Unofficial Armbian build for Makerbase MKS PI and MKS SKIPR and few more boards

TLTR: Unofficial support of Makerbase MKS PI and MKS SKIPR and other boards. Contains mkspi board declaration and related kernel and u-boot patches.
Please note, result Armbian image is not full replacement for mks distributed image. You have to do yourself all OS configuration and and Klipper components installation.

WIP, absolutely no guarantees, you do everything at your own risk.

Bit of Liric

The MKS-PI ads look good, especially considering the price and the display (e.g. the size fits the Ghost Flying Bear printer). However, the software and support from the manufacturer is terrible.

There is no source code (yeah, GPL license, of course), no answer to questions, etc. They provide preconfigured Armbian+Klipper, but the image contains random/outdated components and I have problems with WIFI adapters. And who knows what else is hidden in there.

So the idea was to build a normal Armbian image using the available information (provided patches, circuitry and information from the native image).

Goals

Make Armbian build with current and edge kernels.

Please note:

• Klipper, Fluid, and other related components are out of scope of this repo, please refer https://github.com/th33xitus/kiauh if you have interest in these topics.
• original patches were taken from Makerbase repositoy https://github.com/makerbase-mks/armbian-build, this means you have to be mentally ready to see this mess "fast and dirty" approach. I do not have enought knowlage and time to orgonise this mess in right way. If you know proper way how to orgonise these patches and right places in armbian sources for them, you are welcome to discussions or just open PRs.
• I do not have access to full MKS PI set and cannot test all features. Main goal is to have worked following component:
  • booting from micro SD
  • MKSPI-TS35 TFT display (better with working touch screen :) )
  • HDMI output
  • USB ports, including USB 3 port
  • ADXL345 (SPI bus)
  • CAN bus for SKIPR board
• If you are interested in any additional features, feel free to step into development? testing or support me by hardware.
• Currently I am focusing only on Ubuntu LTS builds (current and edge kernels). Feel free to open PRs if you would need non LTS Ubuntu or Debian images. Currently Ubuntu LTS (tested) and Debian Bullseye (non tested) builds are supported.

Current status

Supported boards:

• MKS PI - fully supported
• MKS SKIPR - fully supported
• QIDI X-4 and X-6 Mainboards (made by MKS for X-Plus 3 and X-Max 3) - partially supported. See FreeQIDI and https://github.com/redrathnure/armbian-mkspi/issues/21 for more details.

MKS IPS50 LCD - works starting from 0.3.1-24.2.0-trunk version.

A build-essential and kernel header packages are preinstalled starting from 0.3.2-24.2.0-trunk version. It should simplify Klipper installation and building custom kernel modules (e.g. WIFI modules like RTL8188GU (RTL8710B) one).

Images should be ready for a daily usage. Everything seem to be workes, however please pay attantion:

1. Only Ubuntu builds are actively tested (use Debian ones for your own risk)
2. Some bugs may appear from time to time. Especially it related to edge builds (based on edge 6.x kernel). Please check release page for more details.
3. Please double check a How to Configure CAN Bus section if you use BTT EBB36 or similar CAN toolhead

ADXL345/SPI Usage

TLTR: Do not forget about klipper_mcu installation.

Full version:

• Step 0: Ensure spidev device exists. e.g. ls -al /dev/spi* should show /dev/spidev0.2 device file
• Step 1: Install Klipper. E.g.

  cd ~
  git clone https://github.com/th33xitus/kiauh.git
  ./kiauh/kiauh.sh

  , then 1, 1, 1 and so on.

• Step 2: Build and install klipper_mcu service

  # Build and install klipper_mcu binary
  cd ~/klipper/
  
  # In the menu, set "Microcontroller Architecture" to "Linux process," then save and exit.
  make menuconfig
  
  # Preapre klipper-mcu service 
  sudo ln -s $PWD/scripts/klipper-mcu.service /etc/systemd/system/
  sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  sudo systemctl enable klipper-mcu.service
  
  # Stop klipper service and install klipper-mcu binary file
  sudo service klipper stop
  make flash
  
  # Start klipper_mcu and klipper
  sudo systemctl start klipper-mcu klipper-mcu
  
  # Ensure everything is up and running
  sudo systemctl status klipper-mcu klipper

• Step 3: Add adxl345 configuration to your printer.cfg

Package Updates via Apt Update

Please double check kernel packages were freezed before running apt update command. E.g. run sudo armbian-config and check System -> Freeze - Disable Armbian kernel updates item.

