On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 07:24:52AM -0700, Vagrant Cascadian wrote: > On 2017-06-21, Pablo Rath wrote: > > As this is a rather long message I start with a brief summary: > > I try to install Debian Stretch (Stable, armhf) with the Debian Installer > > on a > > NextThing Chip v1.0 Allwinner board. After some initial problems I > > managed to complete installation but as far as I understand the kernel > > doesn't load the rootfs. I believe I am missing the correct U-Boot > > commands. I use a self-compiled mainline U-Boot via sunxi-fel to > > circumvent the U-Boot version on NAND provided by the manufacturer. > > I am glad for any help to make the board boot Debian Stretch. > > I tried this a while back, but haven't tried recently as using sunxi-fel > is a bit of a cumbersome boot process... and mainline u-boot didn't yet > support being loaded from NAND on the CHIP. Haven't tried since u-boot > 2016.11+dfsg1-3 in the u-boot-sunxi package in Debian.
I agree on the cumbersome boot process using sunxi-fel. On the other hand you get an undisturbed CHIP OS based on Debian on NAND *and* a vanilla Debian on USB. I recently thought about buying a battery suitable for Chips battery port to supply the board with power while changing from the host computer to a micro usb power supply. Afterwards one can keep the board running to limit the rather tedious boot process with sunxi-fel to a rare acceptable minimum. Please let me know if you make progress with mainline u-boot loaded from NAND on the CHIP. kind regards Pablo
