FreeBSD Desktop for PineBook Pro

maxwell79 · Aug 14, 2024

Hi. I recently bought a Pinebook Pro. I have installed TowBoot on the SPI. Can anyone advise what is the best FreeBSD IMG to install to the MMC?

I used the IMG given here: https://freebsdfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FreeBSD-on-the-Pinebook-Pro.pdf - which boots fine but there were many issues with incorrect libraries e.g. libssl.so.30 - pkg was completely broken.

Thanks.

jsm · Jan 5, 2026

Anyone here still using RK3399? I have working external display via usb-c, as a not yet shared proof of concept, also I did a dtbo overlay to stop the screen flickering on boot for the Pinebook Pro. the usb-c dp works both on rockpro64 and Pinebook Pro. (with some caveats and license issues for now)

covacat · Jan 5, 2026

i don't have a board but somehow not quite offtopic
i have rk_iommu working on rk356x for the framebuffer part (move rk_gem out of gem_cma stuff)
now to do the panfrost part

jsm · Jan 5, 2026

covacat said:
i don't have a board but somehow not quite offtopic
i have rk_iommu working on rk356x for the framebuffer part (move rk_gem out of gem_cma stuff)
now to do the panfrost part

Thanks. I replied in the other thread

vchan · Mar 20, 2026

maxwell79 said:
Hi. I recently bought a Pinebook Pro. I have installed TowBoot on the SPI. Can anyone advise what is the best FreeBSD IMG to install to the MMC?

I used the IMG given here: https://freebsdfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FreeBSD-on-the-Pinebook-Pro.pdf - which boots fine but there were many issues with incorrect libraries e.g. libssl.so.30 - pkg was completely broken.

Thanks.

I can't seem to get FreeBSD 15 to boot with TowBoot using the ROCKPRO64 img on SD card. I get a scrambled display.

jsm · Mar 20, 2026

You need an overlay for u boot to set the vop clock at half the speed of what the kernel sets it to. https://github.com/jsm222/drm-subtree/blob/15-CURRENT/rk3399-vopclock.dtso. I also have gpl support of the external display in the usb dp. Not public yet though. It is the next thing on my to do to publish it on github.

vchan · Tuesday at 5:32 PM

I'm not quite sure how to do that.

Phishfry · Tuesday at 5:56 PM

Creating a Device Tree Overlay for VOP Clock

On the github webpage referenced above download the raw text to a file named:
rk3399-vopclock.dtso

Save this file on your target ARM device under the directory:
/boot/dtb/overlay/

Then move to the directory:
cd /boot/dtb/overlays

Compile the downloaded file:
dtc -@ -b0 -O dtb -I dts -o rk3399-vopclock.dtbo rk3399-vopclock.dtso

Now add this line to your /boot/loader.conf file:
fdt_overlays="rk3399-vopclock.dtbo"

You then need to reboot for changes to take effect.

On bootup (very early on) you will see dmesg text for status of OVERLAY and if it applied cleanly.
You may need to hit "Scroll Lock" very early on to catch it. It is just before <BOOT>

Phishfry · Tuesday at 6:22 PM

Strike that. It wont compile because it has #INCLUDE

Code:

@P1-PRO:/boot/dtb/overlays # dtc -@ -b0 -O dtb -I dts -o vop.dtb vop.dts
Error at vop.dts:10:37: Expected numbers in array of cells
                        <0x00000008  PLL_GPLL>, <0x00000008 PLL_CPLL>,
                                     ^
Error at vop.dts:10:37: Expected ; at end of property
                        <0x00000008  PLL_GPLL>, <0x00000008 PLL_CPLL>,
                                     ^
Failed to parse tree.

Phishfry · Tuesday at 7:10 PM

Any Overlay that has #INCLUDE needs to have the source tree installed to compile.

Using the same source OVERLAY file but compiled differently:

cd /usr/src/sys/contrib/device-tree

 cpp -I /sys/contrib/device-tree/include/ -x assembler-with-cpp /boot/dtb/overlays/rk3399-vopclock.dtso | dtc -I dts -O dtb -o /boot/dtb/overlays/rk3399-vopclock.dtbo

Code:

Loading DTB overlays: 'rk3399-vopclock.dtbo'
/boot/dtb/overlays/rk3399-vopclock.dtbo size=0x1e0
Loading splash ok
applying DTB overlay '/boot/dtb/overlays/rk3399-vopclock.dtbo'
---<<BOOT>>---