How to Rotate Screen

Sometimes you need to rotate the image on the screen, for example, when upgrading Flying Bear Ghost 5 printer. To do this you need to change value for rotate parameter under spi_for_lcd@0 section (configuration for the display) and use touchscreen-inverted-x = <0x01> and/or touchscreen-inverted-y = <0x01> parameters for spi_for_touch@1 section (configuration for touchscreen) in /boot/dtb/rockchip/rk3328-roc-cc.dtb file. Please note, value for touchscreen-inverted-x = <0x01> or touchscreen-inverted-y = <0x01> does not affect anything. To disable e.g. y-inversion, whole parameter should be commented out (# touchscreen-inverted-y = <0x01>;). There are few examples:

• 270° (default mode) - rotate = <270>; (or rotate = <0x10e>; and touchscreen-inverted-y = <0x01>
• 90° (flipped horizontally) - rotate = <90>; and touchscreen-inverted-x = <0x01>

Following commands may be used to perform this configuration:

# Backup
sudo cp /boot/dtb/rockchip/rk3328-roc-cc.dtb /boot/dtb/rockchip/rk3328-roc-cc.dtb.$(date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S").bak
# Unpack DTB file
sudo dtc -I dtb -O dts -o rk3328-roc-cc.dts /boot/dtb/rockchip/rk3328-roc-cc.dtb
#Make a copy to work with
sudo cp rk3328-roc-cc.dts rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dts

# Find `rotate = <SOME_VALUE>` and change to `rotate = <NEW_VALUE>`, where NEW_VALUE is a rotation angle, e.g. `rotate = <90>` or `rotate = <270>`
# Then find `touchscreen-inverted-y` attribute and add or replace `touchscreen-inverted-x` one
nano rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dts

# Or sed -i -e "s/<0x10e>/<90>/g" rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dts
# and sed -i -e "s/touchscreen-inverted-y/touchscreen-inverted-x/g" rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dts

# Double check
less rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dts | grep rotate
less rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dts | grep touchscreen-inverted

# Pack DTS to DTB
dtc -I dts -O dtb -o rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dtb rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dts

# Update rk3328-roc-cc.dtb with new version
sudo cp rk3328-roc-cc-rotated.dtb /boot/dtb/rockchip/rk3328-roc-cc.dtb

# Reboot
sudo reboot

How to Configure CAN Bus

There are two non obvious points which you should be aware to successfully configure CAN bus:

1. MKS SKIPR board must be connected via USB (UART connection does not work for CAN bridge mode)
2. By default latest images/Ubuntu distros do not have ifconfig command out of the box, so Klipper documentation -- USB to CAN bus bridge mode will not properly work.

Steps to configure CAN bus:

1. (For SKIPR board) hook MCU via USB cable ("USB to CAN bus bridge" is not supported for UART connection type).
2. (For SKIPR board) compile Klipper firmware and flash MCU. Please specify bitrate/speed which will be used for toolhead. USuallu 500 000 or 1 000 000.

3. Configure can0 interface on MKSPI:

   cat <<-'EOF' | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces.d/can0
   allow-hotplug can0
   iface can0 can static
       bitrate 1000000                                       # Ensure it's the same as selected for MCU firmware.
       # up ifconfig $IFACE txqueuelen 128                   # It will not work because no ifconfig installed by default...
       up ip link set $IFACE txqueuelen 128                  # ... please use this version instead. 
       #up ip link set $IFACE txqueuelen 1024 restart-ms 200 # Bit more aggressive configuration
   
   EOF

4. Reboot. Yes, it's important!
5. Hook a toolhead board, find connected devices ~/klippy-env/bin/python ~/klipper/scripts/canbus_query.py can0 and follow Klipper documentation -- USB to CAN bus bridge mode for the rest of configuration.

In case of MCU 'mcu' shutdown: Timer too close, b'Got error -1 in can write: (105)No buffer space available' or similar troubles, please try following steps:

Step 1. Use ip -s link show can0 or/and Moonraker -> Settings -> MCU status to ensure no error/invalid AND no retransmit packages. In case of error/invalid packages please see Step 2. In case of no error but increasing retransmit packages please refer Step 3.

