How to write OS image without PC

[hisataro 0]

Hi,

Currently, we use "balenaEtcher" to write Android OS images by connecting to a PC.
Is there a way to write an image from a USB or SD card without connecting a PC?

[tooz 47]

hello @hisataro, 

you can burn a SD card with Debian OS, save the Android OS (.img) file into the card, and use dd command to write the Android image from SD card to emmc:

1. Download Debian OS from Tinker Board website --  the latest version is Tinker Board 2 /2S Debian 11 (kernel 5.10) v3.0.6
2. Use BalenaEtcher to flash the Debian OS to a SD card, please make sure the flashing is sucessful and Tinker Board 2S is bootable with the image
3. Download and save Android OS into the same SD card that has Debian OS in it – you don’t need to use BalenaEtcher for this step, just save the Android OS as file
4. Insert the SD card into the Tinker Board 2S you’d like to flash Android OS onto, and boot the device from SD card
5. Once the device is boot up, use dd command to write the Android OS into device’s emmc:

sudo dd bs=4M if=/path/to/TinkerOSAndroid.img of=/dev/mmcblk0

6. To verify, power off the device and remove the SD card, and boot the device from emmc, the expected result is that Tinker Board 2S boots from emmc with Android OS.

[hisataro 0]

Hello, @tooz

Thank you for your reply!
I will try it and report the results.

[hisataro 0]

hello, @tooz

I was successful.
Thank you!