Write SD cards with Etcher for Pinebook Pro

[futurejones]

If you need an easy way to write a new OS to a micro SDcard you can now use Etcher on the Pinebook Pro.

Available from the Swift-Arm Repository

Code:

# add repository
curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/swift-arm/etcher/script.deb.sh | sudo bash

# install etcher
sudo apt-get install balena-etcher-electron

More info at - https://github.com/futurejones/balena-etcher-arm

[TDC_PBP]

This is really complicated, but is it possible to boot from microsd on the PBP, install Etcher, and then flash the EMMC inside the Pinebook Pro with it? I am relatively new to Linux and would prefer to use the Etcher UI instead of the command-line DD command.  Thanks!

[linusfargo]

This is really complicated, but is it possible to boot from microsd on the PBP, install Etcher, and then flash the EMMC inside the Pinebook Pro with it? I am relatively new to Linux and would prefer to use the Etcher UI instead of the command-line DD command.  Thanks!

Yes, you can boot from an sd card, and no you dont need to flash anything. Just install your desired distribution or OS to an sd card and then reboot. The pinebook pro boot order prioritized the sd card over the internal storage.

But you really should try get more comfortable running commands in the terminal, it is your friend, and you can most often accomplish a complex task that would take tons of clicks in a GUI, with only one command line.

For example to install Ubuntu and create a bootable sd card only takes 3 commands and about 15 minutes.

Insert SD card then in a terminal run:

wget https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-b...mhf.img.xz
unxz bionic-mate-pinebookpro-0.9.14-1159-armhf.img.xz
sudo dd if=bionic-mate-pinebookpro-0.9.14-1159-armhf.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M status=progress

When complete just reboot with the sd card still inserted and you'll be running Ubuntu.

[TDC_PBP]

Thanks--I was just reluctant to use the command line. It worked great, though.

[LinuxIsNewToMe]

I cant get read/write permission to my sd card. I got it formatted just like my external hard drive. But for some reason I can't figure it out. I'm running default debian os.

Thanks in advance.

[FeMike]

I cant get read/write permission to my sd card. I got it formatted just like my external hard drive. But for some reason I can't figure it out. I'm running default debian os.

Thanks in advance.

When using gparted to format card it's using root so you need to change ownership. To get read and write permission of SD card while booted from Emmc and you have your sdcard inserted type this in the terminal.

sudo chown -R $USER /media/home-folder-name/name-of-drive

[charlespine]

This is really complicated, but is it possible to boot from microsd on the PBP, install Etcher, and then flash the EMMC inside the Pinebook Pro with it? I am relatively new to Linux and would prefer to use the Etcher UI instead of the command-line DD command.  Thanks!

Yes, you can boot from an sd card, and no you dont need to flash anything. Just install your desired distribution or OS to an sd card and then reboot. The pinebook pro boot order prioritized the sd card over the internal storage.

But you really should try get more comfortable running commands in the terminal, it is your friend, and you can most often accomplish a complex task that would take tons of clicks in a GUI, with only one command line.

For example to install Ubuntu and create a bootable sd card only takes 3 commands and about 15 minutes.

Insert SD card then in a terminal run:

wget https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-b...mhf.img.xz
unxz bionic-mate-pinebookpro-0.9.14-1159-armhf.img.xz
sudo dd if=bionic-mate-pinebookpro-0.9.14-1159-armhf.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M status=progress

When complete just reboot with the sd card still inserted and you'll be running Ubuntu.

I've tried the process with both Armbian and MrFixit's images for my PBP that I received this week and it won't boot from a 128 GB SD card. I'm hoping that the boot prioritization was set properly...not sure how to check it. Does anybody have any recommendations?

[ALBNC1974]

Have you tried warm-booting to the sd card?
I've found that my bran new (arrived Thursday) PBP will warm boot from the sd card, but won't cold boot from it.   I too am looking for answer as to how to control uboot on this machine.

[user8080]

I use Rafus3.10 to burn a image to the SD card in windows.
the image I used is found here
https://osdn.net/projects/manjaro-arm/st...e/20.02.1/

I chose xfce because its the lightest.
It booted first time with the SD card in, pressed escape after seeing the logo for 15 seconds and chose the first hard disk and now its installing to the EMMC.
Now I finally have my 128GB EMMC in use.

[charlespine]

I use Rafus3.10 to burn a image to the SD card in windows.
the image I used is found here
https://osdn.net/projects/manjaro-arm/st...e/20.02.1/

I chose xfce because its the lightest.
It booted first time with the SD card in, pressed escape after seeing the logo for 15 seconds and chose the first hard disk and now its installing to the EMMC.
Now I finally have my 128GB EMMC in use.

Hi user8080 - what release of the PBP did you get? I'm using the May 2020 release. After trying out a bunch of things from this forum, I realized that some PBP advice doesn't apply to this recent release that came with Manjaro.