Creating the perfect Debian system for Cubieboard

As a cubieboard user, the most headache problem is not a better system, this article will help you solve this problem.

First, we need to thank the author of the website http://guillaumeplayground.net/for making this system. However, because it is custom-made to Mele, it is necessary to make some optimization adjustments on the Cubieboard.

System Features:
1) The system is suitable for small server applications, no video output, all operations need to be in another computer SSH login after the operation. Because as a small server, there is generally no need for video output, so that the system resources can be fully used in other required services.
2) system optimization is good, only loaded with some necessary drivers, so start quickly, the system occupies low resources.
3) Debian itself as a Linux server system is a good choice, and arm hardware support is also very good, general software only through the Apt-get can be directly installed.
4) because there is no video output, the author is very attentive to the system after the successful start will make the motherboard on the LED flashing several times, reminding the system has been successfully started, you can telnet operation.

If you want to use Cubieboard as a video media player, the system is not for you, but you can install other systems for that author.

This article only provides the basic installation process, details can refer to the author's original site or query Google.

1. Preparatory work
1.1) Cubieboard, SD card and network environment (no need for external keyboard mouse and video output device)
1.2) Another computer, install the SSH client (for example: Putty)

2. Debian installation
2.1) Installation System debian_wheezy_armhf_v1_mele.img.gz
See http://guillaumeplayground.net/mele-a2000-headless-debian-wheezy-armhf-with-nand-install-v1/for details.

2.2) Install patch linux-armhf-headless-1g-3.0.42-3.tar.gz
See http://guillaumeplayground.net/mele-armhf-3-0-57-kernel-update/for details.

2.3) Use GParted to adjust SD card partition, make full use of unused space
See http://gparted.sourceforge.net/for details.

3. Optimized adjustment
3.1) to enable Debian to support 1G of memory, and to solve the shutdown after the power button can not boot the issue
Write the U-boot.bin, Sunxi-spl.bin file in the attachment to the SD card bootloader

DD if=sunxi-spl.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1024 seek=8
dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1024 seek=32

3.2) Support USB camera
Need to recompile kernel to open UVC support (can be downloaded from the author's website), or copy the new kernel file Uimage in the attachment to/boot/, and rename the/lib/modules folder "3.0.42+" to "3.0.42"

3.3) Adjust memory run frequency to 480
Copy the Script.bin from the attachment to an SD card, such as:

MOUNT/DEV/MMCBLK0P1/MNT
CP script.bin/mnt/

3.4) optimize the SD disk read/write
Add the following command to the/etc/rc.local file:

echo NoOp >/sys/block/mmcblk0/queue/scheduler

3.5) Modify APT Source (/etc/apt/sources.list) to faster server such as: ftp.cn.debian.org

3.6) Restart Startup

Well, the stage is ready, and the next thing you see is your performance.