mkdir /home/youruser/assets this will be the target for the final image
Install all required packages for QEMU
sudo apt install qemu-efi-aarch64 qemu-system-arm virt-manager
Download the arm64 mini.iso from Debian
https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/arm64/daily/netboot/
open Virtual Machine Manager
select “Local install media (ISO image or CDROM)”
in “Architecture options” select Architecture: aarch64 and Machine Type: virt
, next select the just downloaded mini.iso
, next choose the operating system Debian 10
, next set Memory to 1024 and CPUs to 4
, next create a disk image and set size to 4 GiB
, finally click “Finish” and click “Yes” to make Virtual Network active
click into the black area of the VMs Window to capture Mouse and Keyboard
, hit Enter to start text based Debian Installer
, create root password and youruser with password as they will be on the final image
, partition manually the disk image as follows
Partition 1: Size 100 M, Name efi, Use as EFI System Partition, Bootable flag on
Partition 2: Size 200 M, Name boot, Use as Ext 2 file system, Mount point /boot Bootable flag off
Partition 3: Size max, Use as Ext 4 journaling file system, Mount point / Bootable flag off
confirm that you don’t want to create Swap Space by clicking <NO>
in “Software selection” select only SSH server and standard system utilities
and finish the installation, once finished reboot into the newly installed system
mkdir /boot/dtbs
nano /etc/kernel/postinst.d/copy-dtbs
#!/bin/sh
set -e
version=”$1”
echo Copying current dtb files to /boot/dtbs….
cp -a /usr/lib/linux-image-${version}/. /boot/dtbs/
chmod +x /etc/kernel/postinst.d/copy-dtbs
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/copy-dtbs `uname -r`
mkdir /boot/extlinux
nano /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
TIMEOUT 2
DEFAULT debian
LABEL debian
MENU LABEL Debian
KERNEL /vmlinuz
INITRD /initrd.img
FDT /dtbs/allwinner/sun50i-h6-pine-h64-model-b.dtb
APPEND console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty1 root=LABEL=root rw rootwait
apt purge grub-efi-arm64
apt purge qemu-guest-agent
apt autoremove
apt autoclean
rm -rf /boot/grub
rm /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/serial-getty@ttyAMA0.service
shutdown -h now
sudo modprobe nbd max_part=8
sudo qemu-nbd --connect=/dev/nbd0 /var/lib/libvirt/images/debian10-aarch64-clone.qcow2
sudo mount /dev/nbd0p2 /mnt
cd /mnt
sudo tar cfvzp /home/youruser/assets/debian-aarch64-bootfs.tar.gz .
cd ..
umount /mnt
sudo mount /dev/nbd0p3 /mnt
cd /mnt
sudo tar cfvzp /home/youruser/assets/debian-aarch64-rootfs.tar.gz .
cd ..
umount /mnt
sudo qemu-nbd -d /dev/nbd0
sudo apt install gcc make bc git device-tree-compiler build-essential libssl-dev python3-dev bison flex libssl-dev swig gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu gcc-arm-none-eabi
cd /home/youruser/assets/
git clone https://github.com/ARM-software/arm-trusted-firmware
cd arm-trusted-firmware
git tag remember last stable (v2.7)
git checkout v2.7
make CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- PLAT=sun50i_h6 bl31
cd ..
git clone git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git
cd u-boot
git tag remember last stable (v2022.04)
git checkout v2022.04
ln -s /home/youruser/assets/arm-trusted-firmware/build/sun50i_h6/release/bl31.bin bl31.bin
make CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- BL31=bl31.bin pine_h64_defconfig
make -j4 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- BL31=bl31.bin
cp -r /home/youruser/assets/u-boot/u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin /home/youruser/assets/
cd ..
sudo fdisk /dev/sdX
type o this will clear out any partitions on the drive
, type p to list partitions, there should be no partitions left
, type n for new partition, then p for primary, 1 for the first partition on the drive
, 32768 for the first sector, and 647168 for the last sector, then type a
, then type n for new partition, then p for primary, 2 for the second partition on the drive
, 647169 for the first sector, and 29019134 for the last sector, then type n
, then p for primary, 3 for the third partition on the drive, 29019135 for the first sector
, and 31116287 for the last sector, then type t, and 3 for the third partition, and 82 for the Hex Code
, then write the partition table and exit by typing w
cd /home/youruser/assets
mkdir boot this is in your home directory ! → /home/youruser/assets/boot
mkdir root this is in your home directory ! → /home/youruser/assets/root
sudo mkfs.ext2 -m0 -L boot /dev/sdX1
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /home/youruser/assets/boot
cd /home/youruser/assets/boot
sudo tar xzvpf /home/youruser/assets/debian-aarch64-bootfs.tar.gz .
sync
cd ..
sudo umount /home/youruser/assets/boot
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L root /dev/sdX2
sudo mount /dev/sdX2 /home/youruser/assets/root
cd /home/youruser/assets/root
sudo tar xzvpf /home/youruser/assets/debian-aarch64-rootfs.tar.gz .
sync
cd ..
sudo mkswap /dev/sdX3
sudo nano /home/youruser/assets/root/etc/fstab amend as below, use sudo blkid to find UUID for mmcblkXpX
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# systemd generates mount units based on this file, see systemd.mount(5).
# Please run 'systemctl daemon-reload' after making changes here.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
UUID=XXX /boot ext2 defaults 0 2
UUID=XXX / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
UUID=XXX swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sr0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
sudo nano /home/youruser/assets/root/etc/network/interfaces change interface to eth0
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
auto eth0
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
sudo umount /home/youruser/assets/root
cd home/youruser/assets/
sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=1024 seek=8 conv=notrunc
11.) Install the eMMC-Module onto your Pine64 H64B SBC, connecting HDMI, Mouse and Keyboard and power it up and log-in as root.
ip a check that network is working
rm -rf /boot/efi remove unnecessary folder
systemctl disable serial-getty@ttyAMA0.service remove unnecessary service
12.) Activate non-free repositories of Debian, edit the config of Debians Advanced Package Tool as below
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
# deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free
nano /etc/sysctl.conf ammend as below
# Uncomment the following to stop low-level messages on console
kernel.printk = 3 4 1 3
now update the system with
apt update
apt upgrade
apt dist-upgrade
apt autoremove
apt autoclean
apt install firmware-realtek
shutdown -r now reboots the system
apt install network-manager
nano /etc/network/interfaces amend as below to activate Network-Manager
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
# The loopback network interface
#auto lo
#iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
#auto eth0
#allow-hotplug eth0
#iface eth0 inet dhcp
# The wireless network interface
#auto wlan0
#iface wlan0 inet dhcp
nano /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 192.168.1.xxx xxx should match your DNS Server
shutdown -r now once board is up, check with ip a for success
tune2fs -c 1 /dev/mmcblk1p1 use lsblk to find correct number for mmcblkX
tune2fs -c 1 /dev/mmcblk1p2
Credit to https://www.kulesz.me/post/140-debian-devuan-arm64-install/ for providing the initial guide and concept.
This status report is based on Debian 5.18.0-3 with Kernel 5.18.14-1
eMMC is working
HDMI Video is working
HDMI Audio does not work
Ethernet is working
WiFi and Bluetooth is working
USB3 is not working and not activated at all
Analog Audio is not working
Suspend is not working, because of missing SPC Blob in u-boot