Cubieboard Install

[Redhair]

Hi, I've just received a Cubieboard (1GB) and want to install Tiny Core to a microSD card (1GB) but I guess I need a step-by-step guide for dummies. I was not able to find one. So, this is what I've tried so far:

1) downloaded a10Core.img.gz from tinycore dot net/4.x/armv7/ and extracted
2) downloaded sunxi-spl.bin and u-boot.bin from /4.x/armv7/hardware/Cubieboard/
3) downloaded cubieboard_script.bin from /4.x/armv7/hardware/script.bin/
4) dd if=a10Core-20130226.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
9+0 Datensätze ein
9+0 Datensätze aus
9437184 Bytes (9,4 MB) kopiert, 2,90576 s, 3,2 MB/s
5) dd if=sunxi-spl.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1024 seek=8
20+1 Datensätze ein
20+1 Datensätze aus
20992 Bytes (21 kB) kopiert, 0,118392 s, 177 kB/s
6) dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1024 seek=32
247+1 Datensätze ein
247+1 Datensätze aus
253296 Bytes (253 kB) kopiert, 0,34416 s, 736 kB/s
7) cp cubieboard_script.bin /media/B7E5-8B09/script.bin
sync

...but I get nothing but a black screen. Did I miss something or what I am doing wrong? Any hint is much appreciated!

[hlavery]

Hello,  your steps and reported file transfer sizes appear to be correct.  I suspect that your SD card is the problem.  I have several small and/or old cards which will not boot TC (on my A10 Hackberry board...and some will not boot any version of Linux).  Best results with Class 10 cards, although some Class 6 will work.  Other users have had issues with microSD adapters making corrupted copies, so check md5sums.  The cards are a headache, although eventually you will get a workable set.

[Rich]

Hi Redhair
I think you overwrote part of  a10Core-20130226.img  with  sunxi-spl.bin.
Step 4 shows you wrote 9Meg bytes, step 5 shows you skipping 8 blocks which default to a size if 512 bytes or 4K total.
From the man page:

Code: [Select]

obs=BYTES
write BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)
seek=BLOCKS
skip BLOCKS obs-sized blocks at start of output
BLOCKS and BYTES may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes: c =1, w =2, b =512, kB =1000, K =1024, MB =1000*1000, M =1024*1024, xM =M GB =1000*1000*1000, G =1024*1024*1024, and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y.I think in step 5 skip should be set equal to  9437184 / 512  or  18432b  and step 6 should add  20992 / 512  or  41b  to
that number.

Code: [Select]

dd if=a10Core-20130226.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
dd if=sunxi-spl.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1024 seek=18432b
dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1024 seek=18473b
cp cubieboard_script.bin /media/B7E5-8B09/script.bin

[hlavery]

Actually, the over-writing of part of the process is on purpose here, since the TC Mele u-boot.bin and sunxi-spl.bin are being replaced by those of the target device (cubieboard).  Appending them to the end of the image won't give the intended result, since the original boot details will still be read and probably fail.

[Rich]

Hi hlavery
In that case, I stand corrected. Thanks for setting me straight.

[Redhair]

Thanks for your help! I've ordered a new card...

[roberts]

Before writing the image to sdcard, often I will zero out the beginning of a card. Sometimes it has helped with troublesome cards.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M count=50

[Redhair]

Before writing the image to sdcard, often I will zero out the beginning of a card. Sometimes it has helped with troublesome cards.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M count=50

I've tried this with the same old card and it's working, thanks a lot!

[Barmallini]

I have problem with Cubie and TC.
Cloned a10Core-20130510.img to SDHC (4Gb) via DD. All fine. Cubie loaded, but no prompt.
Tryed different USB-VCP cables, nothing. Commands sended (ls, cd and so on), but no echo and nothing happens.
Default firmware work fine. After loading i have command prompt like ordinary Linux.

Any idea?

Changed tty0 to ttyS0 - does not help.
This uEnv from original Tom's distro (console working fine):
extraargs=console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 disp.screen0_output_mode=1280x720p60 hdmi.audio=EDID:0 mmc0_led=1 mac_addr=ca:28:f0:49:3e:7d rootfstype=ext4 bootdelay=1

Top USB does not work too in TC. I put USB flash to bottom USB - its detected, put it to top - nothing happens. Tom's distro detects both USB sockets (first time i thinked cubie is broken).

P.S. Log (CRC error):

U-Boot SPL 2013.01 (Feb 08 2013 - 13:16:49)
Board: Cubieboard
DRAM: 1024MB
SUNXI SD/MMC: 0


U-Boot 2013.01 (Feb 08 2013 - 13:16:49) Allwinner Technology

CPU:   SUNXI Family
Board: Cubieboard
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  1 GiB
MMC:   SUNXI SD/MMC: 0
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   wemac

[roberts]

Don't have the debug board or comm port (virtual or otherwise) to test serial output. Works with hdmi

[athouston]

I had the same problem (on a MK802) until I used Gparted to set the partition bootable.

[beerstein]

I just received a cubieboard A20
Question:
Can I use the A10 version with this A20 cubiebard?

[roberts]

From what I have heard it is supposed to be code compatible.
Try it. If not...

Likely would need new kernel with squashfs and initrd support.
Check kernel that ships with Cubieboard.
Likely would need new or updated u-boot and friends (uEnv.txt, boot.scr, script.bin) as well.
 

[yesbdb]

I always like TC, because TC has given me the freedom to build a linux system fits the way I like. I have tried using other Linux distributions, but in the end I always get back with TC.

Hi roberts,

The same here, I received my cubieboard2 (A20) yesterday.

Just wonder, will TC have a plan to develop an Army cord for the Allwinner A20 (Cubieboard2) in the near future?   

Thanks!

[roberts]

I personally do not have such a device nor do I plan, nor can I afford, so many arm devices.
There are so many arm devices and they all vary so much. No standards as with x86.

Of course, I will try to be as helpful as possible for anyone who wishes to pursue this, but without actually having the hardware, it will be very difficult.

I was loaned a gk802 so that is how that came to be. So that is always a possibility.

It does seems that there is not that much interest in arm, as I am aware of only a couple of arm Core users. I could be wrong. But this is what I see.

Still I have had an interest and that is why I have continued. I personally use an arm machine for both armv7 development and daily use. I like the concept of tiny hardware with tinycore.