Alpine on ARM

This material needs wiki syntax or style improvements ... Please feel free to help us clean it up.

This page is proposed for moving ... It should be renamed to ARM SOCs. (Discuss)

(Parts of this page are WIP, still incomplete and some might be incorrect.)

Supported SoCs

Currently Alpine supports the following SoCs

(This is taken from the DTBs which Alpine includes)

armv7

am335x-baltos-ir2110	am335x-baltos-ir3220	am335x-baltos-ir5221	am335x-base0033	am335x-bone	am335x-boneblack-wireless	am335x-boneblack	am335x-boneblue	am335x-bonegreen-wireless	am335x-bonegreen	am335x-chiliboard
am335x-cm-t335	am335x-evm	am335x-evmsk	am335x-guardian	am335x-icev2	am335x-lxm	am335x-moxa-uc-2101	am335x-moxa-uc-8100-me-t	am335x-myirtech-myd	am335x-nano	am335x-netcan-plus-1xx
am335x-netcom-plus-2xx	am335x-netcom-plus-8xx	am335x-osd3358-sm-red	am335x-pdu001	am335x-pepper	am335x-phycore-rdk	am335x-pocketbeagle	am335x-regor-rdk	am335x-sancloud-bbe-lite	am335x-sancloud-bbe	am335x-sbc-t335
am335x-shc	am335x-sl50	am335x-wega-rdk	bcm2711-rpi-4-b	bcm2711-rpi-400	bcm2835-rpi-a-plus	bcm2835-rpi-a	bcm2835-rpi-b-plus	bcm2835-rpi-b-rev2	bcm2835-rpi-b	bcm2835-rpi-cm1-io1
bcm2835-rpi-zero-w	bcm2835-rpi-zero	bcm2836-rpi-2-b	bcm2837-rpi-3-a-plus	bcm2837-rpi-3-b-plus	bcm2837-rpi-3-b	bcm2837-rpi-cm3-io3	exynos4210-i9100	exynos4210-origen	exynos4210-smdkv310	exynos4210-trats
exynos4210-universal_c210	exynos4412-i9300	exynos4412-i9305	exynos4412-itop-elite	exynos4412-n710x	exynos4412-odroidu3	exynos4412-odroidx	exynos4412-odroidx2	exynos4412-origen	exynos4412-p4note-n8010	exynos4412-smdk4412
exynos4412-tiny4412	exynos4412-trats2	exynos5250-arndale	exynos5250-smdk5250	exynos5250-snow-rev5	exynos5250-snow	exynos5250-spring	exynos5260-xyref5260	exynos5410-odroidxu	exynos5410-smdk5410	exynos5420-arndale-octa
exynos5420-peach-pit	exynos5420-smdk5420	exynos5422-odroidhc1	exynos5422-odroidxu3-lite	exynos5422-odroidxu3	exynos5422-odroidxu4	exynos5800-peach-pi	imx51-apf51	imx51-apf51dev	imx51-babbage	imx51-digi-connectcore-jsk
imx51-eukrea-mbimxsd51-baseboard	imx51-ts4800	imx51-zii-rdu1	imx51-zii-scu2-mezz	imx51-zii-scu3-esb	imx53-ard	imx53-cx9020	imx53-kp-ddc	imx53-kp-hsc	imx53-m53evk	imx53-m53menlo
imx53-mba53	imx53-ppd	imx53-qsb	imx53-qsrb	imx53-smd	imx53-tx53-x03x	imx53-tx53-x13x	imx53-usbarmory	imx53-voipac-bsb	imx6dl-alti6p	imx6dl-apf6dev
