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[[DebianBug:926040|being adopted into Debian]] and [[https://lists.denx.de/pipermail/u-boot/2019-April/365317.html|proposed mainlined into u-boot], [[DebianBug:926040|being adopted into Debian]] and [[https://lists.denx.de/pipermail/u-boot/2019-April/365317.html|proposed mainlined into u-boot]],

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.

Introduction

The Teres-I is a DIY open hardware laptop sold by Olimex. Olimex has stated that they intend the Teres-I to be very modular, allowing main boards built around different SoCs to be used interchangeably. However the only main board available at the moment is based on the Allwinner A64 SoC with 2GB RAM and 16GB eMMC internal storage. The CPU is supported by the arm64 architecture in debian. armhf should work too, but is untested.

The laptop is sold with linux (ubuntu + vendor supplied kernel) preinstalled. Source code is only partially available for the vendor kernel, which means that users of the preinstalled system are permanently stuck with an old version of linux. On the other hand since a linux system is available, no external computer and no cross-compilation is required to bootstrap a debian system.

While debian should run fine from the eMMC internal storage, most people install debian to an external microSD card (there is one slot available) to have both systems available. That's also what is described in this guide.

Overall Status

To get an overview of mainline kernel support, see the status matrix of the linux sunxi community.

Core Components

[ATTACH]

Boot Standard Kernel:

{OK} - since Buster

Detect mmc:

{OK}

Extra Features

CPU Frequency Scaling

{OK}

Hibernation

[?]

Sleep / Suspend

{OK} - since Linux 4.19

Xorg

{OK}

- OpenGL

[?]

- Resize-and-Rotate(randr)

[?]

Switch to External Screen

{X} - only with non-Mainline patches e.g. included in Olimex images

Mouse

- Built-in (Touchpad)

{OK}

Wireless/Wifi

X-(

Keyboard's Hotkeys

[?]

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

Installation

The laptop is sold as a kit for self-assembly. Here we assume that it is completely assembled and confirmed working correctly with the preinstalled system.

Image install

Several images exist for directly writing to your microSD card:

  • Redpill

    • Source: Debian
    • Build: Boxer + qemu + multistrap + custom scripts

    • Quirks: No bootloader (download separately). Includes nonfree package firmware-realtek.
  • Armbian

    • Source: Debian (or Ubuntu) + Armbian + Armbian-maintained forks of kernel and bootloader
    • Build: debootstrap + custom scripts

  • Olimex (torrent link)

    • Source: Ubuntu + Olimex + Olimex-maintained forks of kernel and bootloader
    • Build: qemu-debootstrap + custom scripts

For links, further information and discussion see the dedicated thread at the olimex forum.

Manual install

Buster and newer include kernel and arm64 userspace tools working out of the box, but you will need to get or compile yourself a custom bootloader.

partitioning

There are no real requirements for disk layout other than that the bootloader is stored in an area close to the start of the disk but outside any partition. Most microSD cards already come with a compatible partition layout, so you only have to change the type of the existing partition from Windows to Linux and format it with your favorite filesystem.

device tree

Buster and newer ships with working device-tree (DT) file for the teres.

arm trusted firmware

Stage 2 of bootstrapping the hardware is ARM Trusted Firmware.

The debian package arm-trusted-firmware has support for Teres I using this binary:

/usr/lib/arm-trusted-firmware/sun50i_a64/bl31.bin

u-boot

Stage 1 and 3 of bootstrapping the hardware is U-boot.

mainline u-boot still (as of release 2019.04) misses a few bits including the sun50i-a64-teres-i.dtb device tree file with hints to enable the pwm driver (to get display backlight up).

anarsoul

One recent approach is to get this fork of mainline:

git clone https://salsa.debian.org/js/u-boot
cd u-boot

It is the official Debian u-boot package with a patch from Vasily Khoruzhick a.k.a. anarsoul being adopted into Debian and proposed mainlined into u-boot, and can therefore be built and used as such:

debuild -i -us -uc -b
sudo dpkg -i ../u-boot-sunxi_*.deb
sudo u-boot-install-sunxi64 /dev/sdx

The final binary package can also be downloaded:

You can skip the package build and instead compile u-boot files explicitly:

