CuBox-i support in Debian
This page exists to collate information about the status of support in Debian for the CuBox-i family of devices by SolidRun (CuBox-i1, CuBox-i2, CuBox-i2Ultra, CuBox-i4Pro).
General information
The CuBox-i devices are a series of small-footprint, always-on computers based on the FreeScale i.MX6 chipset.
Bootloader support
The CuBox-i uses U-Boot as a bootloader, and is supported by the U-Boot version in Debian 9/Stretch onwards.
The CuBox-i U-Boot uses SPL (allowing the same U-Boot image to be used across multiple models), and should be installed to the SD card using the layout described here. Note that this version of U-Boot will also support reading the second-stage bootloader from a FAT filesystem on the first partition of the device; however, since U-Boot also reads its environment from an offset of 384K on the SD card, there is 342K of reserved space at the front of the disk which will be otherwise unused. It is therefore recommended to install U-Boot to the embedded space at the front of the disk, and not to set up a dedicated boot partition on the SD card.
Kernel support
The CuBox-i is supported by the armmp linux kernel (4.9+) in Debian Stretch including serial console, usb, ethernet, mmc, HDMI, eSATA and ir receiver.
Installing Debian
Starting from Debian 8/Jessie, the cubox-i and hummingboard are supported through the official debian installer.
For Debian stable, instructions for pre-build images can be found in the official documentation of the Debian Installer.
- Daily images of the Debian Installer are also available for:
Be prepared to attach a serial console to your cubox-i/hummingboard, because the installer does not output on the HDMI interface.
Desktop Environments
On Buster Gnome on Wayland works out of the box. It is important to boot the kernel with the cma=... parameter set, e.g. cma=256M.
See also cma entry for the Wandboard
I added the cma=... parameter by
rd@xbian:/etc/flash-kernel/bootscript$ diff -u bootscr.cubox-i~ bootscr.cubox-i --- bootscr.cubox-i~ 2017-07-25 06:58:47.000000000 +0200 +++ bootscr.cubox-i 2018-01-13 17:26:46.983026580 +0100 @@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ fi setenv bootargs @@LINUX_KERNEL_CMDLINE_DEFAULTS@@ ${bootargs} @@LINUX_KERNEL_CMDLINE@@ +@@UBOOT_ENV_EXTRA@@ if test -z "${prefix}" ; then setenv image_locations '/boot/ /' rd@xbian:/etc/flash-kernel/bootscript$ # echo 'setenv bootargs ${bootargs} cma=256M' | tee /etc/flash-kernel/ubootenv.d/cma && flash-kernel
Further info
Thomas Bechtold's blog entry about bootstrapping a SD-Card with Debian Stretch for Cubox-4i
Gunnar Wolf's blog entry about bootstrapping a CuBox-i4
Rainer's notes on bootstrapping a CuBox-i4
The CuBox-i wiki
Armbian by Igor Pečovnik is a Debian-derived distribution