Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Hi all

As we have an "easy instal of KDE" thread and installing KDE as a dual boot on the N800 is fairly well documented. Could we get a "How to" on dual boot and running KDE of the external MMC for the n810.

I am so close I can feel it but its the initsfs_flasher thats getting me. I have read the threads on it and tried PCQ bootmenu.conf (and tired it)

I think if it was clear step by step most people can do it. I am no linux user but manged on the n800 as step buy step methods are already out there.

This, http://www.thisweekinnuclear.com/KDEonN800.html for example on the common two from maemo, http://maemo.org/community/wiki/HowTo_EASILY_BecomeRoot and http://maemo.org/community/wiki/HowT..._your_MMC_card

Something like the above for the n800 and external card please!

Thanks and this is a great challenge with a super ending.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Just curious, but why would you want it on the external card?

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Mainly so I can make best use of my 8GB micro (on a mini adaptor) SDHC card as its easy to partition.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Just use /dev/mmcblk1 instead

And initfs_flasher has a bootmenu.conf.n800.example in which you can see the following:

Change mmcblk1p2 to any partition you want.

Of course, change all the necessary things in there and rename the file to bootmenu.conf before flashing... and above all take caution.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

I'm a little confused on what you're having problems with... First off my bootmenu.conf is specifically for the N810 if you've partitioned your INTERNAL card (MMC1) and are dual booting. You won't need the bootmenu.conf if you're installing KDE .deb files. You've kinda bounced back and forth between the N800 and the N810 in your post. Which are you using?

Secondly, my bootmenu.conf was meant to be an example and works based on how I set up my partitions. If you desiganted your partitions the same as me (see here for how I did this) - then the bootmenu.conf won't need to be edited. On the N810 the main reason the bootmenu.conf file is needed is because there appears to be some sort of bug, where the MMCs are switched and then switched back or something - you can search the forums if you want more detailed information.

If you're using an N800 you won't need the bootmenu.conf but you can still use it to make other adjustments to your boot menu. If you are installing KDE from .debs you won't need it at all.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Westy's trying to set up his N810 to boot from external MMC1.

I'm about to dual boot my N810 on the internal MMC2.
Is there a reason not to give the whole 2 gigs to the second boot?
The 400 megs that ProNuke left for data seems kind of pointless,
and he mentions in his writeup that he wants more room for apps.
Also, does the swap come out of the boot partition, or is that separate?

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

It's my understanding that Maemo Application Manager will use part of your MMC2 (internal card on the N810) for a temporary cache when installing apps. Also, Yes - the 128MB swap comes from MMC2. After setting up a ~1.5GB ext2 partition and the ~470MB FAT partition and activating 128MB of swap, I'm left with ~340MB of free space. I believe there is a way to make Maemo Application Manager stop using MMC2 during installs.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably only leave 200MB of FAT (128MB of which would be used for swap & the rest just for good measure) - because I don't really use it for storage.

Edit: I just realized that I called the internal drive wrong, so I've corrected this post. The Internal card is MMC2; the removable/external card is MMC1. Don't want to cause any confusion.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

200 megs more for apps is significant, yeah. Sounds like a plan.

Wish me luck.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Bunch of typos in Pronuke's instructions, but I think it all went OK.
However, I can't get to the boot menu.
Whatever button I press, it immediately goes to "booting from flash".
Is it supposed to be the menu button on the N810 hardware keyboard,
or is it telling me there's no second place to boot from?

:edit: Got it. It's a bug, and there's a fix.
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...2&postcount=67

I am so totally booting from flash.
Sweet.
Time for sleep.
KDE again tomorrw.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

dubwise, I get same problem hence why in my orig post I say the only issues I am having is with the initfs_flasher (and therefore its settings) I had none of this greif with the N800.

I have not chance to carry on trying this week but I must see if Bundyo not above helps.

Its would be still great to see someone who actually knows what they are doing, doing a step by step how too on this for the N810. I am really just being lead on this by a number of non N810 specific web pages, each of whom differ a little and some insights on this forum. Its all still hit an miss though. I have to say though my use of xterm is much better than it usd to be and I actually use it for other stuff now.

btw, freind of mine got an eee, nicely made peice of kit of the money. Bit big for shirt pocket though :) 10 version is worth the wait rather than the 7 inch just now.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Just noticed edit. so this works with PCQ's conf file now then?

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Yes, it does.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

So can you use all apps that work on KDE on the N810 running KDE? (i.e. Skype Linux beta version with video support)?

PS- I'm a complete noob so if this question makes utterly no sense, just let me know why :confused:

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

I dont know, most apps work, I have never run skype, so I can;t speak to it. The microb browser is the only app that I found that I cant get to work?

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Where you able to get the N810 booting from external finally? I'm fighting with mine now with the same initial results; N800 flashes clean and boots without issue but the N810 consistently returns "boot failed, booting from internal flash".

