Gentoo on ARM

[kyleighterry]

Has anyone tried Gentoo on ARM or RISC-V? If so, how easy is it to install Gentoo, relative to installing Gentoo on x86_64 architectures?

I have what is essentially an android TV box that I want to run Linux on. It’s an SoC that doesn’t have much info about it. I wondered if it’s worth it to use Gentoo to compile applications for it from source since it has such limited support relative to other TV boxes. I would probably just be using it as a mini server anyway. Thoughts?

[Banana]

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Gentoo on ARM.
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[pingtoo]

I have both ARM and RISCV box with Gentoo.

The stage3 tarball work.

However you will need to know how to get Kernel for your hardware. ARM most likely work even with mainline kernel. RISCV you most likely need BSP.

You most likely need to have box Device Tree(DT) or else kernel will not work.

I use ARM as my primary workstation, the RISCV box just a toy to play to see how much I can get it going. ARM box can be use for daily drive however building Gentoo it is better off if you have more than a few so you can utilize CPU and RAM of all nodes on network.

I think you better think through why you need Gentoo on the box. It is OK to just for learning. but if you expect much higher function than you need to be patient, you need a lot of time to research and re-try.

[NeddySeagoon]

kyleighterry,

Welcome to Gentoo.

These TV sticks often have binary blob kernel modules, so building to own kernel is not an option.
ARM SoCs all have weird and wonderful ways of booting. Its easy to 'brick' the device trying to update the boot code.
You will need JTAG to unbrick it. That won't be documented either.

As you say, ARM TV sticks don't have much documentation.

If this is to be your first Gentoo install, it's a bad place to start.
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NeddySeagoon

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[John R. Graham]

Hi, kyleighterry.

One more point. Almost all contemporary Android TV SoCs have hardware-anchored secure boot features enabled. It's likely that you won't have access to the signing keys to get an image to load on the platform. So it may not be just an ill-advised first Gentoo project, but practically impossible.

- John
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