U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Just found out that stskeeps has uploaded U-boot to the extras-devel repository:

http://maemo.org/packages/view/uboot-pr13/

http://images.plurk.com/3411752_4f22...07e19c546e.jpg

A few days ago I've raw-written the MeeGo 1.1 (Release) Handset UX image to a micro SD card and I could boot into MeeGo by using the flasher -l -b -k command.

Just now I installed the U-boot successfully but it failed to boot into MeeGo. Soon I found out in this site that we will need to create an extra FAT partition, convert the MeeGo kernel file to an uImage, and then put the uImage to the newly created FAT partition in order to make it boots.

Will it be possible that we can download the "ready-made" uImage from repo.meego.com like where we download the .raw images? I suggest this because the purpose of u-boot after all is to ease the process of testing MeeGo, and the additional steps mentioned are quite troublesome for those who would like to test the daily builds frequently and for those who are using Windows as their primary OS...

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

interesting would nitdroid will use it too, or can we boot meego using multi-boot as we use in nitdroid

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Just installed, and succeeded to boot my Meego 1.1 of my micro sd class 10 card.

The wiki page is now up
http://wiki.meego.com/ARM/N900/Install/Dual_Boot

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

I approve. I was hoping we could also flash to a UBoot attached to power kernel version, just to skip the stock kernel completely, but can't beat the convenience of something this simple. Plus, now that this has happened, you can probably stick Titan's kernel somewhere else, and boot into that when you want to - and then possibly figure out how to do that by default.

Is there any way to make uboot change default kernel to boot from? (If yes, but it's in some uboot documentation somewhere, and that documentation applies to this N900 port, feel free to just pont me to that. I don't mind learning on my own if I have any idea as to where to look.)

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

I wrote the image on the SD and installed uboot but after the time out it still loads to maemo. I think I get en error from sd. What can I do?

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Nothing stops you from making a uboot-powerkernel version, just follow the from-scratch u-boot instructions and upload the package..

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

done it on windows. it was quite painless!
MeeGo boot took some time.
It is slow but i like it

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

@stskeeps

is it necessary to use the meego image from here
http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/meego-codedrop.php

or we can safely use the image located here
http://repo.meego.com/MeeGo/releases...cblk0p.raw.bz2

as I can see from the filename the date of the image from codedrop is november 1 while on the meego repo its october 26... Just wanna ask if there's any difference since I already have the one from the meego repo. Thanks!

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

I tried the on from meego repo and it di not work. Now I am downloading the 1 november version and try that one. Will let you know if it worked.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

The one on codedrop has a kernel on a FAT partition in uImage format in the end of it. We're working to have the weekly images with that as well.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

The one one code drop worked. Yes I guess it is different.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Now that clears it... I guess I need to download a new one :)

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Well, that makes perfect sense. The whole point of the uboot instructions here: http://al.robotfuzz.com/~al/maemo/u-boot/ was that you needed to make another partition at the end of your card, with the Kernel image. If Stskeeps says the code drop one has a kernel included, it has a kernel included.

Stskeeps - I would be happy to do it (when the PR1.3 version of Power Kernel is out), but I honestly lack the knowledge of how. I can follow the instructions (though I suspect I'll have to go through a virtual machine to do it - I run Windows, which means I need to dig up the right tools to properly convert the images). My main concern was if there's anything possibly incompatible between uboot and the power kernel. But I assume not, so whatever. Anyway, if I can make it happen, I will when the time comes.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

lol, so overclocked kernell wont work ??

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

If you want overclock possible kernel with u-boot, you can try my experimental power40+PR1.3 kernel.

Installation instructions and the necessary files are here:

http://my.svgalib.org/770/n900/u-boot/

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

any idea why i keep getting not enough space on disc everytime i try to write image?
tried with a 4GB and a 8GB card

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

does power kernel work with this?

