Translation(s): none

DebianOn is an effort to document how to install, configure and use Debian on some specific hardware. Therefore potential buyers would know if that hardware is supported and owners would know how get the best out of that hardware.

The purpose is not to duplicate the Debian Official Documentation, but to document how to install Debian on some specific hardware.

If you need help to get Debian running on your hardware, please have a look at our user support channels where you may find specific channels (mailing list, IRC channel) dedicated to certain types of hardware.

Contents

  1. Overall Status
  2. Important Note
  3. Configuration
    1. Display
    2. Audio
    3. Mouse
    4. Power Management
    5. WiFi
    6. Modem
  4. System Summary
    1. partitioning
    2. lspci
    3. lsusb
  5. Resources
    1. Attachments
    2. Useful Links
    3. Credits

Models covered
bananaPi BPI-RP4 Pro

Sub-models options :
- 8X: 8GB DDR4 + 2x 10Gbps combo LAN+WAN (SFP+ / RJ45)
- 4E: 4GB DDR4 + 1x 10Gbps combo LAN (SFP+ / RJ45) + 1x combo WAN (10Gbps SFP+ / 2.5GB RJ45)

Overall Status

Core Components

[ATTACH]

Boot Standard Kernel:

[ X-( ] (see the resource section for the current BananaPi development kernel repository)

LAN network card:

[ X-( ]

Wireless/Wifi

[?]

Detect CD/DVD:

[-]

Detect hard drives:

[ {OK} ]

Extra Features

CPU Frequency Scaling

[?]

Hibernation

[?]

Sleep / Suspend

[?]

Xorg

[-]

- OpenGL

[-]

- Resize-and-Rotate(randr)

[-]

Switch to External Screen

[-]

Mouse

- Built-in (Trackpoint)

[-]

- Built-in (Touchpad)

[-]

Keyboard's Hotkeys

[-]

WebCam

[-]

Fingerprint Reader

[-]

Legend :
{OK} = OK ; {X} Unsupported(No Driver) ; /!\ = Error (Couldn't get it working); [?] Unknown, Not Test ; [-] Not-applicable
{i} = Configuration Required; X-( = Only works with a non-free driver and or firmware

Important Note

Frank Wunderlich (AKA frank-w on github.com, the main kernel community maintainer) produces various BPI-Router-Images (see the resource section for the link to the "Interfacing Linux Forum"), which, however, as of 2026-08-13 contains only basic kernel modules (e.g. WireGuard is missing...).

{X} Check this Claude research (via BPI-Router-Images#issues-28) to get an overview of the kernel upstreaming.

Configuration

Display

Audio

Mouse

Power Management

WiFi

Modem

System Summary

partitioning

With BPI-R4Pro-8X-BE14-MT76-OpenWRT24.10-DSA-251229: 

root@OpenWrt:~# sfdisk -d /dev/mmcblk0
GPT PMBR size mismatch (1245215 != 15269887) will be corrected by write.
The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that will be used.
The backup GPT table is not on the end of the device.
label: gpt
label-id: 5452574F-2211-4433-5566-778899AABB00
device: /dev/mmcblk0
unit: sectors
first-lba: 34
last-lba: 1245183
sector-size: 512

/dev/mmcblk0p1 : start=        8192, size=        1024, type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4, uuid=5452574F-2211-4433-5566-778899AABB01, name="ubootenv", attrs="RequiredPartition LegacyBIOSBootable"
/dev/mmcblk0p2 : start=        9216, size=        4096, type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4, uuid=5452574F-2211-4433-5566-778899AABB02, name="factory", attrs="RequiredPartition"
/dev/mmcblk0p3 : start=       13312, size=        8192, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, uuid=5452574F-2211-4433-5566-778899AABB03, name="fip", attrs="RequiredPartition"
/dev/mmcblk0p4 : start=       24576, size=      262144, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, uuid=5452574F-2211-4433-5566-778899AABB04, name="recovery", attrs="RequiredPartition"
/dev/mmcblk0p5 : start=      327680, size=      917504, type=CAE9BE83-B15F-49CC-863F-081B744A2D93, uuid=5452574F-2211-4433-5566-778899AABB05, name="production"
/dev/mmcblk0p128 : start=          34, size=        8158, type=21686148-6449-6E6F-744E-656564454649, uuid=5452574F-2211-4433-5566-778899AABB80
root@OpenWrt:~#

lspci

With BPI-R4Pro-8X-BE14-MT76-OpenWRT24.10-DSA-251229: 

root@OpenWrt:~# uname -a
Linux OpenWrt 6.6.93 #0 SMP Tue Jun 17 03:09:13 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux
root@OpenWrt:~# lspci -vnn
root@OpenWrt:~#

lsusb

With BPI-R4Pro-8X-BE14-MT76-OpenWRT24.10-DSA-251229: 

root@OpenWrt:~# lsusb -v | grep -E '\<(Bus|iProduct|bDeviceClass|bDeviceProtocol)' 2>/dev/null
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux 6.6.93 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         1 
  iProduct                2 xHCI Host Controller
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1a86:8091  USB HUB
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         2 
  iProduct                2 USB HUB
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux 6.6.93 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         3 
  iProduct                2 xHCI Host Controller
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux 6.6.93 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         1 
  iProduct                2 xHCI Host Controller
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 2109:2822 VIA Labs, Inc.          USB2.0 Hub             
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         2 
  iProduct                2 USB2.0 Hub             
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux 6.6.93 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         3 
  iProduct                2 xHCI Host Controller
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 2109:0822 VIA Labs, Inc.          USB3.1 Hub             
  bDeviceClass            9 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         3 
  iProduct                2 USB3.1 Hub             
root@OpenWrt:~#

USB Host controllers entries (without OHCI, UHCI, EHCI) are removed too.

Resources

Attachments

Some configuration files and sample outputs.

Credits