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Installing ArchLinuxARM on Khadas VIM Pro device

I am not working for Khadas Support team! This is Community written HowTo!

Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk. Me or anyone else mentioned in this HowTo is not responsible for what you do on your device.

Goal: run ArchLinuxARM with mainline Kernel on Khadas Vim Pro. Please note this is going to be only “server” installation all other stuff can be installed after, following the ArchWiki.

Why Arch Linux: because it is a lightweight and flexible Linux® distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

Arch Linux != ArchLinuxARM

This assumes you have already some Linux knowledge and that you have Arch Linux running on your host machine (this could be done on any other Linux distribution as well).

Requirements

  • Khadas Vim Pro (I have only Pro version)
  • Linux u-boot (from an Khadas Image release) as the Android u-boot does currently not support ext4load (Unknown command 'ext4load' - try 'help').
  • Android u-boot is needed as multiboot can only be activated here. This setup need an FAT32 partition!
  • USB to Serial TTL cable (this is needed to set boot parameters, for instruction how to test and setup this please see Khadas docs page)
  • micro SD card (tested with 2GB)
  • Arch Linux installation on host device (other Linux flavor should work to)
  • Internet connection (we are downloading around 400MB during this installation)

Do everything as root (not via sudo)!

Hardware information

  • Ethernet uses an internal MII link with an internal 10/100 Ethernet PHY (meson8b-dwmac driver). Quick summary how Ethernet works (VERY simplified version): there’s an Ethernet controller which is responsible for transferring data over the line and there’s an Ethernet PHY which is responsible for negotiating speeds (and all other connection parameters)
  • Wireless AP6255-based SDIO WiFi (RPi3 uses the same brcmfmac driver with other SDIO host driver and there are also lot of complaints about poor Wifi performance.)

Preparation

Plug micro SD card to your machine where you have Linux running and find which device it is.

# dmesg | tail -n 10
……
[  170.097821] usb 2-3: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[  177.828076] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 3921920 512-byte logical blocks: (2.01 GB/1.87 GiB)
[  177.841750]  sdb: sdb1
#

In this log above it is an sdb device and it will be used in whole HowTo. Replace sdX in the following instructions with the device name for the micro SD card as it appears on your computer.

Disclaimer: double check that you really use your micro SD device otherwise you could destroy your data on main computer or any other connected device (better unplug all not needed USB devices).

  1. For pacman-key signature verification for ArchLinux only, please edit gpg.conf file and add content below. 
    # vim /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/gpg.conf
# cat /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/gpg.conf
no-greeting
no-permission-warning
lock-never
keyserver http://pgp.mit.edu
#keyserver hkp://pool.sks-keyservers.net
keyserver-options timeout=10

    Download ArchLinuxArm keyring file, sign it locally and to check signature of ArchLinuxArm packages.

    # cd /opt/
# pacman-key -r 77193F152BDBE6A6
# pacman-key -f 77193F152BDBE6A6
# pacman-key --lsign-key 77193F152BDBE6A6
# pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm
# curl -O http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/archlinux-arm/aarch64/core/archlinuxarm-keyring-20140119-1-any.pkg.tar.xz
# curl -O http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/archlinux-arm/aarch64/core/archlinuxarm-keyring-20140119-1-any.pkg.tar.xz.sig
# pacman-key --lsign-key builder@archlinuxarm.org
# pacman -U /opt/archlinuxarm-keyring-20140119-1-any.pkg.tar.xz
  2. Zero the beginning of the micro SD card: 
    # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M count=8
  3. Start fdisk to partition the micro SD card: # fdisk /dev/sdb
  4. At the fdisk prompt, create the new partitions:
    • Type o. This will clear out any partitions on the drive.
    • Type p to list partitions. There should be no partitions left.
    • Type n, then p for primary, 1 for the first partition on the drive, press ENTER to accept the default first sector, then type +512M for the last sector.
    • Type t, then c to set the first partition to type W95 FAT32 (LBA).
    • Type n, then p for primary, 2 for the first partition on the drive, and enter twice to accept the default starting and ending sectors.
    • Write the partition table and exit by typing w.

