Manjaro ARM for Odroid N2

[mxmilkb]

Can anyone confirm if the 20.01 image works? I'm having trouble, but it works for dodgejcr.

I've tried two microSDs just in case.

I get just a solid red light when booting it from petitboot, but I get solid red and blue when booting the eMMC way (without eMMC in).

(though I have my working mainline Manjaro on eMMC through the boot.ini swap method).

Edit: n.b. dodgejcr has unflashed petitboot (and hasn't yet tried from petitboot)

[m8kbv]

does not work with petitboot usb or SD ;-/ Do I do something wrong?

[tobetter]

does not work with petitboot usb or SD ;-/ Do I do something wrong?

Check what's the version of Petitboot on your ODROID-N2 or not boot.ini or boot.scr is not corrupted. If you are able to see boot entry on Petitboot but not booting, I think boot.ini must be corrected.

[tobetter]

Can anyone confirm if the 20.01 image works? I'm having trouble, but it works for dodgejcr.

I've tried two microSDs just in case.

I get just a solid red light when booting it from petitboot, but I get solid red and blue when booting the eMMC way (without eMMC in).

(though I have my working mainline Manjaro on eMMC through the boot.ini swap method).

Edit: n.b. dodgejcr has unflashed petitboot (and hasn't yet tried from petitboot)

I guess the current kernel has an issue to use uSD, I also faced the same issue with Petitboot that my image does not boot from uSD or it's attached. Or Petitboot needs some fix to make uSD run better for the target OS.

[m8kbv]

does not work with petitboot usb or SD ;-/ Do I do something wrong?

Check what's the version of Petitboot on your ODROID-N2 or not boot.ini or boot.scr is not corrupted. If you are able to see boot entry on Petitboot but not booting, I think boot.ini must be corrected.

petitboot is from November (newest). How to check if boot.ini or boot.scr is not damaged?
is the partition boot / boot.ini? Where is boot.scr?
file boot.ini runs correctly in a text file.

[tobetter]

does not work with petitboot usb or SD ;-/ Do I do something wrong?

Check what's the version of Petitboot on your ODROID-N2 or not boot.ini or boot.scr is not corrupted. If you are able to see boot entry on Petitboot but not booting, I think boot.ini must be corrected.

petitboot is from November (newest). How to check if boot.ini or boot.scr is not damaged?
is the partition boot / boot.ini? Where is boot.scr?
file boot.ini runs correctly in a text file.

From Petitboot screen, go for Exit to shell and run uboot-parser /usr/var/petitboot/mnt/dev/mmcblk0p1/boot.ini or .../boot.scr for SD card. If it does not shows 4 items like below somehow the boot script won't work with Petitboot.

Code: Select all

# uboot-parser /usr/var/petitboot/mnt/dev/mmcblk0p1/boot.scr
## Executing script at 7fa97a6010
Booting Debian 5.4.0-odroid-arm64 from mmc 0:...

IMAGE=/usr/var/petitboot/mnt/dev/mmcblk0p1/vmlinuz-5.4.0-odroid-arm64
INITRD=/usr/var/petitboot/mnt/dev/mmcblk0p1/initrd.img-5.4.0-odroid-arm64
DTB=/usr/var/petitboot/mnt/dev/mmcblk0p1/dtbs/5.4.0-odroid-arm64/amlogic/meson64_odroidn2.dtb
APPEND=  quiet splash console=tty1 clk_ignore_unused console=ttyAML0,115200n8

[m8kbv]

I have these entries in boot.ini, but the system does not boot.

[tobetter]

I have these entries in boot.ini, but the system does not boot.

So the problem is that you can see the boot entry for the OS in Petitboot but not able to boot it?
Is it Manjaro OS? Where the image can be downloaded?

[m8kbv]

Download from here: https://osdn.net/projects/manjaro-arm/s ... imal/20.01
Yes, this is the Manjaro system released today.

