Hey everybody,

 

First, thanks for Armbian.

 

The Asus Tinkerboard and the ROCK64 both have the same processor.

I'm interested why the Asus Tinkerboard gets the mainline kernel, but the ROCK64 only gets the legacy kernel.

 

Why is this?

13 minutes ago, LeCaNo said:

have the same processor.

Not exactly. RK3328 is not the same as RK3288

They don't use the same processor.

 

Tinkerboard: RK3288: fast 32-bit Cortex-A17

Rock64: RK3328: average 64-bit Cortex-A53

 

The Tinkerboard actually is faster even though it's a 32-bit CPU compared to the ROCK64's 64-bit CPU

 

2 hours ago, Larry Bank said:

The Tinkerboard actually is faster even though it's a 32-bit CPU compared to the ROCK64's 64-bit CPU

Just to caution:  This is conditionally true, assuming you can:

 

1. Provide enough power for the device
2. Can keep the device cool
3. Are running general-purpose apps

In stock form, none of these things are possible with the Tinker Board due to it's tiny heat sink and micro USB power.

 

2 hours ago, LeCaNo said:

I'm interested why the Asus Tinkerboard gets the mainline kernel, but the ROCK64 only gets the legacy kernel.

 

The RK3328 is not incredibly well supported in mainline just yet, certain important things are missing, like the entire video output system.

1 minute ago, TonyMac32 said:

Just to caution:  This is conditionally true, assuming you can:

 

1. Provide enough power for the device
2. Can keep the device cool
3. Are running general-purpose apps

In stock form, none of these things are possible with the Tinker Board due to it's tiny heat sink and micro USB power.

 

 

The RK3328 is not incredibly well supported in mainline just yet, certain important things are missing, like the entire video output system.

I have the good fortune of owning an Asus Flip CP100A which is a RK3288 1.8Ghz w/4GB RAM and USB 3 ports running Linux via Crouton. No heat/power problems and runs about 5x faster than an RPI3  

 

Maybe the new "S" version of the Tinkerboard will fix some of the issues you're seeing.

I have the good fortune of owning an Asus Flip CP100A which is a RK3288 1.8Ghz w/4GB RAM and USB 3 ports running Linux via Crouton. No heat/power problems and runs about 5x faster than an RPI3 [emoji4] 
 
Maybe the new "S" version of the Tinkerboard will fix some of the issues you're seeing.

From what I've seen, no. They are doing an RPi-style workaround so voltage drop off will result in throttling rather than crashing.

I was considering grabbing a Chromebook with the RK3288, since I spent so much time with the Tinker making it behave on Armbian. The processor is fine, the board is the issue, primarily the heat and power input. I power mine via GPIO and put a much larger heat sink on it

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

So is the issue with power (in general) the abilitiy of the power adapters to generate it, the micro USB cable / connector / port to deliver it or just a general inability of the design ?

Do you use a normal 5V xAmp USB power supply and reterminate the USB cable to the GPIO or a a different, higher rated supply altogether ?

 

 

I guess Tony will explain it to you in length, but it has already been written in detail in this forum just use the search function top right hand corner.
In short, it is a combination all of this: power adapters to generate it, the micro USB cable / connector / port to deliver it

Hey, sorry for the mistake. I had it wrong in my mind. I have seen that the Mainline Linux kernel supports Rock64.

 

https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/arch/arm64/boot/dts/rockchip/rk3328-rock64.dts

 

At least that's how I understand it, but I can be wrong again.

16 minutes ago, LeCaNo said:

I have seen that the Mainline Linux kernel supports Rock64.

 

Indeed it does, however the RK3328 is still not well supported.  The kernel works, but not all of the peripherals on the device work/etc.

As I understand it now, that's why Rock64 has not (yet) received a mainline kernel. Correct?

 

Then build the Mainline Kernel brings nothing. or?

Given its development position not a lot of time has been put into it on our side.  I believe some more mainline work is coming soon, so we'll be able to see in the coming months.  Right now there are some bugs and lack of support from the 4.14/15 kernel.