Linux distribution for W2 that works?

#1

Folks,

Got my W2 powered up and downloaded the Ububtu Server 20.04 image as that seemed suitable for what I want (RAID server and running Plex). However, when I power it up for about two minutes I get nothing on the screen then eventually a login (with no boot info previous to that) that renders very, very slowly (a couple of seconds lag per keystroke and then you can see each character being drawn).

When you eventually get to the logged in command line there is no LAN connection. ifconfig shows Eth0, but it’s not finidng an IP address from the DHCP serber. I can give a fixed address by the network is unreachable with a ping.

So, I’m guessing that Ubuntu image isn’t actually very good for this board. Does anyone have a recommendation for the best image to use? I’m not that bothered which distribution I use. I normally use Mageia on the desktop, but Armbian on my first edition Banana Pi and Raspian on a RPi. I can find my way round any distraibution with a bit of Googling. As long as the distribution with give me RAID and Plex from its repositories I’ll be happy.

Many thanks.

#2

Armbian would be happy to provide you quality software, but it is close to impossible to cover even a percentage of most basic costs. HW vendor profit margins also can’t while you don’t even think to pay for the software. Am I correct? You can’t ask volunteers to do the hard work and waste months of their life in return for nothing. Well its not nothing, its a lot less then that.

Other distributions are not even close - distribution, as the name implies, distribute - they don’t make. HW vendor ships “Ubuntu” with, out of the tree, board support package Linux while normal everyday distributions ships Armbian under their name or whatever lands to the land of mainline Linux. Under some other name. Generally speaking. Not for this particular hardware.

I am just a messenger :wink:

#3

i have one of Mate images from here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FTSaKpzpIGLajaLGX0KU4V-QW1mPvI2-

that link found on wiki: https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-W2

I believe this one exactly but it was long time ago since I have set it up so it is hard to remember:

2019-6-18 update,This release is for banana pi M4 & W2 board, and it is based on Ubuntu Mate 18.04 & Ubuntu Server 16.04 Operation system with kernel 4.9.119.

BPI-M4/BPI-W2 Ubuntu Mate 18.04

Fetures Map: http://wiki.banana-pi.org/M4_Image_Map#Ubuntu_18.04_Mate

Google Drive : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nPI2dy_KCW4h5korQdvj0iymHIDyxIPq

Baidu Drive : https://pan.baidu.com/s/1tB_QZ6zgmKiYstcZwn51gg (PinCode：edrc)

MD5 : 7409b48a46e0bbc2d0ae2e70a49bfb36

#4

@Kamil_S Many thanks for that. Did you have to do anything else other than simply install the image to the SD card and boot? The getting started guide has stuff about needing to install uboot and connect a serial port up etc. I have a tiny bit of experience with getting embedded Linux boards up and running and it sounds like the kind of thing you need to develop the code for the board. I had assumed that there would be a working distribution like there is for the older Banana Pis.

@igorpec I understand the point you are making. I have paid for and contributed both in code and money to open source projects and I am always massively in awe of the people who get these projects up and running. On the one hand I was expecting a working distribution for this board, but please don’t assume I’m a freeloader. :slight_smile: write embedded code for a living, I am well aware of the massive effort it takes to write software. I don’t think it’s that unreasonable to have assumed there was a supported distribution for a board like this.

#5

I remember updating SPI ROM as in wiki I have linked earlier - not sure if that is really needed at this point. Maybe currently shipped boards already have new SPI rom flashed in.

I remmeber posting some details / changes from official SPI update guide somewhere on this forum - this thread looks like it:

having UART connected helps troubleshooting - you get early messages from booting process and it might be your only shot at knowing why your board is not acting as expected.