NetBSD supports many boards based on Allwinner SoCs. Starting with NetBSD 8.0, FDT is used to configure devices. As a result, a large number of boards and configurations can be supported with a single kernel.

Supported SoCs

Supported hardware

Please refer to the GENERIC (32-bit) or GENERIC64 (64-bit) kernel configs for the most up-to-date list of supported hardware.

Installation

• Download or build armv7.img (32-bit) or arm64.img (64-bit) from NetBSD 9.0 or later
• Write the image to disk: dd if=armv7.img of=/dev/rld0d bs=1m conv=sync
• Install a board-specific U-Boot (2018.05 or later) from pkgsrc to the SD card (the u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin-s are provided by sysutils/u-boot-<boardname> packages): dd if=/usr/pkg/share/u-boot/<boardname>/u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/rld0d bs=1k seek=8 conv=sync

If your SoC has a SATA controller and you would like to install on an hard disk and use a SD card only for u-boot please give a look to NetBSD/evbarm install via sysinst(8) on a SATA hard disk, USB stick or (u)SD card.

Tips and tricks

Video overscan compensation

On some television models, the borders of the screen may be cut off. If your television doesn't have an option to disable overscan, you can enable overscan compensation by entering the following commands at the U-Boot prompt:

setenv video-mode sunxi:1280x720-24,overscan_x=32,overscan_y=20
saveenv
reset

Pinebook function keys

The sleep (Fn+Esc), home (Fn+F1), volume down (Fn+F3), volume up (Fn+F4), and mute (Fn+F5) keys on the keyboard are mapped to uhid(4) devices.

Create the following config file:

Consumer:Consumer_Control.Consumer:Volume_Up                    1
        mixerctl -n -w outputs.master++
Consumer:Consumer_Control.Consumer:Volume_Down                  1
        mixerctl -n -w outputs.master--
Consumer:Consumer_Control.Consumer:Mute                         1
        mixerctl -n -w outputs.mute++
Consumer:Consumer_Control.Consumer:AC_Home                      1
        /etc/powerd/scripts/hotkey_button AC_Home pressed
Generic_Desktop:System_Control.Generic_Desktop:System_Sleep     1
        /etc/powerd/scripts/sleep_button System_Sleep pressed

Then start two copies of usbhidaction:

# /usr/bin/usbhidaction -c /etc/usbhidaction.conf -f /dev/uhid0 -i -p /var/run/usbhidaction-uhid0.pid 
# /usr/bin/usbhidaction -c /etc/usbhidaction.conf -f /dev/uhid1 -i -p /var/run/usbhidaction-uhid1.pid 

Pinebook keyboard

The new 11" 1080p model has a slightly different keyboard layout to the 14". Using wscons it works perfectly, but using X the \ key next to left shift will display > when pressed. To solve this, you need to change the keyboard layout to altgr-intl. This can be done system wide by creating the file:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Pinebook 1080p keyboard"
        Driver     "kbd"
        Option     "XkbLayout"  "us"
        Option     "XkbVariant" "altgr-intl"
EndSection

Pinebook touchpad

To fix jittery touch input on the touchpad, you can adjust the input sensitivity by creating the file:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Pinebook touchpad"    
        Driver "mouse"
        Option "AccelerationProfile" "2"
        Option "AdaptiveDeceleration" "1"
        Option "ConstantDeceleration" "2.4" # Pinebook 14"
        #Option "ConstantDeceleration" "1.2" # Pinebook 11"
EndSection

Pinebook screen

X11 currently cannot work out the size of the screen, resulting in a very small DPI on a very small screen. This file configures X to use an 11.6" screen, which results in very readable a DPI of 190.

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Pinebook 11.6 inch monitor"
        DisplaySize     256.8 144.5     # millimeters, 11.6 inch screen
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Pinebook 11.6 inch monitor"
EndSection

Links

• NetBSD/evbarm install via sysinst(8) on a SATA hard disk, USB stick or (u)SD card