Recent posts

#1

A13 / Re: How update nand flash of m...

Last post by colpamax - Today at 01:01:50 PM

New script is ready! Now you can move Linux to NAND without step 4) of previous instruction. Also 7 different Android partitions are combined into nandc. After all you have 3 partitions nanda (uboot and kernel),nandb (configuration), nandc (root).
Please be patient during tar working part.
1) Install Android to NAND using LiveSuit
2) Install Debian to SD card.
3) Run Debian from SD card and run script.
All the steps are described thoroughly in previous posts.

Code Select Expand

#!/bin/sh

python -c '
import struct, zlib, os, sys
p = "/sys/class/block/nand/size"
if not os.path.exists(p):
    print "Error"
    sys.exit(1)
with open(p, "r") as f:
    t = int(f.read().strip())
L = [("bootloader", 2048, 32768), ("env", 34816, 4096), ("rootfs", 38912, t - 36864)]
e = ""
for idx, (n, st, sz) in enumerate(L):
    if idx == 0:
        l1 = struct.pack("<BBB5sII", 0, 0, 3, "\x00" * 5, st, 0)
    else:
        l1 = struct.pack("<QII", 0, st, 0)
    e += l1 + struct.pack("<I4sQ", sz, "DISK", 0) + n.ljust(16, "\x00") + "\x00" * 16
b = (struct.pack("<II8s", 0, 0x100, "softw311") + e).ljust(1024, "\x00")
out = ""
for i in range(4):
    c = b[:17] + struct.pack("B", i) + b[18:]
    out += struct.pack("<I", zlib.crc32(c[4:]) & 0xffffffff) + c[4:]
with open("nand_part.bin", "wb") as f:
    f.write(out)
print "Done"
'

dd if=nand_part.bin of=/dev/nand bs=1k count=4
sleep 1
sync
sleep 1
sync
sleep 1

blockdev --rereadpt /dev/nand
sleep 2
blockdev --rereadpt /dev/nand
sleep 2
blockdev --rereadpt /dev/nand
sleep 2

umount /dev/nandc
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nandc
tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/nandc
tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/nandc
e2fsck -f /dev/nandc


mkdir /mnt/nandroot
mount /dev/nandc /mnt/nandroot

tar --exclude=/proc/* \
    --exclude=/sys/* \
    --exclude=/dev/* \
    --exclude=/tmp/* \
    --exclude=/run/* \
    --exclude=/mnt/* \
    --exclude=/media/* \
    --exclude=/var/log/* \
    --exclude=/var/tmp/* \
    -cf - / | (cd /mnt/nandroot && tar -xf -)

cat << 'EOF' > /mnt/nandroot/etc/fstab
/dev/nandc    /              ext4    defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=60    0    1
tmpfs         /tmp           tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777,size=64M      0    0
tmpfs         /var/log       tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=0755,size=32M      0    0
tmpfs         /var/tmp       tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777,size=32M      0    0
EOF

umount  /mnt/nandroot
rmdir /mnt/nandroot


mkdir -p /mnt/sdboot
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/sdboot

mkdir -p /mnt/nandboot
mount /dev/nanda /mnt/nandboot

cp /mnt/sdboot/uImage /mnt/nandboot/
cp /mnt/sdboot/script.bin /mnt/nandboot/
umount /mnt/sdboot
rmdir /mnt/sdboot
umount /mnt/nandboot
rmdir /mnt/nandboot


cat << 'EOF' > u-boot.txt
baudrate=115200
bootdelay=1
console=ttyS0,115200
loglevel=8
machid=102a
nand_root=/dev/nandc
init=/sbin/init
setargs=setenv bootargs console=${console} root=${nand_root} rootwait init=${init} loglevel=${loglevel}
boot_normal=fatload nand 0:0 0x44000000 uImage; bootm 0x44000000
bootcmd=run setargs boot_normal
EOF


python -c "
import zlib, struct
with open('u-boot.txt', 'r') as f:
    lines = [line.strip() for line in f if line.strip()]
data = '\x00'.join(lines) + '\x00'
target_size = 131072 - 4
data = data.ljust(target_size, '\x00')
crc = zlib.crc32(data) & 0xffffffff
header = struct.pack('<I', crc)
with open('env.bin', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(header + data)
print('env.bin reafy! filesize:', len(header + data))
"
sudo dd if=env.bin of=/dev/nandb bs=1k
sync

rm env.bin u-boot.txt

echo "All done! Now power off the board, remove SD card and next time it will boot Linux from NAND!"


#2

FPGA / Re: First time issues programm...

Last post by LubOlimex - Today at 09:15:26 AM

Thanks for the feedback and the repo, I will make sure to link at the product page, under "Community".

#3

FPGA / Re: First time issues programm...

Last post by nachoworks - June 09, 2026, 09:53:35 PM

To make up for the critique of my last comment, I thought I'd help out:

Enjoy fellow travellers! https://github.com/kerstensrobin/iCE40HX1k-EVB-exploration

Scraping together some documentations and clarifying things that were not necessarily clear to me in the beginning, being out of practice when it comes to FGPA development.

