Debian Trixie Milk-V Mars Test Report

Test Environment

Operating System Information

System Version: Debian 13.1 (Trixie)
Download Link:
- debian-installer mini ISO: https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/trixie/main/installer-riscv64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
- u-boot-starfive: http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/u/u-boot/u-boot-starfive_2025.01-3_riscv64.deb
Reference Installation Document: Debian Wiki
Milk-V’s wiki (boot mode switch): https://milkv.io/docs/mars/getting-started/setup#boot-mode-switch

Currently there’s no MIPI DSI or HDMI support (DC8200) from mainline (see JH7110 upstream status page from StarFive), so no display/GUI support at the time.

You’ll only be able to use the board from UART serial or SSH.

Hardware Information

Milk-V Mars (v1.2, 8GB RAM, other variant should also work)
A USB power adapter
A USB-A to C / C to C cable
A microSD card
A USB drive (at least 128MB to fit Debian’s mini netboot ISO)
A USB to UART debugger (e.g. CH340, CH341, CH343, FT2232, etc.)
3x dupont wires
Internet connection via ethernet port
A tooth pick or anything similar to flip the DIP switch ;)

Installation Steps

Debian Wiki provides multiple installation methods.

For both U-Boot and the main OS, they can all boot from USB, network and serial.

U-Boot binary files are rather small in size and can easily boot over serial (X-MODEM or Y-MODEM), while the netboot ISO is quite large and can take (two) hours to load (which is painful and not really the recommended way).

However there’s another catch: vendor U-Boot lacks USB support, so we cannot really update U-Boot over USB.

So the preferred way (if you were on vendor images before) be like:

Phase 1 (temporarily boot Debian U-Boot from RAM): Load U-Boot SPL over UART -> Load U-Boot proper over UART -> Reboot into Debian’s U-Boot image

Phase 2 (permanently flash Debian U-Boot into SPI Flash): Flash Debian’s U-Boot SPL and U-Boot proper into SPI Flash -> Reboot into U-Boot again

Phase 3 (the actual debian-installer process): Boot debian-installer from USB media -> Install Debian -> Enjoy

Between each phase there might be DIP switch changes so please read carefully.

Before you begin: check out Milk-V documents on the boot mode switch. We need it set tu UART recovery mode first.

i.e. GPIO0=GPIO1=1

Phase 1: Boot into Debian U-Boot

First you need to download Debian’s U-Boot images.

If you already have an up and running Debian system, use dpkg to extract the binaries:

wget http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/u/u-boot/u-boot-starfive_2025.01-3_riscv64.deb
dpkg -x u-boot-starfive_2025.01-3_riscv64.deb u-boot-starfive_2025.01-3_riscv64

If not, you can use 7-Zip or ar from binutils:

wget http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/u/u-boot/u-boot-starfive_2025.01-3_riscv64.deb
# 7-Zip
7z x u-boot-starfive_2025.01-3_riscv64.deb
tar xvf data.tar
# ar
ar x u-boot-starfive_2025.01-3_riscv64.deb
tar xvf data.tar.xz

Make sure your board’s boot mode select switch is set to UART recovery (both set to 0).

Now start a serial terminal with tools like tio or minicom (we’ll use tio here).

(We’re using CH343P here so it’s ttyACM rather than ttyUSB, and be aware that sudo might be needed)

tio /dev/ttyACM0 -o 1

Now power on the board, you should see the board printing this:

(C)StarFive
CC

Press Ctrl+T then X

[15:50:16.277] Please enter which X modem protocol to use:
[15:50:16.277]  (0) XMODEM-1K send
[15:50:16.277]  (1) XMODEM-CRC send
[15:50:16.277]  (2) XMODEM-CRC receive
CCCCCCCCCC

Press 0

[15:50:17.644] Send file with XMODEM-1K
[15:50:17.644] Enter file name:

Enter: u-boot-spl.bin.normal.out

[15:50:25.199] Sending file 'u-boot-spl.bin.normal.out'
[15:50:25.199] Press any key to abort transfer
................................................................................................................................................|
[15:50:39.047] Done

U-Boot SPL 2025.01-3 (Apr 08 2025 - 23:07:41 +0000)
DDR version: dc2e84f0.
Trying to boot from UART
C

Press Ctrl+T then Y

[15:50:43.179] Send file with YMODEM
[19:50:43.179] Enter file name:

Enter u-boot.itb

[15:50:43.179] Send file with YMODEM
[15:50:45.975] Sending file 'u-boot.itb'
[15:50:45.975] Press any key to abort transfer
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................|
[15:52:21.529] Done
Loaded 1024523 bytes