In my case, 256 meg of root partition takes about an hour to fill with only a part of my usual program installs. 2gig internal is far from an acceptable amount of storage; I'd get a 1.5 gig root partition and a .5 gig fat32 out of it but still not enough room. The ending kicker for me is that I want to wear out removable mmc media rather than blowing through the limited read/write cycles in my non-removable storage.

If you managed to get it working, could you point me towards the HowTo or let me know what the few alterations to the N800 process where?

(I love what I am going to be able to do with the hardware but I gotta get it built right first since Nokia decided to cripple it with limited storage)

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Step by step, boot from N810/ext SD, just for Neon Samurai, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...+clone&page=30. Just one minor problem, yes, there are 347 posts! Dont like it? Just kidding, go straight to thread #292 for N810 and #347 to N800.

Post back with your results,

bun

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Success!

And cheers for the direction. I also realized I was using an older initfs version but everything went smooth as it should with the newer verison and default menu.

/dev/mmcblk0p2 1507008 277512 1152944 19% /

That is a thing of beauty to see finally. Now to clean up the boot menu and plan the migration from the N800. The hard part is going to be waiting until later tonight rather than putting off a few things I have to do first.

If anyone else stumbles across this thread; here's what I've learned.

- The Maemo Wiki "how to easily partition your mmc" works perfectly but be aware of your device names (I cut my mmc partitions on the N800 since I had it handy)

- The Maemo Wiki "how to easily boot off mmc" is still applicable to the N810 as well as older devices so follow those steps through

- Get the latest initfs_flasher.tgz. The link apears in every thread but what the heck, here it is again; http://fanoush.wz.cz/maemo/#initfs

Now to bide my time with OS2008 until Diablo becomes available; I'm looking forward too the GPS improved performance I hear rumour of.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

If you like the setup on your N800, you can clone your N800 OS and then move the card to your N810. All you have to do just to modify your bootmenu at the N810 which you have already done. Yes, it is alright to clone on N800 and boot up on N810. The beauty of this is 1) you have the same setup as in N800, which you already fine tune to your taste 2) no need for migration.

bun

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

actually, dont bother...

i have an 8gig class 6 , and i installed to it.

its at LEAST 20% slower than the internal card.

you are 10X better off putting it on the internal, and using the external for storage.

i figured class 6 card would be alot faster, but its not for KDE, i dont know if its the bus or what, but i ended up moving it to the internal card.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Thanks for the post. I am very happy with the present system I have. N810/extSD boot/with KDE. Web browsing is not as fast, but it is stable. All else is runnng smooth. I have a lot of room on rootfs and extSD card. 2.5 G on rootfs and 1.5 on extSD with barely anything on it. I may backup the internal card and put KDE there and see what difference does it make. Please tell us how do you move into the internal card. Do you start from scratch or do you have anyway to shortcut the process? TIA,

bun

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

i just started from scratch. actually for some unknown reason, after a couple weeks of running KDE on the external card my 810 crashed. i dont know if it was related, but since i had to re-flash anyway, i put it on the internal. havent had a prob since.

I was hoping the class 6 would make it faster, but it didnt, surprisingly it was slower and i dont know why.


also, it makes more sense to put it on the internal card anyway.. what if you want to put something on the external card (IE: music/video etc).

if you put the OS on there, its like ripping out the c: drive on a computer to put something on.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

Cheers,

Of the two SD, the one with my two OS partitions was kept so I may try mirroring it on a miniSD. The tar switches are handy for more than just the maemo too. The issue now is going to be figuring a way to clone over only the changes when some new update flashed over the boot menu. I think rsync is going to be the thing for that though. So far it's only been the three flasher updates that meant updating the base OS before starting over with a clean duplicate on the SD.

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

I just got N810 after 2 years of using N770 and couldn't be happier. Yesterday got 8GB SD card and decided to set up dual boot using 2GB internal SD as a second bootable partition. I did find instructions on this thread but did a slight variation of these as I did not want to partition internal SD and instead made it one ext2 partition. I had to make a slight change in bootmenu.sh so it is loading from the right partition, and it now boots from 2Gb SD, but my 8GB external card is not mounted at all.
When I boot from flash I get:
/dev/mmcblk0p1 on /media/mmc2 type ext2
/dev/mmcblk1p1 on /media/mmc1 type vfat
When I boot from SD I get:
/dev/mmcblk0p1 on /media/mmc2 type ext2
/dev/mmcblk1p1 on / type ext2
All attempts to mount external SD manually were unsuccessful. I realize that most likely I need to make some changes in bootmenu.sh and re-flash, but for the life of me cannot figure out what - shell scripting is not my forte...

Please help!

TIA

Re: Dual boot and KDE on the N810
 

I think enabling RedPill Mode and unchecking "Use MMC to download packages" may prevent the N810 from cache-ing to MMC2, but I haven't tried this yet so do so at your own risk (worst comes to worst, you could probably just re-enable BluePill).