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Installing Arch Linux ARM

The articles explains the installation of Arch Linux ARM on the Quartz64.

Commands to be run as a normal user are prefixed with $, commands to be run as root are prefixed with #. We assume your target device is /dev/sdX, adjust accordingly.

Partitioning The Block Device

Here we assume your block device is /dev/sdX, adjust as needed.

Create a new partition table:

# parted -s /dev/sdX mklabel gpt

Create the partitions for loader and u-boot:

# parted -s /dev/sdX mkpart loader 64s 8MiB
# parted -s /dev/sdX mkpart uboot 8MiB 16MiB

Create the partition for u-boot’s environment:

# parted -s /dev/sdX mkpart env 16MiB 32MiB

Create the "efi" boot partition and mark it as bootable:

# parted -s /dev/sdX mkpart efi fat32 32MiB 544MiB
# parted -s /dev/sdX set 4 boot on

Create the root partition:

# parted -s /dev/sdX mkpart root ext4 544MiB 100%

Creating The File Systems

Now create the file systems for boot and root:

# mkfs.vfat -n "efi" /dev/sdX4
# mkfs.ext4 -L "rootfs" /dev/sdX5

Fetching and Flashing U-Boot

For this we’ll use the precompiled idblock and u-boot from pgwipeout’s CI.

Go to https://gitlab.com/pgwipeout/quartz64_ci/-/pipelines and click the three dots, download the merge-job artifacts.

Unzip them:

$ unzip artifacts.zip

Flash idblock.bin and uboot.img:

# dd if=artifacts/idblock.bin of=/dev/sdX1
# dd if=artifacts/uboot.img of=/dev/sdX2

Fetching The Root File System Tarball

Fetch the root filesystem tarball and the PGP signature

$ wget -N http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz{,.sig}

Fetch the gpg keys:

$ curl 'https://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x68b3537f39a313b3e574d06777193f152bdbe6a6' | gpg --import=-

Compare the key ID provided in the above command with the one listed here: https://archlinuxarm.org/about/package-signing (Take good note of the domain and HTTPS)

Verify the tarball’s authenticity

$ gpg --verify ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz.sig
Important
 Do not skip verifying the authenticity. This is important. It also protects you from prematurely aborted transfers giving you a corrupt archive.

Installing The Root File System

# mount /dev/sdX5 /mnt/alarm-root
# mkdir /mnt/alarm-root/boot
# mount /dev/sdX4 /mnt/alarm-root/boot
# bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C /mnt/alarm-root

Editing fstab

Find your partition UUIDs for both partitions using lsblk:

$ lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,MOUNTPOINTS,PARTUUID

In /mnt/alarm-root/etc/fstab, put the lines

PARTUUID=_root-uuid-here_  /       ext4    defaults        0       1
PARTUUID=_boot-uuid-here_  /boot   vfat    defaults        0       2

with your UUIDs in place of the placeholder.

Writing extlinux.conf

Create a /mnt/alarm-root/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf with these contents:

default l0
menu title Quartz64 Boot Menu
prompt 0
timeout 50
label l0
menu label Boot Arch Kernel
linux /Image
fdt /dtbs/rockchip/rk3566-quartz64-a.dtb
append initrd=/initramfs-linux.img earlycon=uart8250,mmio32,0xfe660000 console=ttyS2,1500000n8 root=LABEL=rootfs rw rootwait

For Model B

Kernel 5.18 and 5.19 do not yet have the Quartz64 Model B device tree, however, you can add it manually to your install and adjust extlinux.conf:

Download it from here: https://overviewer.org/~pillow/up/5f1fabef1b/rk3566-quartz64-b.dtb (this is just linux-next with sd card speed changed to sd-uhs-sdr50)

Copy it to /mnt/alarm-root/boot/dtbs/rockchip/rk3566-quartz64-b.dtb

Then adjust your /mnt/alarm-root/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf's fdt line as follows:

fdt /dtbs/rockchip/rk3566-quartz64-*b*.dtb

Finishing Up

Once done, unmount the partitions:

# umount /mnt/alarm-root/boot
# umount /mnt/alarm-root

Booting And Finishing Setup

Hook up your UART dongle to your Quartz64, open a serial terminal at 1.5mbauds. Install the SD card or eMMC module inside the Quartz64, and plug in the power.

Once you hit a login shell, log in as root with password root and run:

# pacman-key --init
# pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm

You are now ready to use Arch Linux ARM|Either delete or rename (and move the homedir of) the alarm user, and you’re all set. Don’t forget to install things like sudo and setting up sudo groups and such.