Can’t install Ubuntu on RPI 4

[gordonfreemanjr]

Ok, I’m officially unable to install Ubuntu on my Raspberry Pi 4. So far I tried 3 ways, all of them with a freshly FAT32 formatted SD card:

18.10 through Berryboot. I run Berryboot fine, download the Ubuntu Server image, reboot and the process is stuck within seconds on: cloud-init v. 19.1-1 etc, and it just won’t carry on.
Official 19.10 32-bit Server image. I flash the image on the card, boot up, the process runs for about 5 mins, then freezes on:
[done] started daily apt upgrade and clean activities

and just won’t carry on.

Official 19.10 64-bit Server image. Exactly as above.
The RPI4 is the 4GB version. Any help appreciated, I have nothing. The Ethernet is plugged in, the network is working.

[fruitoftheloom]

Ok, I’m officially unable to install Ubuntu on my Raspberry Pi 4. So far I tried 3 ways, all of them with a freshly FAT32 formatted SD card:

18.10 through Berryboot. I run Berryboot fine, download the Ubuntu Server image, reboot and the process is stuck within seconds on: cloud-init v. 19.1-1 etc, and it just won’t carry on.
Official 19.10 32-bit Server image. I flash the image on the card, boot up, the process runs for about 5 mins, then freezes on:
[done] started daily apt upgrade and clean activities

and just won’t carry on.

Official 19.10 64-bit Server image. Exactly as above.
The RPI4 is the 4GB version. Any help appreciated, I have nothing. The Ethernet is plugged in, the network is working.

Forget NoobS, BerryBoot and PiNN, just use the Canonical download as per:

https://ubuntu.com/download/iot/raspberry-pi

https://ubuntu.com/blog/roadmap-for-off ... berry-pi-4

[B.Goode]

Ok, I’m officially unable to install Ubuntu on my Raspberry Pi 4.

( ... )

Official 19.10 64-bit Server image. Exactly as above.
The RPI4 is the 4GB version. Any help appreciated, I have nothing. The Ethernet is plugged in, the network is working.

"Officially unable" seems a correct summary -

The Raspberry Pi 4 model B comes with different choices of RAM: 1GB, 2GB and 4GB. However, our official support for this board is currently limited to the 1GB and 2GB versions.

Ref: https://ubuntu.com/blog/roadmap-for-off ... berry-pi-4

[gordonfreemanjr]

Ok, I’m officially unable to install Ubuntu on my Raspberry Pi 4.

( ... )

Official 19.10 64-bit Server image. Exactly as above.
The RPI4 is the 4GB version. Any help appreciated, I have nothing. The Ethernet is plugged in, the network is working.

"Officially unable" seems a correct summary -

The Raspberry Pi 4 model B comes with different choices of RAM: 1GB, 2GB and 4GB. However, our official support for this board is currently limited to the 1GB and 2GB versions.

Ref: https://ubuntu.com/blog/roadmap-for-off ... berry-pi-4

How did I miss this?
Thanks.

Anyway, the sole reason of my attempts to install Ubuntu on RPI4 are to run Steam and GOG Galaxy clients. Can you recommend any other available OS capable of doing that?

[phase]

if you have issues with the usb ports you have to limit the ram to 3072Mb...i still found issues with the ports even after i set this parameter..seems like a power issue..not shure... but they will fix it..

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total_mem=3072

if you want to utilize whats not being used ...install zram as swap mem

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apt install zram-config

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reboot.

...

[gordonfreemanjr]

Thank you, but that is not the case. Any install just won’t complete, freezing at the same moment. So I didn’t even get to the USB thing, heh.

[jamesh]

if you have issues with the usb ports you have to limit the ram to 3072Mb...i still found issues with the ports even after i set this parameter..seems like a power issue..not shure... but they will fix it..

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total_mem=3072

if you want to utilize whats not being used ...install zram as swap mem

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apt install zram-config

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reboot.

...

Not a power problem - Canonical need to use the bounce buffer code present in Raspbian as the PCIe peripheral can only access the first 3GB of RAM.

This is why third party OS's are generally not as good as Raspbian - they do not know enough about the HW to do a thorough job.

[phase]

ok thank`s for that info...it will most likely become handy when i tell others...on other forum`s i am a member of...thx

[phase]

@gordon you have to edit the config.txt file prior to inserting the media,,,,hence edit it first then insert and power up the rpi-4...

[gordonfreemanjr]

@gordon you have to edit the config.txt file prior to inserting the media,,,,hence edit it first then insert and power up the rpi-4...

@phase How so?

[fruitoftheloom]

@gordon you have to edit the config.txt file prior to inserting the media,,,,hence edit it first then insert and power up the rpi-4...

@phase How so?

Why not read the link which was posted above ??

https://ubuntu.com/blog/roadmap-for-off ... berry-pi-4

[gordonfreemanjr]

This I know. As I’ve written already - why not read? - I never got there. The installation halts way earlier.

[fruitoftheloom]

This I know. As I’ve written already - why not read? - I never got there. The installation halts way earlier.

