Radxa Rock 5 Model B

[AaronVB]

Any chance we can get Arch running on the Rock5B?

It's using a Rockchip RK3588, here's an overview: https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5
I have one and i can provide command outputs if that helps. I've already uploaded some info to https://uraniumhexafluori.de/rock5b/
It's currently running their provided Ubuntu Image from https://github.com/radxa/debos-radxa/releases/download/20221031-1045/rock-5b-ubuntu-focal-server-arm64-20221031-1328-gpt.img.xz

Sorry if this is the wrong subforum btw ^^

[moonman]

Grab the ubuntu kernel, and replace the one in multi-platform tarball (make sure to remove the package with pacman), and you will have archlinux arm on your device. Until one of the core developers has one of these it won't be officially supported, unfortunately.

[etienne]

Also looking forward to get a working build of arch linux arm for this board. Any updates on this?
I currently have the device but not really experienced in kernel building so not sure how much work it requires

[khamon]

I am also looking into this. I have no experience building this at all, and at the moment I am following as a base https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/rockchip/rock64

I have already prepared the u-boot as specified in here: https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/guide/build-u-boot-on-5b; what I have not so clear if I can use the "compiled" kernel image from the current debian:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
/boot $ ls -la
total 60588
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 .
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Nov 16 18:37 ..
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6939247 Oct 24 08:25 System.map-5.10.66-27-rockchip-gea60d388902d
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 208204 Oct 24 08:25 config-5.10.66-27-rockchip-gea60d388902d
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 618 Oct 31 15:57 config.txt
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Oct 31 13:40 dtbs
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 31 13:40 extlinux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25227813 Oct 31 15:51 initrd.img-5.10.66-27-rockchip-gea60d388902d
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 29635072 Oct 24 08:25 vmlinuz-5.10.66-27-rockchip-gea60d388902d')

or if I would need to recompile it somehow, just I am not sure how to proceed, if I should use the linux-lts510 and try there or if I would need to do something different...?


Edit: Also I saw this.... maybe I can use these: https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/guide/build-kernel-on-5b

[sehraf]

moonman basically said it all.
You need uboot+kernel (with modules) and the arch rootfs.

What i did:

• grab vendor image (a debian in my case; doesn't really matter in the end)
• flash image on <medium> (e.g. SD card; i'm using https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/guide/spi-nvme-boot )
• copy modules folder from the existing OS (/usr/lib/modules) to somewhere else
• replace existing os (partition!) with arch
• copy the kernel modules back into arch
• run depmod (no idea if this is really necessary, i did it via chroot)
• maybe fiddle with "/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf"
• follow https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/installation_guide#Configure_the_system if you like

It should be noted that the kernel is 5.10 and that the radxa images lack some features like btrfs. There is no mainline support at the moment. Also my m.2 WiFi adapter is not working (it is detected though)

I highly recommend an UART adapter (they use 1500000 baud) for debugging.
If anything of the points above is unclear you might want to wait for official support.

------------------------------------

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('khamon', 'w')hat I have not so clear if I can use the "compiled" kernel image from the current debian:

[khamon]

Wow, thanks very much for the detailed info, so I may have a try it looks fun

[sehraf]

no problem!

I just saw that i forgot to mention to copy the kernel modules back into arch
(It will probably boot fine without the modules but then some things won't work)

[khamon]

Sorry I've been out for a couple of days so I had no time to have a look to this, but tomorrow I may check it, I'm just wondering how it works with the pacman if I copy myself the linux-image + headers how pacman will know that there is some kernel image and headers installed? This is something I am not sure if I would need to do something with the pacman itself or somehow create a package for the kernel image and the headers? uhmmm

[khamon]

Sorry I've been out for a couple of days so I had no time to have a look to this, but tomorrow I may check it, I'm just wondering how it works with the pacman if I copy myself the linux-image + headers how pacman will know that there is some kernel image and headers installed? This is something I am not sure if I would need to do something with the pacman itself or somehow create a package for the kernel image and the headers? uhmmm

[AaronVB]

I'm no expert but I think it won't update the kernel because it's not a package in any repo