Star64: Armbian Installation

[Der Geist der Maschine]

There are quite a few possible variants of the installation process. Below instructions do not require a serial console. All steps are performed on a linux pc and not on the star64.

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~ mkdir riscv && cd riscv

Download armbian from the bottom of this page https://www.armbian.com/star64/, e.g. Armbian Sid CLI or Armbian Sid XFCE desktop.

dd armbian onto a micro sd card. For me, a micro sd card is /dev/sdb. YMMV:

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv$ xzcat Armbian_23.5.0-trunk.231_Star64_sid_edge_5.15.0.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdb status=progress

Above image does not boot from the micro sd card - it misses a device tree for the star64.

Even with a device tree, armbian's kernel shuts down all usb ports, e.g. keyboard and mouse. For all this to work, use Fishwaldo's kernel. It can be compiled on a Linux PC.

Install a cross-compiler. That is distribution dependent. On Debian, that would be

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv$ sudo apt-get install libncurses-dev libssl-dev bc flex bison make gcc gcc-riscv64-linux-gnu

Download Fishwaldo's kernel

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv$ git clone https://github.com/Fishwaldo/Star64_linux linux
schaecsn@pc:~/riscv$ cd linux

Configure this kernel (CONFIG_SECCOMP is needed by armbian's default systemd service chrony)

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ make ARCH=riscv CROSS_COMPILE=riscv64-linux-gnu- pine64_star64_defconfig
schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ scripts/config -e CONFIG_SECCOMP
schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ scripts/config -d CONFIG_SECCOMP_CACHE_DEBUG

Apply possible patches:

• If you have a 8GB board, apply the patch from here https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18263
  
• If you want full GPU support then apply the patch from https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18301 and also follow the firmware installation step (possibly after a first boot into the star64)
  

Crosscompile the kernel

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ make -j4 ARCH=riscv CROSS_COMPILE=riscv64-linux-gnu-  bindeb-pkg

Above step creates these files and directories

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ ls -lad ../linux-image-5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty_5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty-1_riscv64.deb arch/riscv/boot/Image  debian/linux-image/lib/modules/5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty/ debian/linux-image/usr/lib/linux-image-5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty

-rw-r--r-- 1 schaecsn staff 19734212 May 28 22:47 ../linux-image-5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty_5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty-1_riscv64.deb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 schaecsn staff 26410944 May 28 22:45 arch/riscv/boot/Image
drwxr-xr-x 3 schaecsn staff    4096 May 28 22:46 debian/linux-image/lib/modules/5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty/
drwxr-xr-x 4 schaecsn staff    4096 May 28 22:46 debian/linux-image/usr/lib/linux-image-5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty

The correct way to install Fishwaldo's kernel / modules / device tree would be to run this command on a booted star64 system

Code:

sudo dpkg -i linux-image-5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty_5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty-1_riscv64.deb

I'm not awfully familiar with armbian. For some reason, the generated deb does not correctly install itself into the /boot directory. On top of this, we can't boot the current armbian installation as it misses a device tree, anyway.

A workaround is a manual installation of the kernel / modules / device tree.

Find an empty directory, say /mnt/tmp and mount the micro sd card on it:

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/tmp

Remove symbolic links of the kernel and device tree directory on the micro sd card (there is no need to make changes to the module directory as the old and new module directory names differ)

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ sudo rm /mnt/tmp/boot/Image /mnt/tmp/boot/dtb

Copy over our kernel / modules / device tree on the micro sd card

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ sudo rsync -avzH debian/linux-image/usr/lib/linux-image-5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty /mnt/tmp/boot/dtb
schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ sudo rsync -avzH arch/riscv/boot/Image /mnt/tmp/boot/
schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ sudo rsync -avzH debian/linux-image/lib/modules/5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty /mnt/tmp/lib/modules

Fix a typo of the device tree name in extlinux

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ sudo sed -i s/jh7110-star64-pine64.dtb/jh7110-pine64-star64.dtb/ /mnt/tmp/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf

Done

Code:

schaecsn@pc:~/riscv/linux$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1

Next boot the micro sd card on the star64.

