Debian on Checkpoint L-50

crom,

> General question:
> Can boot from sd-card be added with just some
> similar uboot-env configuration lines like the
> ones for USB?

It does not seem OpenWrt u-boot supports SD card booting. The help command listing by Gravelrash here:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,134340,134427#msg-134427

But let see if it is a real MMC interface, or is it on USB bus.

Insert an already formatted SD card. Power up the box, interupt serial console countdown,and

usb start

If you see that SD card show up as USB storage then the boot process is the same. With some envs adjustment, it can be the Debian rootfs.

-bodhi
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ok, tested it.
Result: "scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found"
-> seems like a real mmc interface.
So it seems like a bit more effort to get it working.
Thanks for the quick response!

just a heads up for people following along and enjoying the fun :)

I have found that if you use an SSD to usb adaptor, it takes a while for the uboot to recognise it and sometimes doesnt. so dont be surprised as yet if you get this error///


@Bodhi - is there any way of slowing the boot down to give the system time to "recognise" and "prepare" itself - to accept the adaptor... my current thought is that it may be as simple as adding a delay to the boot statement??

bootdelay=1 - change to bootdelay=5

or something like that - reason for asking is..

i have a spare mechanical hdd as well as an 8GB ssd (salvaged from a thinclient) and it would be fun to boot from them. its no biggy to leave the usb key in, but for peeps following along who have old laptop hdd's etc. could be a good reuse :))



*sorry for the delay in doing the write up - other commitments to family etc

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Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2023 04:14PM by Gravelrash.

Gravelrash,

> I have found that if you use an SSD to usb
> adaptor, it takes a while for the uboot to
> recognise it and sometimes doesnt. so dont be
> surprised as yet if you get this error///
>
>
> @Bodhi - is there any way of slowing the
> boot down to give the system time to "recognise"
> and "prepare" itself - to accept the adaptor... my
> current thought is that it may be as simple as
> adding a delay to the boot statement??

bootdelay does not help in this case. A sleep period after the command "usb start" would allow the usb adapter some time to spin up. So

setenv bootcmd 'usb start; sleep 3;  run bootcmd_exec; reset'

Or do "usb reset" 3 times.

setenv bootcmd 'usb reset; usb reset;  usb reset; run bootcmd_exec; reset'

> *sorry for the delay in doing
> the write up - other commitments to family
> etc

Take your leisure time, we are not in any hurry having fun :)

-bodhi
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>
> Take your leisure time, we are not in any hurry
> having fun :)

-> Absolutely..
And about fun: Some kind of an Easter egg: 3 out of 4 USB differential lines from the NEC 1to4 USB hub IC are available to connectors: 2xusbA connector, 1 at the expresscard/34 connector.
Where is the 4th? ;)

and for double easter egg points.... until i rewrite the boot_cmd line.... im booting off a usb 4GB which in turn swaps to the usb hdd ... just for fun... i labelled them both rootfs ;)

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Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2023 12:01PM by Gravelrash.

This is what mine gives in relation to that and from my reading all 4 are in use, with the hub taking one for itself??

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0409:005a NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 07ab:fcf6 Freecom Technologies DataBar
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 152d:0578 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JMS578 SATA 6Gb/s

which i think it would need to do to be able to pass teh data back up the chain to he cpu to handle

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2023 12:30PM by Gravelrash.

Yes, What fun.
But the nec ic occupies one ID (2nd) as well as the usb root controller in the kirkwood soc (1st). So only 2 (the last 2) out of 4 usb differential lines from! the nec hub are actually in use according your listing.
Another one is on the expresscard/34 slot but the 4th ??
The easter eggs "SPI lines" and "SATA lines" are quite hidden ... :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2023 01:55PM by crom.

4 usb lines go to 2x USB ports, 1 x Expresscard Slot and 1 x Mini-PCIe slot.

Ray

Hello Ray,
Have you actually check the usb lines on the mini pcie connector? Do you have a l50 at hand?
According to the pin out for mini pcie connectors the usb line should be on pin 36 & 38.
I can’t see any pair of lines there. They look open/floating.
I think we have to look elsewhere….

