Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2 (RND2xxx-200)

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Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2 (RND2xxx-200)

Postby marakasmalan » Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:16 pm

Good day,

I have the device as listed in the topic, I'll put details towards end of post if it should be of any concern.

For the purpose of full disclosure, as far as compiling kernels, NAND storage and U-boot are concerned: I'm a noob. I also do know that is not a valid excuse not to try.

A few questions:
1. Can I install one of the existing platform packages, i.e. Zyxel NSA325 or ArchLinuxARM-kirkwood-latest.tar.gz , or do I need to compile a new kernel? A kind person built kernels for the purpose of installing Debian on the same device, http://natisbad.org/nas-kernels/index.html , though they seem slightly outdated now. Should I rather use that information and compile a kernel myself?
2. Who author and maintain the various installation tar files for different platforms listed on https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms and what will be required (from me, I presume?) to add the platform "Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2"
3. Can anyone who installed Arch Linux ARM on a similar NAS device (Zyxel etc.) advise if they are using any existing packages to setup, manage and monitor users and services for the NAS, or is all done "manually" from the cli?
4. What will the major benefits/drawbacks be if I update the OS? At the moment I am considering this migration simply to have all my devices on the same, and only, distro I am familiar with.

I will appreciate any feedback or advice.

Regards

Device info:

Latest vendor firmware can be found: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RND2000v2_(ReadyNAS_Duo_v2).aspx#download

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'U-Boot 1.1.4 (Feb 6 2012 - 14:40:46) Marvell version: 3.4.27
Netgear version: Uboot-1_1_4-NetgearDUOV3-V1008')

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : Feroceon 88FR131 rev 1 (v5l)
BogoMIPS : 1599.07
Features : swp half thumb fastmult edsp
CPU implementer : 0x56
CPU architecture: 5TE
CPU variant : 0x2
CPU part : 0x131
CPU revision : 1

Hardware : Feroceon-KW
Revision : 0000
Serial : 0000000000000000')

List of hardware: (As described on http://natisbad.org/NAS/index.html#hw)
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', ' Marvell SoC 88F6282 ARMv5TE @1.6Ghz
256 MB RAM via 2x128 Hynix DDR3 @1333Mhz
128 MB Hynix NAND Flash
Serial interface via 16550A UART
Protechnic Electric Co MG9212YB-25 Fan
GMT G762 PWM Fan Controller
Ricoh RS5C372A I2C bus RTC
NEC/RENESAS µPD720200 USB3.0/xHCI host controller
Nuvoton 3012S
SoC Temperature sensor
Marvell 88E1318 Gigabit Ethernet PHY
ATMEL 512 Kb SPI Flash
CR2032 battery
FDS 4435BZ
FDS 8984
JTAG provision
Marvell G47B
Richtek RT8105
Texas instruments TPS65251
Leds and buttons
Marvell Cryptograpic Engine and Security Accelerator (CESA)
DMA/XOR engine')


$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '# cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.31.8.duov2 (root@NSBU-NJ) (gcc version 4.3.2 (sdk3.2rc1-ct-ng-1.4.1) ) #1 Thu Apr 18 18:24:47 HKT 2013')

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'cat /proc/cmdline
console=ttyS0,115200 reason=normal mtdparts=nand_mtd:0x180000@0(u-boot),0x20000@0x180000(u-boot-env),0x600000@0x200000(uImage),0x1000000@0x800000(minirootfs),0x6800000@0x1800000(jffs2);')

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '# cat /proc/mtd
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00180000 00020000 "u-boot"
mtd1: 00020000 00020000 "u-boot-env"
mtd2: 00600000 00020000 "uImage"
mtd3: 01000000 00020000 "minirootfs"
mtd4: 06800000 00020000 "jffs2"')

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 246820 kB
MemFree: 23072 kB
Buffers: 9720 kB
Cached: 159184 kB
SwapCached: 60 kB
Active: 27204 kB
Inactive: 170996 kB
Active(anon): 9408 kB
Inactive(anon): 23244 kB
Active(file): 17796 kB
Inactive(file): 147752 kB
Unevictable: 2844 kB
Mlocked: 0 kB
SwapTotal: 524268 kB
SwapFree: 524208 kB
Dirty: 28 kB
Writeback: 0 kB
AnonPages: 32108 kB
Mapped: 6144 kB
Slab: 16020 kB
SReclaimable: 4684 kB
SUnreclaim: 11336 kB
PageTables: 860 kB
NFS_Unstable: 0 kB
Bounce: 0 kB
WritebackTmp: 0 kB
CommitLimit: 647676 kB
Committed_AS: 125864 kB
VmallocTotal: 385024 kB
VmallocUsed: 940 kB
VmallocChunk: 382812 kB')
marakasmalan
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 2:34 am

Re: Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2 (RND2xxx-200)

Postby summers » Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:12 pm

Its a bit worrying you start by saying "I'm a noob" - your platform isn't one currently supported by arm acrh. This doesn't mean you can't install arch, but it means it is fairly technical. Also there is no guarantee about how much will work when you get there, e.g. how much of the hardware works.

