Mono Docs

Installing Armbian

This guide walks through flashing Armbian to the Development Kit’s eMMC from Recovery Linux.

The procedure boots Recovery Linux from NOR, writes the Armbian image to eMMC over the network, then switches the DIP switch to boot Armbian from eMMC. Because Recovery runs from NOR, overwriting the entire eMMC is safe — you always retain a working recovery environment on NOR.

Prerequisites

  • UART serial console connected (see Getting started)
  • An Ethernet cable connected to one of the ports with access to the internet
  • DIP switch currently set to NOR (factory default)

Updates

Armbian can be update normally after it is installed on Mono Gateway developmnet kit.

Step 1: Boot into Recovery Linux

Connect the UART cable and open a serial terminal:

tio /dev/ttyUSB0

Reset the device, interrupt the U-Boot countdown by pressing any key, then boot Recovery:

=> run recovery

Log in as root (no password). The status LED pulses orange in Recovery Linux.

Step 2: Set up networking

Recovery Linux has no DHCP, so configure the network manually. Pick the interface matching the port your cable is connected to:

Port (left to right)Interface
1eth1
2eth2
3eth0
4 (SFP+)eth3
5 (SFP+)eth4

For example, using the port mapped to eth0:

ip link set eth0 up
ip addr add 10.0.0.69/24 dev eth0
ip route add default via 10.0.0.1 dev eth0

Adjust the interface, IP address, and gateway to match your network.

Step 3: Flash Armbian to eMMC

Stream, decompress, and write the image directly to the eMMC (/dev/mmcblk0) in one pipeline. This takes a few minutes.

Make sure to replace the ARMBIAN-IMAGE-DOWNLOAD-LINK.xz with the actual link from https://armbian.com/boards/gateway-dk

curl -sL ARMBIAN-IMAGE-DOWNLOAD-LINK.xz | xz -d | dd of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M

Step 4: Switch the DIP switch to eMMC

Flip the DIP switch to eMMC. You can do this while the system is running — no need to power off.

Step 5: Reboot

reboot

Watch the serial console. A successful eMMC boot shows:

INFO:    RCW BOOT SRC is SD/EMMC

Step 6: Write fresh firmware again

Earlier we wiped the eMMC while writing the image to it, so we need to write firmware back to eMMC.

  1. Set the DIP switch to NOR.

  2. Reboot into recovery Linux.

  3. Set up networking (check the start of this docs - step 2)

  4. Run the update:

    firmware update

  5. Set the DIP switch back to eMMC.

  6. Reboot.