Banana Pi M64 Ubuntu Xenial Xerus 16.04 LXDE OS Image (firmware)

LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a desktop environment which is lightweight and fast and uses less RAM and less CPU while being a feature rich desktop environment.

If you want a richer desktop environment (but slower) you can install Ubuntu MATE on top of this Image and later de-install LXDE.

I use LXDE just because it is very fast, snappy and responsive! You can always improve, tweak and tune the way you want at any time. This is a very LEAN and MEAN OS image to play and learn how to extend it.

 **NEW KERNEL and Better HW configuration**

New Experimental LXDE OS image for the Banana Pi M64 with kernel 4.4.89

eMMC
Wifi
HDMI 720P
GbE (Gigabit ethernet)
LEDs (Red, Blue and Green)
Bluetooth
Basic OS Image to experiment with
Kernel code is available at: https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/BPI-M64-bsp-4.4

Things that need to be worked out:

Bluetooth (FIXED) You may experience a little delay on the login display due to bluetooth issue, possible reason is the uart port not in correct state
Wifi You need to configure wpa_supplicant in order to connect to your AP. You also need to update wifi firmware to support the A1 chip version, read below
ALSA mixer (sndcodec) You need to work out the ALSA from scratch, share your results.
Multimedia No hardware decoding / encoding tested on this Image
Optimizations This experimental OS image is a raw image, bare minimum configuration set. Language pack, keyboard configuration and localization are not setup up on this Image, you must do it after login

SD card OS Image (8GB) is at mega for convenience, use 7zip to unzip and flash using your preferred burner/flasher. If you flash this 8GB onto a 16GB or higher density sd card use need to extend it to get available space. I will provide additional script and instructions when possible, but any other available script on internet will suffice.

OS Image is at:

https://mega.nz/#F!wXwlRRZR!0BCmUo2F2hg7rG4Ax69bkw

Do this right after login:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Bluetooth fix:

Download the deb file bluetooth-m64_1.0.1.deb and run in shell

sudo dpkg -i bluetooth-m64_1.0.1.deb
Issues after login

Gmac is powered at the later time just after DHCLIENT tried to get IP address from DHCP and gave up too soon, to force DHCLIENT to renew the IP, type in the shell:

sudo dhclient -v eth0

Have fun

This is a preliminary LXDE OS image for the Banana Pi M64 with fully working

eMMC
Wifi
BT (bluetooth)
OV5640 (camera)
HDMI 1080P / HDMI 720P
HDMI digital sound output / JACK analog stereo sound output (fixed)
GbE (Gigabit ethernet)
LEDs (Red, Blue and Green)
Support for HW decoding (cedrus H264) - https://github.com/avafinger/cedrusH264_vdpau_A64
Support for Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE)

This OS image is based on the works and ideas of

Bpi-tools (https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/bpi-tools)
Longsleep's kernel 3.10.105 / Bpi sdk-dtb
@tkaiser's script
@phelum's BT tools (https://github.com/phelum/CT_Bluetooth)
FA's script ideas (http://wiki.friendlyarm.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_A64#Make_Your_Own_OS.28Compile_BSP.29)
linux-sunxi (http://linux-sunxi.org)
Jemk (https://github.com/jemk/cedrus)
Armbian tips (https://www.armbian.com/)
@lex (Alexander Finger)

Things that works with this Image

Firefox (64 bit) - stock version
Guvcview
HDMI sound output/ Jack analog sound output
Cedrus H264 Hardware Decoding (https://github.com/avafinger/cedrusH264_vdpau_A64)
ssh
Very low load average with Desktop usage and idle

ubuntu@bpi-m64:~$ uptime 08:33:37 up 11:16, 2 users, load average: 0,02, 0,08, 0,12

Not included in OS Image

3D Mali acceleration
Firefox with HW acceleration
2D optimization

Things you should do after flashing the OS Image

Setup /etc/hostname and /etc/host, see section 7.a and 7.b
Update the Ubuntu distro:

Run in Shell:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sync
sudo shutdown -h now (or use Shutdown Button)
wait for the led to turn off
unplug the power DC
wait a few seconds, and power the board again

Update Wifi firmware for new boards with A1 chip

new board revision seems to have Wifi with A1 chip, firmware update is needed
How do i know if my wifi is A1? It is written on the chip, but if Wifi and BT is not working and your board is new update!

check if you have update_wifi_bt.sh, if not type in Shell:

  wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/master/update_wifi_bt.sh

Now run the script to update the firmware and Wifi/BT service

  sudo chmod +x *.sh
  sudo ./update_wifi_bt.sh
  sync
  sudo reboot

Fix

The eMMC boot label conflits with SDCARD boot label with previous image, to fix this, type:
```
 sudo e2label /dev/mmcblk1p1 emmcboot
```