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

It is not possible to configure the u-boot binary in the package, due to a small bug. You can use my u-boot binary, which is configurable by a boot.scr file in the (FAT) third partition of the SD card, or wait for the package maintainer to fix this bug and upload a new version.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

for the devs: uboot ext2 bug might not be solvable for every purpose but it is just two lines to make it work. the returncode in the read function is hardcoded to be allways 1 so it fails. without that you can have the kernel on the ext2/ext3.. meaning a bootmenu on the n900 + the kernels next to it -> no flashing anymore.

worked for me. but it might need examining why the long time avaible patch is not applyed. might have a reason(some failure). i didn't dig into it.

for the n900 it worked for me.

maybe it helps?
br

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

can some one tell me how to remove u-boot . i tried apt-get install --reinstall kernel-flasher but u-boot didnt remove . plz help.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

bzbnd: Did you reboot? Did you get Tux (the Linux penguin logo) and UBoot screen after rebooting? I think the icon might remain in the app manager, for all I know. But if you're not getting the Tux penguin and uboot screen when loading, it means you removed it.

Lunat, I don't have the technical understanding to know for sure what you said, but sounds like it's a good thing.

Matan - do you know if Titan is still working on his own PR1.3 power kernel? I like the sound of yours, though, so I may well go to it for the time being. Quick question though. You may be aware of this post by MohammadAG: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=236 in this page http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=60567&page=24 in the Unlocked FM transmitter thread. Did you keep the changes Nokia implemented that Mohammad refers to? Or did you un-"fix" that back to the 1.2 kernel's way of doing it?

Either way, thank you so much for the work of combining PR1.3, Power Kernel, and UBoot. Even if I don't use your binary (though I probably will) I'm sure many others will find it useful.

- Edit -

Does this uboot method allow for more than two kernels/os's to boot (without swapping SD cards)? I'm guessing there must be a way built in to UBoot, but perhaps not easy to implement on the N900?

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Matan built his own kernel because Tanner has to vanilla config it because more people use it - hence why it's taking longer.

uBoot allows you to load ANY compatible kernel from WHEREVER it's accessible. That is the whole entire point of getting uBoot running on the N900. Are you serious with these questions?

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Yes, I am. I have a limited knowledge of what uboot is, and I figured by asking here I would use my time more effectively (because the answers would be publicly visible to plenty of other people who lack understanding of this just like I do) than by looking up every little detail.

Plus, whatever I look up is PROBABLY going to be rather general UBoot documentation and less applicable to the N900 port, or at least for all I knew that was the case. I mean the way I'm reading the earlier posts, it seems like the MicroSD card needs to be formatted into a very specific partition arrangement (three different ones, I think, as I read it), only the last one of which contains the kernel. Since the command "run mmcboot" or "run noloboot" tells me nothing about the existence of other options, I figured it would be safer to ask. Yes, I knew that the big deal about uboot was that it was a good multibooting method that didn't involve reflashing the NAND for each OS switch - and I suspected that it was at least in principle applicable to however-many-kernels-you-can-fit-on-your-device. But no, that wasn't self apparent, not when I didn't see a single mention of using UBoot to put stuff on the internal memory, or frankly, anything else beyond a very formulaic way of putting it on an SD card (Yes, I get that formulaic instructions help people who don't know what they are doing - but when they are placed without comment, with the assumption that people who know better will know better and people who don't won't need to or will figure it out, it makes it indistinguishable from a suggestions that that's the only way to do it.)

Either way, thank you for answering.

- Edit -

Matan, are you sure the instructions give the right command "fiasco-flasher [parameters/arguments]"? My N900 only has a "flasher" command, and two "fiasco-[something]" commands that are obviously not the flasher.

To be sure, I checked some wiki pages, and I'm pretty confident the proper command is "flasher", not "fiasco-flasher".

- Edit 2 -

On that note, running "flasher -k my.u-boot.power41a -f" results in "Suitable USB device not found, waiting." Which leads me to be confused - wasn't the way the instructions were written suggesting that the commands are all run from the N900? (Presumably in the directory the image is stored in?) (And I tried running that but with "fiasco-" in front of flasher, but that just doesn't seem to exist as a command.)

