Banana Pi BPI-R2 is a multimedia router board powered by MediaTek MT7623N quad core processor with 2GB RAM, 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, up to two SATA ports, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, and I/O headers. The board is not for sale yet, but the company has recently released the source code with U-boot and Linux 4.4.70, as well as a datasheet for MediaTek MT7623N processor.
The source code can be found on Github, so let’s see if we can build it:
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git clone https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/BPI-R2-bsp cd BPI-R2-bsp/ sudo apt install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf ./build.sh ./build.sh NOTICE: new build.sh default select BPI-R2-720P and pack all boards supported boards: BPI-R2-720P BPI-R2-720P configured. Now run `make` This tool support following building mode(s): -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Build all, uboot and kernel and pack to download images. 2. Build uboot only. 3. Build kernel only. 4. kernel configure. 5. Pack the builds to target download image, this step must execute after u-boot, kernel and rootfs build out 6. update files for SD 7. Clean all build. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please choose a mode(1-7): 1 |
After a couple of minutes, the build would end with:
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usr/lib/u-boot/bananapi/ usr/lib/u-boot/bananapi/bpi-r2/ usr/lib/u-boot/bananapi/bpi-r2/BPI-R2-720P-2k.img.gz Build success! |
For the very last step, it asks you to login as root / sudoer, which it should not do… But we end up with the images, so at least it builds:
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ls -lh ./SD/ total 27M drwxrwxr-x 2 jaufranc jaufranc 4.0K Jun 28 10:46 100MB -rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 22M Jun 28 10:46 4.4.70-BPI-R2-Kernel.tgz -rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 151K Jun 28 10:46 BOOTLOADER-bpi-r2.tgz drwxrwxr-x 3 jaufranc jaufranc 4.0K Jun 28 10:46 BPI-BOOT -rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 4.8M Jun 28 10:46 BPI-BOOT-bpi-r2.tgz drwxrwxr-x 4 jaufranc jaufranc 4.0K Jun 28 10:46 BPI-ROOT |
MediaTek has also been active by committing patchsets for MT7623 to the Linux Kernel Mailing List, so mainline Linux is an eventual possibility for BPI-R2 board. We just don’t have a clear view of what works and what doesn’t with mainline.
The datasheet is a 1,235-page document, but the name “MT7623N Datasheet for Development Board” implies that it may actually be a subset of another larger and more complete datasheet. Nevertheless, it looks to have enough information to control peripherals like GPIOs, I2C, PWM, UART, timers, GMAC, USB, etc… You’ll also find BPI-R2 schematics (PDF only) in the board’s Wiki.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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