Bunny ;)

> Have you actually check the usb lines on the mini
> pcie connector? Do you have a l50 at hand?
> According to the pin out for mini pcie connectors
> the usb line should be on pin 36 & 38.
> I can’t see any pair of lines there. They look
> open/floating.
> I think we have to look elsewhere….

I don't think it is connected to mPCIe (no such slot exists, afaict looking at the pictures). Usually if the board has USB 3.0, that would be on PCIe bus.

-bodhi
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I have 3 different versions of the L-50, but they are currently buried under a bunch of switches in my closet! The L-50W and L-50WD both have the mPCIe slot while the L-50 does not. I have a high res picture of the L-50WD board bottom at https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/images/0/0e/Check_Point_L-50WD_Bottom.jpeg and inspecting that it appears you are correct in that there are no line going to pins 36 & 38. That leads me to wonder if perhaps the 4th set of USB lines go to the connectors for the DSL daughter board?

Ray

> I have 3 different versions of the L-50, but they
> are currently buried under a bunch of switches in
> my closet! The L-50W and L-50WD both have the
> mPCIe slot while the L-50 does not.

I see.

> I have a high
> res picture of the L-50WD board bottom at
> https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/images/0/0e/Check_Point_L-50WD_Bottom.jpeg
> and inspecting that it appears you are correct in
> that there are no line going to pins 36 & 38.

That because the mPCIe slot is actually on the PCIe bus.

One way to find out is to connect a mPCIe card such as one for Wifi, or mSATA. I would be pleasantly surprised if it supports mSata.

-bodhi
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Hello Ray,

all 3 L50 variants... This is what I call a decent development approach!
Muy professional! ;)

Regarding the mini-pcie I see only the minimum required 3 pairs of differential lines: CLK, PCI-RX & PCI-TX.
So at this point for SATA you need a card with dedicated PCIe-SATA controller.
But carefull, there is no room for vertical sata connectors between bottom PCB & housing.
I cannot test mini-pcie SSD in that slot, as I don#t want to extract it from my laptop.
Probably someone else has a spare one to test it out.

HOWTO drafted and posted - please read and comment

HOWTO - Debian on Checkpoint L-50 with Openwrt fallback

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Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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Following a very good observation and question by Leggomyeggo, i am pleased to show that the SD card works and supports at the very least a 32GB uSD card.

root@debian:/# dmesg | tail
[   37.384846] mv88e6085 f1072004.mdio-bus-mii:10: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control off
[   37.475834] mv88e6085 f1072004.mdio-bus-mii:10: configuring for fixed/rgmii-id link mode
[   37.503879] DSA: tree 0 setup
[   37.509638] mv88e6085 f1072004.mdio-bus-mii:10: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control off
[   46.950169] mv643xx_eth_port mv643xx_eth_port.0 eth0: link up, 1000 Mb/s, full duplex, flow control disabled
[   46.960828] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[  214.728797] mmc0: problem reading SD Status register
[  214.736089] mmc0: host does not support reading read-only switch, assuming write-enable
[  214.745367] mmc0: new SD card at address d555

The entire card:
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 28.89 GiB, 31021072384 bytes, 60588032 sectors

The 1st partition:
/dev/mmcblk0p1 2048 60588031 60585984 28.9G b W95 FAT32

Bodhi - to allow this to boot from mmc card, what changes would one have to apply to the uboot please? I have a suitable sized usd card in the adaptor and would like to attempt this

============================
Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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Gravelrash,

> Bodhi - to allow this to boot from
> mmc card, what changes would one have to apply to
> the uboot please? I have a suitable sized usd card
> in the adaptor and would like to attempt
> this

Unfortunately, there is no mmc command supported by this OpenWrt u-boot 2020.04!!!

