rock-5b

Debian ARM64 Linux for the Radxa Rock 5 Model B

This Debian ARM64 Linux image is built directly from official packages using the Debian Debootstrap utility, see: https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/blob/main/debian/make_debian_img.sh#L131

Most patches are directly available from the Debian repos using the built-in apt package manager, see: https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/blob/main/debian/make_debian_img.sh#L343-L350

Note: The kernel in this bundle is from kernel.org and will not get updates from debian.

debian bookworm setup

1. download image

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz

2. determine the location of the target micro sd card

before plugging-in device

ls -l /dev/sd*
ls: cannot access '/dev/sd*': No such file or directory

after plugging-in device

ls -l /dev/sd*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Jul 15 10:33 /dev/sda

note: for mac, the device is /dev/rdiskX

3. in the case above, substitute 'a' for 'X' in the command below (for /dev/sda)

sudo su
xzcat rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz > /dev/sdX
sync

when the micro sd has finished imaging, eject it and boot the rock 5b to finish setup

4. login account

user: debian
pass: debian

5. take updates

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

6. create account & login as new user

sudo adduser youruserid
echo '<youruserid> ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/<youruserid>
sudo chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/<youruserid>

7. lockout and/or delete debian account

sudo passwd -l debian
sudo chsh -s /usr/sbin/nologin debian

sudo deluser --remove-home debian
sudo rm /etc/sudoers.d/debian

8. change hostname (optional)

sudo nano /etc/hostname
sudo nano /etc/hosts

installing on m.2 ssd /dev/nvme0n1 media

1. while booted from mmc, download and copy the image file on to the ssd media

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz
sudo su
xzcat rock-5b_bookworm-v12-6.7-rc7.img.xz > /dev/nvme0n1
sync

2. remove mmc media and reboot

booting from spi nor flash

1. boot from removable mmc

Follow the instructions for creating bootable mmc media. Insert the mmc media and boot the device.

Note: The mmc media has a one-time reboot during first setup as it expands to the size of the mmc media.

2. install mtd-utils

once linux is booted from the removable mmc, install mtd-utils

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install mtd-utils

3. erase spi flash

sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 0
sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd1 0 0
sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd2 0 0
sudo flash_erase /dev/mtd3 0 0

4. write u-boot to spi flash

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/idbloader.img
wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12-6.7-rc7/u-boot.itb
sudo flashcp -vA idbloader.img /dev/mtd0
sudo flashcp -vA u-boot.itb /dev/mtd2

Once the spi flash has been written, the boot sequence should prefer removable mmc media if present, otherwise boot m.2 nvme ssd.

building debian bookworm arm64 for the rock-5b from scratch

The build script builds native arm64 binaries and thus needs to be run from an arm64 device such as an odroid m1 running a 64 bit arm linux. The initial build of this project used a debian arm64 raspberry pi4, but now uses a rock 5b running debian trixie arm64.

1. clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b.git
cd rock-5b

2. run the debian build script

cd debian
sudo sh make_debian_img.sh nocomp

note: edit the build script to change various options: nano make_debian_img.sh

3. the output if the build completes successfully

mmc_2g.img

4. install the kernel

cd debian
sudo sh install_kernel.sh

note: kernel needs to be built and available in the ../kernel directory

inindev / rock-5b

readme