Hi, is there a basic firmware like that: http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-armhf/current/images/netboot/SD-card-images/ for the r2 (bootsector+kernel) to self install debian via debug-console?
regards Frank
There is a Ubuntu image available for SD card: http://www.banana-pi.org/r2-download.html Here are instructions: BPI-R2 new image :ubuntu-16.04-mate-desktop-docker-preview2-bpi-r2-sd-emmc.img-2017-08-01
If you’re interested, Archlinux is fairly easy to get running as well.
I want to try installing debian stretch…jessi has also an image. But with the basic firmware i can self install the OS without any modifications
I’m not very familiar with debian, but as far as I see you can start here, using the instructions to create a armhf cross image: https://wiki.debian.org/EmDebian/CrossDebootstrap
I suggest you first copy the ubuntu image to an SD card, then reformat the EXT4 partition and copy the above root filesystem on it. Then build the BPI-R2 kernel from source (i.e. using mt7623n_evb_bpi_defconfig), copy uImage to the first SD card partition (over the original uImage), and install the modules to /path/to/sd/card/lib/modules.
I’m sorry i can’t be more specific right now, the above procedure will require some dedication. Hopefully this gets you up and running.
Thanks for the idea,that could work,but i try starting with jessi. Where do you have the kernel config? Is there a full patchfile of current kernel-modifications?
If you run:
ARCH=arm make mt7623n_evb_bpi_defconfig
It will install the default kernel config for you. To build for the ARM platform on X86 you need a cross compiler. I built mine with crosstool-ng, but there are also prebuilt toolchains available, i.e. look for linaro and ARMv7(-a).
Then you can build it with:
ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler/arm-....-linux-gnueabi- make UIMAGE_LOADADDR=0x80008000 uImage dtbs
ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler/arm-....-linux-gnueabi- make modules
ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler/arm-....-linux-gnueabi- make INSTALL_MOD_PATH=output modules_install
Add -j(obs) to your liking.
Config is from here,right: ?
Ah, yes, correct. Sorry.
Frank,
I am trying to do the same so if you want to work together I am up for sharing info, scripts, experience, etc
Aaron
I’m still waiting for my r2,so i currently can not try it out. I compiled the kernel/uboot with the scripts on github…maybe we can use that instead of the build-command above. maybe start with jessi image, replacing kernel and rootfs (bootstrap).
we are try to build a debian image now , when we ready ,will update.
@sinovoip: no pressure…in my opinion you help more if you concentrate your work on hardware-support (ap-mode for internal wifi, vlan-support, hardware-nat,…) and troubleshooting. There is an jessi-image we can work with.
thank you for you support , we need you. 
We are all looking for AP mode support! This is a high priority for a WiFi router platform. Where is this on your list?
just as information, i got a bootable debian stretch with debootstrap. More info in my wiki: http://www.fw-web.de/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=en/bpi-r2/debian
For info,hdmi is currently not working due to missing vendor driver. lan0 has IP 192.168.0.10 you can ssh to it with root-account. if you want other ip-settings edit BPI-ROOT/etc/network/interfaces.Debug-uart is working
Maybe this can be adapted to other systems like centos, freebsd or arch
I can confirm that Frank’s image is indeed working like a charm! While testing I already have a paper named “Wishlist” 
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snif overhere it’ll boot, network gives ping, but no ssh starting.
anyone else with ssh-problems? maybe having usb2serial-adapter to look whats wrong?
here a /network/interfaces that enables dhcp on lan3 (most right port): interfaces (1,2 KB)
allow-hotplug lan3
iface lan3 inet dhcp
and remove vlan-config of lan3.60…(moved it to wan in my current config, because that is my management-line to raspi where i setup nat)
I managed to activate a work around by adding
post-up /etc/init.d/ssh restart > /var/log/ssh.start 2>&1
to the interface I wanted to use. (log was to see if I can get an error, as rsyslog doesn’t run either, but this method gets a working ssh)
When logging in I get this message:
"System is booting up. See pam_nologin(8)"
Looks like one of the services is hanging the boot sequence. (need to figure out how to get the logging up and running)
Does /var/run/nologin or /run/nologin exists? If yes delete it…
Maybe try to reinstall dbus/dbus-service
journalctl -xb
running “fsck -f” on all partitions
It’s strange anyway…what kind of sdcard (vendor, size) do you have?