Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
On Friday, February 2, 2018, amonwrote: > Thanks for getting back to me. I hope you are right. What little > I have found via searches with Google were not comforting, to > say the least. > > most people are not sufficiently competent on the general internet to know what they are doing. the mass of unanswered or incompetently answered questions can be a pain in the add to filter out. that is your responsibility... and something you just have to accept and be patient with rather than attach emotional responses to such as "not comforting" and other such phrases. find the RIGHT people, ignore the rest, and please DOCUMENT your successes in STATIC web pages such as a wiki NOT a mailing list, forum or blog post. why? because YOU will need the documentation in six months time, forget everyone else that will indirectly benefit!! that includes where and how you obtained the toolchain, everything. I can't do a boot from the sdcard for this application as I > will probably be using it for something else. I think that is > why I was thinking I need to do something with uboot. > > I don't have a cross compiler, although I have heard there > might be one at Globalscale. I have built cross-compilers > but not since I did one to build m68000 code for a NeXT from > an i486... needless to say, it took several days to do the > 3 compiles to generate it. I hope the world has gotten easier > in the ensuing two decades. > > I'm working on some stuff where I have to be quite conservative > as I hope to put it into a cubesat someday if we can raise the > cash for it. > > -- > +---+ > | Dale Amon Immortal Data| > | CEO Midland International Air and Space Port| > | a...@vnl.com "Data Systems for Deep Space and Time" | > +---+ > > -- --- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
I have not left the planet :-) Just swamped with administrative things that one has to do in an unfunded small company to keep at least a nose out of the water. -- +---+ | Dale Amon Immortal Data| | CEO Midland International Air and Space Port| | a...@vnl.com "Data Systems for Deep Space and Time" | +---+
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
On 2018-02-05 01:30, amon wrote: Got it and printed a copy for annotation when I get to the lab tomorrow. Thanks much. I noticed I made a little mistake in step 4. I've corrected it on the website. The step to apply the small kernel patch should be as follows: wget -O- https://www.solinno.co.uk/public/mirabox/mirabox-sdio.patch | patch -p1 I also added instructions on how to download the SD8787 firmware in step 9. Regards, Leigh.
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
Got it and printed a copy for annotation when I get to the lab tomorrow. Thanks much. -- +---+ | Dale Amon Immortal Data| | CEO Midland International Air and Space Port| | a...@vnl.com "Data Systems for Deep Space and Time" | +---+
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
Hi Dale, On 2018-02-02 16:23, amon wrote: Okay, I hadn't been thinking in those terms because in my mind I already had the sdcard 'allocated'. That is useful. Bricking GlobalScale units is definitely a thing... I managed to do it to one of there Guru boxes back in 2012. Never had time to fix it; at those prices it was cheaper to bin it than have them pay me to figure it out! As to the development, I can do both. I have a full set of the packages for the release on the Miraboxes (7.1) ... it is an old release but they have stayed with it for years and but for the kernel it serves my purposes. I have one of the test units designated as the development system for my own debian packages anyway and I've already got gcc and all of the debian helper package tool chain on it. Also, I have several 256 GB USB 3.0 sticks laying around my lab bench, so no problem. I am really glad to hear that cross compilers have been simplified. Walking 10 miles to school in deep snow, up hill both ways, is best left in the past. I'm hoping to come out of this with a simple, replicable install sequence using the newly built kernel and module set... I will have to replicate this on at least 4 other units. It would also be nice if I can breath life into 4 old units I have and be able to describe the process to a couple of folks who work with me remotely on occasion so they can upgrade as well. I have had a little time over the weekend so I have created a (lightly tested) procedure to build an SD Card image from a system running 32-bit or 64-bit Debian (Stretch) on an Intel PC. https://www.solinno.co.uk/public/mirabox/debian_cross_compile.html Please try it out and let me know if anything isn't clear or you have any issues. It should be simple to extend the procedure to flash the kernel and initrd onto the NAND and transfer the root filesystem from the SD Card to the on-board UBIFS filesystem. I'll do that next time I have some free time. Regards, Leigh.
