Debian Lenny rootfs

[wicknix]

After having a bit of time again now that winter is nearing i decided to play around with debian lenny on an SD card. I found most everything works except sound in the latest 2.6 kernel. One thing that annoyed me was trying to get wireless working easily, so i added a nifty script to make life easier. It turns on and off wifi power and walks you through setting up a wireless connection. Also made slight changes to the letux-400 debootstrapped base which speeds up boot time and eliminates a lot of the boot time error messages.

With that said i have uploaded a nice Lenny rootfs with a few extra apps installed to make it usable right away. There is no desktop, just console applications to save space and leave YOU with a choice of deciding if you want an X11 desktop or not.

This is a great way to keep 3MX or Debian Etch installed to NAND, yet allows you to "dual boot" into Lenny. There is a README in the download archive along with a built in help file once the system is up an running.

Download here: http://filefactory.com/file/b45ccc9/n/debian-lenny-mipsel-rootfs.tar.gz

If you prefer i also spent a little more time on this lenny rootfs and tried to make a very lite desktop version also. The only X11 apps installed are openbox window manager (with 2 dock applets), rxvt and dillo. Otherwise its the same as the above console version with a few additions like a working youtube player (minus sound obviously until the 2.6 kernel matures).

Download here: http://filefactory.com/file/b47eb2h/n/debian-lenny-mipsel-x11-rootfs.tar.bz2


Cheers.

[jakfish]

Many thanks for two intriguing downloads.  As the spirit moves you, I'd love to hear your running commentary on what works, etc.

For instance, bluetooth?  Is that a possibility w/ this setup and the 2.6 kernel?

Jake

[wicknix]

Well, i haven't had much time to do a whole lot of testing but i can say this....

Use the Sid release. Lenny is already 2 years old and as a result certain software is quite outdated. Like pidgin and centerim, which no longer connect to yahoo or msn. Most of Sid's packages are all from 2010 and are fairly current. After playing with Sid for a bit i recommend staying with Lenny. Sid is still in unstable/testing and i found some issues with it. Pidgin is also current if you install the backport.

As for what works that i've noticed in my limited time tinkering:
Boot time is much faster. I'd guess about 15 seconds vs 45 with 2.4 kernel.
Keyboard driver fixed. No more random keystrokes.  
Bluetooth driver is built into kernel and does load without errors at boot, however i have not tested it with anything yet.
Ethernet and wifi work. Use ifup eth0 to start ethernet, or the wireless config script i added for wifi.
Mounting usb works for ext2, ext3 and vfat. Haven't tested cdrom drive yet. (sd is already in use for the root file system)
Battery status is said to be working, but i get some varying results when i run "cat /proc/jz/battery-status"
LCD backlight is controllable using "echo 150 > /proc/jz/backlight" (150 is an example. Lower # = dimmer, higher # = brighter)
Sound not working with SD card install. Apparently sound does work if you install to NAND and apply some kernel patches. Seems to be some conflict when running the OS from SD card. I'm not going to try this yet until it's been further tested by the kernel devs.

As for software, all works as it should. Just remember the limitations of the machine. Stay with fluxbox or jwm for a window manager. XFCE etc is too heavy and slow. I'm actually quite happy with my current setup which is console only. It's fast, barely uses any ram, and i've found console versions of most everything that i would use on an X11 desktop.

Once sound issue is fixed it will only be that much nicer. Mplayer works in console, netsurf and links2 for graphical web browsing in console, finch/centerim for messaging, sdl games can also work in console, and the list goes on and on.

Cheers.

[jakfish]

Thanks for the summary.  I wonder if a USB bluetooth dongle would work at last--with the 2.4.2 kernel in Sharp Qtopia and bluez, I can use bt on my Zaurus.

I like hearing about a faster boot on the LLL.  And I would love to have a keyboard that actually typed out what a user wrote.  I'm assuming that the 2.6 kernel will not play nice with 3mx Ultra, true?