U-Boot 2025.01-3 (Apr 08 2025 - 23:07:41 +0000)

CPU:   sifive,u74-mc
Model: Milk-V Mars
DRAM:  8 GiB
Core:  133 devices, 26 uclasses, devicetree: board
WDT:   Not starting watchdog@13070000
MMC:   mmc@16010000: 0, mmc@16020000: 1
Loading Environment from SPIFlash... SF: Detected gd25lq128 with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 16 MiB
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

StarFive EEPROM format v2

--------EEPROM INFO--------
Vendor : MILK-V
Product full SN: MARS-V11-2340-D008E000-00000FB6
data version: 0x2
PCB revision: 0xc1
BOM revision: A
Ethernet MAC0 address: 6c:cf:39:00:94:c3
Ethernet MAC1 address: 6c:cf:39:00:94:c4
--------EEPROM INFO--------

starfive_7110_pcie pcie@2b000000: Starfive PCIe bus probed.
starfive_7110_pcie pcie@2c000000: Starfive PCIe bus probed.
In:    serial@10000000
Out:   serial@10000000
Err:   serial@10000000
Net:   eth0: ethernet@16030000
starting USB...
Bus xhci_pci: Register 5000420 NbrPorts 5
Starting the controller
USB XHCI 1.00
scanning bus xhci_pci for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found
       scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found
Working FDT set to ff72da10
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

As prompted, hit any key to stop autoboot.

And we’re in Debian’s U-Boot and ready for phase 2.

Phase 2: Flash Debian U-Boot into SPI Flash

Run sf probe:

StarFive # sf probe
SF: Detected gd25lq128 with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 16 MiB
StarFive #

Run loady $loadaddr && sf update $loadaddr 0 $filesize

StarFive # loady $loadaddr && sf update $loadaddr 0 $filesize
## Ready for binary (ymodem) download to 0x82000000 at 115200 bps...
C

Press Ctrl+T then Y

[15:52:38.149] Send file with YMODEM
[15:52:38.149] Enter file name:

Enter u-boot-spl.bin.normal.out

[15:52:41.925] Sending file 'u-boot-spl.bin.normal.out'
[15:52:41.925] Press any key to abort transfer
.................................................................................................................................................|
[15:52:59.538] Done
## Total Size      = 0x00023f4a = 147274 Bytes
## Start Addr      = 0x82000000
device 0 offset 0x0, size 0x23f4a
147274 bytes written, 0 bytes skipped in 0.628s, speed 238999 B/s
StarFive #

Run loady $loadaddr && sf update $loadaddr 100000 $filesize

StarFive # loady $loadaddr && sf update $loadaddr 100000 $filesize
## Ready for binary (ymodem) download to 0x82000000 at 115200 bps...
C

Press Ctrl+T then Y

[15:53:17.756] Send file with YMODEM
[15:53:17.756] Enter file name:

Enter u-boot.itb

[15:53:20.837] Sending file 'u-boot.itb'
[15:53:20.837] Press any key to abort transfer
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................|
[15:54:56.178] Done
## Total Size      = 0x000fa20b = 1024523 Bytes
## Start Addr      = 0x82000000
device 0 offset 0x100000, size 0xfa20b
925696 bytes written, 98827 bytes skipped in 6.490s, speed 161575 B/s
StarFive #

Now erase U-Boot env by running env erase:

StarFive # env erase
Erasing Environment on SPIFlash... OK
StarFive #
Erasing Environment on SPIFlash... OK
StarFive #

Now Debian’s U-Boot images are ready inside the SPI Flash.

Power off the board, change the DIP switch to QSPI NOR Flash boot, GPIO0=GPIO1=0, and we’re ready for phase 3: the debian-installer.

Phase 3: Boot from USB and install Debian

First, download the netboot mini ISO:

wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/trixie/main/installer-riscv64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso

Insert your USB drive to your computer and write ISO to it.

Warning

All your data on the USB drive will be lost! Make sure to back them up before proceeding.

Assuming the drive is located at /dev/sdX:

sudo wipefs -af /dev/sdX
sudo dd if=mini.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=1M status=progress
sync; sudo eject /dev/sdX

Unplug the drive, plug it into Mars’ USB 3.0 port, and power on the board.

Note

There are 4 ports on the Mars. The two ports near the ethernet port sometimes might not pick up the drive. If this is the case, use the other two USB 3.0 ports, then rescan USB devices by running usb reset inside U-Boot.

