B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

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B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby ReedWood » Sun Aug 25, 2013 8:43 pm

Hallo all,

I am new to ARM and this forum, so please redirect this post, if there is better suited sub-forum.

I own an Excito B3 [1], which comes with a Debian squeeze. All open source. cpuinfo gives
----
Processor : Feroceon 88FR131 rev 1 (v5l)
BogoMIPS : 1196.85
Features : swp half thumb fastmult edsp
CPU implementer : 0x56
CPU architecture: 5TE
CPU variant : 0x2
CPU part : 0x131
CPU revision : 1

Hardware : BUBBA3 Kirkwood based miniserver
Revision : 0000
Serial : 0000000000000000
---

I tried to install the ArchLinuxARM-armv5te-latest.tar.gz image, but could not boot into the system. The catch with the hardware is, that it lacks a VGA output. So I can get my hands on the device only if the network interface and the ssh deamon is up. There is a LED indicating different system states, but I am not sure if I can trust the LED once I moved away from the kernel provided with the device.

I have a lot of other information, e.g. a list of kernel modules which are loaded while the original Debian is running.

My question here is if you think that there is any change to get an Arch on this device, and if so what the first steps are to figure out how. I have a good working knowlegde of Linux etc. but I have never tried to get in onto a unsupported platform.

Best,
Wolfgang

[1] http://www.excitostore.com/content/spec ... -excito-b3
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby moonman » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:56 pm

You may have to roll your own kernel and use our rootfs. I found some patches here: https://github.com/Excito/kernel/tree/m ... an/patches . The kernel seems to depend on device tree and we don't (yet?) use device tree for our devices.
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby moonman » Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:09 pm

Actually I found a patch that applies directly to core/linux https://gist.github.com/Cilyan/6096694/ ... ubba.patch

EDIT: I'll try to compile this for you. See if it works when it's done.
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby moonman » Mon Aug 26, 2013 5:15 am

Here's the kernel: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/150 ... pkg.tar.xz
Extract uImage to /boot on your bootable device and modules directory to where it belongs (archive has the right directory hierarchy). Delete these directories on your media first though. If it works, I'll integrate this patch into the official kernel and the 3.10 kernel.
If you ever need headers: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/150 ... pkg.tar.xz
Pogoplug V4 | GoFlex Home | Raspberry Pi 4 4GB | CuBox-i4 Pro | ClearFog | BeagleBone Black | Odroid U2 | Odroid C1 | Odroid XU4
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby ReedWood » Mon Aug 26, 2013 3:56 pm

Wow, I am mind-blown by our reply. I try to find time tonight and let you know if your kernel works. Otherwise, due to holydays, this will have to wait for two weeks.

The original system uses gpt partition table. Does Arch require a DOS partition table?

Thank you for your help. I will follow up!
Best, Wolfgang
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby WarheadsSE » Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:19 pm

If your bootloader handles GPT, then not a problem. Check if they are using a Hybrid MBR/GPT.
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby ReedWood » Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:07 pm

As a short notice. The system is up and running! Thank you for your great support. I will write which steps I took. Where is the best place for it?
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby moonman » Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:11 pm

You can write a [How-to] in this forum. Meanwhile I'll integrate the patch into the official kernel so the next tarball will work without replacing the kernel.
Pogoplug V4 | GoFlex Home | Raspberry Pi 4 4GB | CuBox-i4 Pro | ClearFog | BeagleBone Black | Odroid U2 | Odroid C1 | Odroid XU4
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby moonman » Wed Aug 28, 2013 1:02 am

ReedWood, could you also test this kernel please? https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/150 ... pkg.tar.xz
I ported the patch to 3.10 and it wasn't as trivial as 3.1 so I want it tested before it's commited.
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Re: B3, Kirkwood based miniserver

Postby moonman » Fri Aug 30, 2013 12:08 am

I commited the changes as im pretty sure it will work. You can just install "linux-kirkwood" package from the repo to bring your kernel to 3.10.9 . Let me know if you have any problems.
Pogoplug V4 | GoFlex Home | Raspberry Pi 4 4GB | CuBox-i4 Pro | ClearFog | BeagleBone Black | Odroid U2 | Odroid C1 | Odroid XU4
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