PRIOR DOING THIS A LINUX MACHINE (PHYSICAL/VM) IS NEEDED AS A REQUIREMENT!!!!!
And also u-boot tools installed like:
apt install u-boot-tools
Logon your Linux machine and execute the following command to clone this git repo into folder tmp_build:
git clone https://github.com/asxtree/OrangePiAlpineLinux tmp_build
Go in the tmp_build directory, create the sources directory and extract the OPiAlpine_image.tar.gz archive into sources:
cd tmp_build
mkdir sources
cat OPiAlpine_image* > OPiAlpine_image.tar.gz
tar -zxvf OPiAlpine_image.tar.gz -C sources
The most important thng that you must do is to modify the boot.cmd file to reflect the board in which you want to run the Alpine image. To do this go in the newly created folder where you've extracted the sources in the /boot directory like this:
cd sources/boot
Remove the boot.scr file like this:
rm -rf boot.scr
Edit the boot.cmd file to match your board you be using:
vi boot.cmd (then press "i" on the keyboard to edit the file)
And modify in the boot.cmd file only the second line with the bord that you want by deleting the current Device Tree Blob file sun50i-h5-orangepi-pc2.dtb and writing one of the availabe options like(prime is important in this case sun50i-h5-orangepi-prime.dtb):
sun50i-a64-bananapi-m64.dtb
sun50i-a64-nanopi-a64.dtb
sun50i-a64-olinuxino.dtb
sun50i-a64-orangepi-win.dtb
sun50i-a64-pine64.dtb
sun50i-a64-pine64-plus.dtb
sun50i-a64-pinebook.dtb
sun50i-a64-sopine-baseboard.dtb
sun50i-h5-nanopi-m1-plus2.dtb
sun50i-h5-nanopi-neo2.dtb
sun50i-h5-nanopi-neo-plus2.dtb
sun50i-h5-orangepi-pc2.dtb
sun50i-h5-orangepi-prime.dtb
sun50i-h5-orangepi-zero-plus.dtb
sun50i-h5-orangepi-zero-plus2.dtb
setenv bootargs earlyprintk /boot/vmlinuz-4.14.15-sunxi64 modules=loop,squashfs,sd-mod,usb-storage modloop=/boot/modloop-sunxi console=${console}
fdt addr 0x50000000
fdt get value bootargs /chosen bootargs
setenv kernel_addr_r 0x41000000
setenv ramdisk_addr_r 0x48000000
load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} boot/vmlinuz-4.14.15-sunxi64
load mmc 0:1 ${ramdisk_addr_r} boot/initramfs-sunxi
setenv initrdsize $filesize
load mmc 0:1 ${fdt_addr_r} boot/dtb-4.14.15-sunxi64/allwinner/sun50i-h5-orangepi-pc2.dtb
booti ${kernel_addr_r} ${ramdisk_addr_r}:${initrdsize} ${fdt_addr_r}
Leave the rest as it is and save by pressing the "ESC" key then write ":wq" and press the "ENTER" key.
In order to be able to boot you have to recreate the boot.scr file from the boot.cmd file that you've modified, issue the following commad:
mkimage -C none -A arm -T script -d boot.cmd boot.scr
Then go back to tmp_build:
cd tmp_build
Now insert the SD card into the Linux machine so we would prepare it for the image.
First list the disks to see if you see the SD card, you should have an entry like Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 14.9 GiB. Ifyou see it, issue this commands to write zero to it:
fdisk -l #to list the disks and find the sd card, in my case is mmcblk0
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M count=1
Then write the u-boot on it:
dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1024 seek=8
And create a the first partition:
fdisk /dev/mmcblk0
root@ubuntu:tmp_build# fdisk /dev/mmcblk0
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.27.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.
Device does not contain a recognized partition table.
Created a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xe5cd38f0.
Command (m for help): n <-----------------------------------------------------------------> type "n" for new partition
Partition type
p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
e extended (container for logical partitions)
Select (default p): p <-------------------------------------------------------------------> type "p" for primary partition
Partition number (1-4, default 1): <------------------------------------------------------> press ENTER key
First sector (2048-31116287, default 2048): <---------------------------------------------> press ENTER key
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-31116287, default 31116287): +1G
Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 1 GiB.
Command (m for help): <---------------------------------------------> type "t" and press ENTER
Selected partition 1
Partition type (type L to list all types): <---------------------------------------------> type "c" and press ENTER
Changed type of partition 'Linux' to 'W95 FAT32 (LBA)'.
Command (m for help): <---------------------------------------------> type "a" and press ENTER
Selected partition 1
The bootable flag on partition 1 is enabled now.
Command (m for help): n <-----------------------------------------------------------------> type "n" for new partition
Partition type
p primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free)
e extended (container for logical partitions)
Select (default p): p <-------------------------------------------------------------------> type "p" for primary partition
Partition number (2-4, default 2): <------------------------------------------------------> press ENTER key
First sector (2099200-31116287, default 2099200): <------------------------------------------------------> press ENTER key
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G,T,P} (2099200-31116287, default 31116287): <-------------------------------> press ENTER key
Created a new partition 2 of type 'Linux' and of size 13.9 GiB.
