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Documentation for PhotonVision USB Boot #2612

Description

@Another-Person1

Are you requesting documentation for a new feature, or updated documentation for an old feature?

I am requesting documentation for booting PhotonVision from USB storage instead of a microSD card.

I managed to get the Orange Pi 5 to boot PhotonVision from a USB NVMe enclosure with a Kioxia SSD inside, and this might be helpful to sidestep SD card related downsides (eg. broken slots, cards falling out, etc.).

General procedure:

  1. Download the required software
  2. Update the SPI Flash bootloader
  3. Flash the image to the drive
  4. Connect the drive to the Pi
  5. Power the Pi on

If there is any interest, I can make a detailed writeup of the procedure.

The procedure should also work on the Orange Pi 5+ and potentially other Orange Pi models, although I have not tested those yet.
More generally, this may also work on other PhotonVision-supported SBCs, since USB booting is not inherently Orange Pi-specific.

Where is it?

I think this would fit well under:

Quick Start -> Quick Hardware Guide

Alternatively, the Quick Hardware Guide could link to a dedicated page containing the detailed USB-boot procedure.

Additional context

The Orange Pi 5 can boot from a variety of storage media:

  • SPI Flash
  • microSD
  • M.2 NVMe/SATA SSDs
  • USB storage

However, for the last two, the SPI Flash needs to have the latest bootloader installed for it to boot.

Our team recently experienced a damaged microSD slot on an Orange Pi 5+, which prompted us to investigate alternative boot methods.

Since USB booting worked successfully on our Orange Pi 5, I think documenting this could give teams a useful alternative to relying exclusively on microSD cards.

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