Linux Kernel for Minix Neo X7

[Plokko]

Thanks A LOT!
Anyway maybe after a LOT of flashing i found the real problem:
i flashed the finless 1.7 with a clean installa and your recovery kernel, and it worked but keep crashing after few minutes.
I tried android and it had the same lcd flashing problem until... i unplugged the sd card...

I'll try to get a decent sd-card this time and report my results,i hope it's tha source of all my problems!

Anyway what android rom do you use as a base for your kernel?
You just replace recovery with your recovery(multiboot) or kernel with your kernel and leave everythign else intact?

UPDATE:
after i left android without the sd for more time i found the problem still persist but does no shows until several minutes (it worked for about 30m or more)

[knawnd]

I would appreciate if someone could clarify some things for me.
As soon as I have Finless ROM 1.7 installed and working what images should I flash to have dualboot (android + linux) possibility?
Is it correct that I have to flash that multiboot image, recovery kernel (e.g. provided by chenac in his post with recompiled hdmi-core.c of Marvin's rk3188-x7) and then place linux root fs image on sdcard labeled as "linuxroot"?
Is anything I have to do with parameter and bootloader (RKBootloader v2.03) files which mentioned in Ian Morrison's guide?

[Plokko]

I would appreciate if someone could clarify some things for me.
As soon as I have Finless ROM 1.7 installed and working what images should I flash to have dualboot (android + linux) possibility?
Is it correct that I have to flash that multiboot image, recovery kernel (e.g. provided by chenac in his post with recompiled hdmi-core.c of Marvin's rk3188-x7) and then place linux root fs image on sdcard labeled as "linuxroot"?
Is anything I have to do with parameter and bootloader (RKBootloader v2.03) files which mentioned in Ian Morrison's guide?

i can assure you can have Finless rom 1.7 + Linuxium (it starts instead of the recovery) because i tested myself, you must use ONLY the recovery kernel.
I still have to sort out some problems but it may only be my unit.

A guide should be made to clarify the procedure:

1. download and extract the modded recovery kernel
2. download and extract Finless rom 1.7
3. open finless flashing tool (provided with the rom) and replace "recovery" with the modded recovery kernel, leave everything the same
4. put the device in recovery and make a clean install (erease NAND + flash rom)
5. Prepare the SD card with a linux image (under windows just use roadkill's diskimage,it's easy to use)
6. give android some time for the first boot and reboot in recovery (with the linux SD of course) to start linux.

[knawnd]

Plokko, thanks a lot for taking time to write the explanation!
I successfully managed to run lubuntu-13.04!(now upgrading to 13.10).
I performed the following steps using linux PC (I already have installed Finless ROM 1.7 my minix neo x7).
1) flash recovery kernel (e.g. that one) into recovery partition using rkflashkit tool (it is a flashing tool with GUI for linux);
2) reboot the minix device into android;
3) using linux PC create a partition on sdcard and write into it one of the linuxium images (see links in the first post of that thread):

$ dd if=/tmp/linuxium-ubuntu1304-lubuntu-desktop-rfs.img of=/dev/sdbX bs=1M

where X is the number of your partition on sdcard.
4) Run gparted tool to resize the partition to desirable size (in gparted menu select your sdcard, then choose "Partition" -> "Check").
5) Insert sdcard with linux image into minix and reboot the device into recovery mode.

I wonder if there is a way to overclock linux kernel similar to those ones supplied within Finless ROM package?
It would be useful for me to be able to mount nfs share as well as run NFS server (I guess both possibilities need to be enabled in kernel). Right now I get the following error when trying to mount:

$ mount -t nfs -o rw,hard,intr,local_lock=all <NFS server IP address>:<nfs share path> <local mount-point>
mount: unknown filesystem type 'nfs'

and indeed nfs is not listed in /proc/filesystems file.

I am also looking for a way to enable OS selection during boot.
I would appreciate if someone could help me with one of the topic raised.

[Plokko]

So you don't get any error like mine?(flashing black screen,gpu artifacts)
no reboots or errors?!?

