NixOS on ARM/NanoPi-R6C - Revision history

Pigs: Add category

2025-05-19T05:19:47Z

Add category

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:19, 19 May 2025
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	};		};
	</syntaxHighlight>		</syntaxHighlight>

			[[Category:NixOS on ARM]]

Mic92: drop 23.11

2024-12-03T08:51:21Z

drop 23.11

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:51, 3 December 2024
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	Since [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588/issues/88 EDK2 UEFI firmware does not support extlinux] an [https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nixos/trunk-combined/nixos.iso_minimal.aarch64-linux ISO <tt>aarch64</tt> image] needs to be used to successfully boot NixOS.		Since [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588/issues/88 EDK2 UEFI firmware does not support extlinux] an [https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nixos/trunk-combined/nixos.iso_minimal.aarch64-linux ISO <tt>aarch64</tt> image] needs to be used to successfully boot NixOS.

	Currently NixOS ~~23.11~~ images can see the NVMe without issues, but eMMC storage is unavailable.		Currently NixOS images can see the NVMe without issues, but eMMC storage is unavailable.

	=== Installing NixOS ===		=== Installing NixOS ===

imported>Maxhbr: minor fix of partition names in partitioning script

2023-11-22T20:01:57Z

minor fix of partition names in partitioning script

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:01, 22 November 2023
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	mkswap "${DEV}p2";		mkswap "${DEV}p2";
	mkfs.vfat "${DEV}p1";		mkfs.vfat "${DEV}p1";
	mkfs.ext4 "${DEV}p2";		mkfs.ext4 "${DEV}p3";
	}		}
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

imported>Jakubgs at 22:11, 13 November 2023

2023-11-13T22:11:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:11, 13 November 2023
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	swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2		swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2
	mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt		mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
			mkdir /mnt/boot
	mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot		mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

imported>Jakubgs at 12:02, 13 November 2023

2023-11-13T12:02:07Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:02, 13 November 2023
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	<div class="infobox">		<div class="infobox">
	{\|class="table"		{\|class="table"
	!colspan="2" class="title"\|NanoPi-R6C		!colspan="2" class="title"\|NanoPi-R6C & NanoPi-R6S
	\|-		\|-
	\|colspan="2"\|[[File:NanoPi-R6C.jpg\|frameless\|256px\|NanoPi-R6C SBC]]		\|colspan="2"\|[[File:NanoPi-R6C.jpg\|frameless\|256px\|NanoPi-R6C SBC]]
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	== Hardware ==		== Hardware ==
	NanoPi-R6C ~~is a~~ single board ~~computer~~ built around the Rockchip RK3588S SoC.		NanoPi-R6C and R6S are single board computers built around the Rockchip RK3588S SoC.

	* '''CPU''': ARM Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55		* '''CPU''': ARM Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55
Line 56:		Line 56:

	In '''Boot Manager''' You can select what device to boot from this time and in '''Boot Maintenance Manager''' You can configure permanent boot order.		In '''Boot Manager''' You can select what device to boot from this time and in '''Boot Maintenance Manager''' You can configure permanent boot order.

			Keep in mind this example uses the image for R6C and you'll need the right UEFI image for R6S.

	=== Booting NixOS ===		=== Booting NixOS ===

imported>Jakubgs at 11:33, 13 November 2023

2023-11-13T11:33:33Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:33, 13 November 2023
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	\|-		\|-
	!Bootloader		!Bootloader
	\| [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588 EDK2 UEFI firmware for Rockchip RK3588 platforms] or		\| [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588 EDK2 UEFI firmware for Rockchip RK3588 platforms] or [https://github.com/friendlyarm/uboot-rockchip/tree/nanopi6-v2017.09 Original FriendlyARM U-Boot]
	\| [https://github.com/friendlyarm/uboot-rockchip/tree/nanopi6-v2017.09 Original FriendlyARM U-Boot]
	\|-		\|-
	!Boot order		!Boot order

imported>Jakubgs: Setup instructions for NanoPi-R6C

2023-11-13T11:31:49Z

Setup instructions for NanoPi-R6C

New page

{{ARM/breadcrumb}}
<div class="infobox">
{|class="table"
!colspan="2" class="title"|NanoPi-R6C
|-
|colspan="2"|[[File:NanoPi-R6C.jpg|frameless|256px|NanoPi-R6C SBC]]
|-
!Manufacturer
|FriendlyElec
|-
!Architecture
|AArch64
|-
!Bootloader
| [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588 EDK2 UEFI firmware for Rockchip RK3588 platforms] or
| [https://github.com/friendlyarm/uboot-rockchip/tree/nanopi6-v2017.09 Original FriendlyARM U-Boot]
|-
!Boot order
| official: eMMC, SD Card
|-
!Maintainer
|[https://github.com/jakubgs jakubgs]
|}
</div>

== Hardware ==
NanoPi-R6C is a single board computer built around the Rockchip RK3588S SoC.

