Linux Kernel 6.7.5 Kirkwood package and Debian rootfs

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All these behavior you've observed were
> intentional! I've setup this Debian rootfs as a
> basic Debian system. The rest are up to users who
> must install needed packages as they wish. Just
> like the debootstrap system installed by Jeff's
> script, and a few more tools to make it a little
> more convenient, but not too many extras, so that
> experienced users have to uninstall them

No doubt about it, keeping it lean certainly helps make it so stable too. :-) A great piece of work you've provided us with to get so much out of mostly fanless boxes sometimes retailing for barely 20 bucks!

I've just been making some notes of things I needed to do, as sometimes there are surprises, such as the mceusb IR transmitter not working on one port (without reporting an error even once one knows where to log&look) but then on another:

> you might find certain USB devices modules will not be available. The kernel only includes commonly used devices.

Well, irsend via mceusb for one now does work on the top rear connector (but not the front one) and saves a bundle over http://www.irtrans.de/de/shop/lan.php or http://shop.mediola.de/ :-)

Some of the time, what Debian documentation out there commonly holds just does not apply of course, hence I'm asking:

E.g. usually one would change iface eth0 inet dhcp to static in /etc/network/interfaces, but the latter file does not exist. Should it be created or the fixed IP entered in a different place?

Moreover, I cannot seem to get /etc/crontab entries executed even after apt-get install cron (was there any other cron mechanism right out of the [busy]box since there were /etc/cron.daily & weekly with scripts set up already?).

If a simple selection of the locale, TZ & NTP is proposed in one place, I'm also curious to learn about it since I'll have a few "boxen" more to set up soon.

/etc/network/interfaces does accept the static entry, not sure if it needs a broadcast line too & where the DNS resolver address is best set (/etc/resolv.conf likely to get overwritten by other processes even if DHCP is off?).

For NTP I realize there may be some deadlocking between ntpd and ntpdate: http://askubuntu.com/questions/403616/ntpd-unable-to-bind-to-wildcard-address-0-0-0-0-another-process-may-be-runnin
Using ntpdate from the command line works fine (though I'd autorun it in crontab if I have to disable the daemon).

@TEN,

- ntp should work as it is instaled in rootfs
- crontab should work too
- in resolve.conf
nameserver 8.8.8.8

You should probably create a new thread for these Debian packages installation discussion.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2014 03:16AM by bodhi.

Hi,

@gaogao

according to your log files the frontend kernel module it913x-fe is not loaded,
but it is included in the config, the relevant module for the rc-core system is also
not loaded, i.e. rc-it913x-v2, what happens when you load the frontend by hand?

best wishes pbg4

pbg4 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> what happens when you load the frontend by hand?

unfortunately same error, I tried that already

Hi,

@gaogao

please load the module with the info=1 option, perhaps in the it913x_io
io routine there is something wrong with the kernel allocation of usb buffers,
with info=1 you would see something like info "USB Buffer Failed",.. or try to check
what the error -12 means, by checking the error -12 ENOMEM value,

best wishes pbg4

Hi,

@pbg4: maybe I'm missing something here:

$ sudo modprobe dvb_usb_it913x info=1

Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.446133] dvb_usb_it913x: unknown parameter 'info' ignored
Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.457459] it913x: Chip Version=02 Chip Type=9135
Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.463084] it913x: Firmware Version 52953344it913x: Remote propriety (raw) mode
Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.474964] it913x: Dual mode=0 Tuner Type=38it913x: Unknown tuner ID applying default 0x60
Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.485926] usb 1-1.2: dvb_usb_v2: found a 'Avermedia A835B(3835)' in warm state
Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.499098] usb 1-1.2: dvb_usb_v2: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer
Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.520454] dvb_usb_it913x: probe of 1-1.2:1.0 failed with error -12
Jun 20 19:54:42 mynas kernel: [264086.530720] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_it913x