imx6dl-aristainetos2_4	imx6dl-aristainetos2_7	imx6dl-aristainetos_4	imx6dl-aristainetos_7	imx6dl-b105pv2	imx6dl-b105v2	imx6dl-b125pv2	imx6dl-b125v2	imx6dl-b155v2	imx6dl-colibri-eval-v3	imx6dl-colibri-v1_1-eval-v3
imx6dl-cubox-i-emmc-som-v15	imx6dl-cubox-i-som-v15	imx6dl-cubox-i	imx6dl-dfi-fs700-m60	imx6dl-dhcom-picoitx	imx6dl-eckelmann-ci4x10	imx6dl-emcon-avari	imx6dl-gw51xx	imx6dl-gw52xx	imx6dl-gw53xx	imx6dl-gw54xx
imx6dl-gw551x	imx6dl-gw552x	imx6dl-gw553x	imx6dl-gw560x	imx6dl-gw5903	imx6dl-gw5904	imx6dl-gw5907	imx6dl-gw5910	imx6dl-gw5912	imx6dl-gw5913	imx6dl-hummingboard-emmc-som-v15
imx6dl-hummingboard-som-v15	imx6dl-hummingboard	imx6dl-hummingboard2-emmc-som-v15	imx6dl-hummingboard2-som-v15	imx6dl-hummingboard2	imx6dl-icore-mipi	imx6dl-icore-rqs	imx6dl-icore	imx6dl-lanmcu	imx6dl-mamoj	imx6dl-nit6xlite
imx6dl-nitrogen6x	imx6dl-phytec-mira-rdk-nand	imx6dl-phytec-pbab01	imx6dl-pico-dwarf	imx6dl-pico-hobbit	imx6dl-pico-nymph	imx6dl-pico-pi	imx6dl-plybas	imx6dl-plym2m	imx6dl-prtmvt	imx6dl-prtrvt
imx6dl-prtvt7	imx6dl-rex-basic	imx6dl-riotboard	imx6dl-sabreauto	imx6dl-sabrelite	imx6dl-sabresd	imx6dl-savageboard	imx6dl-skov-revc-lt2	imx6dl-skov-revc-lt6	imx6dl-solidsense	imx6dl-ts4900
imx6dl-ts7970	imx6dl-tx6dl-comtft	imx6dl-tx6s-8034-mb7	imx6dl-tx6s-8034	imx6dl-tx6s-8035-mb7	imx6dl-tx6s-8035	imx6dl-tx6u-801x	imx6dl-tx6u-8033-mb7	imx6dl-tx6u-8033	imx6dl-tx6u-80xx-mb7	imx6dl-tx6u-811x
imx6dl-tx6u-81xx-mb7	imx6dl-udoo	imx6dl-victgo	imx6dl-vicut1	imx6dl-wandboard-revb1	imx6dl-wandboard-revd1	imx6dl-wandboard	imx6dl-yapp4-draco	imx6dl-yapp4-hydra	imx6dl-yapp4-orion	imx6dl-yapp4-ursa
imx6q-apalis-eval	imx6q-apalis-ixora-v1.1	imx6q-apalis-ixora	imx6q-apf6dev	imx6q-arm2	imx6q-b450v3	imx6q-b650v3	imx6q-b850v3	imx6q-cm-fx6	imx6q-cubox-i-emmc-som-v15	imx6q-cubox-i-som-v15
imx6q-cubox-i	imx6q-dfi-fs700-m60	imx6q-dhcom-pdk2	imx6q-display5-tianma-tm070-1280x768	imx6q-dmo-edmqmx6	imx6q-dms-ba16	imx6q-ds	imx6q-emcon-avari	imx6q-evi	imx6q-gk802	imx6q-gw51xx
imx6q-gw52xx	imx6q-gw53xx	imx6q-gw5400-a	imx6q-gw54xx	imx6q-gw551x	imx6q-gw552x	imx6q-gw553x	imx6q-gw560x	imx6q-gw5903	imx6q-gw5904	imx6q-gw5907
imx6q-gw5910	imx6q-gw5912	imx6q-gw5913	imx6q-h100	imx6q-hummingboard-emmc-som-v15	imx6q-hummingboard-som-v15	imx6q-hummingboard	imx6q-hummingboard2-emmc-som-v15	imx6q-hummingboard2-som-v15	imx6q-hummingboard2	imx6q-icore-mipi
