• Linux Host
  • Step 1: Materials and Preperations
  • Step 2: Dependencies
  • Step 3: Flash base firmware (only if necessary)
  • Step 4: Boot HiKey 960 into fastboot mode
  • Step 5: Flash Operating System
    • AOSP
    • Debian Linux
  • Step 6: Reboot

Linux Host

This section show how to install a new operating system to your HiKey960 using the fastboot method on a Linux host computer.

• Step 1: Materials and Preperations
• Step 2: Dependencies
• Step 3: Flash base firmware (if needed)
• Step 4: Boot HiKey960 into fastboot mode
• Step 5: Flash Operating System
• Step 6: Reboot

Step 1: Materials and Preperations

Materials

• HiKey960
• USB Type-A (Host machine) to USB Type-C (96Boards) cable
• 96Boards compliant power supply

Preperations

• To boot into fastboot mode everytime set switch 1 & 3 to ON state and switch 2 to OFF state.
• To boot into fastboot mode at every alternate rebooot set switch 1 to ON and switch 2 & 3 to OFF state.
• To boot into recovery mode set switch 1 & 2 to ON state and switch 3 to OFF state

Step 2: Dependencies

Host Linux Machine

• Android SDK “Platform-Tools” for Linux can be downloaded here
• download appropriate operating system images from “downloads page”

Step 3: Flash base firmware (only if necessary)

Most release-level devices should not require this step to updating the base firmware, so this step mostly applies to pre-release boards, and can be skipped (head on to Step 4 of the instructions). However, if your board does not boot after being flashed, its advised to do a recovery flash to ensure lower-level firmware components are properly flashed.

Instructions on how to do a recovery flash of the base firmware are kept in a seperate repository and can be found here

Step 4: Boot HiKey 960 into fastboot mode

• HiKey960 must be powered off (unplugged from power, this includes both 96Boards compliant power supply and USB Type-C connections)
• Make sure microSD card slot on HiKey960 is empty
• Jumper/Dip Switch setting should be set as follows

• Connect USB Type-C cable AND 96Boards compliant power supply to HiKey960, ensure USB is connected to host machine
• Open “Terminal” on host machine and execute the following command

$ sudo fastboot devices

If your HiKey960 is pre-flashed with appropriate firmware, you should see your device lised as an output:

447786182000000         fastboot

At this point you should be connected to your HiKey960 with a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable. Your HiKey960 should be booted into fastboot mode and ready to be flashed with the appropriate images.

Step 5: Flash Operating System

AOSP

Run the flash-all.sh script located in your download to update boot files using fastboot. This script assumes you have already built all HiKey960 AOSP images locally.

$ sudo ./flash-all.sh

Debian Linux

• Decompress Files

  # BOOT IMAGE
  $ gunzip boot-linaro-stretch-developer-hikey-*.img.gz
  # ROOTFS IMAGE
  $ gunzip rootfs-linaro-stretch-developer-hikey-*.img.gz
  

• Flash UFS

  $ sudo fastboot flash ptable prm_ptable.img
  $ sudo fastboot flash fastboot l-loader.bin
  $ sudo fastboot flash fip fip.bin
  $ sudo fastboot reboot-bootloader
  $ sudo fastboot flash boot boot-linaro-stretch-developer-hikey-*.img
  $ sudo fastboot flash system rootfs-linaro-stretch-developer-hikey-*.img
  

Step 6: Reboot

• Unplug power to HiKey960 (both 96Boards compliant power supply and USB Type-C)
• Jumper/Dip Switch setting should be set as follows

• Ensure keyboard, mouse and HDMI cable to monitor are all connected (AOSP only)
• Ensure UART adapter is 1.8v and connected to LS-UART1 (Debian only).
• Plug power back into HiKey960 (96Boards compliant power supply)
• Wait for board to boot up

Congratulations! You are now booting your newly installed OS directly from UFS on the HiKey960!

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