U-Boot SPL 2025.01-3 (Apr 08 2025 - 23:07:41 +0000)
DDR version: dc2e84f0.
Trying to boot from SPI


U-Boot 2025.01-3 (Apr 08 2025 - 23:07:41 +0000)

CPU:   sifive,u74-mc
Model: Milk-V Mars
DRAM:  8 GiB
Core:  133 devices, 26 uclasses, devicetree: board
WDT:   Not starting watchdog@13070000
MMC:   mmc@16010000: 0, mmc@16020000: 1
Loading Environment from SPIFlash... SF: Detected gd25lq128 with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 16 MiB
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

StarFive EEPROM format v2                                                                                                                  

--------EEPROM INFO--------
Vendor : MILK-V
Product full SN: MARS-V11-2340-D008E000-00000FB6
data version: 0x2
PCB revision: 0xc1
BOM revision: A
Ethernet MAC0 address: 6c:cf:39:00:94:c3
Ethernet MAC1 address: 6c:cf:39:00:94:c4
--------EEPROM INFO--------

starfive_7110_pcie pcie@2b000000: Starfive PCIe bus probed.
starfive_7110_pcie pcie@2c000000: Starfive PCIe bus probed.
In:    serial@10000000
Out:   serial@10000000
Err:   serial@10000000
Net:   eth0: ethernet@16030000
starting USB...
Bus xhci_pci: Register 5000420 NbrPorts 5
Starting the controller
USB XHCI 1.00
scanning bus xhci_pci for devices... 3 USB Device(s) found
       scanning usb for storage devices... 1 Storage Device(s) found
Working FDT set to ff72da10
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
Card did not respond to voltage select! : -110
Failed to load EFI variables
** Booting bootflow '<NULL>' with efi_mgr
Booting: usb 0

The board should boot into GRUB and then the debian-installer.

If not, interrupt autoboot and manually run:

usb start
run bootcmd_usb0

And then it’s the regular Debian installation process.

You may do any changes as you wish, but do note a few things:

You’ll probably want to disable swap if you’re booting from microSD, which is very likely the case on Mars since there’s no M.2 NVMe slot as the VisionFive 2.
Choose “Yes” when the installer is asking you if you want to install EFI for removable media.
- By doing so, GRUB will place an additional copy of GRUB to EFI/BOOT/BOOTRISCV64.EFI and U-Boot will pick it up automatically.

After the installation completes, if you want to read/edit U-Boot env variables, you may want to install u-boot-tools and place the following config to /etc/fw_env.config:

# Edit /etc/fw_env.config and set to content as below:

# NOR example
# MTD device name       Device offset   Env. size       Flash sector size       Number of sectors
/dev/mtd1               0x0000          0x10000         0x1000

Logging into the System

Logging into the system via the serial port.

The username and password are set during the installation process so there are no default values here.

Expected Results

The system should boot up normally and allow login via the serial port.

Actual Results

The system starts normally and the output is successfully viewed through the serial port.

Boot Information

Full installation process + boot log: see the asciicast below.

Boot log:

Loading Linux 6.12.43+deb13-riscv64 ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...
/dev/mmcblk1p2: clean, 29899/7766016 files, 872792/31043072 blocks

Debian GNU/Linux 13 mars ttyS0

mars login: mx
Password:
Linux mars 6.12.43+deb13-riscv64 #1 SMP Debian 6.12.43-1 (2025-08-27) riscv64

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
mx@mars:~$ uname -a
Linux mars 6.12.43+deb13-riscv64 #1 SMP Debian 6.12.43-1 (2025-08-27) riscv64 GNU/Linux
mx@mars:~$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="13"
VERSION="13 (trixie)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.1
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"
mx@mars:~$ cat /etc/debian_version
13.1
mx@mars:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
hart            : 1
isa             : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb
mmu             : sv39
uarch           : sifive,u74-mc
mvendorid       : 0x489
marchid         : 0x8000000000000007
mimpid          : 0x4210427
hart isa        : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb

processor       : 1
hart            : 2
isa             : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb
mmu             : sv39
uarch           : sifive,u74-mc
mvendorid       : 0x489
marchid         : 0x8000000000000007
mimpid          : 0x4210427
hart isa        : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb

processor       : 2
hart            : 3
isa             : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb
mmu             : sv39
uarch           : sifive,u74-mc
mvendorid       : 0x489
marchid         : 0x8000000000000007
mimpid          : 0x4210427
hart isa        : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb

processor       : 3
hart            : 4
isa             : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb
mmu             : sv39
uarch           : sifive,u74-mc
mvendorid       : 0x489
marchid         : 0x8000000000000007
mimpid          : 0x4210427
hart isa        : rv64imafdc_zicntr_zicsr_zifencei_zihpm_zca_zcd_zba_zbb