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

what i said was that uboot is principaly able to read ext2. you don't need no extra vfat partition with that. it only has a tiny bug(two lines only the returncode of the read).
has it for at least four years and i remember something that it won't get fixed until somthing else is fixed(that something else is to be verifyed - if it is dangerous or unimportant or doesn't exist anymore or ...)

[ and i said i quickfixed the two lines without further examining and works fine for me. it might be worth it]

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Okay, in context of the above edits in my previous post, I just dug around, and I found this: http://maemo.org/packages/view/fiasco-flasher/

Is this the package I need to install to be able to run the "fiasco-flasher -k my.u-boot.power41a -f" command? If so, my apologies for thinking that I found some mistake in Matan's instructions. That's just my ignorance causing me to completely miss a part of what was necessary.

Also, Lunat, thanks for clarifying that. (Admittedly, when I said I didn't understand the technical nature of it, I meant at a more technical level than that - namely, I wasn't sure what about ext2 uboot didn't support. Does it mean until your fix it couldn't load kernels from an ext2 file system? Or just it couldn't be installed on an ext2 file system? Something else entirely? I'm guessing the former, but might as well ask to be sure.)

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

it means it /does/ load them correctly in any case but when it has finished loading it says it didn't work out. even though it did.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Alright, one last question to the public at large and then I'm shutting up - I might be the type to ask questions that seem obvious you you all, but I guarantee you I'm not the type to complain about having to reflash (those who pay attention might notice that the one time I got my N900 bootlooping, I made no whining "omg help me" thread - just reflashed according to the wiki and moved on). So, can someone please me what the address for the repository is with the fiasco-flasher? Because I see that it's in the "Maemo 5 device root filesystem (PR1.0)" - but I don't know what the actual repository url is with which you point apt-get at it. Or even wget/axel so I can dpkg -i it on the device.

Or is it some special package that you can't just install easily (easily meaning from the command line with reasonably typical installation proceedures), and if so, what special steps have to be taken (Yes, I looked through the wiki, yes I looked through the search results, and yes, I looked through the power search results)?

- Edit -

I just realized it IS possible that there's some glitch in my N900 - and everyone else just so happens to have "fiasco-flasher" as a command they can run as root on their N900s. If this is so, then by all means, tell me. I don't have it. I just have "fiasco-do-update" and "fiasco-image-update" as commands. If either of those can actually be used instead, then the '-h' and '--help' options didn't indicate this for me. But if someone more experienced recommends this, I'd be happy to try.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Completely off topic but which theme is that? It looks nice.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Ooh, shiny! Need to find some time to try this out.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

I have the same problem as @bzbnd -- decided meego isn't for me right now (despite being a developer), so was planning to go back to maemo/multiboot/nitdroid

- Had clean PR 1.3 with apps
- installed uboot
- wrote meego to flash
- was able to boot meego (default) or maemo (run noloboot)
- went to remove uboot as per http://wiki.meego.com/ARM/N900/Install/Dual_Boot by running " apt-get install --reinstall kernel-flasher"
- made no difference
- removed sd card
- now boots maemo fine

So I'd like to try nitdroid again, but worried about my current boot config.
is there any easy way to fully remove uboot?
I didn't bring myself to run "apt-get remove uboot" (yet)
is it safe to install nitdroid/multiboot
I do have a full backup of course, just easier not to mess up.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Sting04 - that's the Marina theme. I use that too, actually (though I eventually modified some parts, even without the modifications it was my favorite theme available on the N900).

- Edit -

(Suppresses dickish remark) I did it. Instead of trying to figure out where the hell I could conceivably download fiasco-flasher (it's not on my device, I tried entering the repository source line in my sources.list, hildon-app-manager.list and fapman's own sources list - the one which you need to get your own token number combination to get access to it), I just ended up figuring out how to force "flasher" to work for my purposes. Namely, I launched softupd (with options -s and --local - also -vv, but that's just increasing verbosity, as I understand it), inside one xterm, then ran flasher with --local and -f -k [path to and name of kernel file provided by Matan].

