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Installing Arch Linux ARM on PinePhone (v1.2b)
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pinephone-arch-linux-arm-install.md

Installation

We will be installing this OS to the eMMC and will basically following the Pine64s wiki article. Check also that article for more information about e.g. what else is happening here (also the main article of this device, amiright?).

Requirements

It's up to you to decide which (Pine64) Arch Linux ARM image you choose:

  • The barebone will give you cli only
  • The phosh will give you the known (from e.g. the Mobian community edition) desktop environment that is based on GNOME 3

Nice to know(s):

  • It is advised to have a Jumpdrive micro SD Card as a default medium lying around somewhere, so that you do not need to flash another one some other time.
  • You can follow the latest talk about the (Pine64) Arch Linux ARM version also within the Pine64 Forum Thread.

Installation

We will go the USB flashing route. Also check your privacy switches (physical killswitches)

  • Flash Jumpdrive on a micro SD Card if you do not have one already (v0.6+ is needed)
  • Open your PinePhone by removing the backcover (beware of your finger nails, duh - use the force, Luke!)
  • Insert your Jumpdrive micro SD Card, next to the SIM card slot
  • Important: Have your Battery inserted, otherwise eMMC won't be available via USB (this is also stated within Jumpdrives' README.md
  • Connect your Smartphone via USB to your PC
  • Beware: Your Jumpdrive micro SD Card should have been also auto-mounted (if auto mounting is enabled)
  • You should unmount all eMMC partitions, that where mounted just now then, before using etcher.
  • To flash (Pine64) Arch Linux ARM, use etcher and select the eMMC drive
    • Let it also validate, just to be sure
  • parted /dev/sdX (replace X with your eMMCs' identifier)
    • resizepart 2 100%
    • quit
  • Disconnect from USB
  • Remove Battery
  • Remove micro SD Card
  • (optional) Insert another micro SD Card
  • Boot(!)

If you have random crashes, try the tip from the releases page: If you are experiencing random crashes, please flash the alternative u-boot bootloader with the speed that works for you

So, flash the u-boot-sunxi-with-spl-pinephone that works for you.

  • dd if=/path/to/u-boot-sunxi-with-spl-pinephone-XXX.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=8k seek=1 (replace /path/to, also XXX)

Login

Check PinePhone Software Releases for latest information about it, but it should be:

  • Username: alarm
  • Password: 123456

Next Step(s)

Extras

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