Petitboot for ODROID-M1

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:45 am

Petitboot for ODROID-N2 has been improved a lot and helped many users to run multiple OS on the same machine. In the same manner, Petitboot is also shipped to on-board SPI flash memory to ODROID-M1 and it will support very similar features.

Major features:

Minimal bootloader
Bootloader in SPI flash memory will help ODROID-M1 not to be bricked or boot failure due to incompatible memory cards.

Easy OS management
Petitboot can help you to boot an OS from eMMC/SD cards as well as NVMe/SATA/USB storages, also select an OS when multiple OS are installed.

Installing OS images
- USB Mass Storage:
  Flashing an OS image through USB cable attached with PC. This method won't let you detach a storage from ODROID-M1, but simply connect your ODROID-M1 to PC as a USB storage device and flashing an OS image with a flash tool such as balenaEtcher.
- Netboot Installer:
  Instead of flashing an OS image to a storage, Netboot Installer method will help you to install an OS to a storage directly and this can help you to configure the partiition layout and mouting points while installing. In order to start the Netboot Installer method, select Exit to shell in the Petitboot screen and run commands.
  Code: Select all
```
udhcpc
netboot_default
exit
```

Tiny Linux system
The firmware in on-board SPI memory is a tiny Linux with useful Linux commands, althrough the number of commands are limited, you can diagnose your storages without any other Linux machine.

: Screenshot 2022-04-12 04-05-17.png (45.35 KiB) Viewed 23395 times

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:45 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqO4EgP4cHA&t=468s

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:45 am

Reserved #2

mctom · Post by **mctom** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 6:57 am

For completeness I'd add commands for USB Mass Storage method in the first post. It's three letters and I always forget them and struggle to find..

istanbulls · Post by **istanbulls** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:15 pm

Petitoot and Netboot-installer are my favorite feature on Odroid SBCs.
I can install as many different ubuntu and debian versions as I want on the SSD. and in seconds I can test the OS I want.

I wish there were more OSes we could install in Netboot-installer eg CE, LE, Android.
I know it's just a nice dream but why not

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:20 pm

mctom wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 12, 2022 6:57 am
For completeness I'd add commands for USB Mass Storage method in the first post. It's three letters and I always forget them and struggle to find..

Thanks, short instructions or links will be added to the reserved in this thread.

mctom · Post by **mctom** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 4:34 am

It's a minor complaint, but using Odroid Wi-Fi dongle during Netboot-installation of Ubuntu it couldn't pair with my router. It said that "password exchange" failed after 1 minute of progress bar. Installation via LAN continues without issues though.

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:27 am

My problem was posted on the other forum. I erased the data in SPI. I followed the instructions in topic 347732. The blue led is on but the monitor is dark. What can I do next?
Thanks

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:36 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:27 am
My problem was posted on the other forum. I erased the data in SPI. I followed the instructions in topic 347732. The blue led is on but the monitor is dark. What can I do next?
Thanks

Does the blue LED blink or just on?
Did you flash the image to SD card and booted after presseing the boot select switch? Also when you press the boot select switch, you must not keep pressing it after the blue LED turns on.

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:44 am

Blue light just on
Blue light did not come on when I flashed image on sd card. It came on when I flashed an eMMC card.
I continued pressing the switch but did not do that after reading your post but it is just on not blinking

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:53 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:44 am
Blue light just on
Blue light did not come on when I flashed image on sd card. It came on when I flashed an eMMC card.
I continued pressing the switch but did not do that after reading your post but it is just on not blinking

What's the image file name you have flashed? And you do not try eMMC for this.

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:07 am

I tried this "spiupdate_odroidm1_20220304.img"

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:18 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:07 am
I tried this "spiupdate_odroidm1_20220304.img"

The file is coorect if you did unxz it, did you flash it using BalenaEtcher?
What's the vendor/model of your SD card?
When you flash the same image to eMMC, are you able to see a picture or the blue LED just turns on?

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:21 am

Yes flashed with Balena.
i had used 3 sd cards: samsung, sandisk and patriot
with eMMC no picture, just the blue LED turning on but not blinking

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:27 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:21 am
Yes flashed with Balena.
i had used 3 sd cards: samsung, sandisk and patriot
with eMMC no picture, just the blue LED turning on but not blinking

What command did you invoke exactly when you remove SPI flash?