imx6q-icore-ofcap10	imx6q-icore-ofcap12	imx6q-icore-rqs	imx6q-icore	imx6q-kp-tpc	imx6q-logicpd	imx6q-marsboard	imx6q-mccmon6	imx6q-nitrogen6_max	imx6q-nitrogen6_som2	imx6q-nitrogen6x
imx6q-novena	imx6q-phytec-mira-rdk-emmc	imx6q-phytec-mira-rdk-nand	imx6q-phytec-pbab01	imx6q-pico-dwarf	imx6q-pico-hobbit	imx6q-pico-nymph	imx6q-pico-pi	imx6q-pistachio	imx6q-prti6q	imx6q-prtwd2
imx6q-rex-pro	imx6q-sabreauto	imx6q-sabrelite	imx6q-sabresd	imx6q-savageboard	imx6q-sbc6x	imx6q-skov-revc-lt2	imx6q-skov-revc-lt6	imx6q-skov-reve-mi1010ait-1cp1	imx6q-solidsense	imx6q-tbs2910
imx6q-ts4900	imx6q-ts7970	imx6q-tx6q-1010-comtft	imx6q-tx6q-1010	imx6q-tx6q-1020-comtft	imx6q-tx6q-1020	imx6q-tx6q-1036-mb7	imx6q-tx6q-1036	imx6q-tx6q-10x0-mb7	imx6q-tx6q-1110	imx6q-tx6q-11x0-mb7
imx6q-udoo	imx6q-utilite-pro	imx6q-var-dt6customboard	imx6q-vicut1	imx6q-wandboard-revb1	imx6q-wandboard-revd1	imx6q-wandboard	imx6q-zii-rdu2	imx6qp-nitrogen6_max	imx6qp-nitrogen6_som2	imx6qp-phytec-mira-rdk-nand
imx6qp-prtwd3	imx6qp-sabreauto	imx6qp-sabresd	imx6qp-tx6qp-8037-mb7	imx6qp-tx6qp-8037	imx6qp-tx6qp-8137-mb7	imx6qp-tx6qp-8137	imx6qp-vicutp	imx6qp-wandboard-revd1	imx6qp-zii-rdu2	imx6s-dhcom-drc02
imx6sl-evk	imx6sl-tolino-shine2hd	imx6sl-tolino-shine3	imx6sl-warp	imx6sx-nitrogen6sx	imx6sx-sabreauto	imx6sx-sdb-mqs	imx6sx-sdb-reva	imx6sx-sdb-sai	imx6sx-sdb	imx6sx-softing-vining-2000
imx6sx-udoo-neo-basic	imx6sx-udoo-neo-extended	imx6sx-udoo-neo-full	imx6ul-14x14-evk	imx6ul-ccimx6ulsbcexpress	imx6ul-ccimx6ulsbcpro	imx6ul-geam	imx6ul-isiot-emmc	imx6ul-isiot-nand	imx6ul-kontron-n6310-s-43	imx6ul-kontron-n6310-s
imx6ul-liteboard	imx6ul-opos6uldev	imx6ul-phytec-segin-ff-rdk-emmc	imx6ul-phytec-segin-ff-rdk-nand	imx6ul-pico-dwarf	imx6ul-pico-hobbit	imx6ul-pico-pi	imx6ul-prti6g	imx6ul-tx6ul-0010	imx6ul-tx6ul-0011	imx6ul-tx6ul-mainboard
imx6ull-14x14-evk	imx6ull-colibri-eval-v3	imx6ull-colibri-wifi-eval-v3	imx6ull-myir-mys-6ulx-eval	imx6ull-opos6uldev	imx6ull-phytec-segin-ff-rdk-emmc	imx6ull-phytec-segin-ff-rdk-nand	imx6ull-phytec-segin-lc-rdk-nand	imx6ulz-14x14-evk	imx7d-cl-som-imx7	imx7d-colibri-aster
imx7d-colibri-emmc-aster	imx7d-colibri-emmc-eval-v3	imx7d-colibri-eval-v3	imx7d-flex-concentrator-mfg	imx7d-flex-concentrator	imx7d-mba7	imx7d-meerkat96	imx7d-nitrogen7	imx7d-pico-dwarf	imx7d-pico-hobbit	imx7d-pico-nymph