So, in short,then leave that alone, open another terminal, and . Both need to be run as root. Oh, and then afterwords. For reference purposes, I also stumbled upon the same instructions here: http://wiki.maemo.org/Overclocking#F...N900_xterminal I was vaduelly aware of this before, but didn't know it would necessarily be compatible with the file Matan provided, since I wasn't sure what the differences between fiasco-flasher and flasher were. uname -a (and uboot during startup) reported power41 as the kernel, which is what Matan called his power40 + PR1.3.

Great success. (Though I'd still like to get my hands on "fiasco-flasher". Seems like it would be a bit faster to use.)

At any rate, thanks again to Matan for making this.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

BTW what's in power40 + PR1.3?
is it a personal modification/combination of titan's power kernel and patch fixes of the original pr1.3 kernel? Anybody here can enlighten me? Cause I won't boot meego without the enhanced kernel nor the patches for the pr1.3 kernel. It's pretty traumatic going back to pr1.2 kernel lol! :p

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

i do it.. it works very well. cant see any bugs or whatever. Good work!!!!!

but i dont know how to do this:

"If you wish to boot by default into maemo even when the microsd card is inserted, create a file called boot.scr in the fat partition on the card that also contains uImage. This file should include:

setenv atags ${nolo_atagaddr}
bootm ${nolo_kernaddr}"

sd card is not accessible from the N900 neither from the pc (it say need to be formatted) .. how can i add this file?

thanks..

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Radicalz, you can probably look at the source - it will tell you more than I can. But to my understanding that's exactly what it is. Matan just took power kernel, added the PR1.3 patches, and attached uboot.

dannydj: Did you just have the "fiasco-flasher" command on your device without doing anything (because as I complained in my earlier posts, it's not anywhere to be found on mine)?

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

How would you apply 1.3 patches to an exsisting kernel?

I'd like to do this with the current neopwn kernel. Thank you for any and all assistance. (most likely requires source, which I do not have)

What flasher command would be used to temporarily flash a kernel candidate locally for testing? Would the flasher line in Mentalist Traceur's outline change to this:

flasher --local -F <kernel-image> --flash-only=kernel -f -R

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

For temporary, I would use "-l" (as in lower-case L) instead of "-f". Don't trust me too much, but flasher takes the same options as the flasher on the computer, so -f would be flash (as in actually write the data to flash chip) and -l would be load (as in load kernel into memory). You can always also type "flasher -h" and "flasher --help" for some basic info on the options.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

I need help, ? already done this:

bunzip2 modules41.tar.bz2
tar xf modules41.tar -C /

but when I try : fiasco-flasher -k my.u-boot.power41a -f

it says fiasco-flasher not found

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Erebo read above. (for instance, my long post a couple before this one, where I both write out the exact instructions to the next step, AND link to the wiki that has the same instructions.)

I still don't know how to get "fiasco-flasher" because I don't know what the repository to download it is - at least the proper format of adding that repository to the apt-get sources. BUT I DID post how to use flasher instead of fiasco-flasher to do the same thing. On this very page no less.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

flasher --local -k <kernel-file> -l -b

seems to be the command for a test run

EDIT: no go, get a message saying that mode is not supported by this method. You either flash or don't that way I guess....oh well. My test was bad, it still ubooted couldn't load my kernel and proceeded to run Meego so I flashed Matan's power via the PC flasher and it was running again.

Re: U-boot is now in extras-devel
 

Hi I'm new to linux (ubuntu 10.10) and n900 and i have a problem with booting meego. Tried already the release from 26 october and the newer one. Every time when I boot from mmc i get some info like:
cannot load file "boot.scr", partition 3 is not valid, then automatically starts to boot maemo. Thanks in advance for help : )