¶ Introduction
Welcome to StarFive's VisionFive 2 - Debian Wiki!
¶ Debian
Your VisionFive 2 will need an operating system to work.
Currently, StarFive provides a pre-built Debian image for users to flash into SD/eMMC cards.
Debian is an open-source GNU/Linux distribution created by the Debian community.
Debian Official WebPage: Debian
¶ 202303 Release Notes
For this release, it is a preview release to showcase Gnome Windowing system.
¶ Image Information
Linux Kernel: 5.15.0 (StarFive kernel tag v2.11.5)
U-boot: StarFive uboot tag v2.11.5
Debian Snapshot date: 20221225T084846Z (sid)
Note: Please avoid running apt upgrade as it will override the existing customized mesa and linux-libc-dev versions provided.、
¶ Enchancement and bug fixes
- Virtual console via HDMI
- 'openssh-server' package is now re-added to the image by default and include regeneration of ssh keys
- 4K resolution support for X and Wayland
- XFCE desktop resizing slowness - fixed
- Mosaic pictures after login
- Hang after awhile in dual display [MIPI+HDMI] - fixed
- u-boot splash screen
- Gnome Wayland Desktop for improved user experience
- IPv6 enablement
¶ Known Issues
- 1080p60 video playback issue
- libreoffice slowness using gtk3
- xeglinfo crashes X server
- Qt modules qtwebengine failed to build
- Firefox hardware acceleration is not working
- NWjs Filesystem access APIs failed.
- NWjs mp3 encoder failed to be detected
- Pink screen overlay, need to use script in /opt/disable_monitor_color.sh and reboot, need to rerun it when using a different monitor as it ties to the monitor device ID.
- Some resolution cannot be supported via HDMI, e.g. 2K, 1024x768…
- Occasional kernel panic.
- The login window does not appear when the splash screen logo is displayed on a 2-lane MIPI display.
- The console screen is displaying a white screen probablely and then login window is not being shown.
¶ What's Next - WIP
- Debian-Installer support - Could support both SD + eMMC boot in single image.
- NVMe PCIe enablement and test
- Improved X Desktop user experience
- Vulkan support
- Firefox hardware acceleration
- 1080p60 video playback
- Upgrade tool for between releases
¶ VisionFive v2 Debian Download Link
Link for Image Download: VisionFive v2 Debian
As of March 2023, the latest release is the 202303 Release, which can be found in Engineering Release/202303 in the link above.
March 2023 has a preview release for Gnome windowing system.
¶ Images
For this preview release, we will only be releasing SPI boot/SD boot version.
- SPI boot/SD boot: starfive-jh7110-202303-SD-minimal-desktop.img.bz2
¶ Boot Mode Settings
VisionFive 2 provides pins to determine the boot mode before it is powered up. The following are the available boot modes and details.
¶ Minimal Image
The minimal image is a clean image with minimal package installation for having a small image size. Hence, you will need to download the packages with apt or apt-get .
Some packages particular are not available to download via apt/apt-get, and is provided by StarFive, which includes:
- Node.js 18.0.0
- v8 10.2.154.13
- libsdl2-dev
- QT 5.15.2
- Firefox 105.0
- Libreoffice 7.5
- NW.js
- FFmpeg
- GStreamer
- v4l2test (This is a custom shell script to use the CSI camera)
Debian Repo for StarFive Packages: Github Link
There is a script prepared so that you can install the packages (and its runtime dependencies) with the run of a script. You will just need to run:
wget https://github.com/starfive-tech/Debian/releases/download/v0.7.1-engineering-release-wayland/install_package_and_dependencies.sh
chmod +x install_package_and_dependencies.sh
./install_package_and_dependencies.shThis script will help to install the packages provided by StarFive. Feel free to customize the script to suit your needs.
¶ After Booting
¶ Resizing Partition after boot
When you initially boot into the image, the rootfs partition will not be fully utilized. Hence, you will need to extend the partition size.
You can use terminal tools such as ‘fdisk’ and ‘resize2fs’ commands to resize the rootfs partition.
Please refer to this document: Extending Partition
¶ Updating U-boot
Refer to Quick start Guide for updating u-boot
¶ Updating Linux Kernel in Image
Install dependencies to build kernel
apt-get install build-essential linux-source bc kmod cpio flex libncurses5-dev libelf-dev libssl-dev dwarves bison gitClone the kernel from StarFive Github
git clone https://github.com/starfive-tech/linuxCheckout the desired kernel version
git checkout <tag version>Build the kernel with bindeb-pkg
cd linux/
cp arch/riscv/configs/starfive_visionfive2_defconfig .config
make ARCH=riscv olddefconfig
make ARCH=riscv -j$(nproc) bindeb-pkgOnce the compile is finished, install the .deb kernel packages
dpkg -i *.debNote: currently the dtbs are not synced once you installed a different version of kernel, you'll need to copy over the dtbs from /usr/lib/linux-image-<custom version>/ to /boot/dtbs/
¶ Additional References
Please refer to JH7110 Technical Documents for your reference
¶ Tested Component
4K monitor
| Brand | Model |
| DELL | U2723QE |
| DELL | S3221QS |
| DELL | U2720QM |
| SAMSUNG | S27A800UJC |
| LG | 27UP850 |
| LG | 27UL650 |
| BENQ | PD27006U |
| Haier | MOOKA U75A6 |
| Redmi | RMMNT27NU |
| Xiaomi | L75M9-SP |
| Eimio | Eimio E16U |