Thanks. I have gotten it working. But it was not quite as easy as that to do it. I wanted to document it here so that it might be of help to others. Note that I wound up doing this a lot of times and in different ways, so this listing is what I think worked.
- Use the Libre flash tool to create a bootable SD card. GitHub - libre-computer-project/libretech-flash-tool The documentation does not list the A311D, but it is there.
- Update a USB drive to have the firmware wanted. Libre Computer Board BIOS/Firmware Update Images (see below)
- Insert SD card and usb drive
- Set the switch to SPI mode (see below – not 100% sure on this. You may have to try both ways)
- Turn on the computer and it should update the flash.
- Turn off when completely done.
- Set the switch to MMC mode and insert fresh OS in the SD slot.
The above is the “happy path”, but I ran into a lot of issues around it. Fully admit these could be me:
- SPI vs MMC switch. At least in my mind the switch is labeled backward or confusing. When booting from the SPI flash it is set to MMC (normal mode – 100% sure) and when booting directly from the SD card it is set to SPI (I think, but pretty sure). Perhaps test this [Libre] and change it around on the board or provide a page to document it. The way I read the current documentation (which makes sense) is that SPI mode boots from SPI flash and MMC mode boots from the SD or MMC (maybe also change that name to SD/MMC). While at it, test the press switch which is supposed to boot from USB.
- The next issue I ran into was that it would not reflash. It would read the flash on the computer and validate the checksum with the USB and, being the same, call it good without changing it. I tried multiple USBs and multiple downloads. In the end the two flashes were the same, but still not working. Sooo (use at your own risk), being stuck, I flashed the version for the preproduction. Success – sort of. It was able to boot off of SPI now, but it failed to load the OS properly (no surprise). So now I went back and did it one more time with the latest flash and this time it did load it and worked (?). No clue why. This was the same as was loaded before. [Libre] I suggest providing an archive of at least the last couple of revisions so one can rollback if there is an issue with the current version. The site above only lists the latest. I don’t consider flashing for a preproduction board a best practice.
- One remaining issues is that after doing an OS update and rebooting, it no longer auto boots into the OS (it did the first time). I have to type “boot”. Most likely a setting to add, but that is for another day.