ReCompile Kernel for Debian Image

[isidoro]

As I've got two A20 (one with flash and another without) I've succefully tried debian image .
Unfortunately, I was not able to find config file that belongs to current kernel 3.0.0 (and cat /proc/config.gz gave no outputs). It is possible to have sources and config file in order to recompile and to make support for others device I own?
Thanks a lot,
Gianni

[XFer]

Hello Gianni,

in this thread https://www.olimex.com/forum/index.php?topic=1514.0 , they say a "regular" sunxi kernel is not available yet, so they worked on the Allwinner kernel which is included in the A20-SDK (there's a link in the wiki).

From dmesg, I see a lot of things are quite preliminary yet: for one thing, actual clock is 912 MHz and not 1.0 GHz, and there are other issues to be ironed out (drivers not fully working etc.).

It's still a very young board without mature support, but it's quite exciting and looks very promising. 

Let's keep this thread updated while we make progress!

Fernando

[isidoro]

[they say a "regular" sunxi kernel is not available yet, so they worked on the Allwinner kernel which is included in the A20-SDK (there's a link in the wiki).]

Yes Fernando,
I agree , all  that I want is to recompile kernel with exactly the same config file they just used, and , If working, add only few devices (i.e. usb wifi I own) or enable multiple serial ports (now, thought A20 suppports up to 8 ports, kernel admits only the ttyS0).

In the meanwhile, let's enjoy the dual core!
Gianni

[XFer]

I also want to recompile the kernel to exclude some modules and drivers (need a faster boot).

Tonight I'll download the SDK and will report. Unfortunately it's a kernel for Android so I don't think it's going to be as straightforward as I'd like. 

[olimex]

I asked Dimitar to make repo with the kernel and config, its quite lot of work he has done to make the normal Android kernel to work with touchscreen, gpios etc no need to reinvent the wheel
meantime linux-sunxi kernel seems to have some progress I saw Fedora distribution announcement which supports A20 but didnt try it yet https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/linux-sunxi/PLgUj-KefKQ/4soi2CUQtyMJ

[Lurch]

Thanks for the update.  You guys are really earning your vacation next week!

[XFer]

Impressive!
Thanks Olimex!! 

[isidoro]

no need to reinvent the wheel

I agree, so I hope Dimitar will release sources & .config

meantime linux-sunxi kernel seems to have some progress I saw Fedora distribution announcement which supports A20 but didnt try it yet https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/linux-sunxi/PLgUj-KefKQ/4soi2CUQtyMJ

I'havent tried yet Fedora, but if someone will report it works, it will be usefull to share just the ready-to-sd image for the A20.

[XFer]

I'd much prefer to stick to Debian.

Problem is, as for now I can't start my project because the kernel does not provide ALSA MIDI Sequencer (no built-in driver, no external module).
So as long as I can't recompile the kernel (starting from a working .config of course) I don't have MIDI and can't even start to build anything. 

Fernando

[XFer]

This is the defconfig used for the new Fedora 19r1 kernel.

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share?s=Q_e8WjzMQXgukJNhcDDoaw

Now we just need the kernel source. 
Unfortunately, it looks like the patches have not been integrated in sunxi-3.4 kernel yet.   

Fernando

[giovanni.v]

Now we just need the kernel source. 
Unfortunately, it looks like the patches have not been integrated in sunxi-3.4 kernel yet.   

This one from the cubieboard community could be interesting:
- https://github.com/patrickhwood/linux-sunxi/tree/sunxi-3.3-cb2

[isidoro]

Now we just need the kernel source. 

here's source:
https://github.com/jwrdegoede/linux-sunxi/archive/fedora-19-r1.zip
this is repo:
https://github.com/jwrdegoede/linux-sunxi/tree/fedora-19-r1

[XFer]

The git clone I just got has serious issues (can't even unpack properly, symlink issues).
I'll try the previous zip archive. 

[XFer]

I have to give up.
Make menuconfig does not work (maybe it's incompatibile with the ncurses version I have on Ubuntu 13.04), make defconfig can't be done since there's no default configuration for sun7i (Allwinner A20) nor Olinuxino A20, and the values in the .config I found and linked are strange at best, so I don't trust them.

Let's wait Dimitar to host the repo with his kernel! 

Fernando

[isidoro]

this is a good config to start:

https://github.com/archlinuxarm/PKGBUILDs/blob/054be56ac1e959031d5280154548b232692ca3ba/core/linux-sun7i/config

it is based on 3.3.0 branch,
so sources can be picked here:
https://github.com/patrickhwood/linux-sunxi/archive/sunxi-3.3-cb2.zip

Therefore, to unzip, I suggest to use 7-zip:

:# 7z x sunxi-3.3-cb2.zip

(if unsure, apt-get install p7zip-full)