I'm starting to think it's a problem of my unit not of the rom (in android even with stock rom at 1080p i have the same problems,switching to 720p fixes the issue; using a long cable instead of the provided short one give a black screen at 1080p but works at 720p; strange issues)

[knawnd]

So you don't get any error like mine?(flashing black screen,gpu artifacts)
no reboots or errors?!?

no, I have not noticed yet problems similar to yours. I use 1080p overclocked kernel in android (kernel_cpu1704h_gpustock600_ddr720.img) without any such issues.

P.S. upgrading to the 13.10 caused to the problem with LXDE GUI: there are only "Logout" and "Run" items in the Menu.

[chenac]

knawnd, For the NFS mount, use the kernel in post #15. I had integrated NFS module into that kernel.

[knawnd]

knawnd, For the NFS mount, use the kernel in post #15. I had integrated NFS module into that kernel.

indeed I was able to mount NFS share using that kernel! Thanks a lot, chenac!

[Guest]

Hi Plokko:

In my Minix Neo X7, the display will flash only on the Linux start-up, and then it will become stable.

I also discover the hdmi-core.c of Marvin's rk3188-x7 is different to that of Marvin's picuntu3188.

So I recompiled a linux kernel with the hdmi-core.c of Marvin's rk3188-x7.
You may like to try:

Here is the kernel

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jmu0zqlj8hdo56k/linux_kernel_marvin_neo_x7_t428_1080p.img

Here is the recovery kernel:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yl8c1vs0114vqzn/linux_kernel_marvin_neo_x7_t428_recovery.img

Hello, I'm new to minix x7 and trying to establish a dual boot system.
I flashed Finless ROM 1.6 to NAND and inserted the Kernel of Post #1 to recovery partition. With Debian Linux running in VirtualBox, I dd'ed and resized Picuntu 4.5's system.img to an SD-Card. It boots pretty well, but the screen flickers sometimes. System never crashes on flickering -

but it crashes randomly when I'm leaving it on its own. Sometimes 3-5 minutes after boot or after 2-3 hours... it seems randomly.

Can you help me or give me a hint?

I will try your recovery.img from Post #15 now, using a linuxium-lubuntu image on SDCard.

[Plokko]

Hello, I'm new to minix x7 and trying to establish a dual boot system.
I flashed Finless ROM 1.6 to NAND and inserted the Kernel of Post #1 to recovery partition. With Debian Linux running in VirtualBox, I dd'ed and resized Picuntu 4.5's system.img to an SD-Card. It boots pretty well, but the screen flickers sometimes. System never crashes on flickering -

but it crashes randomly when I'm leaving it on its own. Sometimes 3-5 minutes after boot or after 2-3 hours... it seems randomly.

Can you help me or give me a hint?

I will try your recovery.img from Post #15 now, using a linuxium-lubuntu image on SDCard.

I had the same problem but i'm sending back my unit because i think it's faulty (i have problems even in the default android rom, the V5 rom works better but still have flickering).

Do you have the same problem even in android?(i have this problem ONLY on 1080p,720p works well)

Anyway try using Linuxium-lubuntu or xubuntu, debian is my favourite distro but linuxium seems just perfect for this machine (and it's an ubuntu mod so it's debian-based).
The last kernel is more optimized so it may work better.

[Plokko]

Ok, my x7 returned from RMA, now it seems to work perfectly even at 1080p.

I did found out that the procedure for multiboot is WRONG because finless needs his recovery for the first boot to get a proper install:

1. download finless 1.7
2. put the x7 on recovery with the usb otg attached, leave the HDMI attached to a monitor
3. Open the Finless flashing tool and do a clean install (erease nand + flash rom) with all the ORIGINAL packages selected
4. After the flash is finished you should see the finless mod recovery working, DO NOT TURN IT OFF
5. wait until android loads, in the app page open the "reboot" app and click on "reboot to bootloader"
6. open the Finless flashing tool, uncheck everything except recovery
7. Change the recovery file with the recovery image provided in this thread
8. click "flash rom" (DO NOT erease nand)
9. After the flashing ends it should reboot to android, if you want to launch linux enter the reboot app and choose "reboot to recovery" (with the linux SD attached)

Side note:
i bought a 95mb/s 45mb/s (read/write) sd card but linux lags sometimes, it's clear that running on sd-cards instead of integrated nand may provide a bottleneck;
it was reported even by picuntu members so it's a common problem i think.


