Revision as of 06:18, 20 April 2008

FreeLink (Debian) on the KuroPro

Rather than using the automatic install method ^[1] you can partition the hard drive yourself (foregoing Buffalo's partition scheme) and use a custom kernel too^[2]. You will need Serial port^[3] access to have control over the Uboot settings ^[4].

Prerequisites:

1. KuroboxPro (of course)
2. SATA Hard Drive (bigger is better) installed^[5]
3. Serial port access
   1. Use bottom Slot
   2. Use daughterboard
4. FreeLink ARM^[6]: http://downloads.nas-central.org/LSPro_ARM9/Distributions/Freelink/
5. Custom Kernel: http://downloads.nas-central.org/Users/colchaodemola

Get it

1. Download the FreeLink zip archive: http://downloads.nas-central.org/LSPro_ARM9/Distributions/Freelink/FreeLink_arm9-1.0rev2.zip
2. Unzip it and find the hddrootfs.img file
3. Rename it to have the .zip extension
4. Unzip this file with the following password:

   IeY8omJwGlGkIbJm2FH_MV4fLsXE8ieu0gNYwE6Ty

5. Rename the resultant file to hddrootfs.tar.gz and copy it over to the Samba Share^[7].

Partition Hard Drive

XFS support is still poor (especially in a custom kernel). So we'll use EXT3, and use a sane partition scheme.

WARNING! This is not the partition scheme used in FreeLink for the Kurobox Pro - Automatic Install which uses a total of 6 partitions

this scheme uses only 3 partitions and thus very different uboot settings then those that the automatic "installer" generates.

Sample Partition scheme

There are detailed instructions on partitioning in EM Mode^[8] or using Parted on an external workstation^[9]. But here are the Fdisk commands to get you to this partition scheme.

Use Fdisk

Format all the Partitons

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1
mkswap /dev/sda2
mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda3

Get a newer Kernel and modules

I used this kernel image, big thanks to Colchaodemola

• http://downloads.nas-central.org/Users/colchaodemola/uImage5

rename it to the following:

• uImage-2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi

Get the Modules:

• http://downloads.nas-central.org/Users/colchaodemola/2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi_modules.tgz

Copy these over to the samba share too.

Extract everything over to the Hard Drive

Log into the Kurobox using the default settings^[10] and go to the directory that you transferred your files over to (likely /mnt/mtd)

cd /mnt/mtd

Mount Hard Drive

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/drive1

Move everything over

mv hddrootfs.tar.gz /mnt/drive1
mv uImage-2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi /mnt/drive1
mv 2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi_modules.tgz /mnt/drive1

Untar the rootfs

cd /mnt/drive1 
tar -xvzf hddrootfs.tar.gz

Untar the kernel Modules

cd /mnt/drive1 
tar -xvzf 2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi_modules.tgz

Move and link the kernel uimage

mkdir /mnt/drive1/boot
mv uImage-2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi /mnt/drive1/boot/
cd /mnt/drive1/boot
ln -s uImage-2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi uImage

Reboot and Change uboot settings

reboot

The final step is to modify your uboot environment to boot into the rootfs (freelink). Interrupt uboot over the serial console^[11] and type the following to configure your Kurobox Pro to boot from the hard disk with the new kernel:

setenv bootcmd 'ide reset;ext2load ide 0:1 0x00100000 /boot/uImage;setenv bootargs console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/sda1 rw; bootm 0x00100000'
saveenv
boot

By the way, the command set to get it to boot from the flash (like it was originally) should you ever want to is:

setenv default_kernel_addr 0x00100000 
setenv bootargs_base console=ttyS0,115200 
setenv bootargs_root root=/dev/mtdblock2 rw 
setenv bootargs $(bootargs_base) $(bootargs_root) $(buffalo_ver) 
setenv uImage_block 0 
setenv uImage_offset 0x00020000 
setenv bootcmd 'nboot $(default_kernel_addr) $(uImage_block) $(uImage_offset); bootm $(default_kernel_addr)'

Post install

Login

Reboot and use ssh to login to your newly FreeLinked KuroBox Pro with an SSH session. In windows PuTTY is a good client

• login:root
• password: lspro

or

• login:admin
• password: admin

Change kernelmon script

• You will now need to change a line in the the /usr/local/sbin/kernelmon script:

cat /proc/driver/kernevnt 

to

cat /proc/buffalo/kernevnt

Enable root login on serial console

• If you use the console on the serial port, you need to change the permissions on /etc/securetty so it is not world-writable

chmod 0744 /etc/securetty

• until you do this, root logins on the serial console will not be permitted.

Fix fstab

Remember to change the /etc/fstab to reflect the location of linux swap and the share. Also remove the ,acl from the xfs declaration. My /etc/fstab looks like this after update:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>               <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc      proc    defaults                            0 0
none            /dev/pts   devpts  gid=5,mode=20                       0 0
tmpfs           /tmp       tmpfs   size=10M,mode=1777                  0 0
/dev/sda2       swap       swap    defaults                            0 0
/dev/sda3       /mnt/disk1 ext3    defaults,noatime,nodiratime         0 0
 

Mkswap

Format the swap partition

mkswap /dev/sda2

References

1. ↑ FreeLink for the Kurobox Pro - Automatic Install
2. ↑ GPL kernel recompilation progress - 2.6.12.6 & 2.6.16.16
3. ↑ Serial Port Use daughterboard or Use bottom Slot
4. ↑ Kurobox Pro u-boot environment variable settings
5. ↑ KuroboxPro User's Guide in English
6. ↑ FreeLink v1.0 (arm9) rev2 released!!! (Permission Issues Fix)
7. ↑ KuroBoxPro: Accessing Partions from Samba
8. ↑ Custom Partitions on the LS Pro
9. ↑ Resizing the system partition with parted magic live cd
10. ↑ KuroBoxPro: Default Settings
11. ↑ Kurobox Pro UBoot/Linux Console Message - bootup