[tobetter]

Download from here: https://osdn.net/projects/manjaro-arm/s ... imal/20.01
Yes, this is the Manjaro system released today.

I've checked the file and this is known issue for Manjaro image when it boots with Linux kernel 5.x, you should change the value dtb_loadaddr in boot.ini.
viewtopic.php?f=179&t=35218&p=275791&hi ... dr#p275791

[m8kbv]

unfortunately the change to dtb_loadaddr or the entire boot.ini from the link you provided does not work. monitor turns off or glows black.
I checked on 2 microsd, with every change I checked booting with petitboot usb, petitboot microsd, and in mmc mode with microsd.

[tobetter]

unfortunately the change to dtb_loadaddr or the entire boot.ini from the link you provided does not work. monitor turns off or glows black.
I checked on 2 microsd, with every change I checked booting with petitboot usb, petitboot microsd, and in mmc mode with microsd.

I think you should try if the Manjaro you flashed can boot without Petitboot first. If it can, Petitboot is the problem otherwise Manjaro image itself is the problem.

[m8kbv]

I think the image is damaged, without the petitboot the red LED on the N2 is lit and the monitor is sleep.

[mxmilkb]

I think the image is damaged, without the petitboot the red LED on the N2 is lit and the monitor is sleep.

Interesting, different lights and monitor status than I. Have you used sha1sum to confirm the download is correct?

[m8kbv]

I think the image is damaged, without the petitboot the red LED on the N2 is lit and the monitor is sleep.

Interesting, different lights and monitor status than I. Have you used sha1sum to confirm the download is correct?

no but I downloaded the file on 2 computers and used 2 sd cards for verification
shasum: 830b8fc7bfcfe6bfbeafefce531ff36ebf171c63

[mxmilkb]

So I replaced the boot.ini on both the microSD installs I created from the new image. This did not fix the situation for me, but it did change the behaviour slightly - the blue light stayed on with the red for both switch states. The monitor did the same thing.

[odroidn2user]

boom - https://osdn.net/projects/manjaro-arm/s ... imal/20.01 - I'm still downloading.

OK, so I downloaded it as well, image file dated (2020-01-16 12:58). Loaded it onto a Samsung (keeping it South Korea) 64gb microSD card using DD.
SPI switch to eMMC, nothing.
SPI switch to Petitboot: is seen, start it, blue light comes on. Nothing. (That said, the monitor is incompatible with petitboot, always stays black.)

Switched it back to eMMC... and it starts! It uses kernel 5.4.11.
I get the OEM script where it asks to enter your username, choose keyboard layout, etc.
So, after the OEM scripts does it thing, it reboots.

Blue light comes on, nothing.
Pull out the power cord again (the odroid could ***really**** use a power and reset button!), plug it back in, and...
It boots to a prompt.

I log in, and it appears to be Jan 12th 2020.
(I never understood that internal clock of the odroid n2. I've got the that clock battery thingy attached, that N2 clock seems broken. But... well, nevermind.)
Well, network works. Pacman is there (no updates), memory is all there, seems to be OK.
Shutdown -r now seems to reboot succesfully.

Trying to install KDE (using: https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Inst ... E_Plasma_5), I get a lot of packages not found while it is downloading the software.
The selected ftp server (ftp-osl.osuosl.org) seems to be broken or behind or something, fails over to other servers a lot.
It installs kwayland, for those interested.
KDE version being installed appears to be 5.17.5, framework 5.66, app release 19.12.1. Manjaro's ARM KDE packages really are fully up to date.
Yeah, so not all packages are actually available, so it quits. And me as well, I know not enough of Manjaro to fix the package issues here.

So, shutdown. Remove power. Add power, boot? Nope. Just the red light on, blue light on, blue light off, just the red light, nothing.
Trying again, remove power, add power. And it boots.

Trying another microSD card, does nothing. Strange.
Trying the previous microSD card again, just a blue light. Trying again, nothing still.

