Phytium-based ARM PC

[matzesu]

Thanks for the Review, I hope the Powerbricks got changed to a European Version, because otherwise I can’t do anything this weekend, where dit you get the Phytian from?
My Phytian is now on our region, and will get delivered today, I will report in about 14 Hours what Powerbrick it had when it came from Dragonbox..

EDIT 09:00 the Package is now at my Home, so when i get home in 10 - 11 Hours i can report what power brick it have..
My Plan is now to install the Debian this Evening, (if i can get power), to have it allready usabble for Youtube and Streaming Services, on Debian ARM Base, then maybe tomorrow i try to get Box86 to work..

 

[sigterm]

I had it ordered from DragonBox too. So expect to have the same problem.

Some more details about the power brick. While the qulity of the PC itself is very good, the bundled powerbrick is definitely not. The AC cable is not changable (built into the PSU). I opened it up and there are floating loose wires (connected to the 230v AC side!) around. The soldering is rather bad. At least it doesn't seem to be dangerous. The distance between 230v primary side to 12v secondary side on the pcb is IMHO enough. But don't take my word on that.

Personally I would advise to *not* use that thing...

Update: The loose wires in mine are stiff enough to stay in place and not touch anything. So YMWV for the "safe" part

 

[matzesu]

Ok, so i will see what came whit mine this evening, if its really chinese, than i will have to Watch my Stuff this Weekend whit my Phone and Order a European Powerbrick, and also a USB Headset as mine is really old..

If i would need a new one, which will work`? And whit which Plug?

 

[matzesu]

Ok just ordered a China to EU Plug Adapter via Next day delivery on Amazon..
This should prevent me from first looking in the package this evening, so I will make me the pizza first..
i can integrate the pc on my Desk, allready

Maybe Ubuntu Kylin was just a Test System, i will definitly put my Stick in an install Debian..

 

[matzesu]

Ok , Let’s have some thoughts:
The Machine looks just like a DVD Player or something you would put in your HI-FI Stack..
it’s a bit smaller than the Foot of my Desk TV, but it’s big enough that the tv gets enough foundation..
nobody meantioned the 2 Extra USB Ports on the Back.. , so i was fitting everything in whiteout the need to use one port of my 7 Port Hub:
- the 2 Ports on the Back are now for Mouse and Keyboard,
- the 4 Ports on the Side are for the USB Hub, DVD Drive, and USB LAN Adapter..
the strange thing is that now the Power LED is illuminated, but I don’t have the Power Supply Put in yet , as I have to wait for the China to Europe Adapter tomorrow.. I allready looked how much different the Chinese Power System was from our: 220 Volt vs 230 Volt, but in Germany, whe had also 220 Volt a few decades ago and these 10 Volt are no big issue as I read..
it’s a bit sad that I can’t fire it up this evening, but maybe it’s time enough for ptitSeb to make a Blog Post which explains the easy way to make this thing working whit Debian, X86 and Wine ..

 

[levi]

Have you plugged in a cable to the USB LAN adaptor? That cable carries 5V I think, and if that's passed through to the USB port that's entering the motherboard. It's probably a 5V LED and the 5V rails being powered up. It's different to a PC power supply where the USB ports are hanging off the southbridge somewhere, while the power LED depends on the PSU actually providing power.

 

[matzesu]

Yes my Powered USB Hub, I hope its dosnt harm..

 

[levi]

Ah, yes, you are plugging that in. I'm not sure why, since you seem to have more than enough USB ports. Are you saying the power light on the USB hub is lighting up, or the power light on the computer itself?

 

[matzesu]

It’s the LED of the Computer, might be the HUB brings Power to the USB Input because it’s also gots an USB C for Tablets, so they where charged through these..
Maybe I don’t need that many..

Edit: I just plugged out the Power Supply on the Hub as I need some more USB Ports if I think about: USB Stick (for changes whit the Pyra and my PC on Work ) , Portable HDD, USB Headset (Let’s Play Projekt,) USB 3,5 Inch Diskette, Webcam..
at least my Printer is Network Connectet ..

