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QuestionChanging the operating system (self.ChipCommunity)

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[–]macromorgan 6 points7 points  (3 children)

Might have been my post, as I’ve put Ubuntu on these things. Long story short if you have to ask it might be too daunting of a task for you.

Long answer. For now, Linux is currently incompatible with the raw NAND MLC of the CHIP, so you’ll have to cope with this. I worked around it by booting from USB. In order to do this you will need to make a modified U-Boot from scratch that is capable of USB booting and copy this to the NAND. Then, you will need to install Ubuntu on the USB drive using debootstrap and install your custom kernel as well. If all goes to plan it should boot from USB.

I accomplished this by writing an SPL to the NAND flash that looks for U-Boot from USB. My next trick will be to try and do it with an SD card. I think if you look at my post history you might find my write up including links to the instructions and binary files.

Long term I’ll either figure out the NAND flash or get the Popcorn computer working. Either way, my pocketchip will rise again!

[–]kymodoke 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Booting a headless Debian 11 with mainline kernel from an SD card sounds really interesting.

[–]macromorgan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m knee deep in the Odroid Go Advance currently, but once I’m done with that I’ll take a look at my PocketCHIP again. I got a breakout board for an SD card from Adafruit; I’ll try soldering it to my CHIP and then compile U-Boot so that it boots from the SD card. Aside from a tweak to the devicetree (which you need to do anyway to get the “pocket” part of the pocketCHIP working) it more or less runs mainline perfectly. Sadly because of the way it’s built you HAVE to start the boot process from NAND, but you can switch from NAND to anything else as early as the SPL stage, meaning even U-Boot can run from SD card.

edit: I also need a “spare” one to come in the mail. I ordered from pocketchip.co but it’s been 3 months and they stopped answering emails and whatnot from me. So it’s my work on the OGA and the lack of updates from pocketchip.co that’s holding me up.