Connecting a mobile to the Pogoplug Pro - modules issues

[shankargopal]

Hi all

I am running a Pogoplug Pro, but am something of a kernel newbie. I needed some help figuring out how to address a connectivity problem. This is a quasi-production system where the Plug will be hooked up to a mobile to serve as a combined SMS gateway and web server. However, in order to connect to the mobile, either bluetooth or USB serial connections (i.e. a data cable to the mobile) need to be functional.

Plugging in a bluetooth dongle results in the device being found, but no hci device is created, presumably because the bluetooth module is missing in the CE 2.6.31 kernel.

Similarly, plugging in a data cable results in nothing, as the cdc-acm module (which is what loads on other systems) is also missing.

WarheadSE was kind enough to let me know about two months ago that both modules may be available with the 3.1 kernel (but I am not sure if they are being compiled as such or one might have to compile by hand). However, since that kernel seems to be a little delayed (and I have nowhere near the requisite skills to assist with getting it up ), I wonder if there is a way to get this system functional with the existing kernel? Is there an alternative method? Has anyone had any experiences with connecting a mobile up to one of these?

Thanks a lot!
Shankar

[WarheadsSE]

With some help, the 2.6.31 kernel & modules can be rebuilt & flashed. This isn't a faint-of-heart action however. Since you're looking to push it beyond what is in place at this time, you'll want to investigate this as it is the major factor in mitigating your needs.

[shankargopal]

Ok, thanks for the response. I had an impression that compiling the modules separately and copying them in would be all that is required, but I gather from your post that that is not the case. Can you let me know what would be required? I could not find a clear idea from the rest of the forum about compiling new modules.

[WarheadsSE]

Compiling modules is the easy part. The problem lies in unknown symbols from those modules, because they are not present in the kernel.

I suppose I should just compile a much larger bundle for fresh installs...

[Philoo]

at this point the pogoplug pro may not be the easiest platform for your project.
you might want to look at a kirkwood based system which are in effect much easier to deal with. I'm personnally very fond of the iomega Iconnect even if it is in the "community supported" tier and does not have sata support.

if you still want to stick with the pogopro you may also look into using the built in serial port (requires to open the box and connect the cable to the pins but that might do your trick with minimal headache)

finally I found that this thread http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=2472 got me through the difficulties I had with custom kernel on the pro (this is not a 3.x kernel but it was not necessary for me).

as a complement to what arktronic lists I would add

* make sure uboot-tools is installed (needed to create the uImage file)
* make menuconfig and walk through the options change as few as possible to meet your needs (most likely this is in the device driver section) make sure about PCI/noPCI support based on your exact hardware (if it has built in wireless you need PCI support)
* make uImage to generate the kernel image,
* make modules to build the modules ,
* make modules_install to put them where they belong,
* manually copy the kernel image where it needs to be (depending on USB or SATA, don't put it in the NAND unless you're 150% sure it is stable) and reboot.
* as mentionned in the thread you will probably find it very handy to have a tftp server to boot from the network and a serial cable to debug

[WarheadsSE]

What I need to test: switching from gzip to lzma (if this uboot supports it), and just turning *everything* on, and including that in the new rootfs images for install.

[telzey]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WarheadsSE', 'W')hat I need to test: switching from gzip to lzma (if this uboot supports it), and just turning *everything* on, and including that in the new rootfs images for install.

[WarheadsSE]

xenoxaos actually has that, and I'd certainly not be against taking patches.

I can repo-up and you could try patching in.

[telzey]

Sounds fun! I'm way overdue for learning to use git. I'm more familiar with Perforce myself.

Iomega were kind enough to release their changes as patch files instead of a full kernel tree (like CloudEngines and ZyXEL did).

I can easily let you have just the patch files that I'm using, although you've probably got all the latest ones from PLX anyway.

[WarheadsSE]

Honestly, they don't always go back to the manufacturer