QUILT_PATCHES=debian/patches quilt push -a
BL31=/usr/lib/arm-trusted-firmware/sun50i_a64/bl31.bin make teres_i_defconfig
BL31=/usr/lib/arm-trusted-firmware/sun50i_a64/bl31.bin make
dd if=spl/sunxi-spl.bin of=/dev/sdx bs=8k seek=1
dd if=u-boot.itb of=/dev/sdx bs=8k seek=5

The final files can also be downloaded:

Duwe

Another recent approach is to get this fork of mainline:

git --branch wip/opensuse clone https://salsa.debian.org/js/u-boot
cd u-boot

It is the official Debian u-boot package with a patch from an openSUSE project previously proposed merged but discouraged due to its size and lack of (proof of) active mainlining effort, and can therefore be built same ways as above.

(possibly some parts of the patch duplicates recently mainlined code - in particular it seems arm-trusted-firmware 2.0 supports in plat/allwinner/sun50i_a64/sunxi_power.c activating pwm given the right declarative hints in device tree file.)

anarsoul+Icenowy

Another earlier approach is to get this fork from sunxi fork and then cherry-pick one more commit:

git clone https://github.com/anarsoul/u-boot-pine64.git
cd u-boot-pine64
git remote add icenowy https://github.com/Icenowy/u-boot/
git fetch icenowy
git checkout -b teres origin/pinebook-wip-20180206
git cherry-pick icenowy/teres-i-mainline

(possibly (untested!) all relevant changes from anarsoul's fork are merged in u-boot 2018.09, and only patch needed since then is the one from icenowy actually adding teres-i support.)

You find information about compiling u-boot and writing the binaries to media in board/sunxi/README.sunxi64 - the basic steps are:

BL31=/usr/lib/arm-trusted-firmware/sun50i_a64/bl31.bin make teres_i_defconfig
BL31=/usr/lib/arm-trusted-firmware/sun50i_a64/bl31.bin make
dd if=spl/sunxi-spl.bin of=/dev/sdx bs=8k seek=1
dd if=u-boot.itb of=/dev/sdx bs=8k seek=5

The final files can also be downloaded:

Possibly the U-boot parts of this Armbian patchset is relevant...

rootfs

Since there is already an ubuntu system preinstalled on the teres, you can simple download debootstrap from unstable and install it on ubuntu -

  • it's only a shell script, so no dependency problems.

Then just follow the debootstrap chapter in the installation manual.

The default bootscript built into u-boot probably won't find all the files necessary to boot the system. To fix this we need to write a custom bootscript and reformat it with mkimage from the package u-boot-tools:

mkimage -T script -d boot.txt /boot.scr

Here is a minimal example bootscript which assumes that /dtb, /vmlinuz and /initrd.gz are symlinks to the real files.

Using debian installer

There is no support in the official installer yet. However it might be possible to copy the arm64 installer files and a suitable device tree file onto a microSD card with a bootloader from external sources. If you try that approach, please share your experience.

Troubleshooting

If the screen remains blank or the system doesn't boot (is stuck in u-boot or initramfs) you can connect a serial console. The serial console is multiplexed with the headphone output. Instructions how to make or buy a proper connector are at the olimex forum.

Configuration

Display

  • (not covered yet)

Audio

  • (not covered yet)

Power Management

Sleep is supported since Linux 4.19.

WiFi

  • (not covered yet)


System Summary

lsusb

lsusb -v | grep -E '\<(Bus|iProduct|bDeviceClass|bDeviceProtocol)' 2>/dev/null

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 SW USB2.0 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 15ba:003c Olimex Ltd. 
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  iProduct                2 TERES Keyboard+Touchpad
  (Bus Powered)
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1908:2311 GEMBIRD 
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  iProduct                2 USB2.0 PC CAMERA
      (Bus Powered)
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  (Bus Powered)
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Single TT
  iProduct                1 USB2.0 Hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 SW USB2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 SW USB2.0 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 SW USB2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver

Resources

Attachments

Some configuration files and sample outputs.

  • [get | view] (2018-04-07 09:22:19, 0.2 KB) [[attachment:boot.txt]]
 All files | Selected Files: delete move to page copy to page

Credits


CategoryLaptopComputer