Code:

schaecsn@192.168.0.216's password:
____  _              __  _  _ 
/ ___|| |_ __ _ _ __ / /_ | || | 
\___ \| __/ _` | '__| '_ \| || |_
___) | || (_| | |  | (_) |__  _|
|____/ \__\__,_|_|  \___/  |_| 
                                 
Welcome to Armbian 23.05.0-trunk Bookworm with bleeding edge Linux 5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0-dirty

No end-user support: built from trunk

System load:  54%              Up time:      0 min
Memory usage:  1% of 7.73G      IP:            192.168.0.216
CPU temp:      50°C            Usage of /:    23% of 7.2G 
RX today:      44.0 MiB 

[ 0 security updates available, 12 updates total: apt upgrade ]
Last check: 2023-05-21 15:22

Last login: Sun May 21 15:23:30 2023 from 192.168.1.231
schaecsn@star64:~$

Tuning after a first boot:

Code:

[   21.771962] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: firmware file rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin not found

This firmware blob for bluetooth comes from  armbian-firmware-full. Install it

Code:

schaecsn@star64:~$ sudo apt-get remove armbian-firmware
schaecsn@star64:~$ sudo apt-get install armbian-firmware-full

Possibly install GPU firmware as described in https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18301


Our integration of the kernel / module / device tree shortcuts the package management and armbian kernel / modules / device tree updates may overwrite our own versions.

My first try was deinstalling armbian's kernel / modules / device tree package. That turned out to have disadvantages. Packages that modify initrd trigger commands which come with the kernel package and fail updating the initrd.

For now, I can only suggest to manually copy over our kernel / modules / device tree whenever armbian overwrites them with its own versions.

On the long, armbian should better support the star64 and custom kernel / modules /device trees should not be necessary, anymore.

I was also playing around with ubuntu's riscv port. There, custom kernels can be installed with dpkg -i linux-image*.deb. They hook themselves up to grub and peacefully co-exist with the vanilla kernel.


Please post corrections and possible improvements (in particular on how to better make our own kernel co-exist with the package management).

[tantamount]

OK I cross-compiled the kernel. I'm using a different toolchain, because arm64 Debian's riscv64 gcc is broken.
I'm using this one:
https://github.com/riscv-collab/riscv-gnu-toolchain

I encountered a build error due to a missing file vdso.so.dbg. I changed a script riscv/kernel/vdso/.vdso.so.dbg.cmd and was able to create it. This issue was probably due to my toolchain.

For copying files into Armbian, I didn't see a "dirty" image directory, so I removed that suffix. My commands were these:

sudo rsync -avzH debian/linux-image/usr/lib/linux-image-5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0/ /mnt/boot/dtb
sudo rsync -avzH debian/linux-image/lib/modules/5.15.107-15659-g7943fd6427b0 /mnt/lib/modules
sudo rsync -avzH arch/riscv/boot/Image /mnt/boot/
sudo sed -i s/jh7110-star64-pine64.dtb/jh7110-pine64-star64.dtb/ /mnt/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf

Then finally I booted it and it worked, albeit with only 4GB of RAM detected, and there were startup errors.
The Armbian welcome screen stayed visible for probably 4 minutes.
There are also almost no packages installed, but luckily Ethernet works fine, so there will be a lot of apt installing tonight.

Caveat 1:
I discovered that because I refused to enter passwords for my root and user accounts, I later couldn't log in to either account. So I'll have to redo the process.

Caveat 2:
I'm finding that if I disconnect the HDMI cable while on a virtual console i.e. not X, so that I can use the monitor with my main computer, the Star64 will have video issues e.g. blanking for a while or indefinitely. This happens whether I'm using Armbian or Fishwaldo's build.

[Der Geist der Maschine]

For seeing all 8GB, you need to apply this patch https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18263. The "-dirty" suffix probably comes from me having a patch applied.

