Dear folks,
I flashed the iso file and tried to boot older versions like 21 and recent 23.2 on RPI3B+.
There is no boot screen. Does it require flashing u-boot?
===============
Thanking you
Sagar Acharya
https://whitelist.co.in
On 30 December 2025 08:34:43 GMT, Sagar Acharya <sagaracharya@whitelist.co.in> wrote:
>Dear folks,>>I flashed the iso file and tried to boot older versions like 21 and recent 23.2 on RPI3B+.>>There is no boot screen. Does it require flashing u-boot?>>===============>Thanking you>Sagar Acharya>https://whitelist.co.in
You need to use the Raspberry Pi specific archive, not the generic ISO
Yes, I have used the Raspberry Pi ISO, not the general one. It is not booting.
On 30 दिसम्बर 2025 7:42:04 pm IST, Naomi Rennie-Waldock <naomi.renniewaldock@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 30 December 2025 08:34:43 GMT, Sagar Acharya <sagaracharya@whitelist.co.in> wrote:>>Dear folks,>>>>I flashed the iso file and tried to boot older versions like 21 and recent 23.2 on RPI3B+.>>>>There is no boot screen. Does it require flashing u-boot?>>>>===============>>Thanking you>>Sagar Acharya>>https://whitelist.co.in>>You need to use the Raspberry Pi specific archive, not the generic ISO
===============
Thanking you
Sagar Acharya
https://whitelist.co.in
Hello Sagar,
I hope I've not missed someone else's reply to you.
> Yes, I have used the Raspberry Pi ISO, not the general one. It is > not booting.>>> [...]>>> I flashed the iso file and tried to boot older versions like 21 >>> and recent 23.2 on RPI3B+.>>>>>> There is no boot screen. Does it require flashing u-boot?
I can confirm to you that the 3.21 armv7 tar-archive (and image-file,
but I recommend to use the more flexible tar-ball) do work on the
Raspberry Pi 3B+. I assume the aarch64 ones and later releases do as
well, but just to give you a data point on what others have gotten
working.
The image (.img.gz file) works like other ISO images and you can
dd-copy it straight to your SD card. But it is a very small single
partition and will quickly run out of disk space if you want to
install more than a few basic packages and simple scripts.
Hence it is better to use the tar-archive method. This requires that
you create a FAT32 partition by yourself of the appropriate size (I'd
recommend at least 4 GiB). It does not need to be marked bootable, but
must be the first partition and at the start of that SD-card. You then
unpack the contents of the tar archive onto it and are ready to boot
it up. More details on that process in the wiki at:
https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi#Manual_method
Keep in mind that this gives you a disk-less install[1], so any
changes, like installed packages or configuration changes and manually
created scripts or data need to be persisted using the lbu utility[2].
So make sure that FAT32-partition is large enough to hold all the
installed packages and any other data you want to persist.
[1] https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Diskless_Mode
[2] https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_local_backup
The nice thing about this mode is that if you make any mistake or if
power fails you boot back up into a clean state. Also the SD-card will
last a lot longer as it is only used during boot and when you persist
changes with the lbu command.