Yeah, so... the minimal image, it works, sorta. But is not at all stable or reliable, requiring multiple boots to get going, if it does get going.

For casual readers: Manjaro 19.08 works very well on the Odroid N2. Updates to the latest and greatest software, but stays on the old but proven reliable kernel.
Get that here: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm ... ased/99031

[Sav]

I think that manjaro users are more focused on Rockchip RK3399 SOC and raspberry.
Sometimes I take a look at the manjaro's arm forum https://forum.manjaro.org/c/manjaro-arm, and can't find usefull informations about the N2

[mxmilkb]

Switched it back to eMMC... and it starts! It uses kernel 5.4.11.

one step forward! and, heh, two steps back in terms of pin-pointing what in specific is the problem (that is; if there is only one problem in play)

as in; there are now multiple differing reports on what happens on trying to boot that image.

So, after the OEM scripts does it thing, it reboots. Blue light comes on, nothing. Pull out the power cord again (the odroid could ***really**** use a power and reset button!), plug it back in, and... It boots to a prompt.

even more confusing, as, if it doesn't work, then works with no change, that is an intermittent problem which is yet another variable. (unless; you are sure you gave it time to boot first time?)

I log in, and it appears to be Jan 12th 2020. I never understood that internal clock of the odroid n2. I've got the that clock battery thingy attached, that N2 clock seems broken. But... well, nevermind.)

The image was created on that date, so the time it has hasn't had a change to update. Once that install updates its time from the internet, it will be correct after power cycles given you have the clock battery. (I have little experience of a minimal Manjaro install - I'm not sure if it has NTP installed and setup. I guess it would, though a minimal Arch install doesn't have man installed by default)

Pacman is there (no updates), memory is all there, seems to be OK.

I very highly doubt, on the first pacman system update of a Manjaro install from a days old image, that there are no package updates.

sudo pacman -Syu

for a full system upgrade.

I would highly recommend uncommenting "#Color" in /etc/pacman.conf, creating a new line below that and adding "ILoveCandy", which is an easter egg, and doing "sudo pacman -S yay", then using yay as your package manager.

Trying to install KDE .. I get a lot of packages not found while it is downloading the software. The selected ftp server (ftp-osl.osuosl.org) seems to be broken or behind or something, fails over to other servers a lot.

This is because the local package list has not been updated, so when you pacman -S install a package, it gets the info from the local list, then tries to download with that info, and because it is out of date because there are newer versions of those packages (this is part of as Arch/Manjaro rolling release experience).

the -y flag updates the package list. not doing a system update for a too long between installing software and you will end up with a system in an inconsistent state, i.e., when libraries change their API/ABI.

So, shutdown. Remove power. Add power, boot? Nope. Just the red light on, blue light on, blue light off, just the red light, nothing. Trying again, remove power, add power. And it boots.

this is that intermittent problem again. hmm :/

maybe we are all testing with bad microsd? *hehesigh* (idk..)

regarding a power switch, i got these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TB31YXC which fit the N2

[odroidn2user]

Pacman is there (no updates), memory is all there, seems to be OK.

I very highly doubt, on the first pacman system update of a Manjaro install from a days old image, that there are no package updates.
sudo pacman -Syu
for a full system upgrade.

Yeah, I did figure that one out, and I think I remember doing just that.
Don't forget, though, the image was minimal, and it appears that for the minimal packages there wasn't an update.

Trying to install KDE .. I get a lot of packages not found while it is downloading the software. The selected ftp server (ftp-osl.osuosl.org) seems to be broken or behind or something, fails over to other servers a lot.

This is because the local package list has not been updated, so when you pacman -S install a package, it gets the info from the local list, then tries to download with that info, and because it is out of date because there are newer versions of those packages (this is part of as Arch/Manjaro rolling release experience).
the -y flag updates the package list. not doing a system update for a too long between installing software and you will end up with a system in an inconsistent state, i.e., when libraries change their API/ABI.