Step 2: double check wiring and terminal resistor. A twisted pair for data signals (CAN_L & CAN_H) is almost required for line longer that 20cm.

Step 3. Ensure sudo systemctl --failed does not show failed units. Otherwice doble check /etc/network/interfaces.d/can0 and ensure that ifconfig command (from the Klipper documentation) is not used. if@can0 unit must start without any issues.

Disable Debug Console UART2 or Freeup UART1 Interface

By default UART2 is used for the kernel debug output (ttyS2, USB Type C connection). Please disable kernel console and double check device file permissions if you need the ttyS2 for any other purposes:

# Or just add console=none to /boot/armbianEnv.txt manually.
echo 'console=none' > sudo tee -a /boot/armbianEnv.txt

# Grant user permissions and prevent getty from taking over the port
echo 'KERNEL=="ttyS2",MODE="0660"' > /etc/udev/rules.d/99-ttyS2.rules
systemctl mask serial-getty@ttyS2.service

A mkspi-uart1 overlay may be used to disable LCD and Touchscreen intefraces and freeup UART1/ttyS1 for custom purposes. e.g. by adding overlays=mkspi-uart1 string to /boot/armbianEnv.txt file.

This solution was tested on QIDI X-7 (Q1 Pro mainboard) and X-6 printers. Please see Disable kernel console debug messages for ttyS2 #31 for more details.

How to Build

The new mkspi board was declared. Now has support only for current and edge kernels and Ubuntu Jammy (22.04) and Noble (24.04) OS (CLI and desktop editions). Build process is pretty usual for Armbain build.

I would advice to read official documentation, however it's short version:

1. Use Ubunut Jammy 22.04 OS (or VM). Ensure you have 15-40GB of free disk and 4-6GB RAM.
2. Clone repo
3. cd armbian-mkspi
4. ./compile.sh and follow instructions... Please do not forget about BSPFREEZE=yes build arg (or freezing kernel updates via sudo armbian-config right after the first login). A few ready to use commands:
   • Ubuntu Jammy with current kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=current RELEASE=jammy BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • Ubuntu Jammy with edge kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=edge RELEASE=jammy BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • Ubuntu Noble with current kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=current RELEASE=noble BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • Ubuntu Noble with edge kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=edge RELEASE=noble BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • Debian bullseye with current kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=current RELEASE=bullseye BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • Debian bullseye with edge kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=edge RELEASE=bullseye BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • Debian bookworm with current kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=current RELEASE=bookworm BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • Debian bookworm with edge kernel: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=edge RELEASE=bookworm BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes
   • append INSTALL_HEADERS=yes BUILD_KSRC=yes INSTALL_KSRC=yes and BSFREEZE=yes flags if you will need kernel headers, e.g. to compile custom WiFi drivers
   • if you need to modify the kernel sources: ./compile.sh BOARD=mkspi BRANCH=current RELEASE=jammy BSPFREEZE=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img kernel-patch
5. Wait a 20-180 minutes (depends of your hardware, mostly disk system) and check output\images\ directory

Some technical Details:

Origina Image:

# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
BOARD=mkspi
BOARD_NAME="mkspi"
BOARDFAMILY=rockchip64
BUILD_REPOSITORY_URL=https://github.com/armbian/build.git
BUILD_REPOSITORY_COMMIT=ed589b248-dirty
VERSION=22.05.0-trunk
LINUXFAMILY=rockchip64
ARCH=arm64
IMAGE_TYPE=user-built
BOARD_TYPE=conf
INITRD_ARCH=arm64
KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE=Image
BRANCH=edge
/etc/armbian-release (END)

https://github.com/makerbase-mks/armbian-build repo contains random crap (half worked patches for legacy 4.4 Kernel and non full armbian integration)

In generally it's not clear what was changed, however looks like MKS guys were not too creative and almost copy rockchip64/Renegade board. Patches include:

1. Changes for /arch/arm64/boot/dts/rockchip/rk3328-roc-cc.dts ( redeclaring a few pins, disabling some features and declaring new ones. mostly for MKSPI-TS35 screen)
2. HDMI interface change, seems just to declare mode with 5:3 aspect ration
3. "Patch" for fbtft/fb_ili9341 driver. Basically redefining screen resolution.
4. patches for SPI support code.
5. Changes to drm_edid (see /drivers/gpu/drm/drm_edid.c and /drivers/gpu/drm/rockchip/inno_hdmi.c files). However I have no idea what this about and how to apply this patches to new kernel sources.
6. Kernel v4.4 config. However I am not sure how it's relevant to the current and edge branches.