Script to automate the changing HDMI from 720p to 1080p and vice-ersa Download the script and put it on /media/ubuntu/boot/a64 and /media/ubuntu/emmcboot/a64

  wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/master/set-hdmi-res.sh
  sudo cp -a set-hdmi-res.sh /media/ubuntu/boot/a64/.
  sudo cp -a set-hdmi-res.sh /media/ubuntu/emmcboot/a64/.

then run the script from ././a64/ and chose which HDMI screen resolution for your next boot.

  sudo chmod +x *.sh
  sudo ./set-hdmi-res.sh

Kernel Update for PPP / PPPoE

This new Kernel includes support for Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) and ADSL lines. fstab is needed to allow deb packages to update to new kernel with support for PPPoE.

In shell type:

    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/fstab
    sudo cp -vf ./fstab /etc/fstab
    sync
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
    sync
    sudo reboot

After a reboot, update kernel with:

     wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/linux-image-3.10.105-a64_1.0-2.deb
     sudo dpkg -i linux-image-3.10.105-a64_1.0-2.deb 
     sync
     reboot

To be able to use PPPoE you need to load the proper module, or the pppd must be configured to load it. This will create a device name /dev/ppp and you can connect to ADSL or async lines, hopefully.

Before you start downloading and flashing you should pay attention to this

Read through all this document to understand the commands and the whole process, It may looks challenging but it is not.
We need a linux box to flash the Image into SD CARD, i use LUbuntu 12.04 but could be any distro.
Grab a good SD CARD (*), 80% of the issues you may have is due to counterfeit or bad sd card brand.
SD/HC Card reader can also be a source of problems writing to a good SD CARD. (*) If you can be sure your SD card is fine and you still have problems, try using another SDHC card reader
We need 8GB SD CARD, the OS Image fits in a 4GB but need more space as you will see.
Get a good PSU with at least 2.5A (be on the safe side).
Make sure you have HDMI (don't use HDMI to DVI if you can).
Make sure HDMI is connected to the board very tight or you may experience some flickering or the image will not appear.

Fixes

HDMI sound and JACK sound

OS Image default

Camera OV5640
HDMI 1280x720 (720p) - HD
DHCP on GbE

Screenshots

Kernel 3.10.104 (fix for 'Dirty COW' and camera with AF)

Camera with AF (Auto Focus) enabled

Bluetooth

Wifi

Firefox

Guvcview

Sound (ALSA)

MJPG-streamer (not working - investigating..)

Installation

This is a non orthodox way of flashing the image onto SD card and eMMC. We will do the following steps:

Download firmware
Format SD card, and unzip kernel
Boot from SD card to detect the eMMC
Format eMMC and unzip kernel

There will be no need for requesting unused space on SD card or eMMC, we don't use '.img' file.

Flashing SD CARD

We need wget,md5sum and fdisk, please install this packages on your distro if not already installed
```
    sudo apt-get install wget
    sudo apt-get install md5sum
    sudo apt-get install git
```

Download the files entirely with git

a. In shell type (host PC):

    git clone https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware
    cd bpi-m64-firmware

b. Rebuild boot and rootfs and check MD5 (must match)

    cat rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.* > rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    md5sum rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz 
    a97aecc11ad55bdb0c9e6aabace86056  rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

    md5sum boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

c. Insert a new SD card (get a good one, 8 GB or > )

d. Find your SD card

    dmesg|tail
    [97286.659006] sdc: detected capacity change from 15523119104 to 0
    [99023.137526] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] 30318592 512-byte logical blocks: (15.5 GB/14.4 GiB)
    [99023.147516] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
    [99023.147521] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
    [99023.162514] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
    [99023.162518] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
    [99023.168535]  sdc: sdc1 sdc2

in this example our sd card is /dev/sdc if we use an SD CARD reader (USB), it could be /dev/sdb if you have only one HDD on your host PC so the format is something like /dev/sdX where X is [b,c,d..,g]

if you have a embedded sd card reader (notebook) you get something like this:

    dmesg|tail
    [63376.329036] mmc0: new SDHC card at address 1234
    [63376.368234] mmcblk0: mmc0:1234 SA04G 3.67 GiB 
    [63376.368372]  mmcblk0: p1 p2

in this example our sd card is /dev/mmcblk0 so the format is something like /dev/mmcblk0X where X is a number [0,1,2..,8]

