All our images are digitally signed and therefore it's possible to check theirs authentication. You need to unzip the download package and issue those commands (Linux):
7z and zip archives can be uncompressed with [7-Zip](http://www.7-zip.org/) on Windows, [Keka](http://www.kekaosx.com/en/) on Mac and 7z on Linux (apt-get install p7zip-full). RAW images can be written with [Rufus](https://rufus.akeo.ie/) (Win) or DD in Linux/Mac:
Important: Make sure you use a **good & reliable** SD card. If you encounter boot troubles or simply as a measure of precaution, check them with [F3](http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/) or [H2testw](http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html).
Also important: SD cards are optimised for sequential reads/writes as it's common in digital cameras. This is what the *speed class* is about. And while you shouldn't buy any card rated less than *class 10* today you should especially take care to choose one that is known to show high random I/O performance since this is way more performance relevant when used with any SBC.
Insert SD card into a slot and power the board. First boot takes around 3 minutes then it reboots and you will need to wait another one minute to login. This delay is because system updates package list and creates 128Mb emergency SWAP on the SD card.
Login as **root** on console or via SSH and use password **1234**. You will be prompted to change this password at first login. You will then be asked to create a normal user account that is sudo enabled (beware of default QWERTY keyboard settings at this stage).
This will not only update distribution packages (Debian/Ubuntu) but also updates Armbian kernel, u-boot and board support package if available. So if you've seen in the list of updated packages the names _u-boot_ or _linux_ the following command is required for changes to take effect:
You will be prompted to select and confirm some actions. It's possible to upgrade **from any other distribution**. Note that this procedure upgrades only kernel with hardware definitions (bin, dtb, firmware and headers. Operating system and modifications remain as is.
Check [this for manual way](http://www.armbian.com/kernel/) and more info.
**Important: If you came here since you can't get Armbian running on your board please keep in mind that in 95 percent of all cases it's either a faulty/fraud/counterfeit SD card or an insufficient power supply that's causing these sorts of _doesn't work_ issues!**
If you broke the system you can try to get in this way. You have to get to u-boot command prompt, using either a serial adapter or monitor and usb keyboard (USB support in u-boot currently not enabled on all H3 boards).
After switching power on or rebooting, when u-boot loads up, press some key on the keyboard (or send some key presses via terminal) to abort default boot sequence and get to the command prompt:
Enter these commands, replacing root device path if necessary. Select setenv line with ttyS0 for serial, tty1 for keyboard+monitor (these are for booting with mainline kernel, check boot.cmd for your device for commands related to legacy kernel):
- [Fix a Jessie systemd problem due to upgrade from 3.4 to 4.x](https://github.com/igorpecovnik/lib/issues/111)
# How to unbrick the system?
When something goes terribly wrong and you are not able to boot the system, this is the way to proceed. You need some linux machine, where you can mount the failed SD card. With this procedure you will reinstall the u-boot, kernel and hardware settings. In most cases this should be enought to unbrick the board. It's recommended to issue a filesystem check before mounting:
fsck /dev/sdX -f
Than mount the SD card and download those files (This example is only for Banana R1):
This is just an example for: **Ubuntu Trusty, Lamobo R1, Vanilla kernel** (next). Alter packages naming according to [this](http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/211-kernel-update-procedure-has-been-changed/).
Mount SD card and extract all those deb files to it's mount point.
dpkg -x DEB_FILE /mnt
Go to /mnt/boot and link (or copy) **vmlinuz-4.x.x-sunxi** kernel file to **zImage**.
Unmount SD card, move it to the board and power on.
Check [this site](http://namhuy.net/1085/install-gui-on-debian-7-wheezy.html) for others and be prepared that some desktop image features currently might not work afterwards (eg. 2D/3D/video HW acceleration, so downgrading a _desktop_ image, removing the `libxfce4util-common` package and doing an `apt-get autoremove` later might be the better idea in such cases)
There are five predefined configurations, you can find them in those files:
/etc/network/interfaces.default
/etc/network/interfaces.hostapd
/etc/network/interfaces.bonding
/etc/network/interfaces.r1
/etc/network/interfaces.r1switch
By default **/etc/network/interfaces** is symlinked to **/etc/network/interfaces.default**
1. DEFAULT: your network adapters are connected classical way.
2. HOSTAPD: your network adapters are bridged together and bridge is connected to the network. This allows you to have your AP connected directly to your router.
3. BONDING: your network adapters are bonded in fail safe / "notebook" way.
4. Router configuration for Lamobo R1 / Banana R1.
5. Switch configuration for Lamobo R1 / Banana R1.
You can switch configuration with re-linking.
cd /etc/network
ln -sf interfaces.x interfaces
(x = default,hostapd,bonding,r1)
Than check / alter your interfaces:
nano /etc/network/interfaces
# How to set fixed IP?
By default your main network adapter's IP is assigned by your router DHCP server.
In certain situations, it is desirable to have an virtual read-only root filesystem. This prevents any changes from occurring on the root filesystem that may alter system behavior, and it allows a simple reboot to restore a system to its clean state.
You need an A10, A20 or H3 board with legacy kernel (3.4.x) where we added support for overlayfs. We tested it on Ubuntu Xenial but it should work elsewhere too. Login as root and execute:
There are two different hostap daemons. One is **default** and the other one is for some **Realtek** wifi cards. Both have their own basic configurations and both are patched to gain maximum performances.
5. To change parameters, edit /etc/hostapd.conf BTW: You can get WPAPSK the long blob from wpa_passphrase YOURNAME YOURPASS
# How to connect IR remote?
Required conditions:
- IR hardware
- loaded driver
Get your [remote configuration](http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/) (lircd.conf) or [learn](http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Setup_Lirc#Learning_Commands). You are going to need the list of all possible commands which you can map to your IR remote keys:
irrecord --list-namespace
To start with learning process you need to delete old config:
