# arm64 on Marvell Armada 3720



## jlw52761 (Mar 6, 2019)

So I have a device with this SoC in it, which is an ARMv8 architecture based chip.  So I've never used FreeBSD, old Linux and SCO admin here but I am looking to build my own router based on this SoC and running pfSense.  So the issue I have is I don't see any real way to build a custom SDCard image since I don't run FreeBSD anywhere, so does anyone have any thoughts on a SDcard image for the ARMv8 architecture?  I see there's only the ARMv7 and ARMv6 architecture out there.
I'm sure I will also need to compile a custom U-Boot to include the BSD filesystem, but I will cross that bridge if need be.
Thanks in advance!


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## SirDice (Mar 6, 2019)

pfSense is not supported here: PC-BSD, FreeNAS, XigmaNAS, and all other FreeBSD Derivatives

Regarding FreeBSD support for this SoC, have a look here: https://wiki.freebsd.org/arm64



jlw52761 said:


> So the issue I have is I don't see any real way to build a custom SDCard image since I don't run FreeBSD anywhere, so does anyone have any thoughts on a SDcard image for the ARMv8 architecture?


Set up a VirtualBox guest with FreeBSD so you can build it?


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## jlw52761 (Mar 6, 2019)

Sorry if I made impression that I was looking for pfSense support, that’s the application use case is all. 
So the ARMv8 is supported, I just need to manually build the image and use something to have a FreeBSD system running in order to build. 
Ok, well that does answer my question I guess, thanks.


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## balanga (Mar 7, 2019)

jlw52761 said:


> So the issue I have is I don't see any real way to build a custom SDCard image since I don't run FreeBSD anywhere, so does anyone have any thoughts on a SDcard image for the ARMv8 architecture?  I see there's only the ARMv7 and ARMv6 architecture out there.
> I'm sure I will also need to compile a custom U-Boot to include the BSD filesystem, but I will cross that bridge if need be.
> Thanks in advance!



I'm sure Phishfry could point you in the right direction... You may glean some info from looking at any guides for building a version of FreeBSD for the Raspberry Pi which also ARM based.

I'd be interested in any progress you make since I am interested in installing FreeBSD on a GoFlex Home which uses an ARM armv5te processor.


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## jlw52761 (Mar 7, 2019)

So what I'm running into at the moment is even more basic, how to get U-Boot to recognize the FreeBSD partition.  I've tried recompiling U-Boot 2017.03, but I don't see any option for the UFS filesystem, but it looks like ZFS is fully supported.  Does FreeBSD 11.2 use the UFS or ZFS filesystem, and if it uses the UFS is there anyway to convert the GenericSD card image available in the downloads to the ZFS filesystem?


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## SirDice (Mar 7, 2019)

jlw52761 said:


> Does FreeBSD 11.2 use the UFS or ZFS filesystem


It can use both. Although I'm not sure if ZFS has been ported to ARM64 yet. UFS should work for all versions on all architectures (it's FreeBSD's own filesystem).


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## jlw52761 (Mar 7, 2019)

So in the build configs for u-boot I don't see any reference to UFS, only ZFS.  Do you know if u-boot supports UFS?  I know that someone has gotten FreeBSD to run on the SoC I'm targeting, the Marvell Armada 3720, but they are tight-lipped on how they got it working so I'm trying to figure all that out.  I'm trying to avoid having to completely create my own image and use the GenericSD card image provided by FreeBSD.


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## balanga (Mar 7, 2019)

jlw52761 said:


> So what I'm running into at the moment is even more basic, how to get U-Boot to recognize the FreeBSD partition.  I've tried recompiling U-Boot 2017.03, but I don't see any option for the UFS filesystem, but it looks like ZFS is fully supported.  Does FreeBSD 11.2 use the UFS or ZFS filesystem, and if it uses the UFS is there anyway to convert the GenericSD card image available in the downloads to the ZFS filesystem?



The trick with U-Boot is to create a FAT32 partition which contains the FreeBSD loader and that transfers control to rootfs which is on a UFS partition on the same SD card.

This may provide some useful info.


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## jlw52761 (Mar 7, 2019)

I will take a peek and try some things out once I get back infront of my device.


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