rock-5b

Debian ARM64 Linux for the Radxa Rock 5 Model B

This Debian ARM64 Linux image is built directly from official packages using the Debian Debootstrap utility, see: https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/blob/main/debian/make_debian_img.sh#L131

Most patches are directly available from the Debian repos using the built-in apt package manager, see: https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/blob/main/debian/make_debian_img.sh#L343-L350

• Note: The kernel in this bundle is from kernel.org and will not get updates from debian.

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debian bookworm setup

1. download image

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz

2. determine the location of the target micro sd card

• before plugging-in device

ls -l /dev/sd*
ls: cannot access '/dev/sd*': No such file or directory

• after plugging-in device

ls -l /dev/sd*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Jul 15 10:33 /dev/sda

• note: for mac, the device is /dev/rdiskX

3. in the case above, substitute 'a' for 'X' in the command below (for /dev/sda)

sudo su
xzcat rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz > /dev/sdX
sync

when the micro sd has finished imaging, eject it and boot the rock 5b to finish setup

4. login account

user: debian
pass: debian

5. take updates

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

6. create account & login as new user

sudo adduser youruserid
echo '<youruserid> ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/<youruserid>
sudo chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/<youruserid>

7. lockout and/or delete debian account

sudo passwd -l debian
sudo chsh -s /usr/sbin/nologin debian

sudo deluser --remove-home debian
sudo rm /etc/sudoers.d/debian

8. change hostname (optional)

sudo nano /etc/hostname
sudo nano /etc/hosts

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installing on m.2 ssd /dev/nvme0n1 media

1. while booted from mmc, download and copy the image file on to the ssd media

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz
sudo su
xzcat rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz > /dev/nvme0n1
sync

2. remove mmc media and reboot

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booting from spi nor flash

1. boot from removable mmc

Follow the instructions for creating bootable mmc media. Insert the mmc media and boot the device.

Note: The mmc media has a one-time reboot during first setup as it expands to the size of the mmc media.

2. install mtd-utils

once linux is booted from the removable mmc, install mtd-utils

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install mtd-utils

3. erase spi flash

sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 0
sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd1 0 0
sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd2 0 0
sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd3 0 0

4. write u-boot to spi flash

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/idbloader.img
wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/u-boot.itb
sudo flashcp -vA idbloader.img /dev/mtd0
sudo flashcp -vA u-boot.itb /dev/mtd2

Once the spi flash has been written, the boot sequence should prefer removable mmc media if present, otherwise boot m.2 nvme ssd.

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building debian bookworm arm64 for the rock-5b from scratch

The build script builds native arm64 binaries and thus needs to be run from an arm64 device such as an odroid m1 running a 64 bit arm linux. The initial build of this project used a debian arm64 raspberry pi4, but now uses a rock 5b running debian trixie arm64.

1. clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b.git
cd rock-5b

2. run the debian build script

cd debian
sudo sh make_debian_img.sh nocomp

• note: edit the build script to change various options: nano make_debian_img.sh

3. the output if the build completes successfully

mmc_2g.img

4. install the kernel

cd debian
sudo sh install_kernel.sh

• note: kernel needs to be built and available in the ../kernel directory