How to use Guiplug on the Guruplug

[NewIT_James]

Firstly you will need to update uboot if you haven't already. See here for instructions:

http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,866.0.html

You need to download the Guiplug image from here.

http://www.newit.co.uk/drive-images/Sheevaplug/GuiPlug/ 

You will need to decompress the file then use the 'dd' command to copy the image to a Usb Stick.

Code:

dd if=/image-location/image-file-name.img of=/dev/sdb

Now you need to save a copy of the uImage file from the 1st partition and reformat the 1st partition to fat with

mkdosfs -n guruplug-uImage /dev/sdb1

GuruPlug Standard - Uboot settings to boot to Guiplug on Usb or Nand is not present.
You need to make sure no other USB storage devices are present at boot as they may be picked up first instead.

Code:

bootdelay=3
baudrate=115200
ethact=egiga0
mainlineLinux=yes
arcNumber=2659
bootargs_console=console=ttyS0,115200
bootargs_root_nand=ubi.mtd=2 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs
bootargs_root_usb=root=0802 rootdelay=10
bootcmd_nand=setenv bootargs ${bootargs_console} ${bootargs_root_nand}; nand read.e 0x6400000 0x100000 0x400000; bootm 0x6400000
bootcmd=run bootcmd_usb; run bootcmd_nand
bootcmd_usb=setenv bootargs ${bootargs_console} ${bootargs_root_usb}; usb start; fatload usb 0 0x6400000 /uImage; bootm 0x6400000
stdin=serial
stdout=serial
stderr=serial

GuruPlug Server Plus  -  These lines are different for the Server Plus

Code:

bootargs_root_usb=root=0822 rootdelay=10
bootcmd_usb=setenv bootargs ${bootargs_console} ${bootargs_root_usb}; usb start; fatload usb 1 0x6400000 /uImage; bootm 0x6400000

Edit: The process of changing the partition is not required if you have a version of uboot which supports ext2load, but as most don't I have used the method with most support on the Guruplug.

[Stephane_Varin]

Hi,

I have a GuruPlug standard, so no micro sd slot, unfortunately, and so I am using a usb stick to boot GuiPlug.

After a long week-end of trial and error (managed to brick completely the device and bring it back from the dead, great way of learning :-), i think I am "that close" to getting it to work.

That close, but not quite...

Indeed, if I boot with only the usb stick plugged in, it seems to boot from the stick (or so I think):

Code:

Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0                                                                                                     
(Re)start USB...                                                                                                                     
USB:   Register 10011 NbrPorts 1                                                                                                     
USB EHCI 1.00                                                                                                                         
scanning bus for devices... 3 USB Device(s) found                                                                                     
       scanning bus for storage devices... 1 Storage Device(s) found                                                                 
reading /uImage                                                                                                                       
...
                                                                                                                                     
2730244 bytes read                                                                                                                   
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 06400000 ...                                                                                   
   Image Name:   Linux-2.6.36.3                                                                                                       
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)                                                                               
   Data Size:    2730180 Bytes =  2.6 MB                                                                                             
   Load Address: 00008000                                                                                                             
   Entry Point:  00008000                                                                                                             
   Verifying Checksum ... OK                                                                                                         
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK                                                                                                       
OK                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                     
Starting kernel ...

And after a little while I am greeted by the login prompt (root/nosoup4u), which leads me to believe I have managed to follow most of your instructions correctly :-)

Code:

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 guruplug-debian ttyS0                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                     
guruplug-debian login: root                                                                                                           
Password:                                                                                                                             
Last login: Sun Mar  6 19:21:26 UTC 2011 on ttyS0                                                                                     
Linux guruplug-debian 2.6.36.3 #5 PREEMPT Sat Jan 22 22:31:20 MST 2011 armv5tel                                                       
                                                                                                                                     
The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;                                                             
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the                                                                   
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                     
Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent                                                                     
permitted by applicable law.

At that point, I have to admit I am not 100% sure this is the GuiPlug system that has booted. What should I check to make sure of that?

Ok, let's assume step 1 was indeed successful, here comes my issue: I have a iMo 7'' plugged to a powered usb hub and the hub plugged to the GuruPlug.

If I plug the usb hub and the usb stick before powering the plug, boot fails with this error message:

Code:

Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0                                                                                                     
(Re)start USB...                                                                                                                     
USB:   Register 10011 NbrPorts 1                                                                                                     
USB EHCI 1.00                                                                                                                         
scanning bus for devices... 4 USB Device(s) found                                                                                     
       scanning bus for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found                                                                 
** Can't read from device 0 **                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                     
** Unable to use usb 0:1 for fatload **                                                                                               
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 06400000 ...                                                                                   
   Image Name:   Linux-2.6.33.2-00003-g4b82fc0                                                                                       
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)                                                                               
   Data Size:    2688524 Bytes =  2.6 MB                                                                                             
   Load Address: 00008000                                                                                                             
   Entry Point:  00008000                                                                                                             
   Verifying Checksum ... Bad Data CRC                                                                                               
ERROR: can't get kernel image!                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                     
NAND read: device 0 offset 0x100000, size 0x400000                                                                                   
 4194304 bytes read: OK                                                                                                               
Marvell>>

My question is: Do you have any idea what is wrong here? I understand that booting from the usb stick might not be the easiest approach, so i was wondering, do you think I could burn your GuiPlug kernel and rootfs to the plug and do a regular boot? Any special recommendations to do that?

