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Topic: Armtix on BPi-M5 (Read 801 times) previous topic - next topic
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Armtix on BPi-M5

Hi there,

I'm just trying to install armtix on a BananaPi M5, but the installation fails dramatically: The BPi will not boot. There is no response, the screen stays black.
What I did was:
- preparing a SD card mit /boot(vfat) and /-partition, copied the corresponding files onto it and tried to boot.
Even a dirty hack with a running Archlinux and the armit file system failed.

Installing a running Archlinux works fine (but off course with systemd).

Has anybody here successfully installed Armtix on a BananaPi or do I riding a dead horse?

Regards
Berni
The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #1 –
phoenix_rus is the expert for armtix; this page lists his initial work https://info.armtixlinux.org/ I don't see bananapi there. I use armtix on rpi4, but I didn't use his u-boot setup. Instead I used a manjaro rpi4 aarch64 installation and forced it to work with the armtix kernels etc.

This page illustrates manjaro on bpi https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/manjaro-linux-image-mainline-uboot-kernel-sdcard/10185

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #2 –
Thanks for your hints. Will try the Manjaro image from Russia for my BPi.

Regards
Berni
The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #3 –
Unfortunately the image from phoenix_rus does not boot with my BPI-M5. Nothing happens, really nothing, the screen stays dark.
 :'(

Berni
The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #4 –
I always say the best way to debug ARM is to use UART. It will provide boot info even if kernel won't boot at all
ARMtix

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #5 –
I tried, but there is nothing on the uart. The only response I get from the debug-uart of the BPI, there I see some hardware info about the Pi. Thats all. Looks like the u.boot fails to boot.
Is the BPI-M5 so different?
The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #6 –
Which u-boot do you use?
ARMtix

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #7 –
I used the u-boot for the BPI-M2+ from the OpenBSD package. That was the most similar I could find.
The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #8 –
Lol, that's the answer. These boards use completely differenet SoCs, therefore M2 uboot will never work on M5. You should find or build image for M5 separately
ARMtix

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #10 –
OK, thanks. I will try to find a suitable u-boot - building one may be too heavy for me.  :'(
The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #11 –
Quote from: replabrobin – on
FWIW there are some archlinux instructions here

https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-M5#Linux

I wonder if that could be a starting point to do a conversion to armtix. Earlier berni51 wrote that he did get archlinux working.

This idea was not so bad - honestly it works! I wrote the archlinuxarm image onto mmcblk1 and changed the root in the boot.ini to /dev/sda2.
On another sd card I copied the armtix file system and connected it via usb. That is my sda.
And indeed I bootet the arch image but then run into the armtix file system with the wonderfull openrc. So far, so good.
I probably should change the image and initramfs-linux.img with the armtix files. But how to do this? Simply copying will surely fail.

The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #12 –
You need to check u-boot configs for that
ARMtix

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #13 –
Thank you. The boot.ini shows, that u-boot loads:
$loadaddress = /Image
$initrd_loadaddress = /initramfs-linux.uimg
$dtb_loadaddress = /dtbs/amlogic/meson64_bananapi_m5.dtb, alternatevly meson64_bananapi_m2_pro.dtb

I believe (but don't really know) that the dtb is OK and must not be changed, but the Image and initramfs-linux.uimg.

In the /boot directory of Armtix there is the Image file, but not the uimg file. Instead there is an img file.

My question is: Is it OK to simply copy Image and initramfs-linux.img onto the mmcblk and change the name in boot.ini from initramfs-linux.uimg to initramfs-linux.img?
I have no idea whats the difference between an img and an uimg file, sorry.  :-[
The good old days may not return, and the rocks might smelt and the sea may burn.

Re: Armtix on BPi-M5

Reply #14 –
uimg is u-boot formatted initramfs. You can try command from Firefly RK3399 instructions to make one
ARMtix