Hi,

@gaogao

the best way to test this right from the early boot phase is to
create a file dvb.conf in /etc/modprobe.d with something like

options dvb-usb-it913x debug=1
options it913x-fe debug=1

in it and look what you get in dmesg, with the firmware parameter you can also test if you have a different
hardware version, see below

modinfo /lib/modules/3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2/kernel/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/it913x-fe.ko
filename:       /lib/modules/3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2/kernel/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/it913x-fe.ko
license:        GPL
version:        1.15
author:         Malcolm Priestley tvboxspy@gmail.com
description:    it913x Frontend and it9137 tuner
srcversion:     AC90F66CE70FA8B6BC1C125
depends:        
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2 preempt mod_unload modversions ARMv5 
parm:           debug:set debugging level (1=info (or-able)). (int)

modinfo /lib/modules/3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2/kernel/drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb-v2/dvb-usb-it913x.ko
filename:       /lib/modules/3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2/kernel/drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb-v2/dvb-usb-it913x.ko
firmware:       dvb-usb-it9137-01.fw
firmware:       dvb-usb-it9135-02.fw
firmware:       dvb-usb-it9135-01.fw
license:        GPL
version:        1.33
description:    it913x USB 2 Driver
author:         Malcolm Priestley <tvboxspy@gmail.com>
srcversion:     14DC625C3B166F4290C3F89
alias:          usb:v1B80pE410d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v07CAp4835d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v07CAp3835d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v07CAp2835d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v07CAp1835d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v048Dp9006d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v048Dp9005d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1B80pE411d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v048Dp9135d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1B80pE409d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
depends:        dvb_usb_v2,rc-core
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2 preempt mod_unload modversions ARMv5 
parm:           debug:set debugging level (1=info (or-able)). (int)
parm:           firmware:set firmware 0=auto 1=IT9137 2=IT9135 V1 3=IT9135 V2 (int)
parm:           adapter_nr:DVB adapter numbers (array of short)

best wishes pbg4

bingo!

[   32.465001] usb 1-1.2: dvb_usb_v2: found a 'Avermedia A835B(3835)' in warm state
[   32.475491] usb 1-1.2: dvb_usb_v2: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer
[   32.485321] ERROR: 256 KiB atomic DMA coherent pool is too small!
[   32.485321] Please increase it with coherent_pool= kernel parameter!
[   32.499627] dvb_usb_it913x: probe of 1-1.2:1.0 failed with error -12

google gives a few pertinent hits and it seems "coherent_pool=1M" is the best bet.
Now: is there any other way to set the kernel params apart from modifying the uboot environment? I don't have a working serial converter right now...

@gaogao,

If you have netconsole then it is perfectly safe to modify kernel args to add a customed pararam at the end. For example, if your usb boot args is:

usb_set_bootargs=setenv bootargs console=$console root=$usb_root rootdelay=$usb_rootdelay rootfstype=$usb_rootfstype $mtdparts $usb_custom_params

then this would be enough

usb_custom_params=coherent_pool=1M
usb_set_bootargs=setenv bootargs console=$console root=$usb_root rootdelay=$usb_rootdelay rootfstype=$usb_rootfstype $mtdparts $usb_custom_params

So the above translates into this in Debian:

#fw_setenv usb_custom_params 'coherent_pool=1M'

Only when you don't have netconsole or serial console, then there is some risk in changing u-boot envs (a typo would result in the kernel failing to boot). So make sure your netconsole is working first.

-bodhi
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tks bodhi, I was under the assumption that using fw_setenv was not the preferred/safe way to set uboot params.
IIRC I read about it some time ago.

I'll try during the weekend and report back. Tks a lot!

Hi,

@gaogao

hmm,.. interesting to see this effect of the kernel dma coherent pool size, unfortunately
there is a config parameter to enable the coherent dma pool, i.e. CONFIG_HAVE_GENERIC_DMA_COHERENT=y
but no parameter to change its initial size,..

I think that with a serial converter you would be better off, since if you stop the boot phase with the
serial converter attached, you can change the kernel command line parameters and test the next boot
with the new kernel command line,

if you don't use saveenv and something went wrong, at the next boot you are at the same state as before,..

best wishes pbg4

Quote
pbg4
> if you don't use saveenv and something went wrong,
> at the next boot you are at the same state as
> before,..

Better advice :) and you can do this with netconsole too.

Quote
gaogao
tks bodhi, I was under the assumption that using fw_setenv was not the preferred/safe way to set uboot params.
IIRC I read about it some time ago.

It is safe only if you have netconsole or serial console.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2014 02:51PM by bodhi.

Hi bodhi,

absolutely right, but as gaogao is using an NSA320 box, it is not so easy to get a netconsole
enabled uboot, I am back on my NSA320 boxes to the factory version without netconsole, because I had timing
issues with booting an internal sata ssd, documented elsewhere in this forum, neither davygravy's uboot or the
other uboot versions tested could boot my SanDisk SDSSDP064G, always timing issues, usb boot was fine,

perhaps I have missed something, ..

best wishes pbg4

I took my chances and modified the kernel params introducing 'coherent_pool=1M': success!
Tks everyone!

