UPDATED Debian Sid armhf rootfs and SD images are now here!

Note: Development of the A10 platform is occurring at a rapid pace. The information in this thread is no longer relevant, but will remain as legacy information. Use of these SD images has been deprecated, and is no longer recommended. The version below has also been deprecated. Current a10linux.org SD card images will be located at http://a10linux.org

This full 4GB Debian Sid armhf MythTV demo SD image uses the latest kernel and latest u-boot and has the following features:

• LXDE Desktop Environment
• Easily accessible root password (the password is "password")
• One user account created (user) with a blank password (warning: the blank password is a security risk - change it!)
• Build-essential packages are preinstalled
• U-boot tools preinstalled
• Git preinstalled
• SVN preinstalled
• Vim preinstalled
• Samba preinstalled
• Unrar and 7-zip preinstalled
• Midnight Commander preinstalled
• SSH Bash shell directory color highlights
• Screen has been added so you can leave the SSH terminal
• Rdesktop and TightVNC clients so you can access other clients
• X11vnc running as a service for easy headless access to the GUI
• ability to easily mount SD card images with kpartx package has been added
  (the kernel in this version does not have a device-mapper module enabled on it)
• AbiWord word processor preinstalled
• Firefox web browser preinstalled
• Thunderbird email preinstalled
• FFmpeg preinstalled
• Xine
• MPD
• Gnome Mplayer
• Sonata MPD client
• Rhythmbox media player
• MythTV frontend
• Mythweb (is not working in this version)
• MythTV backend with preconfigured MySQL database & 1 recording
• Nginx web server with php5-fpm (host your web site in your pocket!)
• MySQL database server (works great - root password is "password")
• Apache2 web server (Mythweb dependency only - DO NOT USE!)
• Debian non-free apt repository has been added
• Debian Multimedia apt repository has been added
• The SD card image uses a swap partition, but the swap is rarely used.

All of this right on your inexpensive little Mele box, MK802 dongle, or A10-based tablet!
Easily used on either a native HDMI display, or from Android or another OS using a VNC client!
Apache2, MPD, MySQL, MythTV backend, Nginx, Php5-fpm, and Samba are all installed, but the services are disabled. Please use sysv-rc-conf or update-rc.d to enable the services you need or wish to use. (Do NOT enable Apache unless you have a very good reason, and are prepared for the consequences of your actions. It is a Mythweb dependency only.)

NOTE: This version may have "paranoid networking" kernel.

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Here is the full Allwinner A10 Debian Sid armhf MythTV demo SD image - ready to boot on probably any A10 device. It is recommended to use the existing script.bin in partition 1 for most tablets. Use script.bin.mele for the Mele and others. Just rename it to script.bin. In some cases it may be necessary to use the script.bin from your particular A10 device. Just copy it to script.bin in partition 1. If you have a Mele you will need to enable the SATA and Ethernet modules in /etc/modules.

The standard 4GB edition - this is the 4GB MythTV demo version which has all the above packages installed.
sha256sum: b9b849565e491e391fd6d542011bbc4275d3c0164b141c7bbffcdda15129b759

If you need more space you can delete media files and packages, or write this image to a larger SD card and resize the f/s.

If you prefer something with fewer packages, and more room for user data, the minimal Debian Sid LXDE armhf 2GB SD image is the one you want. It is a standard, but very functional, Debian LXDE desktop installation with none of the extra server and MythTV packages that are in the demo image above. It still has Abiword and all the other nice multimedia packages.

Here is the (coming soon) minimal Debian Sid LXDE armhf 2GB SD image.
sha256sum:

The Debian Sid armhf buildroot is a full non-gui server installation. If you want to use your A10 device like something we have been doing with the Kirkwood platforms, such as Dockstar and PogoPlug, this is what you want. The buildroot comes with all the packages needed for a server, including the high-performance nginx web server, php5 and mysql for a full powerful, yet low power usage, LEMP server. It also has samba to make your A10 device into a fileserver or NAS device to serve files over your local network. It also contains all the essential packages to natively build kernels, u-boot, and other ARM software packages. The buildroot is what I use for my server, and to build the software on this site. I have been using the buildroot to successfully build kernels, u-boot, and other software on my A10 device.

Here is the (coming soon) A10 Debian Sid armhf buildroot 2GB SD card image
sha256sum: ??

The minimal rootfs is only a bare minimum bootable rootfs to which you can install and configure your own packages.

Here is the A10 Debian Sid armhf non-GUI minimal rootfs (coming soon).
sha256sum:

In the meantime, while you are waiting for those to be posted:

Debian Wheezy armhf rootfs and SD images are located here.


