Arch Linux ARM on N900 - Page 26 - maemo.org

Active Topics

Camera phone competition March 2023 "Endless" (35)
to General by Maemish - 1 day, 3 hrs ago
TLS 1.2 for N9 is ready (28)
to MeeGo / Harmattan by smartblu9 - 1 day, 4 hrs ago
Maemo repository (3)
to Community by torsen - 1 day, 20 hrs ago
Error after installing Leste on sdcard (11)
to Maemo 7 / Leste by Maemish - 2 days, 17 hrs ago
Introducing ubiboot N9 (multiboot OS loader) (1,393)
to Alternatives by smatkovi - 4 days ago
more...

Page 26 of 64

Thread Tools

Skry	2013-03-23 , 00:57
Posts: 204 \| Thanked: 754 times \| Joined on Jan 2012 @ Finland	#251

Ok, uboot-n900-tools in the repo. Changed behavior presented in here for the interested. For the uninterested:

Add to fstab, adjust if necessary:

Code:

ubi0:rootfs /mnt/maemo ubifs defaults,noatime,bulk_read,no_chk_data_crc 0 0
/dev/mmcblk1p2 /mnt/maemo/home ext3 defaults,noatime 0 0
/dev/mmcblk1p1 /mnt/maemo/home/user/MyDocs vfat defaults,noatime,uid=1000,gid=100,umask=022 0 0

As root, emmc and nand partitions unmounted:

Code:

echo "options ubi mtd=rootfs" > /etc/modprobe.d/ubi.conf
echo "softdep ubi pre: omap2" >> /etc/modprobe.d/ubi.conf
mkdir /mnt/maemo
mount -a
ln -s /mnt/maemo/etc/bootmenu.d /etc/bootmenu.d
ln -s /mnt/maemo/etc/default/bootmenu.item /etc/default/bootmenu.item

I tried to reproduce all the stupid user errors I've heard happening with u-boot, so far it's been working fine and safe, for me. I'm dead tired, so don't copypaste, I didn't :P

EDIT:
Oh well, setting up everything in fstab drops to emergency mode, module dependencies have to be defined manually, I'll get back to this asap.

EDIT2:
Corrected and updated, update your fstab and do trough the steps again. Let me know if some issues arise.

Last edited by Skry; 2013-03-23 at 17:47.

Quote & Reply |

The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Skry For This Useful Post:
AhmadMhd, caveman, PanzerSajt, Älä hakkaa

AhmadMhd	2013-03-24 , 15:46
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#252

Hello everyone

@Skry
Thanks for the hard work

It's really amazing to have arch linux on N900

@Skry
have a question please

I did the following
1- formated mmcblk0p5 (logical) to ext4
2- untar then sync your unofficial image to the above partition.
3- installed U-boot (the version that supports booting kernel 3.x)
4- added boot menu item in /etc/bootmenu.d/30-Arch.item

Code:

ITEM_NAME="Arch Linux ARM"
ITEM_KERNEL="/boot/uImage"
ITEM_DEVICE="${EXT_CARD}p1"
ITEM_FSTYPE="ext4"
ITEM_OMAPATAG="1"
ITEM_CMDLINE="root=/dev/mmcblk0p5 rootwait init=/bin /systemd omapfb.vram=0:3M,1:3M,2:3M quiet"

5- then u-boot-update*

But when I try to boot to Arch I get "Kernel Panic"
What am I doing wrong ?

actually I don't know how to deal with U-boot
I didn't understand the part about U-boot
and where do I have to put the "uImage" and how to boot correctly
Please guide me, what should I do to successfully boot Arch

Thanks

EDIT: forgot to say that I've manged to chroot to /dev/mmcblk0p5 successfully

Last edited by AhmadMhd; 2013-03-24 at 16:13.

Quote & Reply |

Skry	2013-03-24 , 17:40
Posts: 204 \| Thanked: 754 times \| Joined on Jan 2012 @ Finland	#253

Originally Posted by AhmadMhd

Thanks for the hard work

It's really amazing to have arch linux on N900

You're welcome, it is amazing indeed.