How do we follow these instructions with a brand new Pogoplug Mobile (V4-A1-01) ? I've been reading for the past 2 days and there are just so many different combinations and setup guides. What I essentially want is to run Debian Wheezy on this unmodified (out of the box) Pogoplug mobile. Ideally, I would be able to do this from SSH. I don't want to have to mess around with serial cables and soldering and stuff. Unless theres a plug n play kind of solution for serial cables.

bugs181 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do we follow these instructions with a brand
> new Pogoplug Mobile (V4-A1-01) ? I've been reading
> for the past 2 days and there are just so many
> different combinations and setup guides. What I
> essentially want is to run Debian Wheezy on this
> unmodified (out of the box) Pogoplug mobile.
> Ideally, I would be able to do this from SSH. I
> don't want to have to mess around with serial
> cables and soldering and stuff. Unless theres a
> plug n play kind of solution for serial cables.


Sorry for the double post. I forgot to mention that I also want to be able to boot from SD card and use a single external USB HDD or a USB Hub for multiple HDDs.

bugs181 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do we follow these instructions with a brand
> new Pogoplug Mobile (V4-A1-01) ? I've been reading
> for the past 2 days and there are just so many
> different combinations and setup guides. What I
> essentially want is to run Debian Wheezy on this
> unmodified (out of the box) Pogoplug mobile.
> Ideally, I would be able to do this from SSH. I
> don't want to have to mess around with serial
> cables and soldering and stuff. Unless theres a
> plug n play kind of solution for serial cables.


Probably plug & play would be Archlinux http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/pogoplug-series-4 For debian you must use different instructions. I believe once you are able to run Arch then you can easily install debian by following instructions found on the first page with download links

Updated 15 April 2014:

Rootfs Debian-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1 was uploaded. This rootfs is to keep in sync with kernel Linux-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1 (and its new features).

Basic minimal Debian Kirkwood rootfs for most Kirwood plugs:
- tarball size: 95M
- install size: 293M
- a basic wheezy rootfs
- Installed packages: nano, avahi, ntp, busybox-syslogd (log to RAM), htop, isc-dhcp-client, dialog, bzip2, and nfs server/client packages.
- see LED controls in /etc/rc.local, and /etc/rc0.d/K07halt (for NSAxxx LEDs control, see pbg4, and buttzy)
- see some useful aliases in /root/.profile
- root password: root

Download at Dropbox:
Debian-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2
md5:
3c55093a67ea6166b31c9d111d896727

Installation:

- format a new ext3 USB drive, and label it rootfs. Note: if your uBoot env for usb_rootfstype is ext2, then use an ext2 USB drive.

- As root user, cd to top level directory and extract it (assuming the USB drive is mounted at /media/sdb1)
cd /media/sdb1
tar -xjf Debian-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2
- edit /media/sdb1/etc/fstab entry for /dev/root to match the rootfstype of your usb_rootfstype.
- sync to complete .
sync

- Take this USB rootfs to your plug and cold start.

Note:

After logging in this rootf the first time, remember to do update your rootfs to get the latest Debian package updates:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2014 05:30PM by Almaz.

bugs181,

A. The basic steps to install Debian on Pogo Mobile:

1. Install Arch first (to update u-boot):
http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/pogoplug-series-4

2. Create Debian rootfs on USB:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

3 . Setup u-boot envs to boot Debian with Arch U-boot version (do this while running Arch system)
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,11538

B. To enable booting with SD, you can upgrade u-boot:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,11663

It's easier to do part A first, and then do Part B. However if you are experience (familiar with NAND flash tools, u-boot envs…), you can do part B without going through part A.

-bodhi
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Kernel 3.15.3-kirkwood-tld-1 package was uploaded. Please see 1st post for download link.

-bodhi
===========================
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bugs181,
>
> A. The basic steps to install Debian on Pogo
> Mobile:
>
> 1. Install Arch first (to update u-boot):
> http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/pogoplug-s
> eries-4
>
> 2. Create Debian rootfs on USB:
> http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096
>
> 3 . Setup u-boot envs to boot Debian with Arch
> U-boot version (do this while running Arch
> system)
> http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,11538
>
> B. To enable booting with SD, you can upgrade
> u-boot:
> http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,11663
>
> It's easier to do part A first, and then do Part
> B. However if you are experience (familiar with
> NAND flash tools, u-boot envs…), you can do part
> B without going through part A.

