FreeLink for the Kurobox Pro - Manual install

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Contents

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. Serial port access
    1. Use bottom Slot
    2. Use daughterboard
  3. FreeLink zip archive: http://downloads.nas-central.org/LSPro_ARM9/Distributions/Freelink/
  4. 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[5].

Partition Drive

XFS support is still poor (especially in a custom kernel). So we'll use EXT3, and use a sane partition scheme. There are detailed instructions on partitioning in EM Mode[6] or using Parted on an external workstation[7].

Sample Partition scheme

Partition Path Size Filesystem
p1 / 10GB EXT3
p2 swap 512MB SWAP
p3 /mnt/disk1 Remaining Space EXT3

Get a newer Kernel and modules

I used this kernel image, big thanks to Colchaodemola

rename it to the following:

  • uImage-2.6.16.57-arm5_oabi

Get the Modules:

Copy these over to the samba share too.

Extract everything over to the Hard Drive

Log into the Kurobox and cd over to the share you transferred the files over to.

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
cd /mnt/drive1

Untar the rootfs

tar -xvzf hddrootfs.tar.gz

Untar the kernel Modules

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[8] 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: Accessing Partions from Samba
  6. ↑ Custom Partitions on the LS Pro
  7. ↑ Resizing the system partition with parted magic live cd
  8. ↑ KuroBoxPro: UBoot Linux Console Message - bootup
Retrieved from "http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/FreeLink_for_the_Kurobox_Pro_-_Manual_install"
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