I will also eventually post a Wheezy or Squeeze TDE/KDE3 Desktop. We should also hopefully soon have GUI and non-GUI installation scripts which will allow you to create your own SD card image for the Debian of your choice.

You can use the buildroot or SD demo image above to build ARM kernels programs and apps.

Debian or Ubuntu images on this site are made entirely from debootstrap using pristine GPG-verified packages. Installation scripts to create these images will follow shortly. There are also minimal Debian armhf rootfs available from Rhombus Tech, and some other sites also. However, I prefer to get Debian from Debian. So I never have tried the Rhombus Tech rootfs. The rootfs will be similar for any armv7 device. The only big difference is the kernel and modules, and the amount of customization which is done to get the images working on the platform. Users should be certain to use an armhf distribution on the A10 for best results. Otherwise there will be a significant reduction in performance.



Edited 33 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2012 09:49AM by gnexus.

I'm now getting the 4GB Debian SD image finalized. All the above packages are working well, except as noted above. The mythtv recording in the video is now solidly playing back from the A10 backend fairly smoothly in the window with no issues.

You still have to be root to perform many, if not most tasks. These include running mythfrontend, playing back music, browsing the web, etc. Those problems are due to the restrictive kernel. The permissions problems have nothing to do with the Debian install. Once the kernel problems have been resolved you will be able to d/l a new kernel package only to resolve the permissions issues.

We badly need more kernel developers to help us improve the kernel. A few kernel issues which need to be addressed are as follows:

• remove "Paranoid Networking" configs.
• configure and verify additional driver modules
• sync kernel source with mainline

The 4GB Debian Sid armhf SD image is finalized and is being copied. It should be posted tomorrow. Enjoy!!

3896508000 bytes (3.9 GB) copied, 4188.61 s, 930 kB/s

The 4GB Debian Sid armhf SD image is copied. It is now being uploaded to the site. The link should be posted shortly.

Please read the included README file for some additional details on changes from the base Debian install, and any known bugs which may exist.

Please post feedback, including suggestions, improvements, etc., in this thread on how the Debian image performs on your A10 device.

DO NOT post comments on the known kernel bugs in this thread. Those belong in the kernel thread.

Any memory size related issues should please go in the script.bin thread.

Thanks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2012 04:45AM by gnexus.

Updated SD images using the newer kernel should be posted in the following days.
They will be including a minimal Debian image and a basic non-gui rootfs along with the updated 4GB image.

Thanks for building the Debian Image. I am downloading as I type this. I have been using Debian on x86 for 6 years now. I plan to build VDR (not that I don't like MythTV) and am wondering if you have support for USB DVB Cards in the kernel?

Can I assume that I could download and build my own kernel package with this image just like on x86 Debian? Do you have the latest Mali kernel driver(s) and the X11 driver installed as well? I am no looking for 3D support, just 720p HDMI for Video.

Can you point out major differences in how Debian is implimented in ARM vs x86 for us ARM newbs? Pit fallls or any other issues to a X86 Debian user?

I appreciate your thanks!

Lots of questions:

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am wondering if you have support for USB DVB Cards in the kernel?

Yes! The ones that are currently in the kernel source are all supplied as modules. Unfortunately, not all the DVB drivers are in the existing allwinner kernel sources. Many, but not all. I am planning later to port the remaining DVB and V4L drivers into our kernel image ASAP.

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Can I assume that I could download and build my own kernel package with this image just like on x86 Debian?

Yes! This image has all the build-essential tools installed. So you can natively build a kernel using this image. But cross-compiling is much faster and there are no benefits to natively compiling the kernel (see the benchmarks thread).
But you will not gain anything by compiling your own kernel. Everything you can possible use is in this kernel. If for some reason you still need or want to compile your own kernel you should use our kernel config as a starting template.

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Do you have the latest Mali kernel driver(s) and the X11 driver installed as well?

Yes! The Mali driver is installed and enabled. But currently there is not an X11 driver available for the Mali. People are working on building the X11 libraries to get the Mali acceleration working. But AFAIK it is not there quite yet. Hopefully that will occur soon. There are some other GNU-type libraries that are working on the Mali. Meego has some that might be able to be adapted or at least used to test the Mali. But no native X libraries just yet. Currently about 320p is the best video res. :(

I have heard some people say they have 2-d acceleration working. But I have not had time to verify their claims or attempt try it myself. My goal is to get as many people using the platform ASAP. That gives us more users to test and more devs. to work with the platform. That is why I'm releasing all these OS images. In order to build a good home you must start at the foundation and not with the fancy appliances. So currently I'm working with u-boot, the kernel, and the OS images. Once those get to a decent level I'll worry about the Mali. We need all the people we can get helping to improve the platform. So if you can search for more updated Mali information it would be very much appreciated by others.