That must be it, I distinctly remember running the update command first, but I guess not.
And well... it is a bit of a non-issue, seeing as I can't get it to boot anymore. (And that's not due to a faulty package update, that aborted nicely and correctly before doing any damage!)

this is that intermittent problem again. hmm :/
maybe we are all testing with bad microsd? *hehesigh* (idk..)
regarding a power switch, i got these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TB31YXC which fit the N2

Ha! Indeed. Well, microsd's aren't all that great for running OSes, that's for sure. But I don't think that's the case here.
And: it is not so much "intermittent" anymore, the flashed SD card just doesn't boot up anymore.
So, it's a full no now.

Also, thanks for the power switch tip!! That's a great idea right there, and probably a must buy for me.

[istanbulls]

this is that intermittent problem again. hmm :/
maybe we are all testing with bad microsd? *hehesigh* (idk..)
regarding a power switch, i got these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TB31YXC which fit the N2

Ha! Indeed. Well, microsd's aren't all that great for running OSes, that's for sure. But I don't think that's the case here.
And: it is not so much "intermittent" anymore, the flashed SD card just doesn't boot up anymore.
So, it's a full no now.

Also, thanks for the power switch tip!! That's a great idea right there, and probably a must buy for me.

This is a beautiful apparatus.
I never thought that there was such an apparatus.
I produced such a solution months ago.

[mxmilkb]

I never thought that there was such an apparatus.

Thinking about it now, Hardkernel might be wise to sell those. (Probably really wise to, as not having a power button is, in general, fairly user unfriendly.) Maybe there is a push button switch rather than a rocker switch variation, given that's what people would be used to vis-a-vis power for a computer (like this).

I produced such a solution months ago.

That's well cyberpunk like

Regarding Manjaro on the N2 - my personal planned course of action is to do some other things for a couple of weeks, come back and build an image from scratch, get that confirmed working by someone else / sort medium-term hosting for a large image file, and hopfully convince the Manjaro folk that the replacement boot.ini actually works.

[odroidn2user]

Regarding Manjaro on the N2 - my personal planned course of action is to do some other things for a couple of weeks, come back and build an image from scratch, get that confirmed working by someone else / sort medium-term hosting for a large image file, and hopfully convince the Manjaro folk that the replacement boot.ini actually works.

Meanwhile, over at Manjaro ARM, Strit (the project lead on Manjaro ARM) got himself an Odroid N2.
And it appears that the new boot.ini indeed works with the mainline kernel.

Strit posted here: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/odroid-n2-m ... g/116691/9

A little update.

I finally got an Odroid N2 for testing. The exact same revision as @nl.smart.
And I have the exact same issue as you guys. The old boot.ini does not boot the device fully.

But the boot.ini you linked in the first post does work. So we are working to see if we can swap them out somehow.

So, this might hold a nice promise for the Manjaro ARM 20.02 release which could be out in the next week orso.
Probably after they finished moving servers. Manjaro ARM (@ManjaroARM@linuxrocks.online) just now tooted:

If you are wondering why there has not been any updates recently in #ManjaroARM, its because we are in a transition phase.

We are moving from one repo server to another with a completely different setup.
So please jeg patient while we test out the new server and workflow.

You will get updates again soon(tm).

Hopefully the sound/audio issue reported earlier is also solved with the newer kernels...
Update from Strit: "No, audio is still not working on mainline."

[odroidn2user]

Strit posted another update, about moving the servers:

Rollout of the new mirrors have started.
A new pacman-mirrorlist package had just been uploaded to the old repo.
This list contains both old and new mirrors, so dont be afraid if some of them throw errors when installing.

You also might want to change the current mirror you are connected too, since it might already have switched to the new stuff.

You can (or: must) now choose between using stable, testing or unstable packages.
More information and the pacman-mirrorlist here.

