Banana Pi m2 Zero distro?

General Discussion
1

Hi, Fourdee!

I couldn’t find any distribution for this board (based on h2+ cpu and dual mali400). If it doesn’t exist - is there a way to build one myself? I used to compile kernels in Gentoo in my student age.

Thanks and keep up the good work!

2

https://github.com/Fourdee/DietPi/blob/master/PREP_SYSTEM_FOR_DIETPI.sh

3

So I should get working Armbian first and then convert it to DietPi?

There are few Armbian images, but they are not complete. I’m using the latest and it works somehow, but it is still an early beta.

4

Also looking for this, i tried to use the script to convert an Armbian install on the BPI-M2-Zero only to get an error about unsupported OS kernel or something along those lines.

5

Any news on this? I grabbed an M2 Zero and would love to put DietPi & Amiberry on it to make a Mini Amiga :wink:

6

seanmikhaels methanoid
Hey guys. Please paste the exact error message that you face when running DietPi-PREP, so we can see what we can do :slight_smile:.

7

I dont have my M2 Zero yet (on way from China)… but hopefully someone else can?

8

Actually I was looking around and could not find an official ARMbian image for BananaPi M2 Zero. Instead I found the post about fake images being around: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/6953-banana-pi-m2-zero-with-fakeunofficial-armbian-based-image/

Image download page obviously lists a custom ARMbian image that is not created or supported ARMbian. Also the download link through 3rd party servers are somehow a prove: http://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-M2_ZERO#Image_Release

Okay since there is no alternative, this is still be best short you have. Note the possible boot issues, reported in the above forum link.

Generally, don’t buy an SBC that has not either:

  • An own well maintained (Debian-based, if you want to use DietPi) image, provided by the manufacturer itself from their official website.
  • A well maintained 3rd party (Debian) image that is linked from and promoted on the manufacturers official website and forums.
  • An official ARMbian image, which means that you find it on their download page without EOL (End-of-Life) label: https://www.armbian.com/download/

There are maaaany cheap SBCs out there but the manufacturers just throw them on the market with a single initial image that is never maintained, nor kernel/firmware, thus FOSS 3rd party OS providers are forced to do that job. And in some cases they will simply not do it, especially when the kernel/firmware basis from the manufacturer is unacceptable (like ARMbian => BPi M2 Zero).

Long story short: There is some reason why Banana Pi and Orange Pi and some others are so much cheaper, and you will pay the price sooner or later in another way :wink:.

9

https://dl.armbian.com/bananapim2zero/

Any chance we might see official DietPi support now?

10

Currently OrangePi and BananaPi are out of scope. We’re already overloaded with keeping the currently supported SBC images up-to-date and those two manufacturers very frequently throw new models on the marked. However the DietPi-PREP script (“Others” download option) should work fine. I would just wait for new DietPi release as I added a bunch of changes to the script to deal better with Armbian images and with many enhancements in general. This version contains all changes, in case one wants to try now: https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/raw/PREP/PREP_SYSTEM_FOR_DIETPI.sh