An unofficial Debian Installer for Pinebook Pro

[jgullickson]

This so far is my favorite way to put Linux on the Pinebook, bravo!

I'm having a problem that I'd like to help address, but I'm not sure where to look next.  I've read through the thread and the notes on the wiki and I haven't seen discussion of this specific issue, but if I've missed something please point me in that direction

Gnome crashes, and takes everything down with it.  It restarts fine, but everything is gone.  It seems to be related to saving files.

For example, if I click a link to a file in Firefox, the "open or download" dialog pops-up fine, and if I choose "open", the application that handles the file opens just fine, but if I choose "download", it looks like the file dialog begins to open and Gnome crashes.

Another slightly different example, when I choose "export" in OpenSCAD, the save dialog opens fine and the file is saved, but a second or two later, Gnome crashes.

A counterexample is the Gnome Text Editor application.  This program can save files without triggering the crash.

I've tried to monitor the logs during these events for clues, but since the entire GUI goes down and a lot happens before it comes back, I might be missing things.  The only log entries I tend to see are related to GPU and panfrost, so it might have to do with the visual effects of the file dialog?

I've tried disabling the Gnome's transition effects via the tweaks app, but if there's other things to try I'm game.  In particular I'd be interested in disabling the Panfrost driver to see if that's part of the problem, but I don't know how to do that under Gnome.

Any tips appreciated, and thanks again for creating this build!

[danielt]

Any tips appreciated, and thanks again for creating this build!

There are three common approaches.

1. Add "modprobe.blacklist=panfrost" to the kernel command line (in /etc/default/u-boot), regenerate the u-boot menus and reboot. You can use "glxinfo | grep OpenGL" to check if it works (the renderer should change the llvmpipe).

2. Rebuild mesa from git (see https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8953 )

3. Grab the mesa 20 packages from unstable (https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/mesa ).

[Damon]

Gnome crashes, and takes everything down with it.  It restarts fine, but everything is gone.  It seems to be related to saving files.

Hi, I was experiencing similar crashes that would blank the screen in GNOME, though I hadn't connected it to saving files. The PBP would still be avialable in SSH for awhile then not. Holding the power button to shutdown then restarting was the only way out. This was under the previous stable version of Manjaro when using Wayland, but it didn't happen under Xorg. And the 2020.4.17 stable update fixed it for me.

So if it also only happens for you under Wayland, that could mean one or more of the packages that were updated in Manjaro's 2020.4.17 update are what you need. I am using mesa-git and it got updated, as did Wayland.

[jgullickson]

Any tips appreciated, and thanks again for creating this build!

There are three common approaches.

1. Add "modprobe.blacklist=panfrost" to the kernel command line (in /etc/default/u-boot), regenerate the u-boot menus and reboot. You can use "glxinfo | grep OpenGL" to check if it works (the renderer should change the llvmpipe).

2. Rebuild mesa from git (see https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8953 )

3. Grab the mesa 20 packages from unstable (https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/mesa ).

Thanks danielt, I'll give the second option a try!

[jgullickson]

Any tips appreciated, and thanks again for creating this build!

There are three common approaches.

1. Add "modprobe.blacklist=panfrost" to the kernel command line (in /etc/default/u-boot), regenerate the u-boot menus and reboot. You can use "glxinfo | grep OpenGL" to check if it works (the renderer should change the llvmpipe).

2. Rebuild mesa from git (see https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8953 )

3. Grab the mesa 20 packages from unstable (https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/mesa ).

Thanks danielt, I'll give the second option a try!

Woah, not only did this stop the crashes, it's smoking fast.

Thank-you again Danielt!

[jazzmans]

Hi all!

I'm  a long time debian user,  (since Woody!)  but know 0 about git, and although I'm fairly bash savvy, I'm not a coder.

<see below>I went to the git page, downloaded/cloned the entire thing to ~/filename/pinebook-pro-debian-installer using the clone/download button in firefox,   but when I run (either as user or root) from within the correct directory ./install-debian,
it errors out immediately with "fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git"

I'm doing this from the pinebook pro, running the default oldstable debian installation it came with, fully updated via apt.

As should be obvious, I'm not git savvy in the slightest, and the entire boot process of arm confuses me.
Can anyone assist me in getting this process going to install unstable onto an sdcard?

TIA.

<new info>  ok.  figured out I had to do 'git init, and then git clone (git location)

now the installer fails at:

dd: failed to open 'bootloader/pinebook/filesystem/idbloader.img': No such file or directory

Suggestions?

[edit may 20]
None of these problems are problems any longer. currently at installing packages on debian installer.
[end edit]

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Hi all!

I'm  a long time debian user,  (since Woody!)  but know 0 about git, and although I'm fairly bash savvy, I'm not a coder.

