rock-5b

Debian ARM64 Linux for the Radxa Rock 5 Model B

This Debian ARM64 Linux image is built directly from official packages using the Debian Debootstrap utility, see: https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/blob/main/debian/make_debian_img.sh#L105

Most patches are directly available from the Debian repos using the built-in apt package manager, see: https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/blob/main/debian/make_debian_img.sh#L339

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debian bookworm setup

1. download image

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12/rock-5b_bookworm.img.xz

2. determine the location of the target micro sd card

• before plugging-in device

ls -l /dev/sd*
ls: cannot access '/dev/sd*': No such file or directory

• after plugging-in device

ls -l /dev/sd*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Apr 10 15:56 /dev/sda

• note: for mac, the device is /dev/rdiskX

3. in the case above, substitute 'a' for 'X' in the command below (for /dev/sda)

sudo sh -c 'xzcat rock-5b_bookworm.img.xz > /dev/sdX && sync'

when the micro sd has finished imaging, eject and use it to boot the odroid m1 to finish setup

4. login account

user: debian
pass: debian

5. take updates

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

6. create account & login as new user

sudo adduser youruserid
echo '<youruserid> ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/<youruserid>
sudo chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/<youruserid>

7. lockout and/or delete debian account

sudo passwd -l debian
sudo chsh -s /usr/sbin/nologin debian

sudo deluser --remove-home debian
sudo rm /etc/sudoers.d/debian

8. change hostname (optional)

sudo nano /etc/hostname
sudo nano /etc/hosts

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installing on m.2 ssd /dev/nvme0n1 media

1. while booted from mmc, download and copy the image file on to the ssd media

wget https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b/releases/download/v12/rock-5b_bookworm.img.xz
sudo sh -c 'xzcat rock-5b_bookworm.img.xz > /dev/nvme0n1 && sync'

2. remove mmc media and reboot

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building debian bookworm arm64 for the rock-5b from scratch

The build script builds native arm64 binaries and thus needs to be run from an arm64 device such as a raspberry pi4 running a 64 bit arm linux. The initial build of this project used a debian arm64 raspberry pi4, but now uses a odroid m1 running stock debian bookworm arm64.

1. clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/inindev/rock-5b.git
cd rock-5b

2. run the debian build script

cd debian
sudo sh make_debian_img.sh

• note: edit the build script to change various options: nano make_debian_img.sh

3. the output if the build completes successfully

mmc_2g.img.xz