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Why?

The Star64 sbc from Pine64 is a sbc (single board computer) that is very interesting because it uses the RISC-V architecture. The RISC-V architecture is interesting because it is a free and open-source instruction set that offers numerous benefits such as flexibility and customization. I thought I would make a small guide for installing Linux on the Star64 board because it comes with no operating system installed, and I figured out it can be difficult to try installing it yourself as there are some documentation inconsistencies.

Installing Linux

If you are interested and want to try this yourself, you will need some accessories because the board is sold alone. (accessories can be found on the Pine64 store or somewhere else):

• microSD card
• 3.3 volts USB to TTL Serial Adapter for serial communication (USB to Transistor-Transistor Logic cable)
• Power supply (12 volts 3 amp)
• Another computer to flash the microSD and use for the serial console

The specific USB to TTL cable I am using can be found here. Any TTL cable will work as long as it's 3.3 volts. Lots of USB to TTL cables are 3.3v so you might already have one. Once you have everything necessary, get an image for your microSD card (I used Fishwaldo's images so your results may vary using other images). Next, flash the image onto the microSD with Balena Etcher. Insert the microSD into the slot on the other back side of the board. Now you are going to set the dip switches located near the 40-pin GPIO bus on the side of the board to this configuration:

After that, you will need to plug in the USB to TTL cable.

Keeping that in mind, place ground on pin 6, RXD on pin 8, and TXD on pin 10. Connect the USB to TTL cable to a USB port on your computer. Open up the terminal and install tio or screen. After that, enter the following command: tio -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 or if your using screen enter this instead: screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 Make sure your baud rate is set to 115200. If you're on a mac, tty path will be something more like /dev/tty.usbserial-* (* being the identifier of the USB to TTL cable). If you're unsure which path to use then run ls -ltr /dev and make sure it's showing up. Next, plug in the power supply to your board and wait, it might take a while. Linux will eventually start running. If you're using Fishwaldo's images, the logins and passwords are written in the README. Now you can run commands and have some fun! Congratulations on installing Linux on your Star64 sbc!

Where to go from here?

The next step I took was setting up the wifi so I could install packages. You can easily connect your board to the internet in just a few steps:

Special thanks to the Star64 community. You can join the Star64 matrix here. Have fun experimenting, testing, and coding!