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
Support
If something isn't working for you, you can get in contact with Mobian developers and the Mobian community in various ways. All of them are listed here.
Installation
This document guides the user how to install Mobian on their ?PineTab2, an open source tablet designed by Pine64 to run Linux distributions
Note: Mobian requires a handful of packages that are not part of Debian at the time of writing (2023-06).
Prerequisites
U-Boot is required to boot the images. If you have the factory image installed and updated to the latest version, you can boot Mobian from an SD card without installing U-Boot. If you want to install Mobian to the EMMC, you will have to install U-Boot to the SPI.
Installing U-Boot to the SPI
Warning: Flashing the SPI flash memory is a dangerous procedure because the SPI has the highest boot priority. Any bug or faulty installation in the SPI can prevent the device from booting, which means that there is a high risk of getting locked out of the device. The only way of restoring from that state is using a specialized UART adapter, which can disable the SPI flash memory at boot, as explained in the recovering the SPI section. DO NOT FLASH THE SPI unless you are an experienced developer with access to the UART adapter and you have confirmed that the adapter is functional.
To install U-Boot to your ?PineTab2's SPI, follow these steps:
Install the mtd-utils package on your ?PineTab2 (on the factory image or Mobian)
Download the U-Boot build for the PineTab2 and extract the zip file.
Verify the integrity of the u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin file by running this command and checking for an "OK" (you have to be in same directory as the file): echo "41768fd15c1df7e329040b742e575b9fea82e2cfc676c77dd5fc1da0c49f7947 u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin" | sha256sum --check
- Open a terminal and cd to the directory where the extracted u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin file is
Run this command: sudo flashcp -v -p u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin /dev/mtd0
Obtain the image
Pre-built Mobian images for the ?PineTab2 can be downloaded from this link. Installer images are available here.
Verifying the images
Mobian images come with multiple files:
- .img.gz: The flashable image
- .img.bmap: The bmaptool input for the image (See Method 1a below)
- .sha256sum: A file of SHA256 hashes of the image file.
- .sha256sum.sig: A detached signature for the .sha256sum file.
To verify the download, use the following steps:
Import the Mobian signing key from here. Once downloaded, the key can be imported with gpg --import mobian.gpg.
Verify the signature with gpg --verify <downloaded file>.sha256sum.sig.
If the signature is valid, check the other files with shasum -c <downloaded file>.sha256sums
- If this prints OK for all files the download is verified.
Flash the image
In order to flash the Mobian image, you need to identify the device attached to target. **Be careful not to write to the wrong device! Replace the "X" in /dev/mmcblkX or /dev/sdX or use /dev/disk/by-id/.**
Be advised that the first boot will take longer due to the automatic resizing of the filesystem.
Installation to eMMC
You can install the image to eMMC by flashing the installer image to an SD card which will then provide the option to install to eMMC.
Method 1a: bmaptool using an URL
bmaptool is a comfortable means to flash your image. It handles sparse files, so it can be considerably faster than plain dd. It also handles both .bmap and .gz files and can dowload them directly from an URL. Execute
sudo bmaptool copy https://images.mobian-project.org/pinetab2/CHANGEME $BLOCKDEVICE
with $BLOCKDEVICE the blockdevice to flash, e.g. /dev/mmcblkX, /dev/sdX [in the case of jumpdrive], or /dev/disk/by-id/XXXXXX).
Example:
sudo bmaptool copy https://images.mobian.org/pinetab2/weekly/mobian-pinetab2-phosh-20230625.img.gz /dev/sdb
Method 1b: bmaptool with a local image file
You can also use bmaptool to flash a local image. As it handles sparse files, it can flash considerably faster than plain dd
- sudo bmaptool copy $IMAGE $BLOCKDEVICE
with $IMAGE, the path to the compressed or uncompressed image file and $BLOCKDEVICE the blockdevice (/dev/mmcblkX or /dev/sdX - if you are using jumpdrive - or /dev/disk/by-id/).