mx@mars:~$ lscpu
Architecture:                riscv64
  Byte Order:                Little Endian
CPU(s):                      4
  On-line CPU(s) list:       0-3
Vendor ID:                   0x489
  Model name:                sifive,u74-mc
    CPU family:              0x8000000000000007
    Model:                   0x4210427
    Thread(s) per core:      1
    Core(s) per socket:      4
    Socket(s):               1
    CPU(s) scaling MHz:      100%
    CPU max MHz:             1500.0000
    CPU min MHz:             375.0000
Caches (sum of all):
  L1d:                       128 KiB (4 instances)
  L1i:                       128 KiB (4 instances)
  L2:                        2 MiB (1 instance)
NUMA:
  NUMA node(s):              1
  NUMA node0 CPU(s):         0-3
Vulnerabilities:
  Gather data sampling:      Not affected
  Indirect target selection: Not affected
  Itlb multihit:             Not affected
  L1tf:                      Not affected
  Mds:                       Not affected
  Meltdown:                  Not affected
  Mmio stale data:           Not affected
  Reg file data sampling:    Not affected
  Retbleed:                  Not affected
  Spec rstack overflow:      Not affected
  Spec store bypass:         Not affected
  Spectre v1:                Not affected
  Spectre v2:                Not affected
  Srbds:                     Not affected
  Tsa:                       Not affected
  Tsx async abort:           Not affected
  mx@mars:~$ sudo apt update; sudo apt install -y fastfetch
[sudo] password for mx:
Hit:1 http://mirror.nju.edu.cn/debian trixie InRelease
Hit:2 http://mirror.nju.edu.cn/debian trixie-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security InRelease
All packages are up to date.
Installing:
  fastfetch

Installing dependencies:
  libyyjson0

Summary:
  Upgrading: 0, Installing: 2, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
  Download size: 669 kB
  Space needed: 1,879 kB / 117 GB available

Get:1 http://mirror.nju.edu.cn/debian trixie/main riscv64 libyyjson0 riscv64 0.10.0+ds-1+b1 [117 kB]
Get:2 http://mirror.nju.edu.cn/debian trixie/main riscv64 fastfetch riscv64 2.40.4+dfsg-1 [552 kB]
Fetched 669 kB in 0s (2,567 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package libyyjson0:riscv64.
(Reading database ... 26400 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libyyjson0_0.10.0+ds-1+b1_riscv64.deb ...
Unpacking libyyjson0:riscv64 (0.10.0+ds-1+b1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package fastfetch.
Preparing to unpack .../fastfetch_2.40.4+dfsg-1_riscv64.deb ...
Unpacking fastfetch (2.40.4+dfsg-1) ...
Setting up libyyjson0:riscv64 (0.10.0+ds-1+b1) ...
Setting up fastfetch (2.40.4+dfsg-1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.41-12) ...
mx@mars:~$ fastfetch
        _,met$$$$$gg.          mx@mars
     ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P.       -------
   ,g$$P""       """Y$$.".     OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) riscv64
  ,$$P'              `$$$.     Host: Milk-V Mars
',$$P       ,ggs.     `$$b:    Kernel: Linux 6.12.43+deb13-riscv64
`d$$'     ,$P"'   .    $$$     Uptime: 1 min
 $$P      d$'     ,    $$P     Packages: 302 (dpkg)
 $$:      $$.   -    ,d$$'     Shell: bash 5.2.37
 $$;      Y$b._   _,d$P'       Terminal: vt220
 Y$$.    `.`"Y$$$$P"'          CPU: jh7110 (4) @ 1.50 GHz
 `$$b      "-.__               Memory: 308.27 MiB / 7.74 GiB (4%)
  `Y$$b                        Swap: Disabled
   `Y$$.                       Disk (/): 952.57 MiB / 116.00 GiB (1%) - ext4
     `$$b.                     Local IP (end0): 10.0.0.32/24
       `Y$$b.                  Locale: en_US.UTF-8
         `"Y$b._
             `""""

mx@mars:~$

Test Criteria

Successful: The actual result matches the expected result.

Failed: The actual result does not match the expected result.

Test Conclusion

Test successful.

System Version

Status

Last Update

Debian Trixie Milk-V Mars Test Report

Test Environment

Operating System Information

Hardware Information

Installation Steps

Phase 1: Boot into Debian U-Boot

Phase 2: Flash Debian U-Boot into SPI Flash

Phase 3: Boot from USB and install Debian

Logging into the System

Expected Results

Actual Results

Boot Information

Test Criteria

Test Conclusion