Commands starts with m

md        - memory display
mdio      - MDIO utility commands
mii       - MII utility commands
mm        - memory modify (auto-incrementing address)
mtdparts  - define flash/nand partitions
mw        - memory write (fill)

So on the rare chance that like the Dreamplug, it is recognized as USB device in u-boot, power up, interrupt serial console countdown and

usb reset

or

ubs start

-bodhi
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shame about the lack of support for mmc booting directly - i will try this over the weekend with a properly created SD card and feedback if we are fortunate in this respect....

elsewise i will fallback to booting off a usb stick and swop to the mmc to complete the boot.....bit of a fiddle and would be a tad of a nuisance to write up in the howto... but hey :)) when did things that are a nuisance ever stop us tinkerers :) :))

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Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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If I find some time this weekend I'll grab the OpenWrt U-Boot patches and update them to include support for mmc and post the results here. Or bodhi would you prefer I add a pull request to your u-boot on GitHub?

Ray

On another front, my research tells me there is an unused Expresscard 34 slot on that board. If this is active, expansion options may include USB 3.0 and SATA cards which are relatively cheap. Anybody know if this slot is active? Keep in mind there is a cutout for it in the front of the enclosure which has a blank in it.

The DTB file enables power for the Expresscard 34 slot so it should be functional. I'm not aware of any reports of anyone actually testing yet and my 3 versions are currently buried underneath more recent acquisitions. I'll try to make time to dig them out this weekend and test the slot as I have an eSATA card and a 2-port USB 3 card I can test with.

Ray

rayknight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The DTB file enables power for the Expresscard 34
> slot so it should be functional. I'm not aware of
> any reports of anyone actually testing yet and my
> 3 versions are currently buried underneath more
> recent acquisitions. I'll try to make time to
> dig them out this weekend and test the slot as I
> have an eSATA card and a 2-port USB 3 card I can
> test with.
>
> Ray

You the man!

If it works, great board now like Swiss army knife.

> If it works, great board now like Swiss army
> knife.

Indeed! as Ray said, on paper, looks like that Express card should work.

You guy made me want to empty out my old drawer of old gadgets to see if I can find one :)

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Yeah bodhi, I've got a 56K modem Expresscard somewhere I think.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2023 09:57AM by LeggoMyEggo.

i have another L-50 with Wlan and ADSL being delivered... i also found an ssd in M2 form factor kicking around in my box of bits... ill feedback on how successful or not these are at being utilised...

@Leggo... if you are in the UK, i can send you the basest of base model to play with if you cover the cost of postage... P.M. me if your interested

Caio for now

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Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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Alas Gravelrash, I am on the other side of the pond (popularly known as the Atlantic Ocean lol) so shipping would be kinda pricey but I do appreciate your offer. Waiting for a little extra in the slush fund before I pull the trigger on one (thinks about gluttony of having 15 Pogoplugs, 7 Kace M300, 2 Dreamplug, 2 Cisco On100, 2 Guruplugs, 1 Sheevaplug, 1 Akitio, 4 Raspberry Pis and several Thin Clients)

Finally got my hands on another L-50 with wifi and adsl onboard....

ive upgraded the wifi to a dual band and the atheros drivers recognised it and it starts on boot - still got to work out how to have both radios working and showing... but thats for another time

the focus of this post really is to highlight i have another one and will see if the kernel and associated drivers work well enough with the out of the box rootfs+kernel - - to drive the wifi / sdcard reader / adsl

I'll probably have to hunt the adsl down somewhere - note to self - before you flatten a box look for interesting firmware lurking somewhere on the board :-)

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Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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Gravelrash,

Quote

the focus of this post really is to highlight i have another one and will see if the kernel and associated drivers work well enough with the out of the box rootfs+kernel - - to drive the wifi / sdcard reader / adsl

Wifi should work. But sorry but ASDL will not work. We don't have support for that yet. Might take a bit of works to research this topic.

-bodhi
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Thanks @Bodhi - you saved me many frustrated google-fu sessions there already - yes the wifi absolutely does work. :)

i can ditch the adsl - i have no need for it - others may. If you find time to take on the challenge on the adsl front - let me know and i'll happily sacrifice a unit to the cause.

..


:- toddles off to do silly things to wifi slots and M2 ssd's

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Breaking stuff since 1994 :-)
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