NanoPC-T6 Install to internal storage?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Can anyone point me to a guide or resource on how to write a bootable image of 24.20.0 to the T6's internal storage (EMMC or NVME)

I can boot from the SD card without any problems, however I would much prefer booting from faster internal storage as a long term solution.

I've tried dd-ing the image from the SD card, writing directly to the EMMC and NVME memory with the RK3588 flashing utility, and compiling my own versions of OpenWRT to no avail.

The issue here seems to be u-boot, but I don't know where to go from here.

Any information will be greatly appreciated!

2

Should we guess what the issue with U-Boot is ?

3

Have you read

https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPC-T6#Flash_third_party_OS_.28Image_file.29_to_eMMC

4

I have read that guide.

When I attempted to flash the EMMC using that guide, the device simply bricks and requires I use the RK3588 utility to wipe the EMMC.

5

Thats just it, I'm not sure how to troubleshoot from here. I'm a good ways out of my element and learning as I go. I would be very grateful for next steps that I can try.

6

Do you get any output on the console?

7

I'm currently reading up on how to connect to the serial console.

8

Turns out that only WSL 1 can listen to COM ports. For anyone else wondering, this is the guide I'm following: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/connect-to-a-device-over-serial-com-port-on-windows-10-with-wsl1-tty-devices-with-windows-terminal-and-minicom

9

You can use Putty on windows to connect to the serial console too.

10

Do you have to jump the UART pins to read the serial console?

I'm not seeing any COM ports appear in Windows when I connect my USB-C to USB-A cable. (USB-C to the T6 and USB-A to my computer).

11

To get uart console you need a USB to TTL cable like a FT232. Then connect that to where it says debug UART. This will allow you to see what is happening on the serial console.

12

Thank you. I did not realize that.

I read on another thread that a USB-C to USB-A would allow for reading the serial console output.

I'll have this cable by tomorrow morning.

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13

Actually, Microcenter has one in stock! I should have it by noon today.

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14

I'm attempting to get a serial console working with putty but no output yet.

I've tried both the 40 pin GPIO (6 GND, 8 TX, 10 RX) as well as the 3 pins on the USB header. I'm not seeing anything in putty at any baud rate. I've double checked the RX and TX pins

The settings they specify in the wiki are kind of strange:

|Baud rate|1500000|
|Data bit|8|
|Parity check|None|
|Stop bit|1|
|Flow control|None|

That baud rate might be a typo?

15

Capture
Capture1202×693 66 KB

One thing I'm noticing about the images that can be flashed from the SD card is that they all look like this. Perhaps This is why when I write the OpenWRT image, it fails to boot?

16

This is the TTL cable I bought:

I still can't get a UART terminal out of it. I tried it on my phone, windows, and another Linux PC just to see if it was a driver issue to no avail.

17

I just learned that RX goes to TX and visa versa. Learn something new...

Still getting just random characters though.

19

…and that the voltage of your usb2serial adapter is set (jumpered) correctly.

20

For a Rockchip SOC based device 1500000 is most definitely correct. The Debug UART is the 3 pins next to the 12V DC input. Debug UART is 3.3V level signals, 1500000bps according to https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPC-T6. Make sure you don't have the NanoPC-T6 LTS as that is not currently supported by OpenWrt and has a USB-C Debug UART on the bottom of the board. If your board does not have a mini-PCIe slot near the 12V DC input you have the newer unsupported board.

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21

I stand corrected, you're right. Whatever compelled them to go absolutely bonkers with such a high and arbitrary bitrate some hardware and software will not work with.

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