imx7d-pico-pi	imx7d-remarkable2	imx7d-sbc-imx7	imx7d-sdb-reva	imx7d-sdb-sht11	imx7d-sdb	imx7d-zii-rmu2	imx7d-zii-rpu2	imx7s-colibri-aster	imx7s-colibri-eval-v3	imx7s-mba7
imx7s-warp	qcom-apq8060-dragonboard	qcom-apq8064-asus-nexus7-flo	qcom-apq8064-cm-qs600	qcom-apq8064-ifc6410	qcom-apq8064-sony-xperia-yuga	qcom-apq8074-dragonboard	qcom-apq8084-ifc6540	qcom-apq8084-mtp	qcom-ipq4018-ap120c-ac-bit	qcom-ipq4018-ap120c-ac
qcom-ipq4018-jalapeno	qcom-ipq4019-ap.dk01.1-c1	qcom-ipq4019-ap.dk04.1-c1	qcom-ipq4019-ap.dk04.1-c3	qcom-ipq4019-ap.dk07.1-c1	qcom-ipq4019-ap.dk07.1-c2	qcom-ipq8064-ap148	qcom-ipq8064-rb3011	qcom-mdm9615-wp8548-mangoh-green	qcom-msm8226-samsung-s3ve3g	qcom-msm8660-surf
qcom-msm8960-cdp	qcom-msm8974-fairphone-fp2	qcom-msm8974-lge-nexus5-hammerhead	qcom-msm8974-samsung-klte	qcom-msm8974-sony-xperia-amami	qcom-msm8974-sony-xperia-castor	qcom-msm8974-sony-xperia-honami	qcom-sdx55-mtp	qcom-sdx55-t55	qcom-sdx55-telit-fn980-tlb	sun4i-a10-a1000
sun4i-a10-ba10-tvbox	sun4i-a10-chuwi-v7-cw0825	sun4i-a10-cubieboard	sun4i-a10-dserve-dsrv9703c	sun4i-a10-gemei-g9	sun4i-a10-hackberry	sun4i-a10-hyundai-a7hd	sun4i-a10-inet1	sun4i-a10-inet97fv2	sun4i-a10-inet9f-rev03	sun4i-a10-itead-iteaduino-plus
sun4i-a10-jesurun-q5	sun4i-a10-marsboard	sun4i-a10-mini-xplus	sun4i-a10-mk802	sun4i-a10-mk802ii	sun4i-a10-olinuxino-lime	sun4i-a10-pcduino	sun4i-a10-pcduino2	sun4i-a10-pov-protab2-ips9	sun4i-a10-topwise-a721	sun5i-a10s-auxtek-t003
sun5i-a10s-auxtek-t004	sun5i-a10s-mk802	sun5i-a10s-olinuxino-micro	sun5i-a10s-r7-tv-dongle	sun5i-a10s-wobo-i5	sun5i-a13-difrnce-dit4350	sun5i-a13-empire-electronix-d709	sun5i-a13-empire-electronix-m712	sun5i-a13-hsg-h702	sun5i-a13-inet-98v-rev2	sun5i-a13-licheepi-one
sun5i-a13-olinuxino-micro	sun5i-a13-olinuxino	sun5i-a13-pocketbook-touch-lux-3	sun5i-a13-q8-tablet	sun5i-a13-utoo-p66	sun5i-gr8-chip-pro	sun5i-gr8-evb	sun5i-r8-chip	sun6i-a31-app4-evb1	sun6i-a31-colombus	sun6i-a31-hummingbird
sun6i-a31-i7	sun6i-a31-m9	sun6i-a31-mele-a1000g-quad	sun6i-a31s-colorfly-e708-q1	sun6i-a31s-cs908	sun6i-a31s-inet-q972	sun6i-a31s-primo81	sun6i-a31s-sina31s	sun6i-a31s-sinovoip-bpi-m2	sun6i-a31s-yones-toptech-bs1078-v2	sun7i-a20-bananapi-m1-plus