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:44 am

from the other forum

flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0
flash_eraseall /dev/mtd1
flash_eraseall /dev/mtd2
flash_eraseall /dev/mtd3

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:22 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:44 am
from the other forum

flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0
flash_eraseall /dev/mtd1
flash_eraseall /dev/mtd2
flash_eraseall /dev/mtd3

Then flash spiupdate_odroidm1_20220304.img.xz to Sandisk SD card, this time connect SD card only and do not press the boot select switch and do power cycle.

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:53 am

I cannot find this file with the xz extension. Can you send me the link? thanks

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 3:03 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:53 am
I cannot find this file with the xz extension. Can you send me the link? thanks

http://ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr/images/pe ... /odroidm1/

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 5:35 am

I am using a brand new sandisk. I can write flash with Rufus but not with Balena. The Rufus flashing still doesn't give me the blue LED.

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 5:41 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 20, 2022 5:35 am
I am using a brand new sandisk. I can write flash with Rufus but not with Balena. The Rufus flashing still doesn't give me the blue LED.

It says that the image seems to be corrupted, and it also shows 60.8MB while the original file size is 22MB. Please check the md5sum value of the file.

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 6:26 am

Thank you for your help. This picture shows the downloaded file to be 22mb, MD5 sum is good but when I select the file in balenaetcher it shows 60mb.
I upgraded Balena from 1.5.109 to the most recent version.

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 11:58 am

Just realized that i didn't finish my email. I still didn't resolve my problem. The picture was to show that the file downloaded was the proper size, and that the MD5 was good. What do you advise now?

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:51 pm

heritage wrote: ↑
Thu Apr 21, 2022 11:58 am
Just realized that i didn't finish my email. I still didn't resolve my problem. The picture was to show that the file downloaded was the proper size, and that the MD5 was good. What do you advise now?

I have reproduced the same issue after removing the SPI flash memory with the command flash_eraseall and booting from SD after flashing the image spiupdate_odroidm1_20220304.img.xz, since you have erased the SPI flash memory it must boot from SD regardless you press the boot select button or not. I've run balenaEtcher in Ubuntu, not Windows. Would you be able to try Ubuntu on your PC to flash it? Or can you try this, https://jfrog.com/connect/imgflasher/, instead of Rufus?

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:49 am

I ran Etcher on Ubuntu and I was able to boot. I ran the command fw_setenv skip_spiboot false. It was executed properly. However, when I took the sdcard out Ubuntu did not start either using an eMMC or an SD card.
If I leave the sdcard in then the eMMC Ubuntu runs.

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:54 am

heritage wrote: ↑
Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:49 am
I ran Etcher on Ubuntu and I was able to boot. I ran the command fw_setenv skip_spiboot false. It was executed properly. However, when I took the sdcard out Ubuntu did not start either using an eMMC or an SD card.
If I leave the sdcard in then the eMMC Ubuntu runs.

Wait, so you are not able to boot from SD card...then did you update/flash SPI flash memory or just seen Petitboot screen from SD card?
If you are not sure if Petitboot is flashed or not, download this file and copy it as spiboot.img to SD card which you have flashed using Etcher.
http://ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr/images/pe ... 220306.img

heritage · Post by **heritage** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 4:34 am

Thank you for your patience. That last "spiboot.img" fixed it.

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed May 18, 2022 1:51 am

New Netboot Installer entries for Ubuntu 22.04 and Debian 11 are appended to Petitboot. But please note that these two OS are inteded to boot by upstream kernel rather than Hardkernel's vendor kernel (v4.19). so it would be unstable or supported features would be very limited. Please use another thread, viewtopic.php?f=217&t=44462, if you like to be updated about its progress or report issues.

: Screenshot 2022-05-18 01-39-57.png (88.46 KiB) Viewed 22660 times

spikerguy · Post by **spikerguy** » Sun May 22, 2022 1:58 am

Any reason why petitboot cannot read gpt partition table as our test image does not read the boot partition and extlinux.conf inside it.

I will move the partition table to mbr and see if that helps, but most of our rockchip device images are using gpt.

No Luck with mbr partition table too

Petitboot is not able to find the extlinux.conf in the partition.

Can you advice what is needed for petitboot look for to make the drive as bootable ?

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Sun May 22, 2022 8:45 am

spikerguy wrote: ↑
Sun May 22, 2022 1:58 am
Any reason why petitboot cannot read gpt partition table as our test image does not read the boot partition and extlinux.conf inside it.