#4

FPGA / First time issues programming ...

Last post by nachoworks - June 09, 2026, 12:26:58 PM

I did not find a similar topic, but wanted to share this information to avoid other people bumping into the same issue  I spent about two nights trying to program the iCE40HX1K-EVB using my RPi 4 with no success, checking connections, switching pins on the RPi.

Dear fellow FPGA-traveller: The PGM-1 connector does not have pin 1 in the top left corner!



In the documentation and schematics this is rotated 180 degrees



The average reader: "PCB layout does not follow the schematic!!!"
I know, pebkac, this is probably due to my own experience in placing pin1 always in the same orientation on schematic/board.

I just wanted to have this highlighted somewhere

Also: the documentation for this board is somewhat outdated as it mentions RPi2's and some dead links at the bottom when it comes to RPi programming.

#5

A64 / Re: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (Trixi...

Last post by mossroy - June 07, 2026, 09:58:51 AM

Could you tell which revisions of the board you have?

All my A64 boards are A64-OLinuXino-2Ge8G-IND rev E

#6

A64 / Re: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (Trixi...

Last post by Roman - June 06, 2026, 08:09:08 PM

I've described a different procedure to install Debian 13 on my A64-OLinuXino-2Ge8G-IND boards: https://blog.mossroy.fr/2026/05/14/debian-13-sur-a64-olinuxino-2ge8g-ind/ (it's written in French).

Thank you for sharing. Could you tell which revisions of the board you have?

By the way, my attempt above was successful too.

Now it boots as expected untill "Starting kernel ..."

I had to switch to HDMI and append the Linux arguments with "console=tty1" as suggested in the first post in this thread. I set it in boot.scr, which required rebuilding boot.scr with mkimage. The resulting installation boots, gives HDMI output, and has Internet access.

I did not look into applying the overlay again. Apparently, it can be done. But I would rather see the issue fixed in the upstream.

The serial output keeps failing, but that is another issue.

Code Select Expand

[ 2.836347] gpio gpiochip0: Static allocation of GPIO base is deprecated, use dynamic allocation.
[ 2.847404] sun50i-a64-r-pinctrl 1f02c00.pinctrl: initialized sunXi PIO driver
[ 2.856795] sun50i-a64-r-pinctrl 1f02c00.pinctrl: supply vcc-pl not found, using dummy regulator
[ 2.866685] sunxi-rsb 1f03400.rsb: RSB running at 4000000 Hz
[ 2.877472] gpio gpiochip1: Static allocation of GPIO base is deprecated, use dynamic allocation.
[ 2.891691] sun50i-a64-pinctrl 1c20800.pinctrl: initialized sunXi PIO driver
[ 2.900359] dw-apb-uart 1c28000.serial: Error applying setting, reverse things back
[ 2.909301] dw-apb-uart 1c28000.serial: Error applying setting, reverse things back
[ 2.981557] clk: Disabling unused clocks

#7

ESP32 / Re: I built an 8-bit Retro Aud...

Last post by UfkuAcik - June 05, 2026, 12:31:46 PM

Thank you very much. Please upload the code to the board and test it out when you have the time. It is particularly important to me that the DSP block meets expectations, so I am very curious to hear your thoughts on this point.

As a quick note, I plan to include the following features in the project in the future:

Remastering the algorithms in the DSP block to ensure full academic compliance and optimizing the related functions to the highest possible degree.

The ability to import short external audio files (1-2 seconds) from an SD card into the synthesizers (signal generators) and synchronize them to the tempo.

Real-time recording from the master output to the SD card during runtime.

Improvements to make it impossible for the master audio output to clip/distort, even as a result of heavy effects and boosting.

#8

A13 / Re: How update nand flash of m...

Last post by colpamax - June 05, 2026, 12:28:46 PM

Android partitioning remains unchanged.
Debian root partition is installed in biggest nandi (around 2.6 Gb)
Debian Home partition is installed in nandd (around 512 Mb)
2 smaller partitions (256Mb each) are mounted as 'storage' and 'backup' under 'mnt' folder. Use them for your files as you wish.
One more Android 128Mb partition is mounted automatically by XFCE. You can delete Android files from it and use for your needs.

May be for another Android images (for example for 8Gb NAND) script must be changed.
I can't check this.

#9

A13 / Re: How update nand flash of m...

Last post by colpamax - June 05, 2026, 12:09:49 PM

I've got working Debian image in NAND.
My configuration is: A13-Olinuxino-Wifi with 4Gb Hynix.