[odroidn2user]

OK, so this thread is quickly becoming a monologue. But a status-update nonetheless...

Release 20.02 is out: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm ... sed/125823
No release images for us, but the ON2 is still supported with the Manjaro ARM tools.

Manjaro wants to step away from 'older' specialized kernel to more mainline ones, and clearly: there is no audio there.
And while the other devices (RockPro64, RockPi64, Raspberry Pi4, Pinebook Pro) now get a hardware supported desktop, the ON2 won't.
So: Lots of power, fresh software, no accelerated graphics and no audio.

In a couple of days I'll test whether the image builder now works for the Odroid N2 again.
Early indications seems to suggest that it now seems to work.
Using kernel 5.5.4-1-MANJARO-ARM

Release 19.08 is still available from here:
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm ... ased/99031
You can download it as a a normal image, works perfectly fine, with audio.
You will have to fix the mirrorlist though, which was changed recently.
After that, it fully updates to all the most recent packages. (Except for the kernel that is.)

[m8kbv]

After manjaro creates the arm installer, the system does not start, I only have a black screen (monitor on) both LEDs are on. In spiboot mode the monitor turns off.
Newest petitboot uploaded.

[MajesticMagistrate]

I've also tried it, with the same results, with an SD card, but then I noticed it on their supported devices list:
Odroid N2 (only eMMC boot works)

Only eMMC works, it seems - but currently I don't have one. Tried fiddling around with the boot.ini, with no success. Armbian 20.02 boots from an SD card with 5.4.20-meson64 kernels (now 5.4.21), I've tried to compare what the differences are:
- Armbian uses a single partition, not a BOOT and a ROOT partition, and the boot.ini is located in /boot/ on ARMBIAN - tried to copy the contents of the BOOT partition into the ROOT partition's /boot folder, and update the file locations in boot.ini ( /Image to /boot/Image, etc.) - petitboot recognized it as a bootable partition, but the results were the same, red and blue light on.
- Armbian uses UUID instead of /dev/mmcblk${devno}p2 when specifying the root paramter in the bootargs - tried it, same results.

Currently I'm out of ideas what might the problem be, but I'll check on Armbian's boot.ini again.

[tobetter]

I've also tried it, with the same results, with an SD card, but then I noticed it on their supported devices list:
Odroid N2 (only eMMC boot works)

Only eMMC works, it seems - but currently I don't have one. Tried fiddling around with the boot.ini, with no success. Armbian 20.02 boots from an SD card with 5.4.20-meson64 kernels (now 5.4.21), I've tried to compare what the differences are:
- Armbian uses a single partition, not a BOOT and a ROOT partition, and the boot.ini is located in /boot/ on ARMBIAN - tried to copy the contents of the BOOT partition into the ROOT partition's /boot folder, and update the file locations in boot.ini ( /Image to /boot/Image, etc.) - petitboot recognized it as a bootable partition, but the results were the same, red and blue light on.
- Armbian uses UUID instead of /dev/mmcblk${devno}p2 when specifying the root paramter in the bootargs - tried it, same results.

Currently I'm out of ideas what might the problem be, but I'll check on Armbian's boot.ini again.

If you have a chance to use the Petitboot, please do attach the SD card to USB card reader and put it into USB port. The Petitboot will recognize it as an USB storage and could try to boot up. Since I do not have Manjaro, I would be able to test if someone can share the kernel image + *.dtb + initrd. Sorry, my desk is already messy with different versions of OS so hesitate to set up another image. LoL.

[MajesticMagistrate]

I've tried with my USB card reader, Petitboot does recognize it, but after trying to boot it, I get the same result. I've tried to update the boot.ini replacing the mmcblk1p1 with sda2, but the results were the same, does not boot, only red and blue lights are on.

I could send you those files somewhere (I've put the entire boot partition into a tar.gz, it's 36.2 megabytes).