 

[sigterm]

Your USB Hub is backfeeding power to the host, which it really should NOT do. The Power-LED in the PC ist connected to the 5V rail and powered on by the mainboard via the cathode. The power regulator for the 5V rail is located on the riser board, that houses all ports. I could not find any direct connection of the 5V rail to the mainboard and the power regulator has a polyfuse so I think a backfeeding HUB *should* not cause any harm.

 

[matzesu]

Well I think the stuff I would need the USB for want need extra power, so I use the hub now unpowered,
I wonder: when my Adapter is there, how do I make this stuff then?
Just put in my usb stick, and power on, and the rest of the process is automatically? , or do I need to screw around in bios so it will boot from USB Stick? , ..

 

[levi]

Most BIOSes default settings will search USB devices before booting the internal SSD, but it's always possible this doesn't. Turn it on with the stuck inserted, if it boots to ubuntu it didn't search for the USB device, so check your BIOS.

 

[matzesu]

Well maybe it’s part of the fun to try and error ^^ ..

 

[sigterm]

The UEFI firmware is similar to regular PCs. ESC/F2 provides a boot menu. F8 is the setup, where you can edit boot entries and order ans some other things. Simply press the corresponding button when you see the options provided on the screen (~5s after power on). There isn't really much that can go wrong here.

 

[matzesu]

Ok so now the only issue get this computer to work is this 10 € Hama China to Europe Adapter I still wait for …
Like you wrote, the Included Powerbrick is ok, but it’s got the wrong Contacts..
so definitely no Gameplay today, …

EDIT: ok it’s there, but I have some work today, so I can work on the computer in the evening..

EDIT 2 ; how long would it take to install the Debian? If it’s just an hour I could made it after meal

 

[sigterm]

It took me around 10m with the Netboot image and a minimum console only install. Installing the XFCE desktop environment after the fist reboot took took around 5m. This obviously depends on well you know the debian install process, what DE you want to install and how fast your internet connection is

 

[sigterm]

Some post-installation notes:

- If the system does not boot into debian, check the boot order in the firmware setup. The new boot entry must be before the UEFI shell
- If that does not work you have two options:

a) Add a new boot entry, which points to /EFI/debian/grubaa64.efi (recommended)​

b) Boot grubaa64.efi manually (via Boot from file option) and do the following in the OS:​

1. Create a /EFI/boot directory on the EFI-System-Partition (mounted at /boot/efi)​

2. Copy grubaa64.efi and grub.cfg to this directory and rename grubaa64.efi to bootaa64.efi​

​

The content of /boot/efi should look like that:​

​

/boot/efi/​

`-- EFI​

|-- boot​

| |-- bootaa64.efi​

| `-- grub.cfg​

`-- debian​

|-- BOOTAA64.CSV​

|-- fbaa64.efi​

|-- grubaa64.efi​

|-- grub.cfg​

|-- mmaa64.efi​

`-- shimaa64.efi​

- Per default, the kernel is instructed (via ACPI tables) to use the first serial UART as primary console (ttyAMA0), so you don't see anything on the (GPU)-console. If you install without a display manager (lightdm, etc.) you won't see anything until the DM is started. To fix this issue, boot the kernel with the option console=tty0. First time by editing in the grub boot menu and the after the system has booted add this to /etc/default/grub (GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT) and run update-grub. You really want the console, especially if you want to use full disk encryption via LUKS (which works perfectly well, without noticable slowdowns, by the way)

- The problem with the onboard ethernet is the following: Both MAC (stmmac/dwmac-generic) and PHY (ar803x) drivers are readily available. They don't load because there is some code missing, which allows the driver to get the needed NIC information from the ACPI DSD table. I could not find any current patch for upstream/mainline linux and all Phytium trees, that I found on the internet do not have working code for anything newer than Linux 4.19(.90).

 

[matzesu]

O o could be I installed all the software packs ^^ it’s still working on unpacking and installing software stuff.. hopefully the 500 gb are you enough.

 

[matzesu]

What to make now?

 

[sigterm]

Well, it might be, that the UEFI Firmware is trying to boot the old Kylin/Ubuntu environment (/EFI/ubuntu). Try entering the boot menu and look for an entry named debian. If you can boot it successfully, you need to remove the old Kylin entry in the UEFI-Setup and perhaps change the order to prefer the debian one.