Thanks so much for all your hard work to make these NAS boxes work to its fullest extent.

After reading forums, I already converted my Seagate Goflex and Pogo Plug. I just bought a new NSA320 and like to do the same exercise. All I want to do is to install some kind of linux (ArchLinux or Debian) on to this device and boot it from a USB drive (so that I can use the hard drives exclusively for data and spin it down when not in use).

From various articles, it looks like NSA320's default u-boot does not support booting from a USB drive. Am I correct? Or is there a way to achieve that?

For my goflex and pogoplug, I prepared the micro SD card on my linux box and used that flash card to boot the device, so I never had to monitor boot process using serial cables. Initial preparation were done using an SSH shell into the device.

Is there a way to do that with the new NSA320?

Thanks a lot for all your help!

@hsn,

Without serial console, currently it is a little bit risky to get to your goal, i.e. boot with USB and use SATA for data only.

There are a couple of alternatives (A or B).

A. Install Arch Linux ARM. This option is easiest (fully automated), but no USB booting.
http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/zyxel-nsa320

B. Update U-boot and create Debian rootfs on USB.

1. Install davygravy's U-boot. This option has some risk in that, iirc, davygravy did not provide instruction to flash it inside Linux:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,7806

2. Create latest Debian rootfs on USB using my rootfs (this thread):
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096,page=1

So either A or B will get you a running Linux system. But to boot USB, you will need to flash newer U-boot to NAND. And flashing U-boot without serial console has some risk of bricking. Otoh, the NSA320 has UART booting (using serial console), so it can be unbricked easily.

Finally, another alternative which has not been available yet: wait for the NSA320 latest U-boot release (we are working on it). And then install it instead of step B.1 above. This will lessen the risk of bricking (instruction similar to other u-boot images will be provided).

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2014 02:44PM by bodhi.

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Finally, another alternative which has not been
> available yet: wait for the NSA320 latest U-boot
> release
> (we
> are working on it). And then install it
> instead of step B.1 above. This will lessen the
> risk of bricking (instruction similar to other
> u-boot images will be provided).

You guys rock! I will wait for the new u-boot release. Meanwhile I will try to get a serial console working!
Thanks a bunch for all your hard work ;-)

hi,

does this kernel (3.15) support fan speed control ? If yes, how would that get configured ?

Abs

absintos Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hi,
>
> does this kernel (3.15) support fan speed control
> ? If yes, how would that get configured ?
>
> Abs


also, i have this terrible feeling that the box is generally behaving slower than the original latest stock. Speed over samba has decreased substantially from a stable 39MBps to somewhere around 30MBps (samba 4.1 instead of samba3 though).

Anyone else noticed this ? (lack of fan control is most important though)

Abs

absintos Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hi,
>
> does this kernel (3.15) support fan speed control
> ? If yes, how would that get configured ?
>
> Abs

It depends on the box that you have. And if it does, then it is really something specific to that box that might or might not need to be configured (kernel driver might have some default settings).

-bodhi
===========================
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absintos,

> also, i have this terrible feeling that the box is
> generally behaving slower than the original latest
> stock. Speed over samba has decreased
> substantially from a stable 39MBps to somewhere
> around 30MBps (samba 4.1 instead of samba3
> though).

Perhaps it is true to the news/rumor: users have reported that kernel 3.15 suffers some performance regression. I don't usually measure the IO performace for new kernel, so not sure.

-bodhi
===========================
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zyxel nas320. the problem is that the fan is full throttle by default...which is really loud. would love if i could get it to quiet down a bit...

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> absintos,
>
> > also, i have this terrible feeling that the box
> is
> > generally behaving slower than the original
> latest
> > stock. Speed over samba has decreased
> > substantially from a stable 39MBps to somewhere
> > around 30MBps (samba 4.1 instead of samba3
> > though).
>
> Perhaps it is true to the news/rumor: users have
> reported that kernel 3.15 suffers some performance
> regression. I don't usually measure the IO
> performace for new kernel, so not sure.

same with 3.14. The main culprit that i suspect is samba4. although, the lack of proper jumbo frames support might also be affecting this (worked great with stock). when jumbo frames are enabled (9k, 4k, whatever), speed drops to about 1-2 MBps....

absintos Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> zyxel nas320. the problem is that the fan is full
> throttle by default...which is really loud. would
> love if i could get it to quiet down a bit...

It is supported. So please post your question/problem in a new NSA320 thread. I'm sure someone will answer.

-bodhi
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