Armbian for Rock64

[Rocklobster]

Where I can find the image ?

OK, in general:

https://www.armbian.com/download/

But you will notice it's not listed.  You can still manually go to https://www.armbian.com/rock64/ however, but here we must note a few very important things:

• It's CSC (no support).  This is a red flag.
  
• There is a link to a forum thread about stability.
  
• There is another note about eMMC troubles.
  

At this point I am wondering which image Rocklobster is using?  Did you build?  Because I see a lot of red flags here.

Are you sure Rocklobster you are referring to Rock64 (and not ROCKPro64)?  I just want to be sure.

Is it possible to install it without losing anything already installed?

Generally speaking, this is not supported.  However there are some people on the forums telling how to do this.  You would be on your own however.

But there seem to be much bigger problems here, proceed with caution!

---

I knew this sounded vaguely familiar.  I see gedas07 that you found your way to make this post.  I would advise to keep looking around the forums there and see if anyone found a solution.  Otherwise we are into development and bug fixing here.

Armbian 21.5.04 Buster Linux 5.10,63 Rockchip64 and this Is definitely for the Rock64 board. I generally start from a fresh install when upgrading between releases. I've never had much luck upgrading on Linux OS in situ.

[spiritofjerry]

It appears the latest Linux kernel breaks the USB3 functionality on the Rock64, meaning that the board is either non-functional or is vulnerable to the dirty pipe security flaw.

Here's some reading on the issue

https://dietpi.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=10195
https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/issues/5378

As Armbian has dropped support for the board, and the latest Debian kernel updates break functionality of this board, it's functionally a dead end piece of hardware.

[TRS-80]

It appears the latest Linux kernel breaks [...]

As Armbian has dropped support for the board, and the latest Debian kernel updates break functionality of this board, it's functionally a dead end piece of hardware.

No, it just means that someone needs to invest some time figuring out what happened.

Kernel is moving forward all the time, so things require constant maintenance. Which is something Armbian have been trying to raise awareness about.

In fact, as a small team of almost exclusively volunteers, with little to no support from most manufacturers, I am amazed how many boards they have been able to support, at such a high level, for as long as they have already.

But now they need a little help.

[TRS-80]

I just so happened to stumble across the following thread while catching up at Armbian forums just now:

Rock64 official support

Which I think gives not only some good historical context, but also some more recent info about which of the more recent build(s) might be working.

[spiritofjerry]

I just so happened to stumble across the following thread while catching up at Armbian forums just now:

Rock64 official support

Which I think gives not only some good historical context, but also some more recent info about which of the more recent build(s) might be working.

I think Igor's bias against Pine64 is quite overt there, referring to the Rock64 as "cheap hardware." If the original maintainer feels like it's a dead-end, I don't know what else to add.

I can understand the task of trying to support so much hardware, and why it isn't feasible, but my point was clear and stands: this is dead-end hardware if nobody else is going to do the work. I'm surely not capable of it.

I will be buying hardware moving forward that does have Armbian support, "voting with my dollar" as Igor would say.

[Rocklobster]

I just so happened to stumble across the following thread while catching up at Armbian forums just now:

Rock64 official support

Which I think gives not only some good historical context, but also some more recent info about which of the more recent build(s) might be working.

You can't get clearer than that. In fact anyone having anything to say about Rock64 running on Armbian should join the discussion there. It's pointless in Rock64 owners coming here to complain about Armbian not running on their boards. Hats off to the volunteers over at Armbian. There's no financial gain or incentive whatsoever for them continuing to support this board yet after reading that post maybe the Pine people will sit up and take note. Remember your board is a doorstop if it doesn't boot an OS.

[spiritofjerry]

yet after reading that post maybe the Pine people will sit up and take note. Remember your board is a doorstop if it doesn't boot an OS.

Which was my point this entire time. Broken OS without support is dead-end hardware for the masses.

[TRS-80]

PINE64 is certainly not unique in not financially (or otherwise) supporting Armbian. But this is something we (me especially) have been trying to raise awareness about.

All the work (and costs) really are in the software development. Hardware manufacturers know this. And it never 'ends.' Kernel is always moving forward, things break, etc...

OTOH, I actually like PINE64 products, I own several (and plan on buying more). I really do think they make some interesting hardware. So I find myself somehow in the middle of this, as one of few PINE64 advocates within the Armbian project.