Next Thing Co. CHIP (ntc-chip)

Contributors

 * Symmetrist

Maintainer(s)

 * Symmetrist

Status
At the moment it is possible to build a pmOS image using the commands explained below.

However to boot this image we need to change u-boot configuration, and unfortunately the procedure explained below does not work on all the version of u-boot for CHIP around.

The next step is to package and compile u-boot to provide a uniform bootloader for pmOS.

How to enter flash mode
The CHIP has two different flashing modes:
 * FEL mode: used to flash bootloader and rootfs
 * Fastboot mode: used to flash rootfs

To enter FEL mode:
 * Connect the FEL and GND pins with a jumper cable
 * Power on the CHIP

To enter Fastboot mode:
 * Connect an serial (UART) USB adapter to UART1-TX, UART1-RX and GND
 * Power on the CHIP
 * Press enter during boot up to access the U-Boot console
 * On the console type

Configure U-Boot
PostmarketOS loads an initramfs together with the kernel, while original Debian installation only used the kernel.

To boot PostmarketOS we need to change the U-Boot configuration to support the initramfs.

From the U-boot serial console issue the following commands:
 * Print the current value of the, save it in case you want to restore it later.
 * Change the  value

Create the UBIfs image

 * Configure the installation and build the system

In  there is the rootfs for your ntc-chip

The following commands needs to be launched from your pmbootstrap workdir
 * Copy dtb from linux-ntc-chip

Install mtd-utils from your distro repositories e.g.
 * Create the UBIfs image

Flash the UBIfs image

 * Enter fastboot mode as described above
 * On your computer