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+TITLE: Installing BSDs on Cubieboard1
+DATE: 2022-05-29
+TAGS: pushoverlicense freebsd netbsd openbsd software freesoftware foss sbc cubieboard
+-------------------------
+
+#### FreeBSD
+* Download `SD Card Image` for `armv7/GENERICSD` from
+  [here](https://www.freebsd.org/where/), burn to SD card as usual
+* This image does not contain a U-boot capable of booting Cubieboard1. I
+  couldn't figure out how to download FreeBSD packages without having FreeBSD
+  installed, but U-boot image for Cubieboard1 is available in [Parabola
+  repos](https://www.parabola.nu/packages/libre/armv7h/uboot4extlinux-cubieboard),
+  after unpacking write it to the same SD card with `dd
+  if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin conv=notrunc,sync of=/dev/sd_card_device bs=1k
+    seek=8`. More info [here](https://wiki.freebsd.org/arm/Allwinner/booting)
+* Boot, go through installation wizard, reboot, log in. Out of the box, FreeBSD
+  takes 2.3Gb of space
+
+  $ uname -srm
+  FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE arm
+
+FreeBSD spoofed the MAC address for Cubieboard's builtin NIC for some reason.
+Overall it works well - boots quickly, the usual shell work feels
+snappy.
+
+#### NetBSD
+* Download `armv7.img.gz` right from the [homepage](http://www.netbsd.org),
+  burn to SD card as usual
+* Add U-boot, the command is slightly different from FreeBSD: `dd
+  if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin conv=sync of=/dev/sd_card_device bs=1k seek=8`
+    ([source](http://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/allwinner/))
+* Download .tgz "sets" from
+  [here](https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-9.2/evbarm-earmv7hf/binary/sets/),
+  place them on a `FAT` partition on a USB stick
+* Insert both SD card and USB stick, boot. Mount the partition on USB stick.
+  An adventure in and of itself - [the name of the block device is different
+  across
+  commands](https://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-rmmedia.html#using-usb-flash-drives)
+  (`/dev/rsd0d`, `sd0` (not `/dev/sd0`), `/dev/rsd0e` and I don't remember what
+  I used for mounting) - see the link for details
+* Run `sysinst` command, choose "Local directory", set the "Binary sets dir" to
+  mounted USB partition dir. Clear all the other text fields, otherwise it will
+  fail with some cryptic error. Choose "(Re-)Install additional sets" and
+  "Minimal install"
+* Reboot, log in. Out of the box, NetBSD takes 2.2Gb of space
+
+  $ uname -srm
+  NetBSD 9.2 evbarm
+
+NetBSD is significantly slower than FreeBSD (I/O operations, installing
+packages, ssh logins etc). By default, the hostname is the one received from
+DHCP server. NetBSD used the native MAC address of the builtin NIC, just
+like Debian.
+
+#### OpenBSD
+I followed the installation manual to get it onto the SD card and it sent the
+board into a reboot loop with "DRAM init failure" error. I searched for it on
+the web, didn't find any obvious solutions/workarounds, not really interested
+in digging into it at the moment.
+
+---
+I want to use this board as a CI target, the `BSD` + `armv7hf` combination
+should be exotic enough to catch portability issues.