ArmbianHowTo
Contents
Where to get the Armbian images
All official Armbian-based images are available at this FTP location, refer to the README.txt file inside:
You can download these images either directly from the FTP or from the torrents available in the FTP. Sometimes the torrents inside are faster way to get the images.
How to use Armbian images
The great Armbian documentation is available here:
Console login
Default login is:
login: root password: 1234
After login you'll be prompt for new password.
You could use the USB_OTG connector as serial port. Connect the board to a host computer via USB-mini cable. Wait some time for the board to boot. In the system log you should see something like:
dmesg usb 3-2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0525, idProduct=a4a7 usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 usb 3-2: Product: Gadget Serial v2.4 usb 3-2: Manufacturer: Linux 4.19.5-sunxi with musb-hdrc cdc_acm 3-2:2.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
Then use picocom, minicom, etc to login:
picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyACM0 18.04.1 LTS olinuxino ttyGS0 olinuxino login:
Selecting video output
On most boards you can select between HDMI and LCD output
- A20-OLinuXino
- HDMI
- LCD
- A33-OLinuXino
- LCD
HDMI output if always with highest priority. That means you you plug HDMI cable, the output always will be on the monitor, regardless of other settings.
If HDMI is not present, then LCD output will be used. By default the image tries to use auto-detect method for the LCD. This will only work on newer panels and boards. You can manually override this in the u-boot console as follows.
- Stop in the u-boot
Autoboot in 1 seconds, press <Space> to stop =>
- List all supported LCD panels:
olinuxino monitor list Supported video outputs: ---------------------------------------- LCD-OLinuXino - Video outout to the LCD connector with AUTO detect function LCD-OLinuXino-4.3TS - Video output to LCD-OLinuXino-4.3TS LCD-OLinuXino-7 - Video output to LCD-OLinuXino-7 LCD-OLinuXino-5 - Video output to LCD-OLinuXino-5 LCD-OLinuXino-10 - Video output to LCD-OLinuXino-10
- Set configuration, for example LCD-OLinuXino-7
olinuxino monitor set LCD-OLinuXino-7
- You can make changes permanent with:
saveenv
- Reboot the board and you're ready:
reset
Selecting bootlog console
You can select the bootlog to be displayed on HDMI/LCD or on the debug serial port. This is done via armbianEnv.txt file.
Open the file:
nano /boot/armbianEnv.txt
For bootlog on the serial port use:
console=serial
For bootlog on HDMI/LCD console:
console=both
Save the file and reboot the board.
Updating image
You can update the the board using apt.
Building u-boot
Get the latest sources:
git clone https://github.com/OLIMEX/u-boot.git cd u-boot
Build it:
make A20-OLinuXino_defconfig make CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf-
Updating via USB
You can write the new u-boot to MMC, eMMC, SPI Flash or NAND (not fully supported) using DFU protocol.
Boot the board and stop at u-boot console. Connect USB-mini cable to a host PC.
Update SPI flash
Check the available partitions with:
=> mtd
device nor0 <flash.0>, # parts = 4
#: name size offset mask_flags
0: SPI.u-boot 0x00200000 0x00000000 0
1: SPI.u-boot-env 0x00020000 0x00200000 0
2: SPI.u-boot-env.backup0x00020000 0x00220000 0
3: SPI.user 0x00dc0000 0x00240000 0
active partition: nor0,0 - (SPI.u-boot) 0x00200000 @ 0x00000000
defaults:
mtdids : nand0=nand.0,nor0=nor.0
mtdparts: mtdparts=nand.0:4m(NAND.SPL),4m(NAND.SPL.backup),4m(NAND.u-boot),4m(NAND.u-boot.backup),4m(NAND.u-boot-env),4m(NAND.u-boot-env.backup),4m(NAND.dtb),16m(NAND.kernel),-(NAND.rootfs);nor.0:2m(SPI.u-boot),128k(SPI.u-boot-env),128k(SPI.u-boot-env.backup),-(SPI.user)
Activate DFU protocol with:
=> dfu 0 sf "0:0:25000000:0" interface: sf, devstr: 0:0:25000000:0
Next, on the host PC run:
dfu-util -l dfu-util 0.9 Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc. Copyright 2010-2016 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY Please report bugs to http://sourceforge.net/p/dfu-util/tickets/ Found DFU: [15ba:0041] ver=0215, devnum=6, cfg=1, intf=0, path="3-2", alt=2, name="SPI.u-boot-env.backup", serial="ffffffff" Found DFU: [15ba:0041] ver=0215, devnum=6, cfg=1, intf=0, path="3-2", alt=1, name="SPI.u-boot-env", serial="ffffffff" Found DFU: [15ba:0041] ver=0215, devnum=6, cfg=1, intf=0, path="3-2", alt=0, name="SPI.u-boot", serial="ffffffff"
Update u-boot binary with:
dfu-util -D spl/u-boot-spl.bin -a SPI.u-boot
Update SD/eMMC card
Stop loading in the u-boot. To check available MMC devices run:
mmc list
If the board is booted from SD card and you also have eMMC, the output will be:
mmc@01c0f000: 0 (SD) mmc@01c11000: 1 (eMMC)
Connect USB-mini cable enter:
ums 0 mmc 0
or:
ums 0 mmc 1
New mass storage device will show-up on the host computer. To write u-boot use:
sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdX seek=16 conv=sync
where /dev/sdX should be replaced with the new device, /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, etc.
