OpenBSD on Pine64

Install OpenBSD

Install miniroot64.fs on a SD card from ThinkPad x201i (OpenBSD) which includes a SD card port. Note that you will need a microSD to SD card adapter.

wget https://ftp.eu.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/6.2/arm64/miniroot62.fs
dd if=miniroot62.fs of=/dev/rsd1c bs=1m

Connect over serial console using USB to serial TTL converter.

Connect it as follows.

And connect from laptop as follows. Check which port using dmesg.

cu -l cuaU0 -s 115200

Ethernet Problem

It seems that ethernet isn't working with existing u-boot.

U-Boot 2017.11 (Dec 02 2017 - 03:51:46 -0700) Allwinner Technology

CPU:   Allwinner A64 (SUN50I)
Model: Pine64
DRAM:  512 MiB
MMC:   SUNXI SD/MMC: 0
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   No ethernet found.
starting USB...
USB0:   USB EHCI 1.00
USB1:   USB OHCI 1.0

It should say somethink like

...
Net:   phy interface7
eth0: ethernet@01c30000
starting USB...

Seems to be a difference between Pine64 (Realtek 8201FN) and Pine64+ (Realtek 8211E).

Trying a Linux image

Try the minimal supported Ubuntu based image

wget https://github.com/ayufan-pine64/linux-build/releases/download/0.6.2/xenial-minimal-pine64-bspkernel-0.6.2-77.img.xz
xz --decompress xenial-minimal-pine64-bspkernel-0.6.2-77.img.xz
doas dd if=xenial-minimal-pine64-bspkernel-0.6.2-77.img of=/dev/rsd1c bs=1m

Doesn't find device tree. Try another image ...

gunzip xubuntu-xenial-mate-20161215-longsleep-pine64-8GB.img.gz
doas dd if=xubuntu-xenial-mate-20161215-longsleep-pine64-8GB.img of=/dev/rsd1c bs=1m

Ethernet works with xubuntu image, but its not up to date. Try Arch ...

xz --decompress archlinux-xfce-pine64-20171225-1.img.xz
doas dd if=archlinux-xfce-pine64-20171225-1.img of=/dev/rsd1c bs=1m

Arch halts on boot ...

OpenBSD 6.3 should work!

pine64 - works well!

Is it only the difference in pine64 and pine64+ or is it something else.

Possible hardware issues

USB power cable may be a problem
Ethernet have hardware issues
Power supply may be a problem
Power disturbances may be a problem

See armbian on pine64 / Armbian running on Pine64

Raspian

Download raspian server edition

Unzip and check checksum.

7z e Armbian_5.38_Pine64_Ubuntu_xenial_default_3.10.107.7z
sha256 Armbian_5.38_Pine64_Ubuntu_xenial_default_3.10.107.img
cat sha256sum.sha

Write image file to SD card.

doas dd if=Armbian_5.38_Pine64_Ubuntu_xenial_default_3.10.107.img of=/dev/rsd1c bs=1m

Boot from SD. This is the first version that seems to work fine!