Tested some of the kernel versions possible (or not..) for the Next CHIP ARMv7, with mixed results.. I added an Ethernet/USB device (ax88179-based) on the USB hub, and the network connection works fine.. Linux-Next does not yet have the drivers for the Hynix NAND in the CHIP, although – with the rootfs separate on a USB stick … Continue reading →
After pre-ordering one many months ago, I finally got my Next CHIP ARMv7 system in the post.. It certainly is fairly small, but seems well-constructed.. Details are at http://docs.getchip.com/chip.html#chip-hardware After connecting the UART/USB cable, as normal, the system booted into a cut-down version of Debian.. There is no hdmi, or sdcard connector, or Ethernet, but the wi-fi … Continue reading →
If you need a particular rootfs for an ARM7 or ARM64 device, there is a source of these at http://libguestfs.org/download/builder/ As an example, for Fedora 23 aarch64, then download the http://libguestfs.org/download/builder/fedora-23-aarch64.xz file, and then expand it (I use ark..) This will give you a file fedora-23-aarch64, and simply rename this to fedora-23-aarch64.img. As the Fedora aarch64 images … Continue reading →
After a lot of searching – and more testing (mostly unsuccessful..) I finally have a set of two patches that fix the Ethernet driver problem with the Rock2 in 4.6-rc1.. The problem is that the stmmac driver is common to several SOC setups, and each maintainer seems to have produced their own version of a fix.. The … Continue reading →
Updated the Rock2 to Kernel 4.6-rc1: ……… Fedora 23 (Twenty Three) Kernel 4.6.0-rc1 on an armv7l (ttyS2) ……………….. # uname -a Linux rgrock2 4.6.0-rc1 #1 SMP Sun Mar 27 03:47:06 EDT 2016 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux The stmmac Ethernet driver bug from 4.5 Final has still not been fixed, and the driver code has changed in 4.6-rc1, … Continue reading →
Finally managed to cobble together a rudimentary case and fan with heatsink for the rock2, and now I can compile correctly (# make -j5, etc..) and run # git clone… without the system overheating and rebooting.. Just two sheets of perspex, and some assorted m3 nylon pillars and screws.. The 5V power supply needs to be around … Continue reading →
Kernel 4.5-rc7 had booted successfully on the Radxa Rock2, but 4.5 Final failed, as the SDcard was ‘loaded’ just too late: mmc_host mmc1: Bus speed (slot 0) = 400000Hz (slot req 400000Hz, actual 400000HZ div = 0) dwmmc_rockchip ff0f0000.dwmmc: 1 slots initialized ……………………… VFS: Cannot open root device “mmcblk1p1” or unknown-block(0,0): error -6 ………………………… Kernel panic – … Continue reading →
After a lot of testing, and some more confusion, I have managed to get the Rock2 to boot using the latest (2016.03-rc3) version of U-Boot, and the latest kernel (4.5-rc7) As previously, there was a lot of conflicting information……. I started by booting into the semi-proprietary 3.10-based kernel on the SDcard, and then erasing the eMMC (dd … Continue reading →