* '''CPU''': ARM Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55
* '''GPU''': Mali-G610 MP4
* '''RAM''': 4GB/8GB LPDDR4X at 2133MHz
* '''MMC''': None or 32GB eMMC
* '''NET''': Native Gigabit Ethernet, PCIe 2.5G Ethernet
* '''USB''': 1x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A
* '''PCIe''': 1x M.2 Key M connector with PCIe 2.1 x1
== Status ==

The board boots systems like [https://www.armbian.com/nanopi-r6s/ Armbian] from USB pendrive or microSD reader out of the box. But stock NixOS <tt>arch64</tt> images do not boot correctly due to lack of correct DTS file called <tt>rockchip-nanopi6.dtb</tt>. You can see details of research into the boot process [https://github.com/jakubgs/nixos-config/issues/3 here].

The official documentation, which is comprehensive, can be found on [https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_R6C the FriendlyElec wiki].

U-Boot for this board can be compiled from source, and an example of how that can be done with Nix is [https://github.com/jakubgs/nixos-config/blob/2452a88bf70815ba4380757612ce29d2a49da6bf/hosts/arael/uboot.nix here]. But the best way to manage booting on this device is using the [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588 EDK2 UEFI firmware] which supports booting from all available storage options, including NVMe, and works well both with [https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nixos/trunk-combined/nixos.iso_minimal.aarch64-linux standard NixOS ISO images] as well as Armbian ones.

== Board Specific Installation Notes ==

=== UEFI Firmware ===
Boot into a working Linux system, like [https://www.armbian.com/nanopi-r6s/ Armbian] using USB pendrive or SD Card, then simply write the [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588/releases/download/v0.9.1/nanopi-r6c_UEFI_Release_v0.9.1.img UEFI image] to the eMMC:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
wget https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588/releases/download/v0.9.1/nanopi-r6c_UEFI_Release_v0.9.1.img
sudo dd if=nanopi-r6c_UEFI_Release_v0.9.1.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=1M
</syntaxhighlight>

Once that has been done the UEFI firmware should be visible via UART console or over HDMI after reboot:

[[File:NanoPi-R6C_UEFI_Firmware.png|frameless|600px|NanoPi-R6C UEFI Firmware screen]]

In '''Boot Manager''' You can select what device to boot from this time and in '''Boot Maintenance Manager''' You can configure permanent boot order.

=== Booting NixOS ===
Since [https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588/issues/88 EDK2 UEFI firmware does not support extlinux] an [https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nixos/trunk-combined/nixos.iso_minimal.aarch64-linux ISO <tt>aarch64</tt> image] needs to be used to successfully boot NixOS.

Currently NixOS 23.11 images can see the NVMe without issues, but eMMC storage is unavailable.

=== Installing NixOS ===
A very basic partition layout could look like this:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
format() {
DEV="${1}" # First argument is NVMe path.
wipefs -a "${DEV}"
parted -s --align optimal "${DEV}" -- mklabel gpt;
parted -s --align optimal "${DEV}" -- mkpart 'EFI' 2MB 6GiB set 1 esp on;
parted -s --align optimal "${DEV}" -- mkpart 'SWAP' 6GiB 16GiB;
parted -s --align optimal "${DEV}" -- mkpart 'ROOT' 16GiB '100%';
parted -s --align optimal "${DEV}" -- print;
mkswap "${DEV}p2";
mkfs.vfat "${DEV}p1";
mkfs.ext4 "${DEV}p2";
}
</syntaxhighlight>

Just call it it with <tt>format /dev/nvme0n1</tt> and then mount your partitions:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2
mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
</syntaxhighlight>

And you can continue with the installation as you normally would.
A [https://github.com/jakubgs/nixos-config/blob/16cc3ccf5448259e6d88a24bdfa70ee2f455e200/hosts/arael/configuration.nix#L21-L33 working bootloader configuration] looks like this:

<syntaxHighlight lang=nix>
boot.loader = {
efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;
systemd-boot.enable = true;
grub.enable = false;
};
</syntaxHighlight>