1)
You must setup Android image with LiveSuit. (later we will use u-boot from Android to load Linux image). You must load image for your type of board from here
https://ftp.olimex.com/Allwinner_Images/A13-OLinuXino/4.%d0%b0ndroid_images/nand/
For my board image is 
https://ftp.olimex.com/Allwinner_Images/A13-OLinuXino/4.%d0%b0ndroid_images/nand/A13_android_NAND_LCD_800x480_EN_second_release.img

2)
You must prepare SD-card with Debian image, which is good for your board. Be careful - ONLY OLD LINUX KERNEL 3.4.x supports NAND. In later releases NAND support is missing.
For my board Debian image is
https://ftp.olimex.com/Allwinner_Images/A13-OLinuXino/2.legacy_images_kernel_3.4.x/A13_debian_34_90_mainline_u-boot_release_11_3.7z

3) Check boot from Android. After that insert SD card with Linux and boot from SD-card. Check that you have access to NAND memory partitions with Android installed.

4) Under Debian you must replace in /etc/apt/sources.list
   deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/
   with
   deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/

   in order to get updates for your old kernel.
 
5) IF all is OK - than under Debian run this script to delete all Android stuff and replace with Linux files. Android partitions remain unchanged.
5.1) Insert text below into movetonand.sh file.
5.1.1) If you make this under Windows be carefull in Windows EOL is (\r\n) in Linux EOL is (\n). If you insert this script in Windows Notepad the script will not run.
5.2) Add permission to execute with:  chmod +x movetonand.sh
5.3) sudo ./movetonand.sh

Code Select Expand

#!/bin/sh
apt-get install rsync
apt-get clean
apt-get autoclean

umount /dev/nandi
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nandi
tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/nandi
tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/nandi
e2fsck -f /dev/nandi

umount /dev/nandd
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nandd
tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/nandd
tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/nandd
e2fsck -f /dev/nandd

umount /dev/nande
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nande
tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/nande
tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/nande
e2fsck -f /dev/nande

umount /dev/nandh
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nandh
tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/nandh
tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/nandh
e2fsck -f /dev/nandh



mkdir /mnt/nandroot
mount /dev/nandi /mnt/nandroot

rsync -aAXHv \
 --exclude=/proc \
 --exclude=/home \
 --exclude=/sys \
 --exclude=/dev \
 --exclude=/tmp \
 --exclude=/run \
 --exclude=/mnt \
 --exclude=/media \
 / /mnt/nandroot

mkdir /mnt/nandroot/dev /mnt/nandroot/proc /mnt/nandroot/sys /mnt/nandroot/tmp /mnt/nandroot/run /mnt/nandroot/mnt /mnt/nandroot/media /mnt/nandroot/home

rm -rf /mnt/nandroot/var/log/*
rm -rf /mnt/nandroot/var/tmp/*

mkdir -p /mnt/nandroot/mnt/storage
mkdir -p /mnt/nandroot/mnt/backup


cat << 'EOF' > /mnt/nandroot/etc/fstab
/dev/nandi    /              ext4    defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=60    0    1
/dev/nande    /home          ext4    defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=60    0    2
/dev/nandh    /mnt/storage   ext4    defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=60    0    2
/dev/nandd    /mnt/backup    ext4    defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=60    0    2

tmpfs         /tmp           tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777,size=64M      0    0
tmpfs         /var/log       tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=0755,size=32M      0    0
tmpfs         /var/tmp       tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777,size=32M      0    0
EOF

umount  /mnt/nandroot
rmdir /mnt/nandroot

mkdir /mnt/new_home
mount /dev/nande /mnt/new_home
rsync -aHAXx /home/ /mnt/new_home/
umount /mnt/new_home
rmdir /mnt/new_home


mkdir -p /mnt/sdboot
mount -t vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/sdboot

dd if=/mnt/sdboot/uImage of=/dev/nandc bs=1M
dd if=/mnt/sdboot/script.bin of=/dev/nandf bs=1k
sync
umount /mnt/sdboot
rmdir /mnt/sdboot


cat << 'EOF' > u-boot.txt
baudrate=115200
bootdelay=1
console=ttyS0,115200
loglevel=8
machid=102a
nand_root=/dev/nandi
init=/sbin/init
setargs=setenv bootargs console=${console} root=${nand_root} rootwait init=${init} loglevel=${loglevel}
boot_normal=nand read 0x44000000 0x1300000 0x500000; nand read 0x43000000 0x33300000 0x20000; bootm 0x44000000
bootcmd=run setargs boot_normal
EOF


python -c "
import zlib, struct
with open('u-boot.txt', 'r') as f:
    lines = [line.strip() for line in f if line.strip()]
data = '\x00'.join(lines) + '\x00'
target_size = 131072 - 4
data = data.ljust(target_size, '\x00')
crc = zlib.crc32(data) & 0xffffffff
header = struct.pack('<I', crc)
with open('env.bin', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(header + data)
print('env.bin reafy! filesize:', len(header + data))
"
sudo dd if=env.bin of=/dev/nandb bs=1k
sync

rm env.bin u-boot.txt

echo "All done! Now power off the board, remove SD card and next time it will boot Linux from NAND!"

6)
Shut down your board, remove SD card and power-on. Linux will boot from NAND.

#10

ESP32 / Re: I built an 8-bit Retro Aud...

Last post by LubOlimex - June 05, 2026, 10:47:19 AM

Looks neat. I will add a link to the project's GitHub at the ESP32-SBC-FabGL's product page under "Community".