I went to the git page, downloaded/cloned the entire thing to ~/filename/pinebook-pro-debian-installer using the clone/download button in firefox,   but when I run (either as user or root) from within the correct directory ./install-debian,
it errors out immediately with "fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git"

I'm doing this from the pinebook pro, running the default oldstable debian installation it came with, fully updated via apt.

As should be obvious, I'm not git savvy in the slightest, and the entire boot process of arm confuses me.
Can anyone assist me in getting this process going to install unstable onto an sdcard?

TIA.

Yes, to get a proper build tree, you need to clone the git repository. The download buttons work for getting binaries and docs, but not for checking out, etc.

It's pretty simple. Make sure you have git locally (sudo apt install git).
At a bash prompt, in the parent directory of your choice (I use ~/build) it's as simple as:

Code:

$ git clone https://github.com/daniel-thompson/pinebook-pro-debian-installer

There's a lot more to git that can eventually be learned, if you like. Labeled branches are handy at times, and the ability to sync local changes. But simple fetching of build trees can almost start and end with 'git clone'.

This is for Bullseye/Testing. If you want Buster or Sid, there's pretty good instruction, elsewhere in this forum:
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...e#pid58996

[jazzmans]

Hi all!

I'm  a long time debian user,  (since Woody!)  but know 0 about git, and although I'm fairly bash savvy, I'm not a coder.

I went to the git page, downloaded/cloned the entire thing to ~/filename/pinebook-pro-debian-installer using the clone/download button in firefox,   but when I run (either as user or root) from within the correct directory ./install-debian,
it errors out immediately with "fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git"

I'm doing this from the pinebook pro, running the default oldstable debian installation it came with, fully updated via apt.

As should be obvious, I'm not git savvy in the slightest, and the entire boot process of arm confuses me.
Can anyone assist me in getting this process going to install unstable onto an sdcard?

TIA.

Yes, to get a proper build tree, you need to clone the git repository. The download buttons work for getting binaries and docs, but not for checking out, etc.

It's pretty simple. Make sure you have git locally (sudo apt install git).
At a bash prompt, in the parent directory of your choice (I use ~/build) it's as simple as:
$ git clone https://github.com/daniel-thompson/pineb...-installer

There's a lot more to git that can eventually be learned, if you like. Labeled branches are handy at times, and the ability to sync local changes. But simple fetching of build trees can almost start and end with 'git clone'.

Thank you sir,  after reading more, I figured this out, (finally) and now the installation fails at

dd: failed to open 'bootloader/pinebook/filesystem/idbloader.img': No such file or directory

Suggestions from here?

ps,  audiofool here,  I adore brian Eno, and have everything he's ever composed.

[edit may 20]

none of the above problems are problems with the installer now.  probably user error
currently on 'installing packages' on installer.[end edit]

[User 15267]

I am having some trouble cloning mrfixit's repository:

Code:

Cloning into '/home/user/pinebook-pro-debian-installer/bootloader'...
error: RPC failed; curl 18 transfer closed with outstanding read data remaining
fatal: the remote end hung up unexpectedly
fatal: early EOF
fatal: index-pack failed
fatal: clone of 'https://github.com/mrfixit2001/updates_repo' into submodule path '/home/user/pinebook-pro-debian-installer/bootloader' failed

I have tried various remedies online even going as far as recompiling git from source with OpenSSL support but all fail. I tried cloning his repository directly but this also fails at about 26%. Does anyone have any tips or is there a workaround?

Apologies if this is a silly question but can the official Debian packages be used in debootstrap scripts? If not what all is needed within the repos for this to be possible in the future? I much prefer automating and building my own installations to downloading precompiled images and I am trying to wrap my head around all the different pieces involved so any guidance is appreciated.

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Thank you sir,  after reading more, I figured this out, (finally) and now the installation fails at

dd: failed to open 'bootloader/pinebook/filesystem/idbloader.img': No such file or directory

Suggestions from here?

ps,  audiofool here,  I adore brian Eno, and have everything he's ever composed.

Jazzmans, I just saw this, sorry!


The firmware files for the bootloader are fetched from the running image on your Pinebook Pro, with a section of Daniel's script, using dd.
This is in a section "do_bootloader" - Lines 55-64.

If you are running the script on a standard PP image like the default Debian or Manjaro releases, this should work, unless your bootfiles are on a different device - example if somehow the bootfiles are on the EMMC and your running rootfs is on a USB, somehow without these.

It could also be that you aren't executing with the right permissions? IIRC I could not run this with sudo. I think I had to su as root for permissions.

Code:

su -c ./install-debian

It's worth trying, if your other configuration is good.

Brian Eno? I just came upstairs from laying down vocal tracks on a cover version of "Needles In The Camel's Eye". I'm in an Eno-saturated period!