LOFT-Q Quick Guide for mainline kernel¶

Get mainline u-boot¶

git clone https://github.com/mixtile/loftq-uboot-next.git

Build mainline u-boot¶

cd loftq-uboot-next

make CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- mixtile_loftq_defconfig

make CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi-

when making finished, it will create u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin, and this is the file we need.

Get Mainline kernel¶

LOFT-Q now has forked the mainline upstream kernel and add some customizations upon it. you can fork it from the github of Mixtile project.

git clone https://github.com/mixtile/linux.git -b loftq-dev

Note： the master branch is the referring upstream branch, and loftq-dev is the customized branch.

Build Mainline kernel¶

After getting the code, we should follow commands below to build it.

cp arch/arm/configs/mixtile_loftq_defconfig .config

make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi-

make INSTALL_MOD_PATH=output ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- modules_install

when building is finished, we can get the directories and files we needed:

• arch/arm/boot/zImage，mainline kernel image.
• arch/arm/boot/dts/sun6i-a31-mixtile-loftq.dtb，the dts file for mainline kernel.
• output/lib/modules，the modules for mainline kernel.

As for the image, dts and modules, we should copy them to referring paths of GNU/Linux rootfs to make it bootable, also we can move them to other customized paths.

Requirements¶

Before building Debian, we will have to prepare some files needed according to different kernel released.

kernel config binary for Allwinner customized kernel:

• script.bin: the configuration file for Allwinner soc, used for setting up kernel and uboot, generated from sys_config.fex.

dts config for Mainline kernel:

• sun6i-a31-mixtile-loftq.dtb: the dts needed by mainline kernel, when building kernel, it will be generated automatically.

other files for both kinds of kernel:

• boot.scr: could be loaded and executed by Uboot, contains configurations and commands for booting up Linux kernel, generated from boot.cmd.
• u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin: the Uboot binary file, built by mainline uboot provided by linux-sunxi community, This release is based on next branch of u-boot-sunxi.
• uImage and referring kernel modules: linux kernel and kernel modules of LOFT-Q.
• rootfs archive of debian: rootfs archive for ARM platform, which contains the base system and configs of GNU/Linux.

Get Debian rootfs¶

We can follow below commands to get rootfs of Debian, more info, please refer to https://wiki.debian.org/ArmHardFloatChroot .

• get the latest unstable armhf base system with qemu-deootstrap .

  qemu-debootstrap --no-check-gpg --arch=armhf sid /chroots/sid-armhf ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/
  

  it will take a long time to getting the rootfs depending on your network environment.

• add source repository of Debian, please add following lines to /chroots/sid-armhf/etc/apt/sources.list:

  deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian sid main
  deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian sid main
  

Generate script.bin¶

script.bin is the configuration file for Uboot and Linux kernel of Allwinner soc, and we could get or make it:

• prebuilt script.bin: https://github.com/mixtile/loftq-build/tree/master/bsp/binary/boot .

• make script.bin:

  cd loftq-build/bsp/configs
  
  ./bin/fexc sys_config.fex script.bin
  

Generate boot.scr¶

boot.scr is the binary file which could be loaded and executed by UBoot for preparing booting environment and loading Linux kernel. we also can get or make following steps as below:

• prebuilt mainline boot.scr: https://github.com/mixtile/loftq-build/tree/master/bsp/binary/boot .

