Difference between revisions of "Banana Pi"

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[https://armbian.com Armbian] is a great source of up to date OS images with versions available for the Banana Pi series. But one problem with the default minimal server images is that they are not truly headless, you need to set a root password on the first run before SSH logins will work. This is a big problem for us because we don't have keyboards and monitors lying around - occasionally we have TV available, but definitely not a keyboard since we only use laptops, phones and tablets. This is constantly being raised with the developers but they won't budge on it because their perspective is that providing a fully headless version would lead to their OS being used in malicious bot-nets.
 
[https://armbian.com Armbian] is a great source of up to date OS images with versions available for the Banana Pi series. But one problem with the default minimal server images is that they are not truly headless, you need to set a root password on the first run before SSH logins will work. This is a big problem for us because we don't have keyboards and monitors lying around - occasionally we have TV available, but definitely not a keyboard since we only use laptops, phones and tablets. This is constantly being raised with the developers but they won't budge on it because their perspective is that providing a fully headless version would lead to their OS being used in malicious bot-nets.
  
However, we do have access to the full OS file-structure, so we can use ''qemu'' and ''chroot'' to open a shell inside the SD card OS and then set the root password before putting the card into the Pi. Here's how we can do it where XX is the path to your mounted SD card or Armbian image file.
+
However, we do have access to the full OS file-structure, so we can [https://forum.armbian.com/topic/3365-first-login-via-ssh-password-1234-does-not-work/ use ''qemu'' and ''chroot''] to open a shell inside the SD card OS and then set the root password before putting the card into the Pi. Here's how we can do it where XX is the path to your mounted SD card or Armbian image file.
 
<source lang="bash">
 
<source lang="bash">
 
apt install qemu-user-static
 
apt install qemu-user-static

Revision as of 14:05, 18 September 2019

Banana Pi is an open source hardware project lead by GuangDong BiPai technology co., LTD. It focuses on the open source hardware development board of ARM and MCU series, provides open software and hardware platform, and creates the basic technology development platform. Full series open source hardware products, complete integration of voice, data, video system platform. Developers can flexibly build various application platforms on the open source hardware foundation platform. It can be applied in the Internet of things, AI artificial intelligence, industrial Internet control, STEAM education and other aspects.

The Banana Pi boards are inspired by the Raspberry Pi project, and some of the models have an equivalent Raspberry version which is hardware compatible and exactly the same size so that they can work as drop-in replacements for projects that are designed around Raspberry Pi boards. The Banana Pi boards are more powerful than the Raspberry boards, and have more features, for example many Banana Pis such as the Banana Pi M1+ come with a SATA port. This means they can run off a proper hard drive rather than an SD card which has been the cause of a lot of reliability trouble with these single-board computers.

Note that the concept of a "drop-in" replacement only goes so far in the world of single-board computers, because OS images need to be built specifically for each board. The Debian-based Armbian project is very good for this because it's been designed to be able to quickly support new boards and OS releases as they come out. They currently support about fifty different boards including the whole Banana Pi series.

Banana Pi M1+ board layout

Banana PI M1+.jpg

Armbian and headless installation

Armbian is a great source of up to date OS images with versions available for the Banana Pi series. But one problem with the default minimal server images is that they are not truly headless, you need to set a root password on the first run before SSH logins will work. This is a big problem for us because we don't have keyboards and monitors lying around - occasionally we have TV available, but definitely not a keyboard since we only use laptops, phones and tablets. This is constantly being raised with the developers but they won't budge on it because their perspective is that providing a fully headless version would lead to their OS being used in malicious bot-nets.

However, we do have access to the full OS file-structure, so we can use qemu and chroot to open a shell inside the SD card OS and then set the root password before putting the card into the Pi. Here's how we can do it where XX is the path to your mounted SD card or Armbian image file.

apt install qemu-user-static
cp /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static XX/usr/bin
chroot XX
passwd root
exit
sync

Todo....

  • /boot/armbian_first_run.txt.template
  • /root/.not_logged_in_yet

Banana Pi sites

See also