Building image
Make sure to take a look at the official Armbian documentation here: https://docs.armbian.com
- Clone repository
git clone --branch olimex https://github.com/olimex/build
- Run build script
cd build ./compile
Building requires root access. System preparation can take long, depending on system, internet connection, etc. After everything is ready a prompt will appear:
Select what to build:
-> U-boot and kernel packages
-> Full OS image for flashing
The first option will build only u-boot and kernel packages. This is suitable for updating image. The second option will make ready to use image with u-boot, kernel and rootfs.
Select the kernel configuration:
-> Do not change the kernel configuration
-> Show a kernel configuration menu before compilation
Here you can modify kernel configuration, before build. After that target must be selected. Olimex's images are not officially supported by Armbian team, so you must select Show CSC/WIP/EOS option.
Select the target board. Displaying:
- (CSC) - Community Supported Configuration
- (WIP) - Work In Progress
- (ESO) - End Of Support
Here select either:
olinuxino-a20 - Common configuration file for All A20-OLinuXino boards
or
olinuxino-a33 - A33 quad core 1Gb Soc
Next kernel variant must be selected. Here select next branch:
Select the target kernel branch
Exact kernel versions depend on selected board
-> default Vendor provided / legacy (3.4.x - 4.4.x)
-> next Mainline (@kernel.org) (4.x)
-> dev Development version (4.x)
Next select distribution:
Select the target OS release
-> jessie Debian 8 Jessie / unsupported
-> stretch Debian 9 Stretch
-> xenial Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 LTS
-> bionic Ununtu Bionic 18.04 LTS
Finally select building desktop environment or not:
Select the target image type
-> Image with console interface (server)
-> Image with desktop environment
After some time the image / packages will be available in the output directory. For example:
tree output |-- debs | |-- armbian-config_5.65_all.deb | |-- armbian-firmware_5.65_all.deb | |-- armbian-firmware-full_5.65_all.deb | |-- armbian-tools-bionic_5.65_armhf.deb | |-- bionic | | |-- armbian-bionic-desktop_5.65_all.deb | | |-- linux-bionic-root-next-olinuxino-a20_5.65_armhf.deb | |-- linux-dtb-next-sunxi_5.65_armhf.deb | |-- linux-headers-next-sunxi_5.65_armhf.deb | |-- linux-image-next-sunxi_5.65_armhf.deb | |-- linux-source-next-sunxi_5.65_all.deb | |-- linux-u-boot-next-olinuxino-a20_5.65_armhf.deb |--images | |-- Armbian_5.65_Olinuxino-a20_Ubuntu_bionic_next_4.19.5_desktop.img
- Flashing image
Put sdcard in the host PC. New device should appear, e.g. /dev/sdc. Flash the image using the following command:
# dd if=/path/to/Armbian_5.65_Olinuxino-a20_Ubuntu_bionic_next_4.19.5_desktop.img.img of=/dev/sdx bs=10M
Replace /dev/sdx with your device. You must use /dev/sdx, not /dev/sdx1!
- Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 or later unless otherwise noted.