I will move the partition table to mbr and see if that helps, but most of our rockchip device images are using gpt.

No Luck with mbr partition table too

Petitboot is not able to find the extlinux.conf in the partition.

Can you advice what is needed for petitboot look for to make the drive as bootable ?

I don't think its GPT partition issue, you can check in the command line if the partitions are mounted or not. extlinux.conf is not supported by Petitboot, you need to add boot.scr.

specs · Post by **specs** » Thu May 26, 2022 9:23 pm

tobetter wrote: ↑
Wed May 18, 2022 1:51 am
New Netboot Installer entries for Ubuntu 22.04 and Debian 11 are appended to Petitboot. But please note that these two OS are inteded to boot by upstream kernel rather than Hardkernel's vendor kernel (v4.19). so it would be unstable or supported features would be very limited. Please use another thread, viewtopic.php?f=217&t=44462, if you like to be updated about its progress or report issues.

Today I tried installing Debian with petitboot.
Debian11, grey screen, no installation.
Debian10, full installation, no USB Wifi Module (8821au and 8821cu don't compile for the 5A and 5B and the linux-firmware is missing, there is no easily installable Wifi).

Ubuntu 22.04 (5.18-kernel) and Ubuntu 20.04 (4.19-kernel) are easily installed via petitboot. The 22.04 without 5B and the 20.04 including 5B (wifi) support.

Note, I only tested Debian10 to see if it worked, I don't want a M1 running Debian with a 4.19-kernel, therefore the test is half-assed at best.

Addition, as drolid remarked in the 5.18 thread:
The grey screen is a sign the monitor is not configured right. It worked by replacing the monitor with a HDMI-monitor in full-HD mode (1920x1080).

Enig123 · Post by **Enig123** » Sat May 28, 2022 11:44 am

Can I install os to the m.2 ssd directly with petiboot and boot from it?

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Sat May 28, 2022 11:53 am

Enig123 wrote: ↑
Sat May 28, 2022 11:44 am
Can I install os to the m.2 ssd directly with petiboot and boot from it?

Yes, you can when you use Netboot Installer. In the command line of Petitboot, run udhcpc and netboot_default in a row.

sbruynin · Post by **sbruynin** » Sat Jul 09, 2022 6:56 pm

I do not get the OS install options when I exit back to petitboot after udhcpc and netboot_default.
I have a sd with ubuntu server in the SD-slot where I can boot from and a EXT4 formatted m2.
Network cable is attached and ipaddress assigned by router.
Petitboot version: 20220306. (Where can I find the latest petitboot version and how to install it?)

mad_ady · Post by **mad_ady** » Sat Jul 09, 2022 11:55 pm

There's currently an issue with tobetter's server, where the images are hosted. Try again after the weekend.

sbruynin · Post by **sbruynin** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:53 pm

I could update petitboot to version 20220424 this morning but still do not get the OS versions to install. (after #udhcpc and #netboot_default and #exit)
If I remove the sd card and retry the procedure then:
[eth0] Probing from base tftp://192.168.2.1/pxelinux.cfg
What can be wrong?

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 5:16 pm

sbruynin wrote: ↑
Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:53 pm
I could update petitboot to version 20220424 this morning but still do not get the OS versions to install. (after #udhcpc and #netboot_default and #exit)
If I remove the sd card and retry the procedure then:
[eth0] Probing from base tftp://192.168.2.1/pxelinux.cfg
What can be wrong?

You did nothing wrong, I think.
Run the commands udhcpc and netboot_default again, and check if your ODROID-M1 get IP address. In cetain network environment, downloading the OS installer manifest file could be slow.
Also you can ignore the message [eth0] Probing from base ..., this log happens every time but not an error.

sbruynin · Post by **sbruynin** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:38 pm

The odroid gets his local ip address after the udhcpc command.
But I can't get the OS's to be displayed.
When does it load the manifest file? While in the shell, or after the exit command. Do I need a delay before the exit command?
I waited 2 to 3 minutes between the commands without result.

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:47 pm

sbruynin wrote: ↑
Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:38 pm
The odroid gets his local ip address after the udhcpc command.
But I can't get the OS's to be displayed.
When does it load the manifest file? While in the shell, or after the exit command. Do I need a delay before the exit command?
I waited 2 to 3 minutes between the commands without result.