e. Start flashing... (Warning, make sure you get the correct device or you may WIPE your HDD)

    sudo chmod +x *.sh
    sudo ./burn_sdcard.sh /dev/sdc

    or
   
    sudo ./burn_sdcard.sh /dev/mmcblk0

Now you have SD card with kernel in it, you can now boot up bpi-m64 with this SD card and it will detect the eMMC:

    user: ubuntu
    pass: ubuntu

Download the files manually and check MD5

a. In shell type (host PC):

    mkdir -p m64
    cd m64
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/ub-m64-emmc.bin
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/ub-m64-sdcard.bin
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/burn_emmc.sh
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/burn_sdcard.sh

b. Get the kernel and check MD5

Get the files using wget (wget the files in this order):

    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.000
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.001
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.002
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.003
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.004
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.005
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.006
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.007

    cat rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.* > rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    md5sum rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz 
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

    md5sum boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

Alternatively

You can use the [Clone or download] green button to download the ZIP file and UnZip it.

    cd bpi-m64-firmware-master
    cat rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.* > rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    md5sum rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz 
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

    md5sum boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

c. Insert a new SD card (get a good one, 8 GB or > )

d. Find your SD card

    dmesg|tail
    [97286.659006] sdc: detected capacity change from 15523119104 to 0
    [99023.137526] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] 30318592 512-byte logical blocks: (15.5 GB/14.4 GiB)
    [99023.147516] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
    [99023.147521] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
    [99023.162514] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
    [99023.162518] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
    [99023.168535]  sdc: sdc1 sdc2

in this example our sd card is /dev/sdc if we use an SD CARD reader (USB), it could be /dev/sdb if you have only one HDD on your host PC
so the format is something like /dev/sdX where X is [b,c,d..,g]

e. Start flashing... (Warning, make sure you get the correct device or you may WIPE your HDD)

    sudo chmod +x *.sh
    sudo ./burn_sdcard.sh /dev/sdc

Now you have SD card with kernel in it, you can now boot up bpi-m64 with this SD card and it will detect the eMMC:

    user: ubuntu
    pass: ubuntu

Flashing eMMC

Using git

a. In shell type (after you boot bpi-m64 with SD CARD):

    git clone https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware
    cd bpi-m64-firmware

b. Rebuild boot and rootfs and check MD5 (must match)

    cat rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.* > rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    md5sum rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz 
    a97aecc11ad55bdb0c9e6aabace86056  rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

    md5sum boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

c. Start flashing eMMC... (Warning, make sure you get the correct device or you may WIPE your HDD)

    sudo chmod +x *.sh
    sudo ./burn_emmc.sh

OR mnually

Flashing eMMC (mannually)

a. After you boot up with SD card, in shell type:

    mkdir -p m64
    cd m64
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/ub-m64-emmc.bin
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/ub-m64-sdcard.bin
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/burn_emmc.sh
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/burn_sdcard.sh
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.000
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.001
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.002
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.003
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.004
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.005
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.006
    wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.007

b. Rebuild kernel and check integrity, type:

    cat rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz.* > rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    md5sum rootfs_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz 
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

    md5sum boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz
    419c74cd6be0533ef31eaa6e6175697d  boot_m64_a64_rc1.tar.gz

c. Start flashing eMMC... (Warning, make sure you get the correct device or you may WIPE your HDD)

    sudo chmod +x *.sh
    sudo ./burn_emmc.sh

If everything is OK you can now shutdown and boot up without the SD card.

Initial setup

DHCP is activated by default
Eth0 is setup for DHCP, if you connect using Wifi and later wish to get back to DHCP you must issue a ifdown and ifup command to renew DHCP.

Output mode is HDMI 720@60 , to change it to 1080p you need to to re-create the symlink

        cd /media/ubuntu/boot/a64
        sudo rm m64.dtb
        sudo ln -s m64.dtb_1080p m64.dtb
        sync
        sudo reboot

mini FAQ (Ubuntu Xenial 16.04)

How to update the distro

a. Use command line:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
    sync

How to change keyboard layout

a. Use command line:

    sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

How to change timezone

a. type in command line:

    timedatectl list-timezones
    sudo timedatectl set-timezone desired_timezone
    sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

How to change language

Install your language package and generate new locale.
How to play MP4 videos ( MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4 )

Follow libvdpau-sunxi and install LIBVDPAU and instal mpv

How to install Ubuntu MATE

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
    sync
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-mate-desktop