You should be able to edit that file on the machine you used to create the SD Card !

Which was written above by phase....

[topguy]

Anyway, the sole reason of my attempts to install Ubuntu on RPI4 are to run Steam and GOG Galaxy clients.

Can you point me to a link where either of them ( Valve / GOG ) confirm that they have linux clients for ARM computers ?

[phase]

there are other images avail now here is a link to a latest version of 19.10.1

https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi

the 4 gig mem and usb problem is resolved so no need for the memory limit to 3 gig...skip that step..
also if you want to disable wi-fi and b-tooth i added this to my usercfg.txt file....
and removed the other blue tooth entry in the nobtcfg.txt file

dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi

this is for rpi-4 64 bit 4GB iot server image but there is links on this link below for rpi 32bit

download the 64 bit version 19.10 from this page...

https://ubuntu.com/download/iot/raspberry-pi

you need a 16Gb sd-card minimum....use etcher to flash the image...
there has been some issues reported about using it on mac systems..I dont use one just what i have read ..
use a windows or Linux box if in doubt...

once it has flashed ..eject the sd-card reader ..leave the sd-card in the reader...

re insert the sd-card reader with the flashed sd-card in it back into your computer

open the file manager of your choice..you may need admin privileges to edit the file..
it is in the boot partition of the file system and it is an approx 130 odd Mb partition...if your using a windows machine ..you should find it easy....

really i only edited the

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usercfg.txt 

file ....
..if the files there are in a list ....the file at hand will be around the bottom of the list of files....
open the file and copy paste this code into it...

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total_mem=3072 

.... this line sets the maximum ram usage....

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dtparam=audio=on

.........this line enables the audio..so




now save the file ...

eject the sd-card reader..remove the sd card..
and insert it into the rpi-4...

connect mouse k-b video Ethernet etc ..you may have a monitor issue so make shore it`s at least native 720p..check cables for known working good ones...


power up the rpi-4..and wait for about 2 or so mins...you should have text running down the screen

it will eventually give you a login prompt...it might roll some more code at this point..just wait till it stops..hit enter a few times..
you should now have the login prompt..go ahead and do the login as i wrote in the next line below...

user and password are both

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 Ubuntu

...it should now login ...

it will then ask you to give it you own new password...

once that is done enter this code

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sudo su  

..hit enter.. that will give you a

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 root user

command line prompt

code this...

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apt update && apt full-upgrade && apt dist-upgrade

..... hit enter...this will do the upgrade procedure...

answer yes to the prompts so it can do its install...once it is done
reboot the rpi-4...
and once again login with your password..and the user name is still Ubuntu ...once your logged in
code this

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sudo su

..now you are root user...
if you want you can leave it at this point as a command line level op sys...

once that has done you can now install a desktop..if you please to do so there are a few to choose from ..use google it will help you find other desktop installs...

i chose to .install mate desktop...

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apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop

follow the prompts...it has to download about 1400 files so grab a bag of chips sit back and wait for it to finish....you will get a prompt to choose a display manager...i choose ...lightdm...hit enter.. it will continue ...

once it has stopped back at the command prompt...

reboot it,,,,

it should boot up with the mate desktop login screen greeter,,

there is a round dot in the login box click on it and choose the mate option...

enter your password and it will login to the desktop...

you may have to install ...

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apt install pavucontrol

so you can setup the hdmi audio output
you have to set it to multichannel output..via the mate gui menu in the sound tab ...once the desktop is installed

you may want to install virtual memory...

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apt install zram-control

..this requires a reboot to apply it into the system....


i would like to add that i played around in the "software & updates" in the gui under the administration menu and selected everything that was not selected
i have this outcome::

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@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# uname -a
Linux ubuntu 5.3.0-1012-raspi2 #14-Ubuntu SMP Mon Nov 11 10:06:55 UTC 2019 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# 

there is a few bugg`s in it still and this is a server image ..there are still packages that are still missing like i2c-tools ....etc..etc

the rest is up to you...

all the best phase....

i think that is the basics 4 you or whoever reads this post....been a long day....

[BRX7]

Can the img be extracted and copied straight to empty project partitions (boot root) ?

my sdcard is created with pinn with empty project spaces

update I have extracted it, now need to know how to make it work with pinn,
cmmdline.txt is missing so i did ln -s to btcmd.txt , i have the os json on the boot paratition
anything else i should look to adjust?

[geev03]

download the 64 bit version 19.10 from this page...

https://ubuntu.com/download/iot/raspberry-pi

you need a 16Gb sd-card minimum....use etcher to flash the image...
.....

i think that is the basics 4 you or whoever reads this post....been a long day....

Thank you, it was easy to get it all working (remote, "headless & arm less" ) in about an hour.

[PeterO]

Not a power problem - Canonical need to use the bounce buffer code present in Raspbian as the PCIe peripheral can only access the first 3GB of RAM.
This is why third party OS's are generally not as good as Raspbian - they do not know enough about the HW to do a thorough job.