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Can you point out major differences in how Debian is implimented in ARM vs x86 for us ARM newbs?

The main difference in ARM vs X86 is the boot process, the kernel, and the various ARM architectures. The boot process is very different and requires the u-boot bootloader. The kernel is specific to each ARM platform and support varies widely. Some kernels, such as kirkwood, are completely open and supported directly by Debian. Others are totally closed-source GPL-violating nasties. Some are in between like the Raspi kernel, which has a closed-source GPU and kernel loader.

The A10 is a "leaked" Android kernel that has been reluctantly GPL'd by Allwinner after GPL violation complaints. The Linux version has now mostly been cleaned of the Android stuff in this current version. Quite a few people are helping to work on it. But the open source version is not supported by Allwinner. The Mali kernel drivers are open sourced by ARM. So have "some" of the userspace libraries. But certain userspace libraries are only available to ARM licensees such as Allwinner, and are not open sourced. There is, however, an open source Mali port being worked on.

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Pit fallls or any other issues to a X86 Debian user?

With the previous Android kernel there were lots of pitfalls. You fortunately have missed out on those ;)
The current pitfalls have to do with much lower performance vs. current X86, and the kernel and driver issues noted above.

Thanks for building the Debian Image. I have a mele A2000, the ethernet port does not work, you have a solution to this problem, I need to mount a small server.

Oh! Thank you very much for your post!
I did not realize I did not point out near the d/l link on the new image that the Ethernet module (wemac) is not loaded by default in this image. You must enable it and the SATA module manually by uncommenting the lines in /etc/modules.

That info should be in the README file in the archive that you must enable the Ethernet and SATA modules on the Mele. But I suppose nobody ever actually reads a README file ;)

The SD image is intended for both the Mele and A10 tablets. If the Ethernet and SATA modules are enabled by default it will break the boot on the tablets or other devices which don't have that hardware. So they had to be disabled by default.

I will add the Mele /etc/modules info near the link. Sorry for that oversight. Thanks

First I'd like to say thanx for all the hard work. I currently am waiting to recieve my first tablet from Vision Land and can't wait to try out Linux on it. I am somewhat a noob at linux espiicialy non x86 no I hope Im not asking questions that should be too obvious! According to this site https://www.miniand.com/forums/forums/2/topics/138#post-1225 it is possible to get get both your screen and touch navigation on the tablet. I was wondering if you have a premade image that uses it? Is this something you would look at doing in the future? The idea of a standalone linux tablet would be great. Thanx again for all your hard work!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2012 04:16AM by joemegahertz.

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it is possible to get get both your screen and touch navigation on the tablet. I was wondering if you have a premade image that uses it?

The images here will work with that. All the packages are there to do it and the LCD and touchscreen drivers are enabled in the kernel. But you MUST have the correct script.bin hardware initialization file for it to work. You can edit the script.bin file using the sunxi-tools noted in Jeff's sticky thread. I have heard several people say it works. But personally I have not had the time to try it. I use my tablet for reading my morning news and have been using my Linux micro SD an my Mele. So tablet fun is kind of on my back burner for now. Sooner or later I'll get around to trying it. But there are a LOT of other things on my plate to do first.

Your goal should first be to have working HDMI so you know the SD Linux works. Then edit the script.bin to enable both LCD and HDMI as clone display. I would recommend just searching other sites as much as possible. That is how all the info on this forum, and the forum itself, came to be. Sooner or later you will have all the info you need except maybe the details on editing your exact script.bin. It should be a rather easy process to get it working. Please post your results here to help others. Thanks.

Thanx for the quick reply. Nice to know everything is ready to go as far as drivers go for my project! As soon as it gets here and I get the mods done I will let everyone know. Would this be something you would want me to upload somewhere?

Excellent work! Thank you!

You probably know, but the URL [http://a10linux.org ] is being redirected to [http://linux-sunxi.org/Main_Page] where, unfortunately, Debian has no mention at all by now.

I'm going to test an A10 based tablet named «Genesis» GT-7205S by Skyworth. I'll problably buy the [http://linux-sunxi.org/A10-OLinuXino] and [http://linux-sunxi.org/A13-OLinuXino], but some of them will need a touchmonitor —a tablet feets well to this use case. X11 would be nice, but ncurses would work if I learn how to support touch interaction with it.

