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Single Board Computers
1 - Banana Pi M64
Prerequisites
You will need
talosctl- an SD card
Download the latest alpha talosctl.
curl -Lo /usr/local/bin/talosctl https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/talosctl-$(uname -s | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:]")-amd64
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/talosctl
Download the Image
Download the image and decompress it:
curl -LO https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/metal-bananapi_m64-arm64.img.xz
xz -d metal-bananapi_m64-arm64.img.xz
Writing the Image
The path to your SD card can be found using fdisk on Linux or diskutil on macOS.
In this example, we will assume /dev/mmcblk0.
Now dd the image to your SD card:
sudo dd if=metal-bananapi_m64-arm64.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 conv=fsync bs=4M
Bootstrapping the Node
Insert the SD card to your board, turn it on and wait for the console to show you the instructions for bootstrapping the node. Following the instructions in the console output to connect to the interactive installer:
talosctl apply-config --insecure --interactive --nodes <node IP or DNS name>
Once the interactive installation is applied, the cluster will form and you can then use kubectl.
Retrieve the kubeconfig
Retrieve the admin kubeconfig by running:
talosctl kubeconfig
2 - Libre Computer Board ALL-H3-CC
Prerequisites
You will need
talosctl- an SD card
Download the latest alpha talosctl.
curl -Lo /usr/local/bin/talosctl https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/talosctl-$(uname -s | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:]")-amd64
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/talosctl
Download the Image
Download the image and decompress it:
curl -LO https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/metal-libretech_all_h3_cc_h5-arm64.img.xz
xz -d metal-libretech_all_h3_cc_h5-arm64.img.xz
Writing the Image
The path to your SD card can be found using fdisk on Linux or diskutil on macOS.
In this example, we will assume /dev/mmcblk0.
Now dd the image to your SD card:
sudo dd if=metal-libretech_all_h3_cc_h5-arm64.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 conv=fsync bs=4M
Bootstrapping the Node
Insert the SD card to your board, turn it on and wait for the console to show you the instructions for bootstrapping the node. Following the instructions in the console output to connect to the interactive installer:
talosctl apply-config --insecure --interactive --nodes <node IP or DNS name>
Once the interactive installation is applied, the cluster will form and you can then use kubectl.
Retrieve the kubeconfig
Retrieve the admin kubeconfig by running:
talosctl kubeconfig
3 - Pine64 Rock64
Prerequisites
You will need
talosctl- an SD card
Download the latest alpha talosctl.
curl -Lo /usr/local/bin/talosctl https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/talosctl-$(uname -s | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:]")-amd64
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/talosctl
Download the Image
Download the image and decompress it:
curl -LO https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/metal-rock64-arm64.img.xz
xz -d metal-rock64-arm64.img.xz
Writing the Image
The path to your SD card can be found using fdisk on Linux or diskutil on macOS.
In this example, we will assume /dev/mmcblk0.
Now dd the image to your SD card:
sudo dd if=metal-rock64-arm64.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 conv=fsync bs=4M
Bootstrapping the Node
Insert the SD card to your board, turn it on and wait for the console to show you the instructions for bootstrapping the node. Following the instructions in the console output to connect to the interactive installer:
talosctl apply-config --insecure --interactive --nodes <node IP or DNS name>
Once the interactive installation is applied, the cluster will form and you can then use kubectl.
Retrieve the kubeconfig
Retrieve the admin kubeconfig by running:
talosctl kubeconfig
4 - Radxa ROCK PI 4c
Prerequisites
You will need
talosctl- an SD card
Download the latest alpha talosctl.
curl -Lo /usr/local/bin/talosctl https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/talosctl-$(uname -s | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:]")-amd64
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/talosctl
Download the Image
Download the image and decompress it:
curl -LO https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/metal-rockpi_4-arm64.img.xz
xz -d metal-rockpi_4-arm64.img.xz
Writing the Image
The path to your SD card can be found using fdisk on Linux or diskutil on macOS.
In this example, we will assume /dev/mmcblk0.
Now dd the image to your SD card:
sudo dd if=metal-rockpi_4-arm64.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 conv=fsync bs=4M
Bootstrapping the Node
Insert the SD card to your board, turn it on and wait for the console to show you the instructions for bootstrapping the node. Following the instructions in the console output to connect to the interactive installer:
talosctl apply-config --insecure --interactive --nodes <node IP or DNS name>
Once the interactive installation is applied, the cluster will form and you can then use kubectl.