sun7i-a20-bananapi	sun7i-a20-bananapro	sun7i-a20-cubieboard2	sun7i-a20-cubietruck	sun7i-a20-hummingbird	sun7i-a20-i12-tvbox	sun7i-a20-icnova-swac	sun7i-a20-itead-ibox	sun7i-a20-lamobo-r1	sun7i-a20-linutronix-testbox-v2	sun7i-a20-m3
sun7i-a20-mk808c	sun7i-a20-olimex-som-evb-emmc	sun7i-a20-olimex-som-evb	sun7i-a20-olimex-som204-evb-emmc	sun7i-a20-olimex-som204-evb	sun7i-a20-olinuxino-lime-emmc	sun7i-a20-olinuxino-lime	sun7i-a20-olinuxino-lime2-emmc	sun7i-a20-olinuxino-lime2	sun7i-a20-olinuxino-micro-emmc	sun7i-a20-olinuxino-micro
sun7i-a20-orangepi-mini	sun7i-a20-orangepi	sun7i-a20-pcduino3-nano	sun7i-a20-pcduino3	sun7i-a20-wexler-tab7200	sun7i-a20-wits-pro-a20-dkt	sun8i-a23-evb	sun8i-a23-gt90h-v4	sun8i-a23-inet86dz	sun8i-a23-ippo-q8h-v1.2	sun8i-a23-ippo-q8h-v5
sun8i-a23-polaroid-mid2407pxe03	sun8i-a23-polaroid-mid2809pxe04	sun8i-a23-q8-tablet	sun8i-a33-et-q8-v1.6	sun8i-a33-ga10h-v1.1	sun8i-a33-inet-d978-rev2	sun8i-a33-ippo-q8h-v1.2	sun8i-a33-olinuxino	sun8i-a33-q8-tablet	sun8i-a33-sinlinx-sina33	sun8i-a83t-allwinner-h8homlet-v2
sun8i-a83t-bananapi-m3	sun8i-a83t-cubietruck-plus	sun8i-a83t-tbs-a711	sun8i-h2-plus-bananapi-m2-zero	sun8i-h2-plus-libretech-all-h3-cc	sun8i-h2-plus-orangepi-r1	sun8i-h2-plus-orangepi-zero	sun8i-h3-bananapi-m2-plus-v1.2	sun8i-h3-bananapi-m2-plus	sun8i-h3-beelink-x2	sun8i-h3-emlid-neutis-n5h3-devboard
sun8i-h3-libretech-all-h3-cc	sun8i-h3-mapleboard-mp130	sun8i-h3-nanopi-duo2	sun8i-h3-nanopi-m1-plus	sun8i-h3-nanopi-m1	sun8i-h3-nanopi-neo-air	sun8i-h3-nanopi-neo	sun8i-h3-nanopi-r1	sun8i-h3-orangepi-2	sun8i-h3-orangepi-lite	sun8i-h3-orangepi-one
sun8i-h3-orangepi-pc-plus	sun8i-h3-orangepi-pc	sun8i-h3-orangepi-plus	sun8i-h3-orangepi-plus2e	sun8i-h3-orangepi-zero-plus2	sun8i-h3-rervision-dvk	sun8i-h3-zeropi	sun8i-r16-bananapi-m2m	sun8i-r16-nintendo-nes-classic	sun8i-r16-nintendo-super-nes-classic	sun8i-r16-parrot
sun8i-r40-bananapi-m2-ultra	sun8i-r40-oka40i-c	sun8i-s3-elimo-initium	sun8i-s3-lichee-zero-plus	sun8i-s3-pinecube	sun8i-t3-cqa3t-bv3	sun8i-v3-sl631-imx179	sun8i-v3s-licheepi-zero-dock	sun8i-v3s-licheepi-zero	sun8i-v40-bananapi-m2-berry	sun9i-a80-cubieboard4
sun9i-a80-optimus	vexpress-v2p-ca15-tc1	vexpress-v2p-ca15_a7	vexpress-v2p-ca5s	vexpress-v2p-ca9	zynq-cc108	zynq-ebaz4205	zynq-microzed	zynq-parallella	zynq-zc702	zynq-zc706
zynq-zc770-xm010	zynq-zc770-xm011	zynq-zc770-xm012	zynq-zc770-xm013	zynq-zed	zynq-zturn-v5	zynq-zturn	zynq-zybo-z7	zynq-zybo