Originally Posted by AhmadMhd

ITEM_DEVICE="${EXT_CARD}p1"
ITEM_CMDLINE="root=/dev/mmcblk0p5 rootwait init=/bin /systemd omapfb.vram=0:3M,1:3M,2:3M quiet"[/CODE]

Change

Code:

${EXT_CARD}p1 -> ${EXT_CARD}p5

and

Code:

init=/bin /systemd -> init=/bin/systemd

and it should boot.

You don't need to copy uImage anywhere if you configure uboot to look under /boot for it, like you've already done. Good luck.

Quote & Reply |

The Following User Says Thank You to Skry For This Useful Post:
AhmadMhd

AhmadMhd	2013-03-25 , 04:45
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#254

Originally Posted by Skry

Change
Code:
${EXT_CARD}p1 -> ${EXT_CARD}p5
and
Code:
init=/bin /systemd -> init=/bin/systemd
and it should boot.

You don't need to copy uImage anywhere if you configure uboot to look under /boot for it, like you've already done. Good luck.

I changed to ${EXT_CARD}p5

but init=/bin/systemd was right, (writing mistake

)

I did the fixes you told me to do, But when you boot to Arch
U-boot says

Code:

mmc0 is current device 
** Bad partition 5 **

after this when I run

Code:

run emmcboot

I have a Kernel Panic

Code:

Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount rootfs on unknown-block(179,5)

(this is one of the lines)

btw : I tried multiple versions of u-boot with no luck
current version is "2012.04-2"
Also tried version "2012.10-rc3-1"

NOTE: when Kernel Panic happens, N900 can't be powered off using power button, you have to remove the battery which is bad

and also chroot worked fine, I tried doing pacman -Suy and it worked

I think I'm missing some part of U-boot boot, but I don't know what is it

Thanks in advance.

Quote & Reply |

AhmadMhd	2013-03-25 , 04:48
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#255

@Skry

I changed to ${EXT_CARD}p5

but init=/bin/systemd was right, (writing mistake

)

I did the fixes you told me to do, But when you boot to Arch
U-boot says

Code:

mmc0 is current device 
** Bad partition 5 **

after this when I run

Code:

run emmcboot

I have a Kernel Panic

Code:

Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount rootfs on unknown-block(179,5)

and also chroot worked fine, I tried doing pacman -Suy and it worked

I think I'm missing some part of U-boot boot, but I don't know what is it

output of fdisk -l

Code:

Disk /dev/mmcblk1: 998 MB, 998244352 bytes
93 heads, 35 sectors/track, 598 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 3255 * 512 = 1666560 bytes

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/mmcblk1p1   *           1         599      973824   b Win95 FAT32
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(0, 32, 33) logical=(0, 58, 19)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(121, 92, 35) logical=(598, 91, 21)

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 32.0 GB, 32015122432 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 977024 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/mmcblk0p1               1      405884    12988280   b Win95 FAT32
/dev/mmcblk0p2          688258      950401     8388608  83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p3          950402      974977      786432  82 Linux swap
/dev/mmcblk0p4          405885      688257     9035936   5 Extended
/dev/mmcblk0p5   *      405885      593384     5999992  83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p6          593385      688257     3035928  83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

EDIT:Also removed boot flag from mmcblk0p5, also didn't work

Also replacing ${EXT_CARD}p5 with ${INT_CARD}p5 didn't help

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by AhmadMhd; 2013-03-25 at 06:07.

Quote & Reply |

Skry	2013-03-25 , 16:21
Posts: 204 \| Thanked: 754 times \| Joined on Jan 2012 @ Finland	#256

@AhmadMhd

Uh, since I usually refer to how devices are named in reality, I understood you had everything on uSD-card, sorry. You see, Maemo swaps mmc device numbering around, so, change to ${INT_CARD}p5 and root=/dev/mmcblk1p5

Quote & Reply |

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Skry For This Useful Post:
AhmadMhd, Bahador

	jd4200	2013-03-25 , 18:08
	Posts: 451 \| Thanked: 424 times \| Joined on Apr 2010 @ England	#257

I'm quite interested in trying this, especially seeing as you, Skry, and many others have put in a lot of effort, thanks a lot, since the last time I looked at this project a long time back.