[tobetter]

The entire boot partition is great, let me look into it if you share with me. Thanks.

"Tapatalk wishes you to have fun with ODROID"

[MajesticMagistrate]

I've uploaded it on to google drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TMW0oB ... sp=sharing

[tobetter]

I've uploaded it on to google drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TMW0oB ... sp=sharing

I've tested the binaries and having the boot issue as well. I think the kernel (v5.5) seems to be compiled again for sure.
Any idea of how Manjaro build the Linux kernel with which source tree?

[MajesticMagistrate]

The kernel version seems to be: 5.5.4-1-MANJARO-ARM
I've searched around, but didn't find any manjaro specific forks of the mainline kernel, so I presume it might be mainline.

Later today I might try elatillat's kernel build, maybe it will boot (it works from sdcard and Hardkernel's ubuntu 18.04 minimal image, and I also tried it on Armbian 20.02, also worked).

[tobetter]

The kernel version seems to be: 5.5.4-1-MANJARO-ARM
I've searched around, but didn't find any manjaro specific forks of the mainline kernel, so I presume it might be mainline.

Later today I might try elatillat's kernel build, maybe it will boot (it works from sdcard and Hardkernel's ubuntu 18.04 minimal image, and I also tried it on Armbian 20.02, also worked).

Maybe you can download the packages and extract to get kernel image and other files.
http://ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr/pool/main ... _arm64.deb
http://ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr/pool/main ... _arm64.deb

[MajesticMagistrate]

I've managed to boot Manjaro ARM using elatllat's 5.5-dirty kernel, and boot.ini - but it only works without petitboot (my version is 201912xx-dev).
It seemed like cpu frequencies does not show up for the big cores, but on third reboot it started working, and had proper CPU performance that time

[m8kbv]

I've managed to boot Manjaro ARM using elatllat's 5.5-dirty kernel, and boot.ini - but it only works without petitboot (my version is 201912xx-dev).
It seemed like cpu frequencies does not show up for the big cores, but on third reboot it started working, and had proper CPU performance that time

tell me what to do so that we can run: D

[MajesticMagistrate]

I've downloaded the modules.7z and boot.7z (for 5.5.y) from the kernel development thread:
viewtopic.php?f=176&t=33993&p=261833#p261833
Then I've unpacked modules.7z into the SD card's ROOT partition (partition 2) into /lib/modules/ (7z x modules.7z -o/mnt/ROOT/lib/modules/)
Then made a backup of the boot.ini in the BOOT partition, unpacked everything from boot.7z into that partition, and in the boot.ini I've changed /dev/mmcblk0p2 to /dev/mmcblk1p2

Unmounted the partitions, and it worked.

[m8kbv]

I've downloaded the modules.7z and boot.7z (for 5.5.y) from the kernel development thread:
viewtopic.php?f=176&t=33993&p=261833#p261833
Then I've unpacked modules.7z into the SD card's ROOT partition (partition 2) into /lib/modules/ (7z x modules.7z -o/mnt/ROOT/lib/modules/)
Then made a backup of the boot.ini in the BOOT partition, unpacked everything from boot.7z into that partition, and in the boot.ini I've changed /dev/mmcblk0p2 to /dev/mmcblk1p2

Unmounted the partitions, and it worked.

I don't have write access to /lib/modules ;/ what to do?

[MajesticMagistrate]

Oh, yes, use sudo to move files there (like: sudo 7z x modules.7z -o/mnt/ROOT/lib/modules/ )
If I remember correctly you won't need sudo priviliges for the BOOT partition.

[m8kbv]

Oh, yes, use sudo to move files there (like: sudo 7z x modules.7z -o/mnt/ROOT/lib/modules/ )
If I remember correctly you won't need sudo priviliges for the BOOT partition.

sudo 7z x /home/odroid/Pulpit/modules.7z -o/run/media/odroid/ROOT/lib/modules
[sudo] hasło użytkownika odroid:
sudo: 7z: command not found.