Anything I should try to check my setup (I have done so many things over the course of the weekend, it is very likely something went south...)

Cheers,
Stephane

[NewIT_James]

Hi Stephane,

It does indeed look to be booting correctly without the monitor plugged in.

If no monitor is found you should be able to VNC onto the Guruplug.

When you are trying to boot with the usb stick plugged into the hub it's not finding the Usb stick.

Try plugging the stick directly into the plug and connect the monitor via the powered hub.

NewIT Technical

[Stephane_Varin]

James,

Thanks for the quick reply.
I'll try to vnc to the plug to validate this is the GuiPlug system that's been loaded (I was trying so hard to get the monitor up before the end of the week-end that I didn't even consider this...)

Just a clarification: The usb stick is always plugged directly to the GuruPlug, I only plug/unplug the hub to which the monitor is connected. So step one was successful with only usb stick attached, and step 2 failed when I plugged the hub in addition to the stick.

I also tried to interrupt uboot and then proceed manually with "usb start" and I am getting the same error message:

scanning bus for devices... 4 USB Device(s) found                                                                                     
       scanning bus for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found

I even tried yet another setup I would plug the usb stick to GuruPlug and one usb port from the monitor to the plug, the other to the hub for power...but no luck with that either...

As I said in my previous post, I have been messing around with that stuff all week-end so I might have left something behind, and I don't mind starting again from scratch, but before I do I wanted to check with you if you have managed to get this sort of setup to work yourself ? (ie standard GuruPlug, powered usb hub and iMo 7'' screen)

Thanks for the help.

Cheers,
Stephane

[NewIT_James]

Stephane,

I suspect that it's the USB stick not suitable. Do you have another one to try?

Newit_James

[Stephane_Varin]

I do have another usb stick, I'll give it a try tonight.

It's strange though, why would it manage to boot on the usb stick when it is the only one connected...anyway, I'll try with my other stick.

Thanks.
Stephane

[Stephane_Varin]

Hi James,

I finally got time to try with another usb stick, different brand, and same result.

I then realised I was not getting the details from the boot process because I had left off the bootargs_console from the uboot.
After adding said parameter, I am now getting this message:

Code:

scsi0 : usb-storage 1-1.3:1.0
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Lexar    USB Flash Drive  1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 31326208 512-byte logical blocks: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: sda1 sda2
sda: p2 size 32135168 extends beyond EOD, enabling native capacity
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: sda1 sda2
sda: p2 size 32135168 extends beyond EOD, truncated
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
EXT3-fs: barriers not enabled
EXT3-fs (sda2): warning: mounting fs with errors, running e2fsck is recommended
kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3-fs (sda2): using internal journal
EXT3-fs (sda2): recovery complete
EXT3-fs (sda2): mounted filesystem with writeback data mode
VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem) on device 8:2.
Freeing init memory: 152K
attempt to access beyond end of device
sda2: rw=64, want=31457304, limit=31217664
EXT3-fs error (device sda2): ext3_get_inode_loc: unable to read inode block - inode=981121, block=3932162
Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found.  Try passing init= option to kernel. See Linux Documentation/init.txt for guidance.
[<c0033428>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xe0) from [<c03f5dfc>] (panic+0x58/0x17c)
[<c03f5dfc>] (panic+0x58/0x17c) from [<c002e418>] (init_post+0x9c/0xbc)
[<c002e418>] (init_post+0x9c/0xbc) from [<c0008a1c>] (kernel_init+0x110/0x14c)
[<c0008a1c>] (kernel_init+0x110/0x14c) from [<c002f3d4>] (kernel_thread_exit+0x0/0x8)

OK, that is strange because it used to boot ok but now it won't boot anymore on any of the sticks.

I then decided to burn again the GuiPlug image on the usb stick using the dd command and received this "warning" at the end (It was the case already the first time, I just didn't pay attention since I was able to boot nevertheless)

Code:

dd if=/media/Data/NewIT-GuiPlug-16Gb-06Feb11-v2.4.img of=/dev/sdc
dd: écriture vers `/dev/sdc': Aucun espace disponible sur le périphérique
30818305+0 enregistrements lus
30818304+0 enregistrements écrits
15778971648 octets (16 GB) copiés, 7919,44 s, 2,0 MB/s

So in fact I am wondering if your GuiPlug image was ever correctly copied on the stick...

Cheers,
Stephane

[NewIT_James]

Hi Stephane,

The problem is that not all 16Gb drives are the same size and the 16Gb card I used to create the .img is larger than both of your usb sticks.

What you need to is use the 8Gb image which will run fine on your 16Gb usb stick.

When you are happy that it's working you could try my post below to expand the partition to fill your usb stick.

http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1231.0.html

NewITJames

[Stephane_Varin]

Hi James,

You're the man! I've finally managed to boot it up. Thanks a bunch for the help.

Dare I ask you a couple more questions?

Any advice on how to get the wifi up and running?
Also, booting from the usb stick is great to test that it works, but is it possible to burn the GuiPlug image onto the device itself?

Again, thank you for your help, greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Stephane

[NewIT_James]

Stephane,

The Gui image is too big to fit on the Nand. If you would like a gui running from the Nand I would suggest you install either xfce or lxde which may just fit.

To get the wireless working you probably just need to install the libertas-firmware but I would recommend yo keep an eye on the console for kernel crashes. AP mode and Bluetooth are fine but client mode can be temperamental.

NewIT James