I've got a few questions that hopefully some one can answer in order to clear my confusion up, sorry if I they've been answered elsewhere but I've not been able to find them:

What is the difference between the official rootfs, and the one provided by Skry? Is the unofficial just fine tuned towards the N900?

Once setup, am I free to 'pacman -Syu' once in a while, or are there any packages I must hold off from updating (the kernel especially)?

I've got a lot of free hosting space & bandwidth on my dedi., & free domains if you fancy centralising this and moving away from dropbox/other file hosters.

__________________
BTC:
19ePiXZUdxqNAq9tStLzZV4dduSQeGPJzj

Quote & Reply |

The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to jd4200 For This Useful Post:
AhmadMhd, PanzerSajt, Skry

AhmadMhd	2013-03-25 , 18:36
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#258

Originally Posted by Skry

@AhmadMhd

Uh, since I usually refer to how devices are named in reality, I understood you had everything on uSD-card, sorry. You see, Maemo swaps mmc device numbering around, so, change to ${INT_CARD}p5 and root=/dev/mmcblk1p5

Great
I get U-boot console this time
but when I run

Code:

run emmcboot

It works

Thank you very much @Skry
Now there is one more Arch user on N900 :-]

I'll try to contribute to this project

keep up the great work.

Last edited by AhmadMhd; 2013-03-27 at 20:01.

Quote & Reply |

Skry	2013-03-25 , 21:34
Posts: 204 \| Thanked: 754 times \| Joined on Jan 2012 @ Finland	#259

Originally Posted by jd4200

I'm quite interested in trying this, especially seeing as you, Skry, and many others have put in a lot of effort, thanks a lot, since the last time I looked at this project a long time back.

Yeah, I've spent countless nights with this one, you're welcome. Hopefully you decide to give it a go.

Originally Posted by jd4200

What is the difference between the official rootfs, and the one provided by Skry? Is the unofficial just fine tuned towards the N900?

Mine has kernel for N900 and my integration packages included. I also included dialog to make use of the wifi-menu, so one can just simply extract it and boot. No need to play around in chroot unless one wants to.

Originally Posted by jd4200

Once setup, am I free to 'pacman -Syu' once in a while, or are there any packages I must hold off from updating (the kernel especially)?

You're perfectly free to -Syu all you like, no need to hold anything back. Also, everything is optional and split, so you can pick what you want, grab everything or simply do things your way.

Repositories are also split, currently to base which includes only the few essential packages, and to extra where majority of the integration, special tools and modified packages are. There is going to be two more, testing and neon. So, there is no forced dependencies to anything, and no right or wrong way to setup your system, the choice is all yours.

Originally Posted by jd4200

I've got a lot of free hosting space & bandwidth on my dedi., & free domains if you fancy centralising this and moving away from dropbox/other file hosters.

I certainly do fancy doing just that. I've put a lot of personal time into this but unfortunately money is something I can't invest. PM me or query me at IRC and we can discuss this further.

Originally Posted by AhmadMhd

Thank you very much @Skry
Now there is one more Arch user on N900 :-]

I'll try to contribute to this project
keep up the greate work.

Great! Welcome

Quote & Reply |

The Following User Says Thank You to Skry For This Useful Post:
ArchiMark

	ArchiMark	2013-03-25 , 22:24
	Posts: 414 \| Thanked: 109 times \| Joined on Mar 2007 @ Silicon Valley	#260

Originally Posted by AhmadMhd

Greate
I had the same Error
but this time when I run
Code:
run emmcboot
It works

Thank you very much @Skry
Now there is one more Arch user on N900 :-]

I'll try to contribute to this project
keep up the greate work.

Can you please clarify, is Arch installed all on your microSD card or ?

From your partition info, it seems like it is on your card....but from some comments read, I'm not sure...

Hope to get Arch installed on my 900 soon.....

Thanks.

__________________
Mark
Silicon Valley Digerati

Nokia N900
Previous: Nokia N810 & N800