zcat firmware.none.img.gz partition.img.gz > h64_debian.img
lsblk find device name of your SD-Card
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=446 count=32770 wipe the Boot Sector of your SD-Card
sudo dd if=h64_debian.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M conv=fsync flash Debian image to your SD-Card
replace X with the device letter of your SD-Card
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 1056767 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
, 1056768 for the first sector, and 28213246 for the last sector, then type n
, then p for primary, 3 for the third partition on the drive, 28213247 for the first sector
, and 30310399 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
(steps above create 500M for /boot, 12.9GB for / and 1GB for swap)
We will format the newly created partitions later with the Debian Installer.
The 500M partition format as ext2 and set Mount point to /boot and set Label to boot.
The 12.9GB partition format as ext4 and set Mount point to / and set Label ro root.
The 1 GB partition format as swap.
https://packages.debian.org/trixie/arm64/arm-trusted-firmware/download
extract the bl31.bin file from the package,
the file is located in arm-trusted-firmware_2.10.0+dfsg-1_arm64.deb/data.tar.xz/./usr/lib/arm-trusted-firmware/sun50i_h6/
copy the bl31.bin file into the u-boot folder created at step 7.
sudo apt install device-tree-compiler build-essential libssl-dev python3-dev bison flex libssl-dev swig gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu gcc-arm-none-eabi gcc make bc git
cd /home/youruser/assets
git clone git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git
cd u-boot
git tag remember last stable (v2024.01)
git checkout v2024.01
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 ..
lsblk find device name of your SD-Card
sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=1024 seek=8 conv=notrunc replace X with the device letter of your SD-Card, once finished, unmount the SD-CARD
lsblk find device name of your eMMC-Module
sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=1024 seek=8 conv=notrunc replace X with the device letter of your eMMC-Module, once finished, unmount the eMMC-Module
10.) Install the eMMC-Module onto your Pine64 H64B SBC, insert the SD-Card, connect HDMI, Mouse and Keyboard, USB to serial (UART) adapter, USB to Ethernet adapter and power it up, now follow the Debian Installer. (build in Ethernet, WiFi and USB3 do not work during installation)
sudo screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 connects you to the serial output of the H64B CTRL a k exits screen
on the EXT Connector:
Pin 1 –> TX
Pin 3 –> RX
Pin 5 –> Ground
Select the USB Ethernet Adapter as primary network device for the installation.
Select Manual partitioning and format the already created partitions as mentioned in Step 4.
In Software selection select only SSH server and standard system utilities
Ignore the No boot loader installed warning and <Continue>
At the Finished the installation prompt select <Go Back> and from the
Debian Installer main menu select Execute a sell and <Continue> and now continue with step 10.
chroot target
DTB file handling
mkdir /boot/dtbs
nano /etc/kernel/postinst.d/copy-dtbs create as below
#!/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'
Bootloader configuration
mkdir /boot/extlinux
nano /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf create as below
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=tty1 console=ttyS0,115200 root=LABEL=root rw rootwait
nano /etc/sysctl.conf amend as below
# Uncomment the following to stop low-level messages on console
kernel.printk = 3 4 1 3
nano /etc/network/interfaces amend as below
# 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 end0
allow-hotplug end0
iface end0 inet dhcp
exit
exit
From the Debian Installer main menu select Finish the installation and <continue> and now continue with step 15.
nano /etc/apt/sources.list amend as below
# deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
#deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
#deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
apt update
apt install firmware-realtek
apt update
apt upgrade
apt full-upgrade
apt autoremove
apt autoclean
use lsblk to find correct block device for tune2fs
tune2fs -c 1 /dev/mmcblkXp1
tune2fs -c 1 /dev/mmcblkXp2
apt install sudo
adduser youruser sudo
This status report is based on Debian 6.6.15 with Kernel 6.6.15-2
eMMC is working
HDMI Video is working
HDMI Audio does not work
USB-3 does not work
WiFi/Bluetooth looses connection regularly and requires restart to reconnect due to unstable firmware/driver