Flashing with Linux or Windows

To flash the image with Linux or Windows, perform the following steps:

  1. Insert a micro-SD card into the computer through a micro-SD card reader, or by a built-in card reader on a laptop.

  2. Download the latest Debian image from: this link.

    Note:

    The latest Debian images are located in the 202308 folder. Make sure you use the latest image.

    Since there are several boot modes as described in VisionFive 2 Boot Mode Settings, different Debian images are also prepared, which include:

    • NVME image
    • SD image
    • eMMC image

    Thus, depending on user’s preference, you will need to choose the image to download accordingly.

  3. Extract the .bz2 file.

    The image downloaded is in an img.bz2 compressed format. To extract the image, you will need to use a tool like 7-Zip in Windows/Linux or bzip2 command.

    For bzip2, you can use the following command, this command will remove the original img.bz2 file. : 

    bzip2 -d <filename>.img.bz2

    To preserve the original file, you will need to use:

    bzip2 -dk <filename>.img.bz2

  4. Visit this link to download BalenaEtcher. We will use BalenaEtcher software to flash the Debian image to a micro-SD card.

  5. Install BalenaEtcher and open it.

    Figure 1. Install BalenaEtcher

  6. Click Flash from file and select the location of the image where we just unzipped the following file:

    starfive-jh7110-VF2-<Version>.img
    Tip: <Version> indicates the version number of the Debian image.

  7. Click Select target and select the connected micro-SD card.

  8. Click Flash! to start the flash task.