Startup:
Go to https://www.armbian.com/rock-5b/
Download the latest version of @igorp operative system flash it into your emmc or microsd, boot rock 5B with it and then… look here for some options if you feel the need off course.
For this tutorial I opted by using nala as a main option for this board:
sudo apt install nala -y #do your operations with nala instead of apt
(It’s faster - It’s modern - It’s graphically easier - Has better debug)
In hope this helps everyone like it does to me here goes some tips.
Things to consider:
Sometimes reboot will not work and if in due update it will brick so I suggest that you opt by doing shutdown and then start the system again for safety.
Users do set to automatic login, system runs perfect on Ubuntu Wayland, Cloud Gaming is amazing on GFN, then you have Wine and @Ptitseb masteries on box64/box86 which makes it perfect.
For the fan heatsink to work:
(Armbian)
git clone https://github.com/lukaszsobala/fan-control-rock5b
cd fan-control-rock5b
make package
sudo dpkg -i fan-control*.deb
sudo systemctl enable fan-control
systemctl start fan-control
Or Non-GPIO 4012 Fan Fix (Archlinux) (not for armbian).
git clone https://github.com/XZhouQD/Rock5B_Naive_Pwm_Fan
cd Rock5B_Naive_Pwm_Fan/
cp fan_pwm /usr/local/bin/.
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/fan_pwm
cp fan_pwm.service /etc/systemd/system/.
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl start fan_pwm
systemctl enable fan_pwm
A8 Module Bluetooth:
sudo su
nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
then add these lines somewhere (at the bottom of the file is fine):
blacklist pgdrv
blacklist btusb
blacklist btrtl
blacklist btbcm
#blacklist btintel
Then press Ctrl+X, then Y.
sudo nala install bluez -y or bluetooth – not needed to install since latest armbian version
systemctl status bluetooth CTRL+ C
systemctl start bluetooth
Then reboot .
For AX210 Wifi and BT to Work - Not sure if we can activate this without internet at all.
#wifi
sudo wget -P /lib/firmware https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-59.ucode
sudo mv /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0.pnvm /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0.pnvm.bak
#bt
sudo wget -P /lib/firmware/intel https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/intel/ibt-0041-0041.sfi
sudo wget -P /lib/firmware/intel https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/intel/ibt-0041-0041.ddc
Audio Tutorial for Bluetooth devices: – (not required since armbian latest versions)
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pipewire-debian/pipewire-upstream
sudo nala install pipewire pipewire-audio-client-libraries gstreamer1.0-pipewire libpipewire-0.3-{0,dev,modules} libspa-0.2-{bluetooth,dev,jack,modules} pipewire{,-{audio-client-libraries,pulse,media-session,bin,locales,tests}} -y
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user --now disable pulseaudio.service pulseaudio.socket
systemctl --user --now enable pipewire pipewire-pulse
pactl info
reboot
(Short guide) SPI flashing on the board itself would be:
wget https://dl.radxa.com/rock5/sw/images/others/zero.img.gz
gzip -d zero.img.gz
sudo dd if=zero.img of=/dev/mtdblock0
Wait ~5 minutes for the command to complete, check that sudo md5sum /dev/mtdblock0 returns 2c7ab85a893283e98c931e9511add182. Then:
wget https://dl.radxa.com/rock5/sw/images/loader/rock-5b/release/rock-5b-spi-image-g49da44e116d.img
sudo dd if=rock-5b-spi-image-g49da44e116d.img of=/dev/mtdblock0
Wait ~5 minutes for the command to complete, check that this time sudo md5sum /dev/mtdblock0 returns 46de85de37b8e670883e6f6a8bb95776. Then:
sync
reboot
For more info: https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/install/spi
More info (Spi to NVME boot from SD Card):
http://www.fieldday.io/armbian-rock5b/
Issues with Google Apps Device Isn’t Play Protect Certified? (On Android OS)
Install an android id apk and register the id on this website https://www.google.com/android/uncertified/
Wait 5 minutes,reboot and google playstore will work.
Use this apk ,install it and open it then use the number in the top left corner to register
Also: https://forum.radxa.com/t/solve-google-play-device-is-not-play-protect-certified-issue/229
Apps:
#optional nala and ubuntu-desktop
sudo apt install nala -y #do your operations with nala instead of apt
sudo nala install ubuntu-desktop -y #that is if you want desktop changed
--
sudo nala install fonts-emojione -y
sudo nala install btop -y
sudo nala install synaptic -y
#--OBS--
sudo nala install xcb obs-studio obs-gstreamer obs-plugins xdg-desktop-portal pipewire qtwayland5 -y
#RESTART here and then run OBS with:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM="xcb"
MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=3.3 MESA_GLSL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=330 obs
#or all at once:
sudo nala install nala fonts-emojione btop synaptic xcb obs-studio obs-gstreamer obs-plugins xdg-desktop-portal pipewire qtwayland5 -y && sudo nala upgrade -y
Rock 5B Graphics Panfrost/fork on Wayland
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:liujianfeng1994/panfork-mesa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:liujianfeng1994/rockchip-multimedia
sudo nala update && sudo nala install glmark2 glmark2-es2 glmark2-es2-wayland mesa-utils malirun -y && sudo nala upgrade -y
---
sudo shutdown -h now (better shutdown to avoid boot hangings)
glxinfo|grep OpenGL -- check actual status of things
#More optional stuff
#sudo nala install mali-g610-firmware libegl-mesa0 libegl1-mesa-dev libgbm-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libgles2-mesa-dev libglx-mesa0 mesa-common-dev mesa-vulkan-drivers
Max out the 5B performance (Optional) - That’s if you want some real performance at the cost of being hot and power-hungry.