Good news is there is a device tree: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/arch/arm/boot/dts/kirkwood-netgear_readynas_duo_v2.dts

So the hardware in your machine is known, and in mainline kernel.

But what you'll need to make progress is access to the UART. Quick search and its discussed, so it is know how to do this - but I haven't found details in a quick search. It may well involved soldering a header onto the main board, so consider if this scares you. You'll also need a 3.3V UART to USB convertor.

If you are *comfortable* with all this, what you'll need to do is to install the kirkwood image to an HDD. Then make sure you add the netgear_readynas_duo_v2 device tree blob to the image.

Then with the HDD installed, on boot up interrupt u-boot. Then type the commands to boot up off the hdd, and see what happens.

Whats good about this direction, is you can try arm arch, without committing to installing it on machine. e.g. you'll keep the original OS.

However don't underestimate this, you'll need to know what you are doing, you'll get some help here - but probably not as much as you want. So much of the time you'll be on your own. So this reply does have a heavy *WARNING* sticker on it ...

EDIT: and checking the nasbad site, you can see that the uart header is already on the board, so all you need to do is connect a 3.3V uart to usb convertor.

Also u-boot is old enough, that I'm not sure how well it will cope with a device tree. I *think* you can still load it - but I've never done this before on a u-boot that old ...
summers
 
Posts: 984
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:56 pm

Re: Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2 (RND2xxx-200)

Postby marakasmalan » Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:30 pm

Thank you,

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')ts a bit worrying you start by saying "I'm a noob"

New to U-boot and flashing firmware on a device, has done so with well known and proven recipes for routers before.

I have access to the serial console, no problem - no need even to open the case, UART pins easily accessible.
What you described is great news, as not much can go wrong, and one can be fearless within reasonable parameters. Is there any reason why the installation cannot be done from usb, or is that dependant on u-boot?

You have concerns about the u-boot version, is it advisable to upgrade u-boot?

Thank you, I will go and test and revert back to you.
marakasmalan
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 2:34 am

Re: Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2 (RND2xxx-200)

Postby summers » Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:57 am

If you are comfortable with the uart and serial connections - then thats half the battle.

So what you'll need to do is in power up interrupt u-boot, and see what it gives "help" will show the commands, and "printenv" will show the stuff defined on top.

Now took at hour last night to read natisbad web site - boy he's done a lot of work, and mainlined it as well. So he created the device tree for the machine.

Now he doesn't give all the stock set up, but we can see that it uses u-boot 1.1.4 from 2005! so its seriously old. Now u-boot has evolved a lot, so you won't have much of the modern set up. You ask about flashing a new uboot - I'd see how far you can get with the old uboot. Problem with flashing new boot, is if it goes wrong - you'll brick the device.

Now learning about you boot, we'll help is your friend, but you could also look at the doc directory in: ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/u-boot/u-boot-1.1.4.tar.bz2.

What you can see from the nasisbad web site is that it looks like it only boots uImages, so you'll have to package up any kernel.

Now modern u-boot can load from usb e.g. via "load usb ..." - the modern load ac access most things "ide" "mmc" "usb" etc. Now it looks like u-boot 1.1.4. uses "fsload" - I have no idea how that works. Hopefully you can find something to load from the usb ...

u-boot that old won't access ext4, but I think every u-boot I've ever seen can access fat and ext2. So this suggests write the arm arch kirkwood image to an ext2 format partition. Then see in uboot if you can see the files - hopefully you have a command "ext2ls". Then we can look at loading them.

IIRC the kirkwood default install installs from a uImage - its all at that most stock kirkwood devices can do.

Anyway you'll have to probe via that uart ...

EDIT: looks like in u-boot 1.1.4 you can do "usb start" and "usb scan", etc - that should help to see what you can do with usb ...
summers
 
Posts: 984
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:56 pm

Re: Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2 (RND2xxx-200)

Postby marakasmalan » Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:35 am

Thank you!

Yes, natisbad did a lot of work, and there is no reason why not to build on that.

I have been very busy at work, will revert back as soon as I get started!
marakasmalan
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 2:34 am


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