ArchLinux ARM for CubieTruck : any ideas ?

[fanningert]

Hi, thank you for your help.

Now cubietruck is working with the default Arch Linux ARM repo files.
I wrote a little guide: http://www.fanninger.at/thomas/blog/201 ... ieboard-3/
I hope this will help other with cubietruck and Arch Linux ARM.

If you find a smarter solution, please let me know.

Regards Thomas

[moscar]

Hello fannigert

Fine guide, that is pretty much how I would do it as well.

A small comment: You can disable the LEDs in the fex so you don't have to run a script at boot.

[fanningert]

Thanks for the info with the LEDs. I will add it to the guide.

Regards Thomas

[fanningert]

Hi,
know I have a new problem.

I can not set a fix MAC address for the ethernet port.

I used the method with uENV.txt (), script.bin (dynamic block with MAC), and command line tool (ip). (I get the information about the variantes from this page)

uENV.txt
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'root=/dev/sda1
mac_addr=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx')

When I using the uENV.txt version I got following message over the serial console.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'CPU: Allwinner A20 (SUN7I)
Board: Cubietruck
I2C: ready
DRAM: 2 GiB
MMC: SUNXI SD/MMC: 0
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial
Net: dwmac.1c50000
Warning: failed to set MAC address

Hit any key to stop autoboot: ')

some lines later, I got a error message about the emac driver.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '<4>emac_init fetch emac using configuration failed

[ 1.818956] emac_init fetch emac using configuration failed
<6>emac driver is disabled

[ 1.826980] emac driver is disabled')

Have anyone a solution for me?

Regards Thomas

[moscar]

I have this in /etc/modprobe.d/sunxi.conf
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
options sunxi_gmac mac_str="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx"
')

Edit: The driver used for cubietruck is gmac not emac.

[fanningert]

Thank you. Your hint working very well.

Regards Thomas

[Abroxa]

Thank you very much, these are great news! I can't wait to test your installation guide. However, I am currently wondering which USB-to-Ethernet adapter I should buy. Are there any limitations regarding driver support in the initial card image?

Edit: And is it possible to flash the whole thing to NAND?

Best regards
Daniel

[fanningert]

Hi,
nice to hear that the manual is well received.

About your questions:
* Every Adapter that using the AXIS AX88772B chip should work.
* Sorry I don't test it, if that image working for NAND. I prefer rather a SSD as a storage space for the root filesystem. Attention to the NAND memory, which does not tolerate so many writes. And once it's broken, it can not be replaced.

Side note:
If you find any suggestions or errors in the instruction, please send it me.

Regards Thomas

[fanningert]

Hi,
I found a little missing part in my guide and I updated it.
Have many fun with the board.

I also made a finale root filesystem zip. You can download it here.

Regards Thomas

[cheray]

Hi Thomas,

your Image is very well. Thanks for your work. But i have one problem:

I played around with some images and it looks all very well. I moved a archlinuxarm-rootfs from nand to hdd. (Xorg, lxde and lightdm installed) But now it's going curios.
First i had problems to load modules for network etc. (The monitor is connected to the CT) Then i found the way out with systenctl and netctl, i reboot the CT and from now on i can't see the boot-screen . My monitor says "no connection". I'm trying to boot from SD-Card, flashing the NAND, change the uEnv.txt on SD-Card and booting from HDD, no boot-screen. At least i boot the SD-Card again i see again nothing but the network with ssh is going up. So i can use the CT over the ssh-connection for installing and configuring archlinux on CubieTruck.
I tried over the weekend to get my Bootscreen back. I give up.
The u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin is flashed to sd-card, the related uImage is in /boot.
My System is
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'Linux cubiearch 3.4.79-7-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Apr 19 16:26:57 MDT 2014 armv7l GNU/Linux')
My Modules.conf
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'disp_ump
mali
hci_uart
gpio_sunxi
bcmdhd
sunxi_gmac
')

I think something is wrong with the bootfiles on my sd-card.
If i boot with cubian or linaro (the Debian family) the CT starts up from all (SD-CARD, NAND, HDD) with BootScreen.

Any ideas?

Thanks for answers