Jake

[wicknix]

Correct. 2.6 kernel and 3MX aren't supposed to be compatible due to different libc versions, however 3MX ultra3 will boot using the 2.6 kernel. There are a bunch of hidden boot errors and stuff like sound and ethernet/wifi wont work, but it will boot and be very usable for say typing an essay in abiword without having the random keystroke issues of the 2.4 kernel. But in the grand scheme of things they wont be 100% compatible.

Using the 2.6 kernel to boot from internal NAND, just hold fn+left shift until you see the penguin and let go of the keys. Holding the keys until the INIT process will boot from sd card.

Cheers.

[lemon dexter]

Hi Wicknix - great to see you enthused again with the Lenny (and now Sid) "experiments"!

I've been running Lenny off SD for a few weeks and got it working pretty well that suits me (as you say, except for sound). Would like Bluetooth to work and have attempted, but no luck yet.

Most annoying omission (not quite up there as a problem) is lack of keyboard support for the "Fn" keys, particularly Page Up, Page Down, Home and End. Have you managed to get it to recognise these? Xkbd? Also is there any safe way of cleaning up the NAND when running from SD for those of us that suspect we've got recoverable bad blocks? Not a big problem either - and less annoying than not having all the keys!

[wicknix]

I've noticed the FN keys don't work also. I suppose it might be worth trying the kbd package and using loadkeys to load a new keymap. I also haven't been able to mount the internal nand yet. I dont think udev makes the device nodes for it. If i manage to figure it out i'll let you know.

Cheers.

[wicknix]

Updated the download links and added a "desktop" version as well.

Cheers.

[T_Nut]

Hi All
I have moved to lenny to boot from sd card but still having problems i have tried extracting files about 5/6 times now.kernel
is booting still getting kernel panic.not sure if this will help

EXT3 FS on mmcb1kop2, internal journal
EXT3-fs: recovery complete.
EXT3-fs mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem)
Freeing unused kernel memory: 184k freed
Warning: unable to open an initial console.
Kenel panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.

thats the last 7 lines.
so close yet so far !!
lemon dexter how have you managed to get lenny booting from sd card.
Hope someone can help please
Many Thanks
Andrew

Update 1
well after more playing my conculsion is the file is not been extracted properly to the sd card.
Iam using archive manager in linux mint debian edition.
any tips,sugesstions would be good
Many Thanks
Andrew

[Mijzelf]

I also haven't been able to mount the internal nand yet.

Does the 2.6 kernel support JFFS?

[Mijzelf]

@T_Nut: I had the same issue with the Sid rootfs, which was caused by a bug in the .tar.gz file, the rootfs is in the subdirectory ext3.
Remedy:

Code: [Select]

su
cd /path/to/mount/ext3
mv * ..
@Wicknix: Both nand1 and nand2 (/dev/mtdblock4 and 5) mount fine on my laptop.

[wicknix]

Yup, same here. I just wasn't sure what file system to mount it as at first. Got it figured out.

mount -t yaffs /dev/mtdblock4 /mnt/nand1
mount -t yaffs /dev/mtdblock5 /mnt/nand2

Cheers.

[T_Nut]

Hi Mijzelf
Thank you for the reply all i know it that goes into terminal. su  i know that.cd  change directory.
and thats it that all i know. So could you please explain in newbie terms so i can then understand what you
mean so i know how to do it.
Many Thanks
Andrew

[Mijzelf]

When extracting the tar.gz file to the sd card, all files are in the subdirectory ext3, instead of in the root of the card. So you'll have to move them.

The commands:
su  # get root rights
cd /path/to/mount/ext3 # change directory to the mountpoint of the sd card, subdirectory ext3
mv * .. # move all files and directories in the current directory to the parent directory (which is the root of the card)

In real world the mountpoint of your sd card is probably /media/<some number>. You can ask all mounts by typing 'mount'.

[T_Nut]

Hi Mijzelf
Well still stuck no matter what combination i have tried dosent work .
could you please provide an example on what it should look like please
Many Thanks
Andrew