Check if the partition created and that it have Linux ID type 83:

# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
.....
Device     Boot   Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1          2048 1050623 1048576  512M  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb2       1050624 9439231 8388608    4G 83 Linux
#
  1. Create and mount the FAT filesystem: mkfs.vfat /dev/sdX1
  2. Create the ext4 file system. Find out which e2fsprogs you have # pacman -Qi e2fsprogs
    • For e2fsprogs < 1.43: # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX1
    • For e2fsprogs >= 1.43: # mkfs.ext4 -O ^metadata_csum,^64bit /dev/sdX1
  3. Mount the file system. I am going to do everything in /opt . Make sure to have at least 1GB of free space available on your host machine under /opt. 
    # mkdir -p /opt/boot
# mount /dev/sdX1 /opt/boot
# mkdir -p /opt/root
# mount /dev/sdX2 /opt/root
  4. Download and extract the root file system: 
    # cd /opt
# curl -O http://de5.mirror.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz
# curl -O http://de5.mirror.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz.md5
# curl -O http://de5.mirror.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz.sig

    verify checksum and signature of downloaded file (pacman-key only works on Arch Linux)

    # md5sum -c ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz.md5
# pacman-key -v ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz.sig
# bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C root/
# sync
  5. Move boot files to the first partition: 
    # cd /opt
# mv root/boot/* boot/
  6. on host machine install uboot-tools and create uImage (includes the OS type and loader information) which is needed by u-boot: 
    # cd /opt
# pacman -S uboot-tools
# mkimage -A arm64 -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x1080000 -e 0x1080000 -n "Arch Linux ARM kernel" -d boot/Image boot/uImage

    output should be like this

    Image Name:   Arch Linux ARM kernel
Created:      Thu Jul 27 11:11:51 2017
Image Type:   AArch64 Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
Data Size:    21758464 Bytes = 21248.50 KiB = 20.75 MiB
Load Address: 01080000
Entry Point:  01080000
  7. Unmount the partition: ` # umount /opt/root /opt/boot`

On Khadas VIM Pro

  1. Insert the micro SD card in Khadas VIM device. On your host machine start some client which can communicate over Serial connection type (minicom, putty, etc.) For this part an USB to Serial TTL cable is needed as we need to stop autoboot process, to configure Khadas VIM Pro to boot from prepared micro SD card. So almost immediately after plugging USB-C plug to host machine or wall adapter you need to hit Enter or space or Ctrl+C key to stop autoboot, you will get u-boot prompt like this: 
    ..
read emmc dtb
gpio: pin GPIOAO_2 (gpio 102) value is 1
get_cpu_id flag_12bit=1
Product checking: Khadas VIM.
Net:   dwmac.c9410000
Hit Enter or space or Ctrl+C key to stop autoboot -- :  0
kvim#
kvim#
  2. Now in u-boot run the following commands: 
    kvim# setenv bootargs "console=ttyAML0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait=1 rootdelay=2 rw ipv6.disable=1 init=/usr/bin/init"
kvim# fatload mmc 0:1 ${loadaddr} /boot/uImage
kvim# fatload mmc 0:1 $dtb_mem_addr /boot/dtbs/amlogic/meson-gxl-s905x-khadas-vim.dtb

    if everything successful then boot the ArchLinuxARM system on microSD card

    kvim# bootm ${loadaddr} - $dtb_mem_addr
  3. Login into your newly installed ArchLinuxARM with user: root and password: root 
    Arch Linux 4.12.0-1-ARCH (ttyAML0)
alarm login: root
Password:
[root@alarm ~]#

    Check if we have any network device

    [root@alarm ~]# ls /sys/class/net
lo
[root@alarm ~]#
  4. As you can see we have eth0 now. For this time I will use dhcp to get IP. Don’t forget to connect network cable to Khadas VIM Pro device. 
    [root@alarm ~]# systemctl enable dhcpcd@eth0.service
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/dhcpcd@eth0.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/dhcpcd@.service.
[root@alarm ~]# systemctl start dhcpcd@eth0.service
[root@alarm ~]# ip addr

    With last command you will get IP of your device.