Retrieve the kubeconfig
Retrieve the admin kubeconfig by running:
talosctl kubeconfig
Boot Talos from an SSD Drive
Note: this is only tested on Rock PI 4c
Rock PI 4 has an M2 slot which supports NVMe disks. It is possible to run Talos without any SD cards right from that SSD disk.
The pre-installed SPI loader won’t be able to chain Talos u-boot on the SSD drive because it’s too outdated. The official docs on booting from the SSD also propose using an outdated SPI to flash u-boot.
Instead, it is necessary to update u-boot to a more recent version for this process to work. The Armbian u-boot build for Rock PI 4c has been proved to work: https://users.armbian.com/piter75/.
Steps
- Flash any OS to the SD card (can be Armbian for example).
- Download Armbian u-boot and update SPI flash:
curl -LO https://users.armbian.com/piter75/rkspi_loader-v20.11.2-trunk-v2.img
sudo dd if=rkspi_loader-v20.11.2-trunk-v2.img of=/dev/mtdblock0 bs=4K
- Optionally, you can also write Talos image to the SSD drive right from your Rock PI board:
curl -LO https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/metal-rockpi_4-arm64.img.xz
xz -d metal-rockpi_4-arm64.img.xz
sudo dd if=metal-rockpi_4-arm64.img.xz of=/dev/nvme0n1
- remove SD card and reboot.
After these steps, Talos will boot from the SSD and enter maintenance mode. The rest of the flow is the same as running Talos from the SD card.
5 - Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
Video Walkthrough
To see a live demo of this writeup, see the video below:
Prerequisites
You will need
talosctl- an SD card
Download the latest alpha talosctl.
curl -Lo /usr/local/bin/talosctl https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/talosctl-$(uname -s | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:]")-amd64
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/talosctl
Updating the EEPROM
At least version v2020.09.03-138a1 of the bootloader (rpi-eeprom) is required.
To update the bootloader we will need an SD card.
Insert the SD card into your computer and use Raspberry Pi Imager
to install the bootloader on it (select Operating System > Misc utility images > Bootloader > SD Card Boot).
Alternatively, you can use the console on Linux or macOS.
The path to your SD card can be found using fdisk on Linux or diskutil on macOS.
In this example, we will assume /dev/mmcblk0.
curl -LO https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/releases/download/v2020.09.03-138a1/rpi-boot-eeprom-recovery-2020-09-03-vl805-000138a1.zip
sudo mkfs.fat -I /dev/mmcblk0
sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0 /mnt
sudo bsdtar rpi-boot-eeprom-recovery-2020-09-03-vl805-000138a1.zip -C /mnt
Remove the SD card from your local machine and insert it into the Raspberry Pi. Power the Raspberry Pi on, and wait at least 10 seconds. If successful, the green LED light will blink rapidly (forever), otherwise an error pattern will be displayed. If an HDMI display is attached to the port closest to the power/USB-C port, the screen will display green for success or red if a failure occurs. Power off the Raspberry Pi and remove the SD card from it.
Note: Updating the bootloader only needs to be done once.
Download the Image
Download the image and decompress it:
curl -LO https://github.com/talos-systems/talos/releases/latest/download/metal-rpi_4-arm64.img.xz
xz -d metal-rpi_4-arm64.img.xz
Writing the Image
Now dd the image to your SD card:
sudo dd if=metal-rpi_4-arm64.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 conv=fsync bs=4M
Bootstrapping the Node
Insert the SD card to your board, turn it on and wait for the console to show you the instructions for bootstrapping the node. Following the instructions in the console output to connect to the interactive installer:
talosctl apply-config --insecure --interactive --nodes <node IP or DNS name>
Once the interactive installation is applied, the cluster will form and you can then use kubectl.
Note: if you have an HDMI display attached and it shows only a rainbow splash, please use the other HDMI port, the one closest to the power/USB-C port.
Retrieve the kubeconfig
Retrieve the admin kubeconfig by running:
talosctl kubeconfig
Troubleshooting
The following table can be used to troubleshoot booting issues:
| Long Flashes | Short Flashes | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 3 | Generic failure to boot |
| 0 | 4 | start*.elf not found |
| 0 | 7 | Kernel image not found |
| 0 | 8 | SDRAM failure |
| 0 | 9 | Insufficient SDRAM |
| 0 | 10 | In HALT state |
| 2 | 1 | Partition not FAT |
| 2 | 2 | Failed to read from partition |
| 2 | 3 | Extended partition not FAT |
| 2 | 4 | File signature/hash mismatch - Pi 4 |
| 4 | 4 | Unsupported board type |
| 4 | 5 | Fatal firmware error |
| 4 | 6 | Power failure type A |
| 4 | 7 | Power failure type B |