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
Okay, I hadn't been thinking in those terms because in my mind I already had the sdcard 'allocated'. That is useful. Bricking GlobalScale units is definitely a thing... I managed to do it to one of there Guru boxes back in 2012. Never had time to fix it; at those prices it was cheaper to bin it than have them pay me to figure it out! As to the development, I can do both. I have a full set of the packages for the release on the Miraboxes (7.1) ... it is an old release but they have stayed with it for years and but for the kernel it serves my purposes. I have one of the test units designated as the development system for my own debian packages anyway and I've already got gcc and all of the debian helper package tool chain on it. Also, I have several 256 GB USB 3.0 sticks laying around my lab bench, so no problem. I am really glad to hear that cross compilers have been simplified. Walking 10 miles to school in deep snow, up hill both ways, is best left in the past. I'm hoping to come out of this with a simple, replicable install sequence using the newly built kernel and module set... I will have to replicate this on at least 4 other units. It would also be nice if I can breath life into 4 old units I have and be able to describe the process to a couple of folks who work with me remotely on occasion so they can upgrade as well. -- +---+ | Dale Amon Immortal Data| | CEO Midland International Air and Space Port| | a...@vnl.com "Data Systems for Deep Space and Time" | +---+
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 1:45 PM, amon wrote: > I don't have a cross compiler Debian has cross-compilers now: https://wiki.debian.org/CrossCompiling Not every package can be cross-compiled though: http://spock.subdivi.de/~helmut/report.html https://bootstrap.debian.net/cross_all.html -- bye, pabs https://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
Hi Dale, On 2018-02-02 05:45, amon wrote: Thanks for getting back to me. I hope you are right. What little I have found via searches with Google were not comforting, to say the least. Think positive. If I can do it, anyone can :-) I can't do a boot from the sdcard for this application as I will probably be using it for something else. I think that is why I was thinking I need to do something with uboot. You can test that way though, and once you have that working you can get the kernel onto the internal mmc. It's best to take it one step at a time. The good thing is, even if you brick it, you can load a u-boot from the serial port and recover. I don't have a cross compiler, although I have heard there might be one at Globalscale. I have built cross-compilers but not since I did one to build m68000 code for a NeXT from an i486... needless to say, it took several days to do the 3 compiles to generate it. I hope the world has gotten easier in the ensuing two decades. I just want to check that you can install Debian on a VM or are running it on a PC or server somewhere. If that is the case, I can provide you instructions on installing a cross-compiler. These are packaged with Debian these days so all the hassle is gone. I don't mind installing a development environment on my Mirabox to build the kernel and sharing the instructions on how to do it, but we'll both get frustrated with the slow compile speed. You'd also need a USB drive attached as the kernel source is big. I'm working on some stuff where I have to be quite conservative as I hope to put it into a cubesat someday if we can raise the cash for it. Regards, Leigh.
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
Another question: I loaded a package set for a full development environment on one of my Miraboxes. I presume that I could just do the kernel build directly on the target hardware? I would think so, but I've not heard anyone else say they did it that way. Slow does not matter that much. It can run over the weekend if it has to. -- +---+ | Dale Amon Immortal Data| | CEO Midland International Air and Space Port| | a...@vnl.com "Data Systems for Deep Space and Time" | +---+
Re: Mirabox kernel help needed
Thanks for getting back to me. I hope you are right. What little I have found via searches with Google were not comforting, to say the least. I can't do a boot from the sdcard for this application as I will probably be using it for something else. I think that is why I was thinking I need to do something with uboot. I don't have a cross compiler, although I have heard there might be one at Globalscale. I have built cross-compilers but not since I did one to build m68000 code for a NeXT from an i486... needless to say, it took several days to do the 3 compiles to generate it. I hope the world has gotten easier in the ensuing two decades. I'm working on some stuff where I have to be quite conservative as I hope to put it into a cubesat someday if we can raise the cash for it. -- +---+ | Dale Amon Immortal Data| | CEO Midland International Air and Space Port| | a...@vnl.com "Data Systems for Deep Space and Time" | +---+