[MajesticMagistrate]

If using an ubuntu/debian based system, 7z can be installed by: sudo apt install -y p7zip-full
Or on other systems, install the p7zip package

[m8kbv]

If using an ubuntu/debian based system, 7z can be installed by: sudo apt install -y p7zip-full
Or on other systems, install the p7zip package

Its works thanks.
--
after entering the password (connect what I choose (gnome / plasma etc.)) I have a black background with the cursor and nothing else is displayed. What to do?
Which gui did you choose during installation?

[MajesticMagistrate]

I've tried the KDE Plasma (as I was interested how well KDE wayland works with recent packages), and everything worked when I've first booted the OS, (then wayland also worked).

[m8kbv]

I did 2x the installation and now it works. thank you.

[Sav]

I've tried the KDE Plasma (as I was interested how well KDE wayland works with recent packages), and everything worked when I've first booted the OS, (then wayland also worked).

Is wayland using the software renderer ?

[MajesticMagistrate]

It seemed slow, and GPU acceleration was not working - but it might be better with Manjaro's 5.5.4 kernel, on Manjaro 20.02's release page, they say:
"Hardware accelerated Plasma desktop on all devices, except Pinebook, Rock64, Pine64+ and Pine64-LTS."

I've tried installing PKGBUILD files provided earlier in this thread (mesa-git-mali and wayland-mali) but it seemed like I was still missing the kernel module for bifrost, so I've installed dkms, and tried to compile the bifrost dkms module, but did not succeed so far.

[Sav]

It seemed slow, and GPU acceleration was not working - but it might be better with Manjaro's 5.5.4 kernel, on Manjaro 20.02's release page, they say:
"Hardware accelerated Plasma desktop on all devices, except Pinebook, Rock64, Pine64+ and Pine64-LTS."

I've tried installing PKGBUILD files provided earlier in this thread (mesa-git-mali and wayland-mali) but it seemed like I was still missing the kernel module for bifrost, so I've installed dkms, and tried to compile the bifrost dkms module, but did not succeed so far.

There is no open driver for mali g52. If you dig in this forum you will find many attempts (mainly from tobetter) to get video hardware acceleretion working. Tobetter managed to have wayland working in gnome.

[MajesticMagistrate]

I've tried to make the closed source driver to work, the libMali.so - but I still needed the kernel module for bifrost, and it can be added via dkms, but to add it I need the header files for the kernel I am using, and I am using a different kernel than the ones available in the repository.

Maybe I could build a kernel from source - then I'd have header files to build the mali-bifrost dkms module, but that also does not guarantee success, and a working gpu, so it seems like too much effort.

I'll try again later with this when I can boot Manjaro with their kernel - hopefully next release

[mxmilkb]

So Strit, lead Manjaro ARM dev, got an N2 a couple of weeks ago. They confirmed that the replacement boot.ini works but not for all methods of loading; "<Strit[m]> I have no idea what is needed to get it to boot from SD card...."

Manjaro (and Arch) culture is heavily against using older pinned version of software from the get-go. That someone on the Manjaro ARM team accommodated the previous situation with a custom 4.x kernel release for the N2 was a lucky aberration from that trend. I'm hoping that there will be an N2 desktop iso release after the boot (and sound?) issue is fixed.

https://gitlab.manjaro.org/manjaro-arm/ ... ux-aarch64 - see the PKGBUILD, this is how Manjaro ARM builds Linux (one runs "makepkg -si" or some other flags in the same directory as a PKGBUILD)

https://gitlab.manjaro.org/manjaro-arm/ ... aarch64-rc is for the rc of next version, currently at 5.6-rc3

Sound is a weird one - can someone confirm for sure, is support for sound for the SoC meant to be mainlined yet? If it is then it's a Manjaro ARM issue.