Install Alpine on supported SoCs

Generic information

(If anyone has one of the above devices and has successfully installed Alpine on it, please consider adding the missing info here.)

Example with Wandboard

Get latest Alpine image

Download the last Generic ARM image on https://alpinelinux.org/downloads/ Extract the archive somewhere.

Prepare SD Card

First install SPL and u-boot.img (this could change for other board): in root, write the SPL from Alpine extracted files :

dd if=u-boot/wandboard/SPL of=/dev/sdX seek=1 bs=1k

and the u-boot.img :

dd if=u-boot/wandboard/u-boot.img of=/dev/sdX seek=69 bs=1k

After create the partition on the sd-card with fdisk, then copy folders apks/ boot/ efi/ extlinux/ u-boot/ to the sd-card partition. (I'm not sure all folder as useful).

After you can put the sd-card in the Wandboard and boot it with serial console connected.
The board should boot on the sd-card. When the prompt ask a login, enter 'root'. Then launch 'setup-alpine' to configure the system.

Specific guides

• DIY Fully working Alpine Linux for Allwinner and Other ARM SOCs
• Raspberry_Pi
• Raspberry_Pi_4_-_Persistent_system_acting_as_a_NAS_and_Time_Machine
• Odroid-C2
• NanoPi Neo build script

Unupported SoCs

If you have an armv6/armv7 SoC which is not listed above but is supported by mainline uboot/kernel then it's still possible to install Alpine

Requirements

• Alpine's forked uboot to support tarballs (fabled?)
• serial console
• crosscompiler/toolchain if you can not compile natively

The embedded world

A lot of the SoCs have their own way of doing things, although they use uboot and Linux kernel but often they are heavily modified to suit easy flashing of "ROMs" or other unknown reasons, e.g. Rockchip's notion "partition" are neither DOS nor GPT partitions. We will discuss to install Alpine in a more standard way like x86 with either DOS or GPT partitions. You will most likely have to install/flash the mainline uboot, which can be non-destructive if you use external storage.

Storage

One can load uboot from the following block devices if it's supported.

• NAND
• eMMC
• SD card
• USB

Power on

Some SoCs need both SPL and uboot, you need to check uboot for your board. Most (if not all) boards boots from the internal storage first (either NAND or eMMC) you will have to check documentation of your board if you wish to boot the SPL/uboot from SD/USB.

One can view SPL+uboot as BIOS and boot-loader on PC. Think that you could put the BIOS on an external storage :D

Once you have loaded the "standard" uboot, things are more or less like on x86.

Partitioning

Either DOS or GPT patitions should work. Start of the first partition should be on block 2048 so there is space for SPL/uboot and marked bootable (with the MBR bootable flag, or GPT legacy_bios_bootable attribute).

• SPL starts at block 64 (please consult the docs for your board)
• uboot starts at block 256 (please consult the docs for your board)

Just dd SPL and boot with the correct offset to the media you wish to boot

Booting Linux kernel

• uboot uses extlinux.conf file to locate the kernel/initramfs/... just like syslinx, you need to put that file on the partitions which is marked bootable in the /boot directory
• there should be an extra line "FDTDIR" which points to the DTBs

e.g.

label Fedora (3.17.0-0.rc4.git2.1.fc22.armv7hl) 22 (Rawhide)
	kernel /boot/vmlinuz-3.17.0-0.rc4.git2.1.fc22.armv7hl
	append ro root=UUID=8eac677f-8ea8-4270-8479-d5ddbb797450 console=ttyS0,115200n8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 drm.debug=0xf
	fdtdir /boot/dtb-3.17.0-0.rc4.git2.1.fc22.armv7hl
	initrd /boot/initramfs-3.17.0-0.rc4.git2.1.fc22.armv7hl.img

Using QEMU

qemu-system-arm -M vexpress-a9 -kernel zImage -initrd initramfs-grsec -dtb vexpress-v2p-ca9.dtb -hda hda.img -serial stdio

References

• dtb (Device Tree Binary)
• Odroid-C2 2018 (ARMv8, AArch64; Alpine Linux custom build)
• CusDeb.com - bootstrap SD-card images for single-board computers online; (Pieman)
• Available SoCs