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You probably know, but the URL [http://a10linux.org ] is being redirected to [http://linux-sunxi.org/Main_Page] where, unfortunately, Debian has no mention at all by now.

Yeah, I know. I redirected it there! The sunxi site, however, unfortunately only has hardware info. Our site at http://a10linux.org should hopefully be back up within a few weeks, and I think people will like what they see!

I am interested to know how other tablets work. So please share your experiences on the GT-7205S. I am also curious to know how Debian, etc runs on the A13-OLinuXino. I have not heard of anybody using the A13 yet with GNU/Linux, although if Oilmex is using it then it should be supported soon if it is not already. It is amazing how the platform is coming along!

Thanks for all the hard work, gnexus, Doozan. It's very much appreciated.
Regarding modules: If you say Ethernet you don't possibly mean "over USB", right? I would need an adapter for that?
Another question: Why do you include all the dev packages but recommend cross-compiling?
You see I'm reluctant to d/l the 4GB image ...

How could I help other than testing? I own a Allwinner A10 tablet (http://www.pointofview-online.com/showroom.php?shop_mode=product_detail&product_id=308) and had some setbacks because I can only use the internal dispay. I have a new Ubuntu 10.04 with Emdebian toolchains installed and would be willing to buy an sdcard breakout to get to ssh, console ... I've already successfully built the Allwinner Linux kernel from Alejandro Mery's github (unfortunately 3.0.31) but wasn't able to get the LCD to work (only backlight ...).

BTB: The "kernel thread" is dead.

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Regarding modules: If you say Ethernet you don't possibly mean "over USB", right?

Ethernet is referring to the built-in wemac Ethernet adapter on the Mele devices.

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Another question: Why do you include all the dev packages but recommend cross-compiling?

Build-essential is included to encourage people to build, either natively or by cross-compiling, for the platform.
Cross-compiling is recommended for larger packages like the kernel because it takes 4-6 hours on the device, and there is no drawback to cross-compiling it. But you can also do it on the device using the included pkgs. Building u-boot natively is simpler on the device itself as u-boot is a much smaller code base.

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How could I help other than testing?

We will have full instructions on how to contribute at a10linux.org once the site is up and running.

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I've already successfully built the Allwinner Linux kernel from Alejandro Mery's github (unfortunately 3.0.31) but wasn't able to get the LCD to work (only backlight ...).

The LCD needs to be enabled via script.bin. There are usually numerous issues getting it to work on most devices. Also, since the most common GNU/Linux GUI interfaces are not optimized for a touchscreen interface I currently see little benefit in getting it to work at the present time. So I have not been investigating the issue.

This helped me to activate the LCD but I don't know if I'm using an optimal evb.bin then:
https://www.miniand.com/forums/forums/2/topics/138#post-1864

$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 3.0.8+ (tangliang@MServer) (gcc version 4.5.1 (Sourcery G++ Lite 2010.09-50) ) #2 PREEMPT Fri Mar 2 14:28:08 CST 2012
$ uname -a
Linux T-01 3.0.8+ #2 PREEMPT Fri Mar 2 14:28:08 CST 2012 armv7l GNU/Linux

So this is the deprecated kernel ... https://github.com/amery/linux-allwinner/tree/lichee-3.0.8-sun4i

I successfully built modules and kernel. But with the latter it doesn't boot up. I guess I have to switch to Ubuntu and build it hard-float ...

$ file arch/arm/boot/uImage 
arch/arm/boot/uImage: u-boot legacy uImage, Linux-3.0.8+, Linux/ARM, OS Kernel Image (Not compressed), 3825928 bytes, Sun Aug 12 14:56:35 2012, Load Address: 0x40008000, Entry Point: 0x40008000, Header CRC: 0x56A9CAE4, Data CRC: 0x35E94920

Nonetheless the modules are working with the kernel you provided. After insmod /lib/modules/3.0.8+/kernel/drivers/input/touchscreen/ft5x_ts.ko the touchscreen is working but ... reversed in all axes, somehow off the screen and always selecting ... Could it be that I additionally have to configure the CTP part in the evb.bin?
Your 8192cu.ko got me WiFi and I could ping and surf as root. I thought adding groups (https://www.miniand.com/forums/forums/2/topics/1#post-24) and "user" would help but it didn't.

I'm more concerned about my battery. The tablet turned off once although Android 4 still showing 40%.
/sys/class/power-supply/battery/capacity seems to show the correct remaining percentage. But I don't know LXDE; if and how it handles power management. I even have problems keeping the right keyboard layout ...

