LG N2R1D

I still have my old LG N2R1D, i was planning on installing something like Debian or Alpine as it can me nice and minimal, LG does provide sources but i wonder how hard it is compile a kernel for it and maybe upgrade U-Boot if it is any worth updating it. i saw a post somewhat recently for the LG N2B1 which should be similar except having a DVD drive instead of a blu ray drive.

I have in the past tried compiling the kernel on the nas it self and i still regret taking 8 hours for a fail as i couldn't get the kernel deployed on the nas it self.

marcel,

> I still have my old LG N2R1D, i was planning on
> installing something like Debian

Do you have a boot log that you can post here?

and post

dmesg
cat /proc/cpuinfo
cat /proc/mtd

-bodhi
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Getting my nas from my old place today, i can only get the OS side of the logs as i only rooted it (still waiting for a usb to serial adapter)
let me get it.

I have attached the dmesg due to it being bigger and here is the output of cpuinfo and mtd, I could not find a boot log as boot is empty in the log dir.

root@Neko-Nas:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor       : Feroceon 88FR131 rev 1 (v5l)
BogoMIPS        : 992.87
Features        : swp half thumb fastmult edsp
CPU implementer : 0x56
CPU architecture: 5TE
CPU variant     : 0x2
CPU part        : 0x131
CPU revision    : 1

Hardware        : LG Advanced Multimedia Storage NC1
Revision        : 0000
Serial          : 0000000000000000

root@Neko-Nas:~# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00100000 00020000 "u-boot"
mtd1: 00400000 00020000 "kernel"
mtd2: 00b00000 00020000 "rootfs"
mtd3: 07000000 00020000 "data"

marcel,

The boot log means the log you get with serial console.

This looks like any other Kirkwood box. You can create the rootfs Debian-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 on a USB flash drive:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

Scroll down to:

Quote

Updated 25 Aug 2019:

Basic Debian buster Kirkwood rootfs for most Kirwood plugs:

- tarball size: 209M
- install size: 536M
- The init system used in this rootfs is sysvinit . To boot with systemd, see note 2 below.
- Installed packages: nano, avahi, ntp, busybox-syslogd (log to RAM), htop, isc-dhcp-client, dialog, bzip2, nfs server/client, iperf, ethtool, sysvinit-core, sysvinit, sysvinit-utils, u-boot-tools, and mtd-utils.
- see LED controls in /etc/rc.local, and /etc/init.d/halt
- see some useful aliases in /root/.profile
- root password: root

Download at Dropbox:

Debian-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2

You can try using the LG N1T1 dtb, see how far you can boot with it.

./dts/kirkwood-n1t1.dtb

I dont have new u-boot for this box, so you need to boot with stock u-boot. Therefore Step 4 in the rootfs instruction is needed:

Quote

4. Create uImage with embedded DTB for booting with older u-boots (2012 or earlier). Do not do this step if you have installed the latest U-Boot for Kirkwood (or are installing this u-boot at the same time).

Once you install serial console, it is easy to modify u-boot envs to boot the rootfs Debian-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 on USB.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2019 04:20PM by bodhi.

Hey Bodhi,

Thanks for the the rootfs, i hope i can get an serial adapter early jan,
my nas is similar to the one in https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,78389 except his version has a blueray drive and i have a dvd drive

I also checked the diference between the N1T1 and N2B1 and so far i can only find pcie (e?) for second sata with expander and a (IC2?) Display and buttons

how would i make a DTB for this device?

marcel,

>
> Thanks for the the rootfs, i hope i can get an
> serial adapter early jan,
> my nas is similar to the one in
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,78389 except
> his version has a blueray drive and i have a dvd
> drive
>
> I also checked the diference between the N1T1 and
> N2B1 and so far i can only find pcie (e?) for
> second sata with expander and a (IC2?) Display and
> buttons

>
> how would i make a DTB for this device?

You would start with the N1T1 or N2B1 DTS. Copy it to kirkwood-n2r1d.dts.

And strip out the differences in peripherals (PCIe, sensors,..). And use the DTC compiler to compile it. And it will give you kirkwood-n2r1d.dtb. Append it uImage and try. Repeat this process until you can boot without error.

If you need help, post and I will compile it for you.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2019 04:47AM by bodhi.

I got my usb to serial adapter, but i can find the spots for them to connect, where i need to connect TX and RX to

Could you post pictures of the board?

The serial header was painfully obvious on the N4B1 board. but this model is very different it turns out.

Does this look like it:
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/myincludes/image_page.php?/images/stories/nas/lg_n2b1/lg_n2b1_board.jpg

It's not obvious to me from that picture but could be somewhere not in frame.

Interestingly this one appears to have an on-board microcontroller, those are always fun to interface with :p

Fortunately LG is pretty good about posting source code:
http://opensource.lge.com/osList/list?m=Mc020&s=Sc022

Yea its the same board, the spots are on the bottom but are surface mount (TWATS), https://imgur.com/a/PtMhZKQ
What rate do i need as i cant get any output atm (still have it set at 115200)

Here are some more pics
https://imgur.com/a/wO7rTPF



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2020 03:32PM by marcel.

Nice.

It's probably 115200. if you've got it wired up correctly you should see some output even with the wrong settings (it's just be gibberish). Try reversing rx/tx and see if that helps... also connect gnd if you didn't already.

did the most getto way i could with resistors as extension and tape, i was not able to get any output not even after reversing tx-rx, asking a mate of me if he has time to solder some wires on it on the points so i can just connect to that

Okay i got serial, but sadly my arduino i'm using isnt fast eneugh to capture the boot log, but i can try booting from usb now

marcel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay i got serial, but sadly my arduino i'm using
> isnt fast eneugh to capture the boot log, but i
> can try booting from usb now

So you can create the USB rootfs using Debian-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2.

And then append the DTB to uImage. Assuming you have compiled the DTB named it kirkwood-n2r1d.dtb

Quote

4. Create uImage with embedded DTB for booting with older u-boots (2012 or earlier). Do not do this step if you have installed the latest U-Boot for Kirkwood (or are installing this u-boot at the same time).

Please replace kirkwood-goflexnet.dtb below with the correct DTB name for your box (see the folder /media/sdb1/boot/dts for the exact spelling of your Kirkwood box name).

Generate the uImage with DTB embedded inside:
cd /media/sdb1/boot
cp -a zImage-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1 zImage.fdt
cat dts/kirkwood-n2r1d.dtb >> zImage.fdt
mv uImage uImage.orig
mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x00008000 -e 0x00008000 -n Linux-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1 -d zImage.fdt uImage
sync

-bodhi
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Hi

It's not up to date ... but is there any debian distro/firmware available for the LG NAS N2B1 ?

Best regards

Ynojal,

> It's not up to date ... but is there any debian
> distro/firmware available for the LG NAS N2B1 ?

Not really. There was a few posts about this box:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,78389

This box is very similar to the Kirkwood Pogo V4 (same SoC).

Quote

N2B1
88F6192
800Mhz ram
2 bay

So potentially, it can run my released rootfs Debian-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2.

Or run with a mainline Debian image (you need to use the Pogo V4 DTB).

-bodhi
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