Command (m for help): w <-----------------------------------------------------------------> type "w" to write changes
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
Now format the partitions:
mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p2 <> confirm with "y" if asked
Mount the first partition to /mnt:
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
Copy the sources to the mounted partition:
cp -R sources/* /mnt/
After the copy is finished unmount the partition and dont try to force unmount for until it unmounts:
umount /mnt
Now you should remove the SD card from the Linux machine and insert it in your board and after 25" you should already see the kernel starting on the connected monitor and in 30" you should have the login.
If it doesnt start in more than 35" redo the steps from "Prepare the bootable SD card and copy the sources" assuming that youve made the corect boot.cmd and boot.scr, if not redo also those steps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At first run Alpine doesnt have any password so you will enter only the user root. So the board started enter the user to login then lets issue the command to setup Alpine:
localhost login: root
setup-alpine
NOTICE: You will need a monitor and keyboard to do this and you can always type ? during the setup to see other alternatives.
Set your keyboard preferences by typing us (there are many available keyboard layouts, this is a general example), then type us-intl.
Enter a name for your hostname then select the ethernet port that you wan to initialize (by default is eth0 so just press ENTER), enter youre IP address that you want to be set on eth0 (by default is DHCP) if youve chossed DHCP you will be asked if you want to do any manual network configuration otherwise you will be asked for gateway, netmask and DNS.
Now is the time to change the root password and you will be asked to enter it two times for confirmation.
Select your timezone, you can type ? to see them, for example for Athens type Europe\Athens.
You will be asked for HTTP/FTP proxy URL just select what is default none.
Select one from the available mirrors to update the repositories and here you can leave whats default and just press ENTER.
Select which SSH server you want to install, I usually install OpenSSH but you can choose watever you want and for NTP client leave the default chrony.
!!!!!!!!!!! PAY ATTENTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When youre asked where to store the configs type none and press ENTER.
Enter where to store configs ('floppy', 'mmcblk0p1', 'usb' or 'none') [mmcblk0p1]: none
Also when asked to enter the apk cache directory type none and press ENTER.
Enter apk cache directory (or '?' or 'none') [/var/cache/apk]: none
To make a sys installation or persistent for the Alpine to run from the SD card and not from RAM we have to do the following.
Install Alpine linux on the second partition, remove the boot folder from the installation on the second partition and point where the boot and root will be in the following commands:
mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 /mnt
setup-disk -m sys -k vanilla /mnt #wait for completion
mount -o remount,rw /dev/mmcblk0p1
cd /mnt
rm -rf boot
mkdir media/mmcblk0p1
ln -s media/mmcblk0p1 boot
echo "/dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/mmcblk0p1 vfat defaults 0 0" >> etc/fstab
sed -i '/cdrom/d' etc/fstab
sed -i '/floppy/d' etc/fstab
sed -i '/edge/!s/^#//' etc/apk/repositories
sed -i '/community/!s/^#//' etc/apk/repositories
poweroff
After the board was powered off remove the SD card from the board and put it back into the linux machine used earlier to write the sources to the card because we need to modify the boot.cmd file and redo the boot.scr file.
To do so issue the following commands on the linux machine:
fdisk -l #to see if the two partitions are visible
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
cd /mnt/boot/
rm -rf boot.scr
vi boot.cmd
Specify where the root partition will be /dev/mmcblk0p2 right after setenv bootargs root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 like in the next example:
setenv bootargs root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 earlyprintk /boot/vmlinuz-4.14.15-sunxi64 modules=loop,squashfs,sd-mod,usb-storage modloop=/boot/modloop-sunxi console=${console}
fdt addr 0x50000000
fdt get value bootargs /chosen bootargs
setenv kernel_addr_r 0x41000000
setenv ramdisk_addr_r 0x48000000
load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} boot/vmlinuz-4.14.15-sunxi64
load mmc 0:1 ${ramdisk_addr_r} boot/initramfs-sunxi
setenv initrdsize $filesize
load mmc 0:1 ${fdt_addr_r} boot/dtb-4.14.15-sunxi64/allwinner/sun50i-h5-orangepi-pc2.dtb
booti ${kernel_addr_r} ${ramdisk_addr_r}:${initrdsize} ${fdt_addr_r}
Create the boot.scr file and unmount the partition:
mkimage -C none -A arm -T script -d boot.cmd boot.scr
umount /mnt
Now put the SD card back in the board and power it up.
After you login on it type df -h to see that / is mounted on the second partition /dev/mmcblk0p2 like in the next example:
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs 10.0M 0 10.0M 0% /dev
shm 497.6M 0 497.6M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/mmcblk0p2 13.5G 411.4M 12.4G 3% /
tmpfs 99.5M 120.0K 99.4M 0% /run
cgroup_root 10.0M 0 10.0M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p1 1022.0M 251.2M 770.8M 25% /media/mmcblk0p1
To get rid of the hwclock error and fsck.ext4 failure on the second partition, type in the following commands:
apk add e2fsprogs
rc-update del hwclock boot
rc-update add swclock boot
- A version update will be made asap to address the hwclock error and the partion table.
- Compiling branch will be made with information on how to build your Alpine sources
- A prebuild persistent version update will be made