Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Linux LibreTech 4.13.3 Desktop Preview Image
Overview:
This is a preview image based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with the mainline Linux 4.13.3 with some out-of-tree patches.
The u-boot is an Amlogic modified branch from 2015.
The image is designed for >4GB SD cards at the moment and has not been tested (and definitely will not work) on eMMC.
Image Download Link
aml-s905x-cc-ubuntu-xenial-linux-libretech-4.13.3-g019e61d-dirty-mali-2017-11-08.img.zip
Getting Started
Extract the image first by running
unzip aml-s905x-cc-ubuntu-xenial-linux-libretech-4.13.3-g019e61d-dirty-mali-2017-11-08.img.zip.Write image to a MicroSD card (all data on the MicroSD card will be wiped):
Plug the MicroSD card into your computer via a USB card reader or built-in card reader.
USB card readers will usually expose the MicroSD card as a block device /dev/sdX where X is a letter. Partitions will be exposed as /dev/sdXN where N is the partition number.
Built-in card reader found on laptops will usually expose the MicroSD card as a block device /dev/mmcblkX where X is a number. Partitions will be exposed as /dev/mmcblkXpN where N is the partition number.
Write the image to the MicroSD card via sudo dd if=aml-s905x-cc-ubuntu-xenial-linux-libretech-4.13.3-g019e61d-dirty-mali-2017-11-08.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1M or sudo dd if=aml-s905x-cc-ubuntu-xenial-linux-libretech-4.13.3-g019e61d-dirty-mali-2017-11-08.img of=/dev/mmcblkX bs=1M. Place replace X with the correct letter or number.
Possible gotchas: Do not flash it to a partition (eg /dev/sda1 or /dev/mmcblk0p1) as that will not work. If you pick the wrong block device, you may lose data on that block device so be extra careful!
After dd is finished, you can remove it and plug it into the board and power it up.
Running
The default login credentials are as follows:
Username: libre
Password: computer
Disk Layout:
1MB Reserved for boot logic
255MB FAT32 Partition containing device tree blob and u-boot Linux image
512MB BTRFS Partition with @ subvolume for root
The BTRFS root partition is only 512MB so you will have to expand it manually. When we release the final images will do this automatically on bootup so this step will not be necessary.
sudo fdisk /dev/mmcblk1
d
2
n
p
2
524288
press enter to default to maximum size
w
q
sudo partprobe /dev/mmcblk1
sudo btrfs filesystem resize max /
Advanced
Custom kernel:
u-boot logic:
"if fatls mmc 0:1; then " "if test -e mmc 0:1 linux-amlogic; then " "fatload mmc 0:1 ${loadaddr} uImage.amlogic;" "fatload mmc 0:1 ${fdt_high} gxl_p212_2g.dtb;" "setenv bootargs boot_delay=3 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=btrfs rootflags=subvol=@ rootwait console=ttyS0,115200 no_console_suspend earlyprintk=aml-uart,0xc81004c0 ramoops.pstore_en=1 ramoops.record_size=0x8000 ramoops.console_size=0x4000 init=/sbin/init;" "else " "fatload mmc 0:1 ${dtb_mem_addr} gxl_p212_2g.dtb;" "hdmi_init;" "fatload mmc 0:1 ${loadaddr} uImage;" "saradc_12bit open 1;" "if saradc_12bit get_in_range 0x370 0x380;" "then fatload mmc 0:1 ${fdt_high} meson-gxl-s905x-libretech-cc.nouhs.dtb;" "else fatload mmc 0:1 ${fdt_high} meson-gxl-s905x-libretech-cc.dtb;" "fi;" "setenv bootargs root=/dev/mmcblk1p2 rootfstype=btrfs rootflags=subvol=@ rootwait console=ttyAML0,115200 no_console_suspend;" "fi;" "bootm ${loadaddr} - ${fdt_high};"
Comments
Followed the instructions, but don't get any display at all. I know it's a server, but I'm not getting kernel bootup or console text to log in. Both the ROOT and BOOT partitions are on the sd card. The red and green leds light up, and the blue flashes on and off. Also, if USB is not functional how are we supposed to use keyboards?
Wow! First boot perfect!
Connected using UART and boot went completed. I can login into the system.
Attached the session log. Take note that a shutdown, just do a reboot.
Great start.
@CaptManiac We have released a revised image with the following fixes: CEC, SD UHS, Clock, Overlay Support
Please try the new image. Please note that USB and Audio is still not supported.
Having trouble with first boot, red and green LEDS are solid while Blue is flashing twice repeatedly. No image on the screen. Burned image to two different cards using Etcher on Mac OS X with same result, any advice?
@ZimFistOfDoom This is the server version of the image without framebuffer enabled. Try the armbian desktop image if you would like HDMI. The blue blinking LED is the heartbeat indicator for the kernel so it means it's up and running.
@loverpi My mistake, thanks for the response!
@ZimFistOfDoom we have updated the image to include framebuffer, HDMI audio, and USB support.
Is this a server only image or is there a desktop version available as well? I got this to boot for the first time which means it solved my HDMI issues. Can I install the Ubuntu gui for this image? I only have 32gb cards, so I hope you guys get the images to take advantage of the full space... I guess I could always format that extra space and create a new partition to mount.
I went to https://dl.armbian.com/lepotato/ and downloaded the desktop image updated on 9/21 but I does output video whereas the above image does and drops me to the command prompt to login.
@Phrosty23 We will release a desktop image as soon as we have Mali's binary driver integrated. It will support OpenGL ES. If you install Ubuntu's GUI, it will be 2D only at this moment.
As for the 32GB card, please see the Disk Layout section right now for resizing information.
For Armbian images, please use forum.armbian.com for support.
Definitely still has HDMI problems, as I could only see the login prompt on one of three different monitors. Also, ethernet doesn't appear to work.
@CaptManiac use
sudo dhclient eth0. The next image will enable you to just use ifup eth0.Any news on an updated preview image, especially a GUI image?
Is @loverpi on vacation or something? you guys have been very silent. How about an update on Kickstarter about where you guys are with the Android image and a desktop Ubuntu image.
This image is useless. Sorry.
@wappi try this one... I am having pretty good luck with it
https://www.armbian.com/lepotato/
It will not output video to my TV for some reason, but it works great using a computer monitor that has HDMI input.
I have also been playing with the BayLibre one but it seems to be buggier and slow. I am glad I have a few MicroSD cards laying around that I can keep different images on and go back and forth and see what works and what doesn't. BayLibre had Orange stuff in the settings... not sure if Potato is based off of Orange or if we need a stand alone Potato image from them, but so far I prefer the Armbian one.
BayLibre if you want to give it a try is at
https://baylibre.com/kernel-recipes-mainline-aml-s905x-cc-le-potato/
As you said, there hasn't been much on the front of the image posted above. It's still dated as 21-Sep-2017 20:08.
@Phrosty23 We are awaiting the release of 4.14 before further work since it will be released in a couple of days and is an LTS release.
@loverpi
with your two images, I have problems with usb wifi adapters. I tried 3 different adapters and no one was recognized, while instead there are no problems in the armdebian image where they works as soon you plug them. Maybe you forgot to enable something in the kernel confing and some modules are missed. Please remember to fix that in the next image. thank you in advance.
@jeky82, We use the default configs for the kernel. We will add modules for every device we can in the 4.14 image.
14.4 image ready yet? Supposed to be available weeks ago.
@bo1e There's an ethernet bug holding everything up. Should be resolved this week.