I tried to install the mali400 drivers without success, i'll try again later, in the meantime some quick linux commands (i know some of them are basic linux knowlege but i'll post them anyway):

• at first boot change root password with #sudo passwd
• to change keyboard layout:
  $sudo apt-get install console-data
  $sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
• Before you try anything complex setup ssh: $sudo apt-get install ssh

[chenac]

Side note:
i bought a 95mb/s 45mb/s (read/write) sd card but linux lags sometimes, it's clear that running on sd-cards instead of integrated nand may provide a bottleneck;
it was reported even by picuntu members so it's a common problem i think.

Plokko, thanks for the procedure for multiboot.

For linux lags sometimes, you may try the following fstab which is tuned for running linux on slow SSD,

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/mmcblk0p1 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1


tmpfs /home/linuxium/.cache tmpfs noatime,nodev,nosuid,size=20% 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,nodev,noatime,mode=1777,size=10% 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults,size=5% 0 0
tmpfs /var/spool tmpfs defaults,size=5% 0 0


#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[knawnd]

5. wait until android loads, in the app page open the "reboot" app and click on "launch multiboot"

Plokko, do you mean in that list item "reboot' app what comes preinstalled in Finless ROM 1.7? I don't have such menu item as "launch multiboot" in my version of that app (v0.9.1).
Since I am still looking for a way to enable boot menu at device startup where I could select what to load (e.g. android from NAND or linux from recovery) I wonder what function these option does and if it can help me with that?

[Plokko]

Plokko, do you mean in that list item "reboot' app what comes preinstalled in Finless ROM 1.7? I don't have such menu item as "launch multiboot" in my version of that app (v0.9.1).
Since I am still looking for a way to enable boot menu at device startup where I could select what to load (e.g. android from NAND or linux from recovery) I wonder what function these option does and if it can help me with that?

sorry it was "reboot to bootloader" (i was working on linux so i could not reboot to see that) i fixed the guide!



Every time you want to go to linux choose "reboot to recovery" and the sistem will be rebooted directly to linux.

@Chenak

Thanks, i'll try the sd fix now!

Anyway with my current setup in PHPBench 0.8.1: pts/phpbench-1.1.0 i get 18470 avarange points:
absolutly not bad for a 3w computer!(i'm planning on using the x7 as a mini webserver)

The score is amost two time better than an atom D510 @ 1.66GHz (quad core) and there's room for improvement!

http://global.phoronix-test-suite.com/?k=profile&u=anon-12716-17550-18785

Anyway i want to add support for non 1080p screen size (for example 4:3 screens, it's a pain to be able to see only part of the screen on my 4:3 lcd, it's totally unusable!)
could you please help me?
I tried creating a new xorg.conf and tried other ways but without success.

[Plokko]

Plokko, thanks for the procedure for multiboot.

For linux lags sometimes, you may try the following fstab which is tuned for running linux on slow SSD,

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/mmcblk0p1 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1


tmpfs /home/linuxium/.cache tmpfs noatime,nodev,nosuid,size=20% 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,nodev,noatime,mode=1777,size=10% 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults,size=5% 0 0
tmpfs /var/spool tmpfs defaults,size=5% 0 0


#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I edited the Fstab, there are the results:

$hdparm -tT /dev/mmcblk0p1

/dev/mmcblk0p1:
Timing cached reads: 998 MB in 2.00 seconds = 499.16 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 42 MB in 3.04 seconds = 13.80 MB/sec

/dev/mmcblk0p1:
Timing cached reads: 1264 MB in 2.00 seconds = 631.70 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 40 MB in 3.14 seconds = 12.72 MB/sec

The cached result is great but it's still not enought:
my card unbuffered read speed should be 90Mb/s, almost 9 time more than this!

The problem is the UHS-1 support that limits the card to a class10.