[zxcvgm]

I have a Rock64 and I don't remember it being that difficult to setup. Maybe I was just using it as a headless machine, but to get a working Linux install shouldn't have been this hard.

I typically use Arch Linux because it's very barebones, and Arch Linux ARM has a working setup [0] for the Rock64. You do need to write various parts like U-Boot bootloader onto the SD card manually, but everything has been pre-compiled. If you prefer an image that you can directly flash onto an SD card like Raspbian, then maybe you can try Armbian [1].

These should get you a working Linux install rather quickly, bringing you to up to the "sixth circle" as written by the author.

[0] https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/rockchip/rock64#ins...

[1] https://www.armbian.com/rock64/

[JeremyNT]

Yes indeed, OP specifically chose "hard mode" here by not using a distribution that supports it with a prebaked image.

That's fine for the OP! They probably wanted to experiment and tinker, no problems there. But it seems to have given a lot of people in this thread the wrong idea about how well supported these devices are for normal users.

[stuaxo]

People like op are how progress is made.

A lot of this will be upstreamed and people will use the info from ops article then fill in a bunch of the gaps.

[oynqr]

I can second this, I have a Rock64 and have had zero problems with it, even when tinkering with custom u-boot builds.

[carlsborg]

Any opinions on peripheral support and software, especially the camera module?