64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  291075 May  8 13:16 config-6.1.0-9-arm64
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root      512 Dec 31  1969 efi
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    1024 Jun 25 19:00 extlinux
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  6387878 Aug 27  2020 initrd.img-5.5.0-1-pinebookpro-arm64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  7976725 Jun 18 15:49 initrd.img-5.7.0-2-pinebookpro-arm64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  9215674 Jun 25 18:56 initrd.img-6.1.0-9-arm64
drwx------  2 root root    12288 Jan 22  2020 lost+found
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    64389 Jun 25 18:56 rk3399-pinebook-pro.dtb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    60731 Jun 25 17:04 rk3399-pinebook-pro.dtb.thompson
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  5149167 Feb 13  2020 System.map-5.5.0-1-pinebookpro-arm64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  5248249 Sep 25  2020 System.map-5.7.0-2-pinebookpro-arm64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root      83 May  8 13:16 System.map-6.1.0-9-arm64
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 21666304 Feb 13  2020 vmlinuz-5.5.0-1-pinebookpro-arm64
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 22149632 Sep 25  2020 vmlinuz-5.7.0-2-pinebookpro-arm64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 32348672 May  8 13:16 vmlinuz-6.1.0-9-arm64

Just like OP's kernel, that kernel just does not boot. The screen remains black.

I can change the default boot label to 5.7 in extlinux.conf and Debian boots successful. So, installing linux-image-arm64 did not mess around with my invisible u-boot partition and alike.

The bottom line is to find the proper initramfs configuration matching the actual hardware.

I don't have a console cable and can't learn where the boot process hangs. I though I read that Debian supports the Pinebook Pro and so I expect to get the Debian kernel running with little hassle. So, how have any of you successfully upgraded Daniel Thompson's kernel?

[BronzeBeard]

Hi, i installed debian with daniel thompson's debian installer.

I noticed that the kernel is from a repository, and it's 5.8. 
I want to install the lastest(5.10 in bullseye), mainline kernel.

Installing `linux-image-5.10-x-arm64` or something like that, and rebooting my system showed black screen.

How can i properly switch kernel on it?

I upgraded Daniel Thompson's Debian to 11 and 12.

Now that he does not support his 5.5 and 5.7 kernels anymore, I wanted to move to a vanilla Debian kernel by installing linux-image-arm64 (6.1.0)
Just like OP's kernel, that kernel just does not boot. The screen remains black.

I can change the default boot label to 5.7 in extlinux.conf and Debian boots successful. So, installing linux-image-arm64 did not mess around with my invisible u-boot partition and alike.

The bottom line is to find the proper initramfs configuration matching the actual hardware.

I don't have a console cable and can't learn where the boot process hangs. I though I read that Debian supports the Pinebook Pro and so I expect to get the Debian kernel running with little hassle. So, how have any of you successfully upgraded Daniel Thompson's kernel?

Did you ever get this resolved. I've been debating on upgrading my Daniel Thompson Debian, but have yet done so.

[TRS-80]

Because of differences between x86 (where there is clearly defined hardware interface, i.e., BIOS) and ARM, Armbian is still going to be ahead of vanilla Debian for a long time on most ARM-based devices (including PBP).  That is their raison d'être, after all.

I became maintainer, but then could not attend meetings (got busy with life) so support status went back to 'Community Support (CSC)' but the build system is still producing images.  I have not tested latest ones, but hope to again soon.

Maybe give a try and let us know how it goes.