It should be loaded when you run netboot_install in the command line.
Does pint 8.8.8.8 or ping ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr work?

sbruynin · Post by **sbruynin** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:58 pm

ping 8.8.8.8 works
ping ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr doesn't work
I'll try again later today.

sbruynin · Post by **sbruynin** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 6:10 pm

When I powerup the M1 and skip the udhcpc command, so only execute netboot_default then the installed OS's show up. Using udhcpc it constantly fails.
Anyway It now works and I'm happy.
Thanks for the support.

xtlc · Post by **xtlc** » Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:15 pm

I had the exact same issue on my new M1. 220220306 was installed when I got it, I did not update it. Omitting the udhcpc command made a list of OS show up, nothing other worked.

I also tried flashing a SD card using the Ubuntu 20.04 image from the website (https://dn.odroid.com/RK3568/ODROID-M1/ ... 531.img.xz) using etcher, but after booting to petitboot only two mmc devices are shown, but when selecting them to boot (either of them) and restarting nothing happens, but landing in petitboot again

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:17 pm

xtlc wrote: ↑
Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:15 pm
I had the exact same issue on my new M1. 220220306 was installed when I got it, I did not update it. Omitting the udhcpc command made a list of OS show up, nothing other worked.

I also tried flashing a SD card using the Ubuntu 20.04 image from the website (https://dn.odroid.com/RK3568/ODROID-M1/ ... 531.img.xz) using etcher, but after booting to petitboot only two mmc devices are shown, but when selecting them to boot (either of them) and restarting nothing happens, but landing in petitboot again

What's the brand/model of your SD card? Can you please share the photo of the screen displays two mmc devices in Petitboot?

multiblitz · Post by **multiblitz** » Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:41 pm

How Can I do a re-install onto my SSD through petitboot from the net ? NoINstall options are presented anymore:

I got my M1 today...I followed your guide here to Net-install and was very pleased to see debian bullseye offered as stable install to my SSD...followed that and it worked like a charme !!! I am really impressed.

I tried than to run a generic Dietpi-Script which went through, but gave me a new error ("No root device specified (initramfs)")...I posted that error on the dietpi forum...

Not sure if that will ever get solved, so I tried to roll back to the original install by simply going through petitboot OS-Install-process again as the SSD gets formatted there and we start basically vanilla.

To my surprise I cant get there.

When I run run udhcpc and netboot_default

Nothing happens. It only shows the original Debian Install on my SSD (which is now defective). So, no additional INstall options or option to delte the existing install....I basically want a hard factory-reset of everything incl. the SSD.

So...how can I make petitboot to forget that there is an installed OS to offer and instead make it offering me the install options for the different OS again like in post 10441 above ?

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Fri Sep 09, 2022 10:05 pm

multiblitz wrote: ↑
Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:41 pm
How Can I do a re-install onto my SSD through petitboot from the net ? NoINstall options are presented anymore:

I got my M1 today...I followed your guide here to Net-install and was very pleased to see debian bullseye offered as stable install to my SSD...followed that and it worked like a charme !!! I am really impressed.

I tried than to run a generic Dietpi-Script which went through, but gave me a new error ("No root device specified (initramfs)")...I posted that error on the dietpi forum...

Not sure if that will ever get solved, so I tried to roll back to the original install by simply going through petitboot OS-Install-process again as the SSD gets formatted there and we start basically vanilla.

To my surprise I cant get there.

When I run run udhcpc and netboot_default

Nothing happens. It only shows the original Debian Install on my SSD (which is now defective). So, no additional INstall options or option to delte the existing install....I basically want a hard factory-reset of everything incl. the SSD.

So...how can I make petitboot to forget that there is an installed OS to offer and instead make it offering me the install options for the different OS again like in post 10441 above ?

Netboot Installer boot entry sometimes does not come to the screen due to the network, please check if you properly received IP address and can ping to ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr from the command line in the Petitboot. You should keep trying a bit more running netboot_default if the problem happens, this is not matter if you have installed OS in any storage or not.

joerg · Post by **joerg** » Sat Sep 10, 2022 1:00 am

I have the same with my N2. I don't want to hyjack here, but it seems that the server of ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr is not responding a ping.
I make ping from my host pc that is in the same network, one time with only 1.1.1.1 and one time also with 8.8.8.8 as dns server. It's the same, always says 106.250.177.235 as ip address.
Seems that the dns server knows about ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr.