• make boot.scr:

  cd loftq-build/bsp/configs
  
  mkimage -C none -A arm -T script -d boot_single.cmd boot.scr
  

  Note

  • boot.scr for legacy kernel: loftq-build/bsp-legacy/configs/configs/boot_single.cmd
  • boot.scr for mainline kernel: loftq-build/bsp/configs/boot_single.cmd

bootdelay=3
console=ttyS0,115200
mmc_root=/dev/mmcblk0p1
init=/sbin/init
loglevel=8

setenv bootargs noinitrd console=${console} console=tty0 init=${init} loglevel=${loglevel} vmalloc=${vmalloc} partitions=${partitions} root=${mmc_root} rootwait rw rootfstype=ext4 panic=10 consoleblank=0 ${extra}

ext4load mmc 0 0x46000000 boot/mainline/zImage
ext4load mmc 0 0x48000000 boot/mainline/sun6i-a31-mixtile-loftq.dtb
bootz 0x46000000 - 0x48000000

ext4load mmc 0 0x43000000 boot/script.bin
ext4load mmc 0 0x48000000 boot/uImage
bootm 0x48000000

Build u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin¶

Please refer to previous Mainline u-boot building for generating u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin.

Build Linux kernel and its modules¶

we have introduced the kernel building process, please refer to Mainline kernel building .

Partition SD card¶

The layout of bootable SD card for LOFT-Q as below:

As for partitions of SD/Emmc, we have to make it in host os (Linux), we take ‘/dev/mmcblk0’ as example.

1. clear partitions of SD/Emmc, please backup your data before clearing.

   sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M count=1
   

2. start partitioning.

   sudo fdisk /dev/mmcblk0
   

3. process partitioning.

   Command (m for help): n                                 # Type n
   Partition type:
      p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
      e   extended
   Select (default p):                                     # Press Enter Key
   Using default response p
   Partition number (1-4, default 1):                      # Press Enter Key
   Using default value 1
   First sector (2048-15523839, default 2048):             # Press Enter Key
   Using default value 2048
   Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-15523839, default 15523839):      # Press Enter Key
   
   Command (m for help): w                                   # Enter w and press Enter
   
   The partition table has been altered!
   

4. format partition as Ext4.

   sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p1
   

Burn Uboot to SD/Emmc¶

After partitions prepared, we can burn u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin to SD card.

sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1024 seek=8

Prepare rootfs for SD card¶

sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt

sudo cp -r /chroot/sid-armhf/* /mnt

Copy BSP files to ext4 partition¶

sudo cp boot.scr /mnt/boot
sudo cp linux/arch/arm/boot/zImage /mnt/boot/mainline
sudo cp linux/arch/arm/boot/dts/sun6i-a31-mixtile-loftq.dtb /mnt/boot/mainline
sudo cp -r linux/output/lib/modules /mnt/lib
sudo sync
sudo umount /mnt

JeOS rootfs¶

There are several versions of JeOS that can work on LOFT-Q.

• Factory: http://download.opensuse.org/ports/armv7hl/factory/images/
• 13.1: http://download.opensuse.org/ports/armv7hl/distribution/13.1/appliances/
• 12.3: http://download.opensuse.org/ports/armv7hl/distribution/12.3/images/

We can choose one version for testing. More info about different versions, please refer to https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Chroot .

Here we take 13.1 version as testing example. then we have to download the openSUSE-*-ARM-JeOS.armv7-rootfs-*.tbz tarball. As for the bootable SD card makeing process, it’s almose the same with Debian building, and the only difference is rootfs creating and copying.

Now we creating rootfs with openSUSE-Factory-ARM-JeOS.armv7-rootfs.armv7l-Current.tbz, orders as below:

sudo tar -C /mnt -xjf openSUSE-Factory-ARM-JeOS.armv7-rootfs.armv7l-Current.tbz

Now, we follow Copy BSP files to ext4 partition to add BSP and kernel modules, then we just plug in SD card to LOFT-Q and power it on, Here is the openSUSE world.

GNU/Linux Archives¶

We have precompiled tarballs of openSUSE and Debian linux system for booting up linux quickly.

• Debian sid release
• openSUSE 13.1 release
• openSUSE Factory release

Link: http://www.mixtile.com/downloads/loft-q/

All you have to do is Partition SD card and Burn Uboot to SD/Emmc as described above, and decompress the tarball to the Ext4 partion, then the Linux world is open.