Make the image by yourself

[!TIP]

The image can be found in the ROM package I made.

Felix Yan’s wiki about the ArchLinux RISC-V porting.

Get ArchLinux

Download the the ArchLinux RISC-V porting rootfs here.

Make an Ext4 image

# Allocate image file.
dd if=/dev/zero of=rootfs.ext4 bs=1G count=14

# Map the file to device.
losetup /dev/loop0 rootfs.ext4

# Make Ext4 file system on the image.
mkfs.ext4 /dev/loop0

# Mount the mapped image.
mount /dev/loop0 /mnt

# Copy rootfs.
cp -rp .../archriscv/* /mnt/

# Unmount
umount /mnt
losetup -d /dev/loop0

Replace boot splash image (optional)

# Mount
losetup /dev/loop0 .../bootfs.ext4
mount /dev/loop0 /mnt

# Replace
cp .../archlinux.bmp /mnt/bianbu.bmp

# Write back
umount /mnt
losetup -d /dev/loop0

Modify the ROM package

Download the Bianbu distro ROM here.

It looks like:

.
├── bootfs.ext4
├── env.bin
├── factory
│   ├── bootinfo_emmc.bin
│   ├── bootinfo_sd.bin
│   ├── bootinfo_spinand.bin
│   ├── bootinfo_spinor.bin
│   └── FSBL.bin
├── fastboot.yaml
├── fw_dynamic.itb
├── genimage.cfg
├── partition_2M.json
├── partition_flash.json
├── partition_universal.json
├── rootfs.ext4
│     ^ The image to be replaced.
└── u-boot.itb

Replace the rootfs.ext4 with the image you made.

Flashing to eMMC

The SoC will load one program, for processing packets from the host about firmware flashing.

The flashing protocol is based on fastboot. You may have heard of it on Android.

Requires fastboot CLI utility.

Flash tool

Documentation about flashing Bianbu. There is a bundle of scripts for flashing via fastboot CLI utility.

But flashserver supports compression, which makes the transmission faster than purely using fastboot.

[!TIP]

The flash tool can be found in the ROM package I made.

Download flash tool from SpacemiT.

Extract the AppImage with option --appimage-extract.

Copy squashfs-root/resources/app/flashserver to one of the $PATH.

Connect to the board

Enter flash mode: press and hold FDL, press RST on the board.

Connect USB port on the board to your computer. It will show as a DFU device, and turn to U-Boot USB download gadget while flashing.

lsusb

Bus 001 Device 009: ID 361c:1001 U-Boot USB download gadget

Allow unprivileged users to access the board on DFU mode (optional)

Make the users in the group plugdev able to access it.

nano /etc/udev/rules.d/99-spacemit.rules

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="361c", ATTR{idProduct}=="1001", GROUP="plugdev", MODE:="0660"

Flash

Run flashserver under the ROM directory.

flashserver

 _____  _  _                  _____  _              _                 
|_   _|(_)| |_   __ _  _ __  |  ___|| |  __ _  ___ | |__    ___  _ __ 
  | |  | || __| / _` || '_ \ | |_   | | / _` |/ __|| '_ \  / _ \| '__|
  | |  | || |_ | (_| || | | ||  _|  | || (_| |\__ \| | | ||  __/| |   
  |_|  |_| \__| \__,_||_| |_||_|    |_| \__,_||___/|_| |_| \___||_|   
                                                                      
__     __  _     ____   _____  _            _          
\ \   / / / |   |___ \ |___ / | |__    ___ | |_   __ _ 
 \ \ / /  | |     __) |  |_ \ | '_ \  / _ \| __| / _` |
  \ V /   | | _  / __/  ___) || |_) ||  __/| |_ | (_| |
   \_/    |_|(_)|_____||____/ |_.__/  \___| \__| \__,_|
                                                       


--- Available ports:
---  1: 1-7-2                'fastboot VID:PID=0x361c:0x1001 SER=None'
--- Enter port index or full name: 1
---》开始刷机
执行 fastboot getvar version-brom
Variable not implemented
刷机总进度: 2%:  ▓
刷机总进度: 4%:  ▓▓
刷机总进度: 6%:  ▓▓▓
刷机总进度: 9%:  ▓▓▓▓
刷机总进度: 11%:  ▓▓▓▓▓
执行 fastboot getvar mtd-size
NULL
刷机总进度: 13%:  ▓▓▓▓▓▓
执行 fastboot getvar blk-size
universal
刷机总进度: 15%:  ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
开始匹配分区表: ['partition_{size0}.json', 'partition_{size1}.json']
匹配原始分区表: partition_universal.json
分区表匹配结果为: partition_universal.json
执行 fastboot flash gpt partition_universal.json
max-download-size:  268435456

parse gpt/mtd table okay
执行 fastboot flash bootinfo bootinfo_sd.bin
max-download-size:  268435456


执行 fastboot flash fsbl FSBL.bin
max-download-size:  268435456


执行 fastboot flash env env.bin
max-download-size:  268435456


执行 fastboot flash opensbi fw_dynamic.itb
max-download-size:  268435456


执行 fastboot flash uboot u-boot.itb
max-download-size:  268435456


执行 fastboot flash bootfs bootfs.ext4
max-download-size:  268435456
start split gzip file in 2024-10-22 04:17:52
使用gzip压缩等级为: 5
切片缓存的数量:  1
split gzip file over, begin download in 2024-10-22 04:17:54


刷机总进度: 17%:  ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
download over in  2024-10-22 04:18:02
执行 fastboot flash rootfs rootfs.ext4
max-download-size:  268435456
start split gzip file in 2024-10-22 04:18:02
使用gzip压缩等级为: 5
切片缓存的数量:  1
split gzip file over, begin download in 2024-10-22 04:18:04

切片缓存的数量:  1
切片缓存的数量:  2
切片缓存的数量:  3

刷机总进度: 18%:  ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
download over in  2024-10-22 04:18:11
split gzip file over, begin download in 2024-10-22 04:18:11
切片缓存的数量:  3

... ... ...

刷机总进度: 97%:  ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
download over in  2024-10-22 04:24:03
split gzip file over, begin download in 2024-10-22 04:24:03


刷机总进度: 99%:  ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
download over in  2024-10-22 04:24:12
split gzip file over, begin download in 2024-10-22 04:24:12


download over in  2024-10-22 04:24:23
---》刷机成功!
<-------------flash over ---------------->

Enjoy!

Reset BPi-F3. ArchLinux will boot!

By Felix Yan, the password of root is archriscv.

Start services

Network

systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd

Time Sync

systemctl enable --now systemd-timesyncd

[!NOTE]

SSL connections only work with correct time.

Install packages

pacman -Syu
pacman -S nano openssh

Choose the best mirror

nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

##
## Arch Linux RISC-V repository mirrorlist
##

## Worldwide
Server = https://riscv.mirror.pkgbuild.com/repo/$repo

## Canada
#Server = https://archriscv.felixc.at/repo/$repo

## China
#Server = https://mirror.iscas.ac.cn/archriscv/repo/$repo
#Server = https://mirrors.sustech.edu.cn/archriscv/repo/$repo
#Server = https://mirror.nju.edu.cn/archriscv/repo/$repo
#Server = https://mirrors.wsyu.edu.cn/archriscv/repo/$repo

## Finland
#Server = https://mirrors.felixc.at/archriscv/repo/$repo

Desktop Environment

KDE

pacman -S icu plasma-desktop plasma-nm plasma-pa plasma-workspace plasma-workspace-wallpapers xdg-desktop-portal-kde dolphin kate konsole okular spectacle