Users and groups, priviliges, sudoers seems to be correct now after a reboot ... :D

Hello! I used the image file with lxde for my tablet mediacom 711i. I enabled the LCD screen copying the original script.bin on the boot partition of the SD card. Everything ok, but lxdm asks me user-password. I could not understand what they are. Forgive me. I do not know English ...

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Everything ok, but lxdm asks me user-password. I could not understand what they are.

User password is blank. It says that right at the top of this thread:

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One user account created (user) with a blank password (warning: the blank password is a security risk - change it!)

BTW - also from the top of the thread:

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Use of these SD images has been deprecated, and is no longer recommended.

I won't be answering any more questions in this thread. The SD image here is obsolete and I recommend not using it.

Oh, alright. I only managed to build 3.0.8 with sun4i_defconfig and arm-linux-gnueabi (but still armv7l). But I'm not sure I need to do that anyway. Modules are working and touchscreen is configurable in other ways (see miniand forum). For my battery I have installed xfce4-power-manager for now.

I guess it's more important to get newer kernels working or get to mainline. I can still put my compiling questions in the kernel thread right? Like a new .config or information on how to read from console ...

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I only managed to build 3.0.8 with sun4i_defconfig

3.0.8 and the defconfig? why are you trying to use obsolete crap that has issues?

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I guess it's more important to get newer kernels

ughh. . . yeah!

Another part of the top post. . .

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Current a10linux.org SD card images will be located at http://a10linux.org

Try that. . .

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3.0.8 and the defconfig? why are you trying to use
obsolete crap that has issues?

Because the 3.0.36 config didn't work with the 3.0.39 kernel - for me at least. My main goal was to get the touchscreen working. Successfully, which is documented in the miniand forum.

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ughh. . . yeah!

D'uh. Great. As I said I'd like to help. Unfortunately I don't know nothing about kernel mainlining, diffing etc. So don't let me bother you.

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Current a10linux.org SD card images will be
located at http://a10linux.org

Swell. Sorry, didn't know the site was up. Looks good. But I'm quite content with the deprecated image for now ...

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Because the 3.0.36 config didn't work with the 3.0.39 kernel

If you want to try to build again use the new config. It works fine with 3.0.39. There were a few minor changes for the new kernel config to get it to work with 3.0.39.

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But I'm quite content with the deprecated image for now ...

Great! So all you need to do then is install the new kernel and you are good to go. . . nothing else has really been changed. You need the new kernel as the older one is an Android config that has a lot of issues in Debian.

Can someone point a user to the sd card images?? References point to a10linx.org but that site is not reachable, and has not been for over 2 weeks.

Just trying to get my a10 to work..... any help?

Very sorry about that. I know people still need SD images. I don't want to see anybody stuck out due to petty squabbles.

I will update the images with the 3.0.42 kernel and latest multi-boot uboot and post them here if that is okay with Jeff.

The latest kernel is done. I still have the last set of Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu images. I think I can probably get them posted with the new kernel tomorrow. It takes a long time for me to upload them as I have low u/l bandwidth. So please be patient.

Hi gnexus,
Can you please make at least one Debian (sid or Wheesy ) with 1GB ram for MK802 devices ? like I have reported at a10linux.org forum all of your debian images worked very well in my MK802II with a USB_NET_QF9700 and wifi ( just a small issue in wifi in Wheezy ) but the only problem is the availible ram for system is 322MB . also that would be great if you could disable mali chip for non-gui images (headless server) to have more ram availible .
Thank you in advance
Babak

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Can you please make at least one Debian (sid or Wheesy ) with 1GB ram for MK802 devices ? disable mali chip for non-gui images

I was planning to do that at a10linux.org. But others also have to do their part. I don't have a MK802 (or any other A10 device anymore) to test, the only device I can test on now is my publican's Mele. If I make any new images I can't even test if they boot anymore. . . The only thing I can do is test the kernel by uploading it here or to the pub for others to test.

I can build the kernel. But you will need to test it. If it works I can add it to an existing Debian SD image - specify please - sid or Wheesy - non-gui or gui? If you agree to that I will do it within the next few days and add it to a Debian SD image for upload.

Are theses on the a10linux.org web site?? This site still seems to be down. Can anyone else access the a10linux.org site because all DNS that I use report the site and all *.a10linux.org as down. Hence, it appears any .img file cannot be downloaded. Anyone confirm??

a10linux.org web site is gone!

If you want the images to be available please vote in this thread.