Tag Archives: Cubian

Moving Linux to Smaller SD Cards

SD cards are pretty cheap these days, but that doesn’t mean we should let our smaller ones go to waste, especially when a system doesn’t fully utilise the space of a larger one that could be more useful elsewhere.

So, what can we do?

Normally, to backup and restore SD cards, I use Win32 Disk Imager.

The main problem of Win32 Disk Imager is that it creates an image file the same size as your SD card, no matter how much of the card is actually being used.  If you’re using a 32GB card with a 4GB partition and the rest is unallocated space it will still create a 32GB image file.

Typically, however, I think most of us will allocate the full size of the SD card to the system.

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The CubieTruck has Landed

So, I’m now officially a Trucker.  A CubieTrucker, that is.

It arrived yesterday, sadly about half an hour before I had to go out, so I pretty much just had chance to put the case together (almost), and didn’t really get to play with it properly at all.

But, it’s beautiful, look at it!

a20-cubietruck

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Taking a Stab at Cross Compiling

Cross compiling is something I’ve never really had a need to do before.  All of my past Linux machines have been your standard 32Bit or 64Bit x86 based PCs, and have been fast enough that I’ve been able to compile on the machine it’ll be running on.

But, if a 15 hour XBMC compile taught me anything (other than the fact that XBMC doesn’t work fantastically on the CubieBoard), it’s that I need to setup a decent Linux box, and learn to cross compile for ARM based hardware.

I’ve also always wanted to create my own Linux setup from scratch for a long time.  The CubieBoard gives me the opportunity to do this, but it will require some cross compiling to get things started.

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Let’s Try Cubie Web Server

With XBMC on the CubieBoard a bust.  It’s time to go back to my original thought, which is to set it up as a web server.

While I will generally run this without a monitor connected, I have decided to restore from the backup that already has LXDE installed.

Yes, I could set it up without X, and just install it in the event that I actually come around to needing it, but I figured I might as well just have it installed now.  It’s not like there’s a lack of space on an 8GB MicroSD card.

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XBMC on a CubieBoard?

The very first result that Google gave me when trying to find information on running XBMC on the CubieBoard (which is powered by the Allwinner A10), was this link.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Android_hardware

This, in clear letters states…

Avoid hardware that uses the Allwinner series of chips (such as the Allwinner A10).  Development is not going well for these devices.”

Yes, “Avoid” really is written in bold.  This does not bode well.

I shall try, none-the-less.  After all, I have my backup img files for when things go horribly wrong.

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Cubian from the beginning…

This is one of those posts that’s purely here for my own reference documenting what I need to do in the event that I need to start all this over from scratch.

This isn’t necessarily the exact order in which I’ve done things this time, as it’s taking me longer to resolve some issues over others, and I’ve reordered things into the process I plan to use in the event that I do need to start over.

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CubieBoard WiFi Made Simple (TP-Link TL-WN725N)

Today I went out and picked up a MicroSD card.  After all of yesterday’s frustrations, I wanted to have more options, and I figured an 8GB card would be more than plenty to store an OS with both XBMC and a web development server.

Chances are, it’ll never actually be getting used as both at the same time.  If I’m watching TV, I’m probably not working on PHP code, and if I’m working on PHP code, I’m probably not interested in watching TV.

I’ve restored the NAND flash back to the latest Android (it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever really want to play with Android, but it’s not doing any harm, and it’ll give me something to do on those rare days when I just get curious), and I’ve installed Cubian (I’m using R7 for the A10) onto an 8GB MicroSD card.

Continue reading CubieBoard WiFi Made Simple (TP-Link TL-WN725N)