  5. Now install openssh and enable root SSH login with password(this is security issue and should be only used when testing) and try to connect to your device. 
    [root@alarm ~]# pacman -Sy uboot-tools openssh vim lshw ethtool
[root@alarm ~]# sed -i -e 's/\#PermitRootLogin.*/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
[root@alarm ~]# systemctl restart sshd

Now you have successful installed ArchLinuxARM on your Khadas VIM device. This is initial HowTo commit and with the Time I will add/change/remove some stuff as ArchLinuxARM or Kernel evolves.

Autoboot ArchLinuxARM

If you decide to autoboot ArchLinuxARM from micro SD device do following.

  1. Reboot the system but please note you need to stop autoboot and to enter following u-boot commands. 
    [root@alarm ~]# systemctl reboot
  2. As soon as you see u-boot stuff hit Enter or space or Ctrl+C key to stop autoboot. Now in u-boot save the output from printenv in case you need to boot image from eMMC again. Khadas Android and Ubuntu image have different u-boot and also use different ethaddr (which for me breaks DHCP reservation), so I set this value to Khadas Ubuntu defaults. I also found that u-boot which will be flashed with Android Nougat have different Ethernet MAC address as well as some u-boot parameter which overwrites on start/reset the bootargs, so we set them to not defined. This is not clean way of doing it but it works. So firstly print the current u-boot values for backup and store them somewhere on your workstation. 
    kvim# printenv bootargs
kvim# printenv bootcmd
kvim# printenv ethaddr

    Android u-boot start. Change the Ethernet ‘XX’ to your values.

    kvim# printenv cmdline_keys
kvim# printenv recovery_from_flash
kvim# printenv storeargs
kvim# printenv recovery_from_sdcard
kvim# printenv recovery_from_udisk

    kvim# setenv ethaddr 00:15:18:XX:XX:XX
kvim# setenv ipaddr 1X.XX.XX.XX
kvim# setenv gatewayip 1X.XX.XX.XX
kvim# setenv serverip 1X.XX.XX.XX
kvim# setenv cmdline_keys
kvim# setenv recovery_from_flash
kvim# setenv storeargs
kvim# setenv recovery_from_sdcard
kvim# setenv recovery_from_udisk

    Android u-boot end.

  3. Set the new bootargs and bootcmd to autoboot ArchLinuxArm from first partition on micro SD card. This is valid for any u-boot. 
    kvim# setenv bootargs "console=ttyAML0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait=1 rootdelay=2 rw ipv6.disable=1 init=/usr/bin/init"
kvim# setenv bootcmd "fatload mmc 0:1 ${loadaddr} /boot/uImage; fatload mmc 0:1 $dtb_mem_addr /boot/dtbs/amlogic/meson-gxl-s905x-khadas-vim.dtb; bootm ${loadaddr} - $dtb_mem_addr"
kvim# saveenv
  4. If everything successful then do an reset to check Autoboot. 
    kvim# reset

    Some information from ArchLinuxARM wiki:

The default configuration of the userspace is:

  • Packages in the base group, Kernel firmware and utilities, openssh, and haveged
  • Default root password is root
  • A normal user account named alarm is set up, with the password alarm <- true but we removed this user
  • sshd started (note: system key generation may take a few moments on first boot) <- actually not true we need to install and enabled it
  • haveged started to provide entropy
  • systemd-networkd DHCP configurations for eth0 and en* ethernet devices
  • systemd-resolved management of resolv.conf
  • systemd-timesyncd NTP management

