armhf not possible on cubietruck

hoschi · 2021-01-05 23:54:58

Hallo,

I'm not able to even start the installer armhf version on a Cubietruck.
I've tried ASCII as well as beowulf version. For both of them the pinned
instructions do not work at all.

The system boots up.
Beowulf reports starting the kernel. But the screen just goes black.
ASCII shows two tux symbols after starting the kernel. But it goes
black as well.
LEDs do not show any activity at all. Just the green led.

For beowulf i did:
zcat firmware.Cubietruck.beowulf.img.gz partition.img.gz > /dev/sdj

For ascii:
xzcat devuan_ascii_2.0.0_armhf_sunxi.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdj bs=2M
dd if=Cubietruck_defconfig.bin of=/dev/sdj bs=1024 seek=8 && sync

Am i missing something ?

Thanks,
Sascha

kuleszdl · 2021-01-06 04:38:54

Hi,

afaik this is a cubietruck-specific issue. Try the following in u-boot:

setenv bootargs console=tty1 fb=false
saveenv 
boot

Btw.: Welcome to the forums!

Last edited by kuleszdl (2021-01-06 04:40:03)

hoschi · 2021-01-06 07:09:09

Moin,

Thank you a lot !

I'm sorry ... Happy new year !!

I'd love to be able to go to the boot prompt and i tried two different keyboards
but neither of them worked. It looks like they'are simply not recognized at the
stage where one could interrupt the boot process.
I've read somewhere that a USB hub in between could possibly make a difference,
but it didn't.
Is it possible to change the - is it the boot.scr file ? - boot process somehow ?

tuxd3v · 2021-01-06 09:49:33

hoschi wrote:

Moin,
I've read somewhere that a USB hub in between could possibly make a difference,
but it didn't.

Hello,
In the README section, in the end, the method specified to install is via serial connection..
Using a usb-to-serial converter, exactly because it prevents that problem with displays

hoschi · 2021-01-06 13:43:05

Ok...
Just ordered an adapter.
Thank you so far !

kuleszdl · 2021-01-07 02:44:30

Sure, serial adapter is possible as well but this is cheating. ;-) No but it requires opening the case each time which can be annoying, and eventually you want to have working HDMI output in your installed system as well. With that being said, it is never a bad idea to have a serial console at hand anyways.

You are right about the USB issue, I completely forgot that. The boot.scr has some kind of binary format that is generated from boot.cmd. This can be done using the mkimage command as described in the sunxi wiki:

https://linux-sunxi.org/U-Boot

As an alternative, you could try to boot using extlinux.conf instead of boot.scr. I prefer this over the boot.scr method used by Debian.

Alternatively, you could also try to set the parameters using uEnv.txt.

Good luck, and maybe you get it working before your usb-serial-adapter arrives. :-)

tuxd3v · 2021-01-07 18:40:45

hello hoschi,
its well known that at least CubieBoard1 works very well at install time

You can try however to test the changes kuleszdl, proposed..
Have you tried the image here ?
http://deb.devuan.org/devuan/dists/beow … rd-images/

After the zcat process..
You can mount the image with:

apt-get install u-boot-tools
mkdir /mnt/iso
mount -t vfat -o loop,offset=$((2048 * 512)) /path/to/Cubietruck.img /mnt/iso
cd /mnt/iso
# To see the boot.scr code..
strings boot.scr

create a boot.cmd file with the content you want..then generate the new boot.scr with:

mkimage -C none -A arm -T script -d boot.cmd boot.scr
sync
cd /
umount /mnt/iso

then try the changed boot script within the changed Cubietruck.img..
burn Cubietruck.img to sdcard, and test if you can access, otherwise you will need the adapter..

The problem of install via normal procedure, is that you need display working, and keyboard, and ethernet..
ethernet is the easy part, display is the most difficult one( and sometimes keyboard too )
Because of this factors, we choose the serial install that works always

Last edited by tuxd3v (2021-01-07 18:47:55)

kuleszdl · 2021-01-09 19:33:30

To add on that: Another thing you could try would be using a newer u-boot like the u-boot image from unstable paired with the partition.img from stable. I don't remember how this was exactly, but it could be that this keyboard issue was fixed in a newer u-boot release. Then, you could enter the setenv/saveenv commands directly using the attached keyboard without manipulating the boot.cmd/boot.scr.