How to change Hostname

Suppose you want to change the hostname to "myhostname":

a. edit the file /etc/hostname and change the contents to: myhostname

    sudo leafpad /etc/hostname
    change contents to: myhostname

b. edit the file /etc/hosts and change or add the contents

    sudo leafpad /etc/hosts
    change/add the following

    127.0.0.1	localhost
    127.0.1.1	myhostname

    # The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
    ::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
    fe00::0 ip6-localnet
    ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
    ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
    ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

c. sync and reboot

    sync
    sudo reboot

How to play with the Leds (led1=Blue and led2=Green)

a. LEDs Blue and Green are accessible in /sys/class/leds/

    sudo cat /sys/class/leds/led1/trigger

b. To disable or change the LED activity

    sudo su (password: ubuntu)
    echo "none" > /sys/class/leds/led1/trigger

c. To enable

    echo "default-on" > /sys/class/leds/led1/trigger

d. To trigger heartbeat again

    echo "heartbeat" > /sys/class/leds/led1/trigger

HDMI Digital sound output or Headphone JACK Analog stereo sound output

a. Edit the file as below for JACK sound output

    sudo leafpad /etc/asound.conf

Write or Change accordingly:

pcm.!default {
  type hw
  card 1
  device 0
}
ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card 1
}

b. reboot

Check the sound cards:

aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sndhdmi [sndhdmi], device 0: SUNXI-HDMIAUDIO sndhdmi-0 []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: audiocodec [audiocodec], device 0: SUNXI-CODEC codec-aif1-0 []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: audiocodec [audiocodec], device 1: bb Voice codec-aif2-1 []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: audiocodec [audiocodec], device 2: bb-bt-clk codec-aif2-2 []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: audiocodec [audiocodec], device 3: bt Voice codec-aif3-3 []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Troublehooting

If the board some times does not boot or you have a slow boot from SD CARD, chances are you have a broken SD CARD and it is time to replace with a new one. If you can boot, check in shell for some messages:

dmesg|grep sector
[    9.965457] end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk2, sector 372040

if you have this message, throw away this sd card!

Nothing on my LCD/Monitor TV display

a. Make sure the HDMI conector is well connected to the board

b. Make sure your LCD/Monitor TV is 1080P capable, the board will boot in HDMI 1080P mode only

c. Don't use DVI to HDMI

d. Press HDMI connector with your finger after boot and see you images pops up on screen
Moving windows on screen is slow

Install Metacity over OpenBox
Camera is not working

a. Make sure you connect the sensor

b. The camera connector at the board side is really horrible, you need to make sure the FPC cable touch the contacts (They should change it on next board revision)

c. **Make sure you have the correct DTB (Device Tree Blob) with camera enabled, please note the a64-2GB.dtb_leds has camera disbled to allow full Leds control

Board does not boot

a. Watch for some signs during normal boot

- Wait a few seconds, BROM waits for FEL button and then proceed loading

- Mouse should blink twice

- Ethernet led connector will blink and show some activities after login

- Your monitor will switch to HDMI 1080p

- Led Blue will show a heartbeat activitiy and Green Led will light when eMMC is in use (kernel 3.10.105 only)

b. If you don't see any of this signs during boot, you most likely have run into the following

- Bad SD card even if does not show bad track or errors, try with another brand and size

- PSU Under power or under voltage, use a good PSU, at least 2.5A and 5v output guarantee (**DCIN**)

c. Check for SD card integrity

Partition is ext4, FAT32 has been dropped!

unmount the SD CARD fisrt: 
sudo umount /dev/sdX (where X is your SD card letter [b,c..])
sudo fsck.ext4 -f /dev/sdX1 (where X is your SD card letter [b,c..])
sudo fsck.ext4 -f /dev/sdX2  (where X is your SD card letter [b,c..])

d. Check for eMMC integrity

Partition is ext4, FAT32 has been dropped!

Boot board from SD CARD, unmount eMMC and do a fsck, like so:

sudo umount /media/ubuntu/boot
sudo umount /media/ubuntu/boot
sudo fsck.ext4 -f /dev/sdX1 (where X is your SD card letter [b,c..])
sudo fsck.ext4 -f /dev/sdX2  (where X is your SD card letter [b,c..])

e. DO NOT Power the board with microUSB, use the DCIN (power barrel)

*** WIP ***

History Log:

initial commit (readme file)
created on 26/01/2017
fix readme (wip)
readme with instructions (wip)
support for Leds
Fix for codec on DTB (another attempt)
HW decoding (deb files on another repo)
New kernel with better configuration

Fix eMMC label name
Create a script to automate changing HDMI resolution to 720p or 1080p
Support for PPP / PPPoE
Support for Kernel update via deb package

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