See Also

• https://github.com/makerbase-mks/MKS-PI - MKS delivered image, official instructions and schematic.
• https://github.com/makerbase-mks/armbian-build - kind of sources (state of Dec.23 - random unworked crap)

Original Armbian README.md

Armbian Linux Build Framework

What does this project do?

• Builds custom kernel, image or a distribution optimized for low-resource hardware,
• Include filesystem generation, low-level control software, kernel image and bootloader compilation,
• Provides a consistent user experience by keeping system standards across different platforms.

Getting started

Requirements for self hosted

• x86_64 / aarch64 machine
• at least 2GB of memory and ~35GB of disk space for VM, container or bare metal installation
• Armbian / Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.x for native building or any Docker capable Linux for containerised
• Windows 10/11 with WSL2 subsystem running Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.x
• Superuser rights (configured sudo or root access).
• Make sure your system is up-to-date! Outdated Docker binaries, for example, can cause trouble.

For stable branch use --branch=v24.08

apt-get -y install git
git clone --depth=1 --branch=main https://github.com/armbian/build
cd build
./compile.sh

• Interactive graphical interface.
• Prepares the workspace by installing the necessary dependencies and sources.
• It guides the entire process and creates a kernel package or a ready-to-use SD card image.

Build parameter examples

Show work-in-progress areas in interactive mode:

./compile.sh EXPERT="yes"

Build minimal CLI Armbian Jammy for Bananapi M5 with LTS kernel:

./compile.sh \
BOARD=bananapim5 \
BRANCH=current \
RELEASE=jammy \
BUILD_MINIMAL=yes \
BUILD_DESKTOP=no \
KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no

Build with GitHub actions: (advanced version)

name: "Build Armbian"
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  build-armbian:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: armbian/build@main
        with:
          armbian_token:     "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"  # GitHub token
          armbian_release:   "jammy"                        # userspace
          armbian_target:    "build"                        # build=image, kernel=kernel
          armbian_board:     "bananapim5"                   # build target

Generated image will be uploaded to your repository release. Note: GitHub upload file limit is 2Gb.

More information:

• Building Armbian (how to start, how to automate)
• Build options (all build options)
• User configuration (how to add packages, patches, and override sources config)

Download prebuilt images releases

Point

• manually released standard supported builds (quarterly)

Rolling

• automatically released staging and standard supported builds (daily)
• automatically released community maintained builds (weekly)

Compared with industry standards

Project structure

Contribution

Want to help?

We always need those volunteering positions:

• Code reviewer
• Build framework maintainer
• Test Automation Engineer

Just apply and follow!

Support

For commercial or prioritized assistance:

• Book an hour of professional consultation
• Consider becoming a project partner
• Contact us!

Free support:

Find free support via general project search engine, documentation, community forums or IRC/Discord. Remember that our awesome community members mainly provide this in a best-effort manner, so there are no guaranteed solutions.

Contact

• Forums for Participate in Armbian
• IRC: #armbian on Libera.chat / oftc.net
• Matrix: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/40413-enter-the-matrix/
• Discord: https://discord.gg/armbian
• Follow @armbian on 𝕏 (formerly known as Twitter), Mastodon or LinkedIn.
• Bugs: issues / JIRA
• Office hours: Wednesday, 12 midday, 18 afternoon, CET

Contributors

Thank you to all the people who already contributed to Armbian!

Also

• Current and past contributors, our families and friends.
• Support staff that keeps forums usable.
• Friends and individuals who support us with resources and their time.
• The Armbian Community helps with their ideas, reports and donations.

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Armbian's partnership program helps to support Armbian and the Armbian community! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our Partners:

• Click here to visit our Partners page!
• How can I become a Partner?

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License

This software is published under the GPL-2.0 License license.