Debian: Getting Started with the A20-OLinuXino Boards

Embedded Linux Guides
1

This is a page about Olimex’s Allwinner based A20 Boards; A20-OLinuXino-LIME, A20-OLinuXino-LIME2, A20-OLinuXino_MICRO.

Availability

Boards:

Accessories:

Notes

Power via standard dc wall jack, there doesn’t seem to be enough power via usb.

Vendor Documentation

Basic Requirements

ARM Cross Compiler: GCC

This is a pre-built (64bit) version of GCC that runs on generic linux, sorry (32bit) x86 users, it’s time to upgrade…
Download/Extract:

#user@localhost:~$
wget -c https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/6.5-2018.12/arm-linux-gnueabihf/gcc-linaro-6.5.0-2018.12-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
tar xf gcc-linaro-6.5.0-2018.12-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
export CC=`pwd`/gcc-linaro-6.5.0-2018.12-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-

Test Cross Compiler:

#user@localhost:~$
${CC}gcc --version

#Test Output:
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc (Linaro GCC 6.5-2018.12) 6.5.0
Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Bootloader: U-Boot

Das U-Boot – the Universal Boot Loader: http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot
Depending on your Linux Distrubution, you will also need a host gcc and other tools, so with Debian/Ubuntu start with installing the build-essential meta package.
Download:

#user@localhost:~$
git clone -b v2019.07 https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot --depth=1
cd u-boot/

Configure and Build:
A20-OLinuXino-Lime

#~/u-boot
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} distclean
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} A20-OLinuXino-Lime_defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC}

A20-OLinuXino-Lime2

#~/u-boot
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} distclean
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} A20-OLinuXino-Lime2_defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC}

A20-OLinuXino-MICRO

#~/u-boot
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} distclean
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} A20-OLinuXino_MICRO_defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC}

Linux Kernel

This script will build the kernel, modules, device tree binaries and copy them to the deploy directory.
Download:

#user@localhost:~$
git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv7-lpae-multiplatform ./kernelbuildscripts
cd kernelbuildscripts/

For v5.4.x (Longterm 5.4.x):

#user@localhost:~/kernelbuildscripts$
git checkout origin/v5.4.x -b tmp

For v5.10.x (Longterm 5.10.x):

#user@localhost:~/kernelbuildscripts$
git checkout origin/v5.10.x -b tmp

For v5.15.x (Longterm 5.15.x):

#user@localhost:~/kernelbuildscripts$
git checkout origin/v5.15.x -b tmp

Build:

#user@localhost:~/kernelbuildscripts$
./build_kernel.sh

Root File System

Debian 11

User Password
debian temppwd
root root

Download:

#user@localhost:~$
wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/eewiki/minfs/debian-11.3-minimal-armhf-2022-04-15.tar.xz

Verify:

#user@localhost:~$
sha256sum debian-11.3-minimal-armhf-2022-04-15.tar.xz

#sha256sum output:
575738843651de2962f251447f4742d4f33313d6f7f5edf282a401207f5e6646  debian-11.3-minimal-armhf-2022-04-15.tar.xz

Extract:

#user@localhost:~$
tar xf debian-11.3-minimal-armhf-2022-04-15.tar.xz

Setup microSD card

We need to access the External Drive to be utilized by the target device. Run lsblk to help figure out what linux device has been reserved for your External Drive.

#Example: for DISK=/dev/sdX
lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
└─sda2   8:2    0 465.3G  0 part /                <- Development Machine Root Partition
sdb      8:16   1   962M  0 disk                  <- microSD/USB Storage Device
└─sdb1   8:17   1   961M  0 part                  <- microSD/USB Storage Partition

#Thus you would use:
export DISK=/dev/sdb

#Example: for DISK=/dev/mmcblkX
lsblk
NAME      MAJ:MIN   RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda         8:0      0 465.8G  0 disk
├─sda1      8:1      0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
└─sda2      8:2      0 465.3G  0 part /                <- Development Machine Root Partition
mmcblk0     179:0    0   962M  0 disk                  <- microSD/USB Storage Device
└─mmcblk0p1 179:1    0   961M  0 part                  <- microSD/USB Storage Partition

#Thus you would use:
export DISK=/dev/mmcblk0

Erase partition table/labels on microSD card:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=${DISK} bs=1M count=10

Install Bootloader:

#user@localhost:~$
sudo dd if=./u-boot/u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=${DISK} seek=8 bs=1024

Create Partition Layout:
With util-linux v2.26, sfdisk was rewritten and is now based on libfdisk.

#Check the version of sfdisk installed on your pc is atleast 2.26.x or newer.
sudo sfdisk --version

#Example Output
sfdisk from util-linux 2.27.1

#sfdisk >= 2.26.x
sudo sfdisk ${DISK} <<-__EOF__
1M,,L,*
__EOF__

Format Partition:

for: DISK=/dev/mmcblkX
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}p1
 
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}1

Mount Partition:
On most systems these partitions may be auto-mounted…

sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/
 
for: DISK=/dev/mmcblkX
sudo mount ${DISK}p1 /media/rootfs/
 
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mount ${DISK}1 /media/rootfs/

Install Kernel and Root File System

To help new users, since the kernel version can change on a daily basis. The kernel building scripts listed on this page will now give you a hint of what kernel version was built.

-----------------------------
Script Complete
eewiki.net: [user@localhost:~$ export kernel_version=5.X.Y-Z]
-----------------------------

Copy and paste that “export kernel_version=5.X.Y-Z” exactly as shown in your own build/desktop environment and hit enter to create an environment variable to be used later.

export kernel_version=5.X.Y-Z

Copy Root File System

#Debian; Root File System: user@localhost:~$
sudo tar xfvp ./debian-*-*-armhf-*/armhf-rootfs-*.tar -C /media/rootfs/
sync

Setup extlinux.conf

#user@localhost:~$
sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/boot/extlinux/
sudo sh -c "echo 'label Linux ${kernel_version}' > /media/rootfs/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf"
sudo sh -c "echo '    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-${kernel_version}' >> /media/rootfs/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf"
sudo sh -c "echo '    append root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 ro rootfstype=ext4 rootwait quiet' >> /media/rootfs/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf"
sudo sh -c "echo '    fdtdir /boot/dtbs/${kernel_version}/' >> /media/rootfs/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf"

Copy Kernel Image

Kernel Image:

#user@localhost:~$
sudo cp -v ./kernelbuildscripts/deploy/${kernel_version}.zImage /media/rootfs/boot/vmlinuz-${kernel_version}

Copy Kernel Device Tree Binaries

#user@localhost:~$
sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/boot/dtbs/${kernel_version}/
sudo tar xfv ./kernelbuildscripts/deploy/${kernel_version}-dtbs.tar.gz -C /media/rootfs/boot/dtbs/${kernel_version}/

Copy Kernel Modules

#user@localhost:~$
sudo tar xfv ./kernelbuildscripts/deploy/${kernel_version}-modules.tar.gz -C /media/rootfs/

File Systems Table (/etc/fstab)

#user@localhost:~/$
sudo sh -c "echo '/dev/mmcblk0p1  /  auto  errors=remount-ro  0  1' >> /media/rootfs/etc/fstab"

Remove microSD/SD card

sync
sudo umount /media/rootfs

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