Flashing Debian (OpenStick Base)

The Debian OpenStick image (spearheaded by handsomehacker and the community) is the most popular distribution for MSM8916 dongles. It provides a full Debian system with apt package management, USB gadget networking, Wi-Fi hotspot support, and automatic modem initialization.

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Prerequisites

• A verified MSM8916 modem with eMMC flash (e.g. UFI001B, UFI003, Uz801).
• Host computer with fastboot and adb installed.
• Verified backup of your modemst1, modemst2, and fsg partitions (see Backup Guide).
• The latest OpenStick release package (base.zip and debian.zip).

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Step 1: Boot into Fastboot Mode

Connect your dongle to your computer:

# Check if ADB detects the device
adb devices

# Reboot into Fastboot mode
adb reboot bootloader

If your device is unresponsive or bricked, enter EDL mode via test points and flash lk2nd or recovery bootloader.

Verify that fastboot detects the device:

fastboot devices
# Should output: [serial_number] fastboot

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Step 2: Flash the Bootloader & Kernel (LK2ND)

OpenStick relies on lk2nd, a secondary bootloader that mimics a standard Android bootloader while providing mainline Linux device-tree booting:

# Flash the secondary bootloader into boot partition
fastboot flash boot lk2nd.img

# Reboot into lk2nd fastboot interface
fastboot reboot

The device will reboot. On boards with an LED, the LED will flash or turn blue, signaling that lk2nd is running.

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Step 3: Flash the Root Filesystem

Once in the lk2nd fastboot interface:

# Flash the Debian system image into the rootfs/system partition
fastboot flash rootfs debian-rootfs.img

# (Optional) Erase userdata to ensure a clean first boot
fastboot erase userdata

# Reboot into Debian!
fastboot reboot

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Step 4: First Login over USB Gadget Network

Once the device finishes booting (takes ~30–45 seconds on first boot):

1. The dongle exposes a virtual USB Ethernet adapter (RNDIS / CDC-ECM).
2. The dongle assigns itself the IP 192.168.68.1 and runs a DHCP server for your computer.
3. Your computer should automatically receive an IP in the 192.168.68.x subnet.

Connect via SSH:

ssh user@192.168.68.1

• Default Username: user
• Default Password: 1 (or openstick)
• Root Password: 1 (switch with sudo su)

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Step 5: Post-Installation Essentials

Once logged into your dongle:

# Expand filesystem to fill the eMMC (if not resized automatically)
sudo resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p20

# Connect dongle to your home Wi-Fi
sudo nmcli device wifi connect "Your_WiFi_SSID" password "Your_WiFi_Password"

# Update package lists
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install favorite tools
sudo apt install -y htop git curl tmux neofetch

Congratulations! You now have a full-fledged Debian 64-bit ARM Linux server running on a $7 USB stick.