Example:
- sudo bmaptool copy mobian-pinetab2-phosh-20230619.img.gz /dev/disk/by-id/mmc-SU16G_0x1d6654fd
Method 2: dd
To use dd, you need to unzip the image using one of the following commands:
- gunzip mobian-pinetab2-YYYYMMDD.img.gz gzip -d mobian-pinetab2-YYYYMMDD.img.gz
Then flash with the following command:
- sudo dd bs=64k if=mobian-pinetab2-YYYYMMDD.img of=/dev/mmcblkX status=progress
(the status= option will display some progress while flashing, dd is awfully silent otherwise)
Default pin and password
The default user is **mobian** and has the password: **1234**. It is also used as PIN on the unlock screen.
The root-user is locked by default.
You should change the user password - please see ?changing password about the right way to do so. If you want to access your phone via ssh, you need to ?set it up to do so.
Automatic resizing of your filesystem on first boot
After flashing the image and booting for the first time, Mobian will resize the root filesystem to take all possible space on the disk. This can take a while and will only happen on first boot. So grab a ${DRINK_OF_CHOICE} and be patient.
Full disk encryption
When installing Mobian with full disk encryption and booting with the keyboard case connected, you will have to touch the screen or press a key to show the decryption screen. This is an upstream issue.
Uninstalling U-Boot from the SPI
Warning: If you uninstall U-Boot from the SPI, Mobian will no longer boot on your ?PineTab2.
If you would like to uninstall U-Boot from your ?PineTab2's SPI, follow these steps:
Install the mtd-utils package on your ?PineTab2 (on the factory image or Mobian)
- Open a terminal and cd to the directory where the extracted u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin file is
Run this command: sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 16
Recovering the SPI
If you installed U-Boot to the SPI and you cannot boot your ?PineTab2, you can recovery the SPI, by using the debug adaptor that came with the device and an SD card, and either reinstalling U-Boot the SPI or uninstalling U-Boot from it.
Reinstalling U-Boot to the SPI
To install U-Boot to the SPI by using the debug adaptor that came with the device and an SD card, follow these steps:
Format an SD card and run this command, replacing /dev/mmcblk0 with the path to your SD card: sudo parted /dev/mmcblk0 mkpart ext4 16MB 100% && sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p1
Download the U-Boot build for the PineTab2 and extract the zip file.
Verify the integrity of the u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin file by running this command and checking for an "OK" (you have to be in same directory as the file): echo "41768fd15c1df7e329040b742e575b9fea82e2cfc676c77dd5fc1da0c49f7947 u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin" | sha256sum --check
Run this command, replacing /dev/mmcblk0 with the path to your SD card (you have to be in same directory as the file): sudo dd if=u-boot-rockchip.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=32k seek=1 conv=fsync
- Copy the u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin file to the partition
Insert the SD card and adaptor into your ?PineTab2, with the SD boot switch on the adaptor set to ON
Connect the debug adaptor to your computer and run this command: sudo minicom -b 1500000 -D /dev/ttyUSB0 (this requires having minicom installed)
- Press the power button to boot the device into the U-Boot that is on the SD card, then press a key to interrupt the boot process
- Set the SD boot switch on the adaptor to OFF
- Run these commands:
sf probe
load mmc 1:1 10000000 u-boot-rockchip-spi.bin
sf update $fileaddr 0 $filesize
Uninstalling U-Boot from the SPI
Warning: If you uninstall U-Boot from the SPI, Mobian will no longer boot on your ?PineTab2.
To uninstall U-Boot from the SPI by using the debug adaptor that came with the device and an SD card, follow these steps:
- Format an SD card
Download the U-Boot build for the PineTab2 and extract the zip file.
Run this command, replacing /dev/mmcblk0 with the path to your SD card (you have to be in same directory as the file): sudo dd if=u-boot-rockchip.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=32k seek=1 conv=fsync
Insert the SD card and adaptor into your ?PineTab2, with the SD boot switch on the adaptor set to ON
Connect the debug adaptor to your computer and run this command: sudo minicom -b 1500000 -D /dev/ttyUSB0 (this requires having minicom installed)
- Press the power button to boot the device into the U-Boot that is on the SD card, then press a key to interrupt the boot process
- Set the SD boot switch on the adaptor to OFF
- Run these commands:
sf probe
sf erase 0 +10000