Yeah, a very few systemd services fail (smartmontools failed as well. I deinstalled it as I don't see a need on a micro sd card based system)

Code:

schaecsn@star64:~$ systemctl --failed
UNIT                        LOAD  ACTIVE SUB
armbian-zram-config.service loaded failed failed Armbian ZRAM
chrony.service              loaded failed failed chrony, an NTP client/
systemd-binfmt.service      loaded failed failed Set Up Additional Binary Formats

After not booting the star64 for some hours, the time was off. I gain the impression there is no RTC and having an NTP client is a must. One should look into the chrony service failure. [Update a few hours later: Kernel config SECCOMP is needed by chrony: I updated the installation instructions][Update a few hours later: armbian-zram-config probably requires kernel option CONFIG_ZRAM - I'm not interested in zram and will simply disable this service].



I noticed one ethernet port is very flanky (the one directly on the board) and the other one works (the one on top of the other). I can't imagine that this is an armbian issue. Did you notice that on Fishwaldo's image as well?

Did you also notice that Xorg is very slow? I just started it once ... and decided to log in via ssh, only.

[tantamount]

For seeing all 8GB, you need to apply this patch https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18263. The "-dirty" suffix probably comes from me having a patch applied.

Yeah, a very few systemd services fail (smartmontools failed as well. I deinstalled it as I don't see a need on a micro sd card based system)

Code:

schaecsn@star64:~$ systemctl --failed
UNIT                        LOAD  ACTIVE SUB
armbian-zram-config.service loaded failed failed Armbian ZRAM
chrony.service              loaded failed failed chrony, an NTP client/
systemd-binfmt.service      loaded failed failed Set Up Additional Binary Formats

After not booting the star64 for some hours, the time was off. I gain the impression there is no RTC and having an NTP client is a must. One should look into the chrony service failure. [Update a few hours later: Kernel config SECCOMP is needed by  chrony: I updated the installation instructions][Update a few hours later: armbian-zram-config probably requires kernel option CONFIG_ZRAM - I'm not interested in zram and will simply disable this service].



I noticed one ethernet port is very flanky (the one directly on the board) and the other one works (the one on top of the other). I can't imagine that this is an armbian issue. Did you notice that on Fishwaldo's image as well?

Did you also notice that Xorg is very slow? I just started it once ... and decided to log in via ssh, only.

Xorg is extraordinarily slow, considering how fast Wayland was. As I understand it, X is usually sped up by establishing a shared memory area so that clients can talk to the server quickly and pass a lot of data. Back in the day, the connection to the X server was a stream of bytes. My guess is that the shared memory area wasn't enabled or a library was missing when Xorg was compiled.

Both of my Ethernet ports seem to be working fine. I was able to download many gigabytes on each of them. I did notice however that when I pull the cable out and put it in the other port, there's a one minute wait for the network to start working again.

Another issue I'm seeing is an error on the console where a kworker is blocked for too long.

The JH7110 SoC spec sheet shows that it has an RTC, but looking at the board I don't see a battery for it.

By the way 8GB is working for me now, your fix worked.

I've been updating my system with every package I could think of. The fact that X is too slow to use is the first big problem to tackle. Maybe I'll recompile the Xorg server.

[Der Geist der Maschine]

Xorg is extraordinarily slow, considering how fast Wayland was. As I understand it, X is usually sped up by establishing a shared memory area so that clients can talk to the server quickly and pass a lot of data. Back in the day, the connection to the X server was a stream of bytes. My guess is that the shared memory area wasn't enabled or a library was missing when Xorg was compiled.

I can't imagine that no shmem support brings X to such a crawl.

I don't have Xorg installed on Armbian, anymore. That's from another machine. That's how you can check for shmem support

Code:

~$ grep -i shm /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[   123.365] (II) Initializing extension MIT-SHM

Both of my Ethernet ports seem to be working fine. I was able to download many gigabytes on each of them.

Oh, now both ethernet ports work. I'm not sure what changed. Guess I'm not as tech savvy as I thought

Another issue I'm seeing is an error on the console where a kworker is blocked for too long.

I don't see an blocked kworker threads

Code:

root@star64:~# journalctl -b 0| grep kworker
root@star64:~# dmesg | grep kworker
root@star64:~#

Here are my complete boot logs http://corona.crabdance.com/riscv/bootlo...230529.txt

Well, that does not help you that much.

[Der Geist der Maschine]

I updated my original posting with how to install the bluetooth and gpu firmware. The latter is mostly a reference to https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18301.  @tantamount, do you want to try Xorg with proper GPU support, again?