From https://ubuntu.com/blog/roadmap-for-off ... berry-pi-4

Kernel fixes have been identified by Canonical engineers. We are currently testing these fixes extensively. We will push updates within weeks, following successful test completion.

That's a bit rich when you've already published the fix don't you think ?
PeerO

[geev03]

After the reboot Kernel changed to 'Kernel: 5.3.0-1008-raspi2' , solving several problems.
XRDP works 'out of the box' .

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Last login: Fri Nov  8 17:43:28 2019 from 192.168.1.75
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ neofetch
            .-/+oossssoo+/-.               ubuntu@ubuntu
        `:+ssssssssssssssssss+:`           -------------
      -+ssssssssssssssssssyyssss+-         OS: Ubuntu 19.10 aarch64
    .ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNysssso.       Host: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1
   /ssssssssssshdmmNNmmyNMMMMhssssss/      Kernel: 5.3.0-1008-raspi2
  +ssssssssshmydMMMMMMMNddddyssssssss+     Uptime: 48 mins
 /sssssssshNMMMyhhyyyyhmNMMMNhssssssss/    Packages: 2104 (dpkg), 3 (snap)
.ssssssssdMMMNhsssssssssshNMMMdssssssss.   Shell: bash 5.0.3
+sssshhhyNMMNyssssssssssssyNMMMysssssss+   Terminal: /dev/pts/1
ossyNMMMNyMMhsssssssssssssshmmmhssssssso   CPU: (4) @ 1.500GHz
ossyNMMMNyMMhsssssssssssssshmmmhssssssso   Memory: 1269MiB / 3793MiB
+sssshhhyNMMNyssssssssssssyNMMMysssssss+
.ssssssssdMMMNhsssssssssshNMMMdssssssss.
 /sssssssshNMMMyhhyyyyhdNMMMNhssssssss/
  +sssssssssdmydMMMMMMMMddddyssssssss+
   /ssssssssssshdmNNNNmyNMMMMhssssss/
    .ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNysssso.
      -+sssssssssssssssssyyyssss+-
        `:+ssssssssssssssssss+:`
            .-/+oossssoo+/-.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[jamesh]

Not a power problem - Canonical need to use the bounce buffer code present in Raspbian as the PCIe peripheral can only access the first 3GB of RAM.
This is why third party OS's are generally not as good as Raspbian - they do not know enough about the HW to do a thorough job.

From https://ubuntu.com/blog/roadmap-for-off ... berry-pi-4

Kernel fixes have been identified by Canonical engineers. We are currently testing these fixes extensively. We will push updates within weeks, following successful test completion.

That's a bit rich when you've already published the fix don't you think ?
PeerO

It's a bit richer to do all the testing after the product has been released!

[BRX7]

hello @procount if your browsing, any tips to get this image to boot with pinn with cmdine.txt?

or anyone else even

[Matha]

Agree totally with the sentiments by RPi engineer(s) here. Two peeves:

• Canonical never tested their image with the 4GB model

• The image naming convention, i.e. without release date or minor version number, is a bit lame. Are we supposed to review the checksum to understand that the original release has now been modified.

Sorry folks, just venting here because posting at UbuntuOne did not generate a single response. BTW, Hui Wang patched the issue in late Aug/early Sep with no regression test failures reported. And yet we still do not have a new ubuntu-server image. Perhaps, Ben and Mark could exchange some notes on agreeing with the nomenclature standards established by the Foundation for public image downloads.

Kind regards.

[thatchunkylad198966]

We don't need the "fix" for 4gb RAM now. the fix has been implanted into the updates.
I started from scratch, Ubuntu 19.10 - went ahead and loaded into SSH on my Android phone (you can get your IP from your router) and login, you'll be asked to enter the default password which is "ubuntu" *username* and "ubuntu" *password*. then pick a password and carry on.......

apt update -y && apt upgrade -y && apt dist-upgrade -y && reboot

Now your USB works.

I have the 4gb Pi 4 model b and it's working great.

[dustnbone]

Anyway, the sole reason of my attempts to install Ubuntu on RPI4 are to run Steam and GOG Galaxy clients. Can you recommend any other available OS capable of doing that?

Steam will not run on Raspberry Pi, the Linux client is for x86/x64 not ARM. I would assume the GOG client is the same but I can't confirm as I don't use it personally.

The games hosted on Steam are also only for the x86/64 platform, so even if the client ran none of the games could.

Can also confirm Ubuntu works fine on 2GB Pi4 but not the 4GB.

[thatchunkylad198966]

Anyway, the sole reason of my attempts to install Ubuntu on RPI4 are to run Steam and GOG Galaxy clients. Can you recommend any other available OS capable of doing that?

Steam will not run on Raspberry Pi, the Linux client is for x86/x64 not ARM. I would assume the GOG client is the same but I can't confirm as I don't use it personally.

The games hosted on Steam are also only for the x86/64 platform, so even if the client ran none of the games could.

Can also confirm Ubuntu works fine on 2GB Pi4 but not the 4GB.

A new image soon. as far as the 4gb goes, working great here after running "apt update -y && apt upgrade -y"....