Basic system setup

Set device hostname, timezone, and NTP

[root@alarm ~]# hostnamectl set-hostname khadasvimpro
[root@alarm ~]# timedatectl set-ntp true
[root@alarm ~]# timedatectl list-timezones | sed 's/\/.*$//' | uniq
[root@alarm ~]# timedatectl list-timezones | grep Europe | sed 's/^.*\///'
[root@alarm ~]# timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Vienna

Set the NTP Server (there is already default Server built-in in packages)

[root@alarm ~]# vim /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
[root@alarm ~]# cat /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
.....
[Time]
NTP=0.at.pool.ntp.org 1.at.pool.ntp.org 2.at.pool.ntp.org
FallbackNTP=0.arch.pool.ntp.org 1.arch.pool.ntp.org 2.arch.pool.ntp.org 3.arch.pool.ntp.org

To check the service status, use timedatectl status:

[root@alarm ~]# timedatectl status
      Local time: Sat 2016-05-14 00:26:43 CEST
  Universal time: Fri 2016-05-13 22:26:43 UTC
        RTC time: n/a
       Time zone: Europe/Vienna (CEST, +0200)
 Network time on: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no

Check if time was synced with remote NTP Server

[root@alarm ~]# systemctl status systemd-timesyncd
......
May 25 19:57:23 alarm systemd-timesyncd[303]: Synchronized to time server 81.16.38.161:123 (2.arch.pool.ntp.org).

delete the alarm user (-r = remove home directory and mail spool), we are going to add our own user later on:

[root@alarm ~]# userdel -r alarm

language and locale settings /etc/locale.gen and /etc/locale.conf

[root@alarm ~]# vim /etc/locale.gen
[root@alarm ~]# grep -v "^#" /etc/locale.gen
en_DK.UTF-8 UTF-8
en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

[root@alarm ~]# locale-gen
Generating locales...
  en_DK.UTF-8... done
  en_US.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.

[root@alarm ~]# vim /etc/locale.conf
[root@alarm ~]# grep -v "^#" /etc/locale.conf
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=C
LC_DATE=en_DK.utf8
LC_NUMERIC=en_DK.utf8
LC_TIME=en_DK.utf8

ToDo:

  • [x] u-boot command store
  • [ ] WiFi Network setup
  • [ ] write ArchLinuxArm to eMMC Storage of Khadas VIM device

Know Problems:

  • [ ] USB is not supported on the mainline Linux Kernel yet, see linux-meson (Khadas VIM uses the S905X SoC, also called GXL -> USB is still work-in-progress)
  • [x] WiFi problem reported, solved with Heiner Kallweit patch, more about can be be found here. Mainline commit.
  • [ ] Ethernet problems: sometimes detected only as 10Mbps and with 4.12-rc4 download will stall and SSH session would be disconnected. Reported here

Authors and docummentation:

  • Martin Blumenstingl - Biggest part of this instruction is written by him (developer who is contributing code so we have our device working with mainline Kernel).
  • ArchLinuxArm wiki - some part are from ArchLinuxARM installation page
  • Me (vrabac) - and of course some stuff are written from me. I tested this and would like to give it to community so everyone can prepare ArchLinuxARM working on Khadas Vim device (this HowTo should work with some adjustment with any other arm device)

Change log:

  • 20170727: rewrite to use Android u-boot because of multiboot activation.
  • 20170615: added ArchLinuxArm keyring and instruction how to use it on ArchLinux. Autboot to ArchLinuxArm on first partition of micro SD card.
  • 20170613: added ‘ipv6.disable’ to bootargs
  • 20170611: added hardware information section, moved know problems to task list
  • 20170608: requirements (u-boot); know problems with WiFI and Ethernet
  • 20170607: language and locale settings
  • 20170606: retyped in GitHub Markdown
  • 20170527: added Authors topic
  • 20170526: added basic system setup
  • 20170525: initial HowTo commit