HTH Simon
Thank you Simon for these pointers. I haven't got an RPi 3. But I'm
quite a SBC lover and I've got two Libre Computer boards ;)
On 1/1/26 10:04, Simon Rupf wrote:
> Hello Sagar,>> I hope I've not missed someone else's reply to you.>>> Yes, I have used the Raspberry Pi ISO, not the general one. It is not >> booting.>>>> [...]>>>> I flashed the iso file and tried to boot older versions like 21 and >>>> recent 23.2 on RPI3B+.>>>>>>>> There is no boot screen. Does it require flashing u-boot?>> I can confirm to you that the 3.21 armv7 tar-archive (and image-file, > but I recommend to use the more flexible tar-ball) do work on the > Raspberry Pi 3B+. I assume the aarch64 ones and later releases do as > well, but just to give you a data point on what others have gotten > working.>> The image (.img.gz file) works like other ISO images and you can > dd-copy it straight to your SD card. But it is a very small single > partition and will quickly run out of disk space if you want to > install more than a few basic packages and simple scripts.>> Hence it is better to use the tar-archive method. This requires that > you create a FAT32 partition by yourself of the appropriate size (I'd > recommend at least 4 GiB). It does not need to be marked bootable, but > must be the first partition and at the start of that SD-card. You then > unpack the contents of the tar archive onto it and are ready to boot > it up. More details on that process in the wiki at:> https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi#Manual_method>> Keep in mind that this gives you a disk-less install[1], so any > changes, like installed packages or configuration changes and manually > created scripts or data need to be persisted using the lbu utility[2]. > So make sure that FAT32-partition is large enough to hold all the > installed packages and any other data you want to persist.>> [1] https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Diskless_Mode> [2] https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_local_backup>> The nice thing about this mode is that if you make any mistake or if > power fails you boot back up into a clean state. Also the SD-card will > last a lot longer as it is only used during boot and when you persist > changes with the lbu command.>> HTH Simon>
On 30 December 2025 16:41:26 GMT, Sagar Acharya <sagaracharya@whitelist.co.in> wrote:
>Yes, I have used the Raspberry Pi ISO, not the general one. It is not booting.>>On 30 दिसम्बर 2025 7:42:04 pm IST, Naomi Rennie-Waldock <naomi.renniewaldock@gmail.com> wrote:>>On 30 December 2025 08:34:43 GMT, Sagar Acharya <sagaracharya@whitelist.co.in> wrote:>>>Dear folks,>>>>>>I flashed the iso file and tried to boot older versions like 21 and recent 23.2 on RPI3B+.>>>>>>There is no boot screen. Does it require flashing u-boot?>>>>>>===============>>>Thanking you>>>Sagar Acharya>>>https://whitelist.co.in>>>>You need to use the Raspberry Pi specific archive, not the generic ISO>>===============>Thanking you>Sagar Acharya>https://whitelist.co.in
Just to be sure, you used the img.gz not the iso? We don't provide an iso for Pi.
I don't think I've got a spare Pi 3 to test on at the moment, but you could try using the tar.gz. Just need to create a single partition, format as FAT32, and extract the tar.gz
Aah, sorry, yes. img file. I tried the armv7 21.5 img too. It's not working. No boot screen.
On 1 जनवरी 2026 6:04:17 pm IST, Naomi Rennie-Waldock <naomi.renniewaldock@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 30 December 2025 16:41:26 GMT, Sagar Acharya <sagaracharya@whitelist.co.in> wrote:>>Yes, I have used the Raspberry Pi ISO, not the general one. It is not booting.>>>>On 30 दिसम्बर 2025 7:42:04 pm IST, Naomi Rennie-Waldock <naomi.renniewaldock@gmail.com> wrote:>>>On 30 December 2025 08:34:43 GMT, Sagar Acharya <sagaracharya@whitelist.co.in> wrote:>>>>Dear folks,>>>>>>>>I flashed the iso file and tried to boot older versions like 21 and recent 23.2 on RPI3B+.>>>>>>>>There is no boot screen. Does it require flashing u-boot?>>>>>>>>===============>>>>Thanking you>>>>Sagar Acharya>>>>https://whitelist.co.in>>>>>>You need to use the Raspberry Pi specific archive, not the generic ISO>>>>===============>>Thanking you>>Sagar Acharya>>https://whitelist.co.in>>Just to be sure, you used the img.gz not the iso? We don't provide an iso for Pi.>>I don't think I've got a spare Pi 3 to test on at the moment, but you could try using the tar.gz. Just need to create a single partition, format as FAT32, and extract the tar.gz
===============
Thanking you
Sagar Acharya
https://whitelist.co.in
On Thu, 2026-01-01 at 15:05 +0330, Farooq Karimi Zadeh wrote:
> Thank you Simon for these pointers. I haven't got an RPi 3. But I'm > quite a SBC lover and I've got two Libre Computer boards ;)>
I also have two Libre Computer boards that do not boot to Alpine.
This thread may be helpful:
https://hub.libre.computer/t/alpine-linux-install-on-le-potato/536
I found this to be a helpful in discovering what an SPL is.
https://schandupatla.medium.com/u-boot-spl-vs-u-boot-proper-002187445ee0
As an owner of several (working) RPi's, I decided to figure out u-boot
for LePotato later. Just haven't had the time or interest to get
everything set up to initialize the hardware on the LePotato to finish
the boot process for Alpine.
If someone else on the list has already figured it out, please hit me
with a clue-bat.
HTH.