Write image to eMMC - Pinebook 11.6"
#1
Ok. This has probably been done to death, but I'm trying to get my head around writing a bootable image to the eMMC.

As far as I can tell there are two steps.

1 Download an image and write it to an SD card, and boot the Pinebook from it.
2 After booting, download another image (same or different- but basically the one you want on the eMMC) then use dd to write to of=/dev/mmcblk1

Then power off, remove SD card, power on. The Pinebook should boot from the image that was written in step 2. Is that basically it?

I just got the 1080p image from here:
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinebook_So...Neon_Image

I flashed it to my SD card using dd, and it boots. I've "set it up" but I realise that that has only affected the SD card image. My guess is I have to dd the image again (as I said) and then reboot and set it up (again).

Thanks.


  Reply
#2
Actually I might try Manjaro KDE. It seems a little more recent. I'm guessing the process is the same.
  Reply
#3
Not sure. Now that I have the original KDE Neon working I might just update that. Anyone know if there will be a later version than August 2020? Manjaro KDE is December 2021 (w00t!).
  Reply
#4
I'm using Manjaro Sway on my pinebook 11 and I'm satisfied with it.

Quote:... Then power off, remove SD card, power on. The Pinebook should boot from the image that was written in step 2. Is that basically it?


Yes, that's how I always do it.
  Reply
#5
Success!

I went with KDE Neon. The image is from August 2020, but it should be fine for what I want.

I didn't have a big enough SD card to boot the image and download another copy of the image to write to eMMC, but I did have a USB stick with sufficient space.

So, I downloaded the KDE Neon image to a Raspberry Pi and copied it to the USB stick. I then used dd to write the same image to an SD card. Next, I booted the Pinebook from the SD card and inserted the USB stick. Then, I used dd to write the image from the USB stick to the Pinebook eMMC. That was successful, so I shut down the Pinebook, removed the SD card and USB stick, then booted it up.

I then ran the installer from the icon at top left, which set up the image for me.

The last step it did was resize the partition so that I used all of the 16Gb eMMC. I think this step failed when I originally bought the Pinebook, meaning I only had access to about 5Gb of the eMMC. This quickly filled up, and I got into great difficulty booting and trying to do anything. I shouldn't have that problem now.

Finally, I logged in as me and ran "Discover" to install any updates. Now I'm going to reboot and hope everything still works.

I still like the Pinebook (original 11.6" 1080p). It's a bit slow, but it's functional, and the screen is very nice. I plan to use it as a bCNC controller for my DIY CNC machine.

Thank you all for reading.
  Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  DietPi OS for Pinebook MichaIng 3 7,079 03-11-2024, 05:02 PM
Last Post: oxoocoffee
  Slarm64 on Pinebook [Slackware Arm - 64 bit] KRT 46 71,232 09-26-2023, 03:18 PM
Last Post: mara
  Broke pinebook GUI, what to do, fix or install new? acruhl 2 1,584 07-13-2023, 05:43 PM
Last Post: acruhl
  Orignal PineBook jwp1000 1 1,198 07-10-2023, 07:44 AM
Last Post: tophneal
  Pinebook no longer boots rjtanner 12 5,817 04-13-2023, 01:09 PM
Last Post: tophneal
Rainbow Customised (encrypted) eMMC installation using Anarsoul's ArchLinux Blutkoete 24 38,660 05-02-2022, 12:59 PM
Last Post: thunderweasel
  Stock Debian on original Pinebook moonwalkers 1 3,789 01-29-2022, 10:37 PM
Last Post: cel
  E: The repository 'http://pinebook.kde.org.uk bionic Release' no longer has a Release pixelpaperyarn 3 5,980 05-07-2021, 10:20 AM
Last Post: tophneal
  pinebook.kde.org.uk no longer has release file?? supermassive 1 4,242 01-20-2021, 11:18 AM
Last Post: tophneal
  Kali on SD does not Detect EMMC marianobilli 1 3,759 01-07-2021, 06:56 PM
Last Post: evilbunny

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)