Anyways, you should now have quite a few approaches to try. ;-) Good luck!

kuleszdl · 2021-01-24 13:37:14

The keyboard issue might be related to this (I think the u-boot shipped by Debian is still affected?):

https://lists.denx.de/pipermail/u-boot/ … 00162.html

hoschi · 2021-01-24 22:59:38

Thanks for all the input !

After some days the USB - serial adapter arrived. But it had to stay in the envelope.

I tried to mount the written flash card and alter boot.scr
The truck booted up und continously tried to boot from network.
But i changed converted the boot.cfg right on the mounted SD card.
This may have been not the right war, because it didn't work.
After some attempts i did quit this.

Then i moved to read about extlinux.conf
I'm could not try this, there are too many questions:

It says, it's about booting from ext filesystem.
After putting firmware and partition archives to SD card, there's only one vfat partition.
Others reported they had two partitions with using extlinux method.
First guess was formatting the card to ext filesystem, but then i still didn't
have an idea about the second partition i was missing.

So i will wait and gather some information about this before i will have a next try.
It looks too promising not to try it.

Instead i opened the usb <-> uart adapter envelope and installed it this afternoon.

The information about using the right connectors came from here:
https://andre.blaatschaap.be/2013/01/cu … onnection/

tuxd3v · 2021-01-25 00:50:43

hello hoschi,

hoschi wrote:

Thanks for all the input !
I tried to mount the written flash card and alter boot.scr
The truck booted up und continously tried to boot from network.
But i changed converted the boot.cfg right on the mounted SD card.
This may have been not the right war, because it didn't work.
After some attempts i did quit this.

I believe you should first try with the basic approach, the one in here .

Then if this doesn't work, try the solution that kuleszdl posted changing the boot.scr..
It is indeed a bit pesky, you need to understand the uboot boot process, and its a bit difficult for someone starting..

basically you have a text file called 'boot.cmd', and you need to generate a binary file from that one called 'boot.scr'.
every change that you make to 'boot.cmd' and you need to compile it in binary format 'boot.scr', it will substitute previous 'boot.scr' with the new one..

But I believe you should first go with the default option
So forget for now the 'boot.scr'

hoschi wrote:

Instead i opened the usb <-> uart adapter envelope and installed it this afternoon.
The information about using the right connectors came from here:
https://andre.blaatschaap.be/2013/01/cu … onnection/

The serial connection,
Is very important to connect the pins in a correct way..

You should only connect Ground, TX,RX..

How to connect:
The Board has:
1)GND
2)TX
3)RX

The usb-serial adapter has( at least):
1)GND
2)TX
3)RX

So you conect:
1) Insert adapter in your computer

2)
The ground from adapter with ground from the board
The TX from adapter with RX from the board
The RX from adapter with TX from the board

3) Use a serial adapter application like picocom, for example, or other and start it

4) Only then, you apply power to the SBC board

After this you should see the output in the serial console output, and later a text based installer

tuxd3v · 2021-03-15 02:42:40

hello hoschi,
I was asking me if you succeed booting the installer via Serial?

tokafondo · 2025-02-13 13:57:52

Hi. Sorry for reviving this. I created a daedalus sd card image by combining olinuxino-lime2 firmware with partition, and booted cubietruck with it. USB keyboard works now.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2021-01-05 23:54:58

armhf not possible on cubietruck

#2 2021-01-06 04:38:54

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#3 2021-01-06 07:09:09

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#4 2021-01-06 09:49:33

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#5 2021-01-06 13:43:05

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#6 2021-01-07 02:44:30

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#7 2021-01-07 18:40:45

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#8 2021-01-09 19:33:30

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#9 2021-01-24 13:37:14

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#10 2021-01-24 22:59:38

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#11 2021-01-25 00:50:43

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#12 2021-03-15 02:42:40

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

#13 2025-02-13 13:57:52

Re: armhf not possible on cubietruck

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