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I just picked up an Asus TinkerBoard hoping to experiment with using it as a mobile development platform. Unfortunately I didn't read the fine print that the only two supported OSs are Asus-specific versions of Debian and Android. The Debian version doesn't seem to support HDMI, and the Android version is nearly impossible to work with because it's so buggy.

What I was really hoping for was something like Lubuntu or even full Ubuntu, or anything else really, that I can customize to my heart's content (as opposed to the Asus flavors which don't even allow root access). I've tried the two aforementioned distros plus Kali for ARM, to no avail. They won't even give me a video output on the DSI, let alone HDMI.

Is there any distro out there already, or one that can be easily modified, which would work on this board? The two provided by Asus are just un-salvageable, as far as I can see, but they're the only two that are technically supported.

thanby
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  • Asus has shipped a version of Debian w/o root access? How do you upgrade packages? [This is clearly wrong; their documentation page gives plenty of sudo examples.] – derobert Jan 19 '18 at 20:54
  • Their documentation is extremely difficult to understand and when I contacted support for clarification, they straight-up told me I can't access root without first using an Android rooting utility. I gave up trying to get answers from them. – thanby Jan 20 '18 at 22:02

2 Answers2

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I recently bought an Orange Pi (which is not exactly the same as yours but something similar: a specific hardware and with great potentialities but with lack of support).

The options that I had for the OS did not seem good enough and searching more, I found ARMbian , which is basically Debian for ARM.

It worked since the installation without many tweaks. So I leave the link for ARMBian with ASUS Tinkerboard and at least one light on your way.

You can also check the forum for your board here.

Rui F Ribeiro
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k.Cyborg
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    Please use paragraphs, and use more ".", instead of "...". It is the difference between a readable text or a long, continuous rant. – Rui F Ribeiro Jan 19 '18 at 21:08
  • Whilst Banana and Orange hardware boards are quite interesting for the price, they have far less support on the software side compared to a raspberry or a beaglebone. Some of the boards are also sourced from other makers, and often the models or even new revisions of the boards are not compatible with each other. Whilst the ARMbian guys do a fantastic work, they have lots of boards to care about, and in less obscure/discontinued boards the support can be less than optimal. For thus of us in Europe, import taxes also can make those Chinese boards far less attractive. – Rui F Ribeiro Jan 19 '18 at 21:22
  • I really don't know very much about taxes, I'm in Cuba and I buy from Amazon (EUA) and a friend of mine bring me the staff that I bought...but this Orange guys have some unexpected stuff like the one o bought: the Orange Pi IoT 2G, that give me access to the GSM network of my country (poor internet, cuba!) and with ARMBian it work flawlessly!!! – k.Cyborg Jan 19 '18 at 21:58
  • Let´s say that after taxes, a 30-40 euro Orange Pi high-end board can cost the same as two Raspberry 3 boards. – Rui F Ribeiro Jan 19 '18 at 22:02
  • So many?!?!?! Wow! The one I mentioned before just cost me around 20$! – k.Cyborg Jan 19 '18 at 22:03
  • We have a tax exemption until around 25 USD. After that, it doubles the price as a rough estimative. I usually prefer slightly more expensive boards. I also try to actively avoid boards that use realtek as the wifi chipset. – Rui F Ribeiro Jan 19 '18 at 22:05
  • Please, why the avoid of the Realtek chip? I'm a little newbie and all knowledge is welcome. – k.Cyborg Jan 19 '18 at 22:11
  • please have a loot at https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/252210/wi-fi-problems-using-asus-usb-n13-adapter/252215 – Rui F Ribeiro Jan 19 '18 at 22:14
  • Funny story, I actually just installed ARMbian on my own Orange Pi and it seems to be doing well so far. I'm impressed with their level of support. I'll have to check out using it on the Asus board too, thank you for the advice! – thanby Jan 20 '18 at 22:03
  • Thanks for your answer...just tell me about the ARMBian in the Asus TinkerBoard, I was thinking in buy one of them. Greetings – k.Cyborg Jan 22 '18 at 01:40
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I can recommend Linaro aka Debian images (mine were from 2017 and 2018), RetroPie on the Tinkerboard aka R.O.T.T. (2018) and Lakka RetroArch for Retro Game Emulation both N64 and PSP games (2018). My boards were bought in 2017/2018 and use microSD cards (no EMMC/no S). I use "HDMI" (big screen) and "HDMI to VGA converter" cables (small screen). I believe NetBSD (big endian ARM rockchip images) could run too, but haven't tested it yet. I know this question was asked in 2018, but if anyone cares now (2020), they really do work if you dare to tinker around.

PrivateStatic
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