echo performance | sudo tee /sys/bus/cpu/devices/cpu[046]/cpufreq/scaling_governor /sys/class/devfreq/dmc/governor /sys/class/devfreq/fb000000.gpu/governor
Once you’re done with your benchmarks, you may want to go back:
echo ondemand | sudo tee /sys/bus/cpu/devices/cpu[046]/cpufreq/scaling_governor
echo dmc_ondemand | sudo tee /sys/class/devfreq/dmc/governor
echo simple_ondemand | sudo tee /sys/class/devfreq/fb000000.gpu/governor
Or if you want a shortcut for performance / ondemand and powersave do nano .bash_aliases and add these instructions - save it Ctrl X, Yes, restart and after just type the governor you desire Terminal: performance to trigger it.
alias performance="echo performance | sudo tee /sys/bus/cpu/devices/cpu[046]/cpufreq/scaling_governor /sys/class/devfreq/dmc/governor /sys/class/devfreq/fb000000.gpu/governor"
alias ondemand="echo ondemand | sudo tee /sys/bus/cpu/devices/cpu[046]/cpufreq/scaling_governor && echo dmc_ondemand | sudo tee /sys/class/devfreq/dmc/governor && echo simple_ondemand | sudo tee /sys/class/devfreq/fb000000.gpu/governor"
alias powersave="echo powersave | sudo tee /sys/bus/cpu/devices/cpu[046]/cpufreq/scaling_governor /sys/class/devfreq/dmc/governor /sys/class/devfreq/fb000000.gpu/governor"
Try some benchmarks - Ubuntu Wayland
PAN_MESA_DEBUG=gofaster glmark2
Expected results: 1st Line - 1669fps - Score: 1249fps - you are good.
PAN_MESA_DEBUG=gofaster glmark2-es2-wayland
Expected results: 1st Line - 3527fps - Score: 4067fps - you are sorted.
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/mali glmark2-es2-wayland
Expected results: 1st Line - 4229fps - Score: 3933fps - what a legend.
For Mali to Work on Armbian on Wayland
Do GPU acceleration in Wayland with malirun as trigger !
malirun chromium-browser
Switching Between Mali Blobs and Panfrost - for experts to run X11 like a Pro
https://gist.github.com/stvhay/5654368e73f93349c3ffae395eccd892#switch-between-mali-and-panfrost
This https://github.com/jiangcuo/Proxmox-Arm64
Allows you to Run Windows 7 on Rock 5B Virtualized
Steam Installation Tutorial
You can avoid nala by replacing it with apt. I prefer nala so first open the terminal type:
sudo apt install nala -y && sudo nala update && sudo nala upgrade -y
Installing Dependencies
First we need to install some dependencies that are required by Steam. Use the following lines:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture armhf
sudo nala update && sudo nala install build-essential git cmake gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf libc6-dev-armhf-cross libappindicator1 libnm0 libtcmalloc-minimal4 binfmt-support liblttng-ust-dev libcairo2:armhf libgmp10:armhf libvulkan1:armhf libudev-dev:armhf -y
Next we’re going to install Box64. Paste the following lines in your terminal:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ptitSeb/box64
mkdir -p box64/build; cd box64/build
# build for rk3588
cmake .. -DRK3588=1 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo
make -j4
sudo make install
We also need Box86:
cd ~
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ptitSeb/box86
mkdir -p box86/build; cd box86/build
# build for rk3588
cmake .. -DRK3588=1 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo
make -j4
sudo make install
Fixing missing packages:
sudo nala install libsdl2-dev libpng-dev:armhf libncurses6:armhf libncurses6 libcups2:armhf libcups2 -y
cd /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/
sudo ln -s libpng16.so libpng12.so.0
That’s it for the dependencies! Before you continue you should reboot the device with:
sudo reboot
Starting Steam
First we need to configure the environment for Steam. Use the following lines to add two environment variables to your Linux environment:
echo 'export STEAMOS=1
export STEAM_RUNTIME=1
export DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=1' | sudo tee /etc/profile.d/steam.sh
#if you have a high resolution screen use this instead
#echo 'export GDK_SCALE=2' | sudo tee -a /etc/profile.d/steam.sh
source /etc/profile.d/steam.sh
Next we’re going to use Box86’s install_steam.sh script like this:
cd ~/box86
./install_steam.sh
steam #just wait.
Installation is now finished EnJoy!
@nicod Has also a gaming script that works for all rockchip single boards:
git clone https://github.com/NicoD-SBC/armbian-gaming.git
cd armbian-gaming
/bin/bash ./armbian-gaming.sh
# Install from 1 to 3 will be steam
# Install from 4 to 6 will be wine / wine desktop and all its 'wine'-tricks
# Install other options too if you want.
The credits are not mine this soup was given by the most talented members of this community so thanks to everyone that help me as I am new to all this.
@GinKage @incognito @rauxon @Googulator @amazingfate @student @stvhay
Another amazing guide for Steam installation: https://jamesachambers.com/radxa-rock-5b-steam-installation-guide-for-armbian/
