PINE64 ROCKPro64

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The PINE64 ROCKPro64 is a Rockchip RK3399 (ARMv8-A, Cortex-A72/A53 big.LITTLE) based, exceptionally libre software friendly SBC. It supports booting and even 3D hardware acceleration without any proprietary or closed source firmware blobs. The vendor focuses solely on hardware so there's no official software support. However, a vibrant and open community that provides extraordinary libre software support gathered around their products.

Hardware

	Make/model	Notes
Board	RockPro64	Filename of device tree binary (board rev 2.1): rk3399-rockpro64.dtb
SoC	Rockchip RK3399
RAM	4GB	2GB version available, LPDDR4
Firmware	U-Boot, Trusted Firmware A (ATF)	FLOSS, works without any proprietary blobs
Boot media	eMMC, SD Card, USB, PXE	Enabling boot from USB in U-Boot might have issues.

SoC

Component	Make/model	Status	Kernel driver(s)	Kernel version	Notes
CPU	2 x ARM Cortex-A72 (ARMv8-A) 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (ARMv8-A)	Works		5.10	big.LITTLE
GPU	4 x Mali-T860	Works	panfrost, rockchip_drm, drm_fbdev_emulation, rockchip_iommu	5.10	Panfrost is needed for hardware 3D acceleration, doesn't yet support OpenGL 3.30 (media-libs/mesa 20.x).
HDMI	Synopsys Designware IP	Works	rockchip_dw_hdmi	5.10
MMC	Synopsys Designware IP	Works	mmc_dw_rockchip, pwrseq_emmc	5.10
SDHCI	Arasan SDHCI	Works	mmc_sdhci_of_arasan	5.10
Ethernet MAC		Works	dwmac_rockchip	5.10	1 GBit
USB Type-C	Fairchild FUSB302	?	typec_fusb302	5.10	PD, alternate mode DP
USB-A 3.0		?	xhci_platform	5.10
USB 2.0		Works	ehci_platform	5.10
DMA engine	PL330	Works	pl330_dma	5.10
HDMI audio	Synopsis Designware IP	?	soc_rockchip_i2s, drm_dw_hdmi_i2s_audio, simple_card	5.10

Peripherals

Component	Make/model	Status	Kernel driver(s)	Kernel version	Notes
PMIC	Rockchip RK808	Works	rk808	5.10	Power Management Integrated Circuit (Regulators, RTC, Clocking)
Ethernet PHY	Realtek RTL8211F	Works	realtek_phy	5.10	via RGMII
Analog Audio		?	es8316, audio_graph_card	5.10

GCC optimization

Note
ARM errata 835769 and 843419 affect Cortex-A53 up to r0p4 and Linux kernel recommends working around the latter though states nothing about the former.

FILE /etc/portage/make.confRK3399 example

COMMON_FLAGS="-march=armv8-a+crc+crypto -mtune=cortex-a72.cortex-a53 -mfix-cortex-a53-835769 -mfix-cortex-a53-843419"
CFLAGS="${COMMON_FLAGS}"
CXXFLAGS="${COMMON_FLAGS}"

Note
For a hardened system consider appending -fstack-protector-all

Installing the bootloader

To build the U-Boot bootloader from source, see PINE64_ROCKPro64/Installing_U-Boot.

Installing Gentoo

Consult PINE64 ROCKPro64/Installing Gentoo for instructions on how to install Gentoo on the Pine64 ROCKPro64.

Issues

Depending on board revision and U-Boot version setting CONFIG_USE_PREBOOT=y (which enables boot from USB) in U-Boot might cause the boot process to get stuck at Booting using the fdt blob at 0x1f00000 even when booting from SDXC or eMMC.

External resources

• PINE64 ROCKPro64 on linux-hardware.org