System setup #

A Raspberry Pi is used as a host system. This page describes how to setup the host. Follow these steps to install Arch Linux 64-bit on a Raspberry Pi 4B:

Check which address is assigned to the SD Card:

lsblk

Take note of the letter of the SD Card. It’s probably something like: /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc Change the X in this guide to the letter that is assigned to your SD Card.

E.g. /dev/sdX -> /dev/sdb

Start fdisk to partition the SD card:

sudo fdisk /dev/sdX

At the fdisk prompt, delete old partitions and create a new one:

Type o. This will clear out any partitions on the drive.

Type p to list partitions. There should be no partitions left.

Type n, then p for primary, 1 for the first partition on the drive, press ENTER to accept the default first sector, then type +500M for the last sector.

Type t, then c to set the first partition to type W95 FAT32 (LBA).

Type n, then p for primary, 2 for the second partition on the drive, and then press ENTER twice to accept the default first and last sector.

Write the partition table and exit by typing w.

Create and mount the FAT filesystem:

sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdX1
mkdir boot
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 boot

Create and mount the ext4 filesystem:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX2
mkdir root
sudo mount /dev/sdX2 root

Download and extract the root filesystem (as root, not via sudo):

wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-rpi-aarch64-latest.tar.gz
sudo bsdtar -xpfv ArchLinuxARM-rpi-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C root
sudo sync

Move boot files to the first partition:

sudo mv root/boot/* boot

For the following part, you need to install uboot-tools on your machine. A patch might be needed to make sure uboot finds the correct root system. Open the boot configuration

cd boot
sudo nano boot.txt

Change these 2 lines:

booti ${kernel_addr_r} ${ramdisk_addr_r}:${filesize} ${fdt_addr_r};
booti ${kernel_addr_r} - ${fdt_addr_r};

To this (fdt_addr_r -> fdt_addr):

booti ${kernel_addr_r} ${ramdisk_addr_r}:${filesize} ${fdt_addr};
booti ${kernel_addr_r} - ${fdt_addr};

To enable DNS on the Raspberry Pi, run the following:

sudo rm root/etc/resolv.conf
sudo echo 'nameserver 1.1.1.1' >> root/etc/resolv.conf

Unmount the two partitions:

sudo umount boot root

Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi, connect ethernet, and apply 5V power. Use the serial console or SSH to the IP address given to the board by your router. Login as the default user alarm with the password alarm. The default root password is root.

Initialize the pacman keyring and populate the Arch Linux ARM package signing keys:

pacman-key --init
pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm

Update your system:

pacman -Syu