Code: Select all

joerg@JW-Mint ~ $ ping 106.250.177.235
PING 106.250.177.235 (106.250.177.235) 56(84) Bytes Daten.
^C
--- 106.250.177.235 ping-Statistik ---
44 Pakete übertragen, 0 empfangen, 100% Paketverlust, Zeit 44021ms

Paketverlust means lost packages.

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Sat Sep 10, 2022 4:29 am

joerg wrote: ↑
Sat Sep 10, 2022 1:00 am
I have the same with my N2. I don't want to hyjack here, but it seems that the server of ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr is not responding a ping.
I make ping from my host pc that is in the same network, one time with only 1.1.1.1 and one time also with 8.8.8.8 as dns server. It's the same, always says 106.250.177.235 as ip address.
Seems that the dns server knows about ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr.
Code: Select all
joerg@JW-Mint ~ $ ping 106.250.177.235
PING 106.250.177.235 (106.250.177.235) 56(84) Bytes Daten.
^C
--- 106.250.177.235 ping-Statistik ---
44 Pakete übertragen, 0 empfangen, 100% Paketverlust, Zeit 44021ms
Paketverlust means lost packages.

ICMP is disabled in the server ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr, so ping won't response, but you will be able to open a web page of it on a browser with http://ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr. netboot_default is a problem sometime when server is busy or for some reason, it does not query the boot entries or take slowly. Have not properly figured out in current version other than repeating the command again when the boot menu does not appear.

multiblitz · Post by **multiblitz** » Sat Sep 10, 2022 3:11 pm

I think the M1 has indeed a problem with bringing the network / LAN to life quickly. Maybe we need a firmware update as this would not only solve the petitboot installer issue but help as well to mount NAS drives as they should...I found when mounting my NAS to the M1 that i could do it manually but the fstab entry did not work...first time...all other small SinglboardComputer, even the slowest and oldest, had never have theis phenomen...i fixed this with an addition to wait for the the network before mounting...but not sure if there is not a bigger issues with the network driver.

So, I tried and tried...and you have been right, suddenly petitboot came back with the install menu. But this is not a stable solution.

BTW I installe dmy system on a internal SSD...so if I want a fast boot...and I would reduce petitboot time to 0 sec...is there a way to get back to petitboot like "press delete" when applying power ? The USB keyboard typically is frozen for a second at least as well, so i was sofar nit brave enough and stayed at 3sec waiting time before petitboot starts Debian Bullseye now.

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Sat Sep 10, 2022 5:06 pm

multiblitz wrote: ↑
Sat Sep 10, 2022 3:11 pm
I think the M1 has indeed a problem with bringing the network / LAN to life quickly. Maybe we need a firmware update as this would not only solve the petitboot installer issue but help as well to mount NAS drives as they should...I found when mounting my NAS to the M1 that i could do it manually but the fstab entry did not work...first time...all other small SinglboardComputer, even the slowest and oldest, had never have theis phenomen...i fixed this with an addition to wait for the the network before mounting...but not sure if there is not a bigger issues with the network driver.

Petitboot installer menu entry issue is not from network driver, it's about the latency of the server and how Petitboot manages the response. Since Petitboot and practical Linux system uses different kernel, your NAS issue would be different problem and would be good to understand what's the issue is. Please start your thread with the issue what you made in fstab.

So, I tried and tried...and you have been right, suddenly petitboot came back with the install menu. But this is not a stable solution.

It's not stable, likely random but not stable solution yet.

BTW I installe dmy system on a internal SSD...so if I want a fast boot...and I would reduce petitboot time to 0 sec...is there a way to get back to petitboot like "press delete" when applying power ? The USB keyboard typically is frozen for a second at least as well, so i was sofar nit brave enough and stayed at 3sec waiting time before petitboot starts Debian Bullseye now.

No, Petitboot does not have such hotkey yet. Loading driver and recognize the USB keyboards takes a several seconds and this affects booting time, this leads to set the similar timeout value in the Petitboot. Give small seconds 1 or 2 seconds and try to pressing any key UP/DOWN key since the blue LED starts blinking. USB keyboard event won't be recognized when the blue LED is solid.

tobetter · Post by **tobetter** » Sun Sep 18, 2022 10:18 pm

Finally, we have a video in pure native English speaking about Petitboot on ODROID-M1, Please checkout the video at 7:50