Latest Dockstars Deals, Post your findings here! (Updated 01 Jan 11)

Can we install Debian on it ? i.e. does Jeff's script work with this Pogoplug?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2011 04:43AM by bodhi.

no, it's not possible yet :-(

It's a armv7 2x750Mhz DualCore CPU

It is possible to boot from SATA, but only with a serial cable atm

http://plugapps.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=554

Yeah. It's a tricky device, but offers certain improvements. The gamble is whether or not anyone wants to pick it up now and hope it becomes as well supported as the other PogoPlug devices. I admit, it's tempting... especially for the built in Wifi and SATA.

I've played with one. It was on my desk for months, but I only had time to tinker with it for a few hours. It's a completely different chipset than the older Pogoplug and Seagate devices, so it needs its own uBoot before it will become usable. From what I saw, building a replacement uBoot was going to be a lot of work, at least until another device with a similar chipset is added to the current uBoot tree.

Cloud Engines uses a very old fork of uBoot to create their bootloader, so even though they provide the sources, it's of very limited value because their fork doesn't contain support for booting from external media and migrating their patches to the current uBoot code would take more knowledge of the uBoot sources than I have.

On the other hand, the folks over at PlugApps have put together some interesting hacks for running Plugbox on it inside a chroot. It's a clever way of getting around the uBoot limitations, but it limits you to using the kernel shipped with the devices.

-- Jeff

The UBOOT sources are available here:

http://www.pogoplug.com/home-en-developers-open-source.html

(Or am I wrong ?)

Would it be possible to build U-Boot with auto-SATA-boot with this ?

( Booting from SATA seems possible with a serial cable
http://plugapps.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=554 )

Hey there,

are there any news regarding nativ linux boot on a Pogoplug Pro?

Regards
beelzebub

The GoFlex Net is available for $30 from OfficeDepot

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/519243/Seagate-FreeAgent-GoFlex-Net-Media-Sharing/?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Google-_-Data_Storage_and_Media-_-519243&mr:trackingCode=69F4381C-D783-DF11-BC8B-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA

varkey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The GoFlex Net is available for $30 from OfficeDepot

Currently out of stock :-(

Some of the stores might still have some in stock.

Btw it's there in eBay too for about $40.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SeaGate-Free-Agent-GoFlex-Net-Media-Sharing-STAK100-NEW-/250807109327?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6544c6cf

I bought one few days back for $36 :)

Pogoplug Pink / Gray for $35 from Buy.com

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=216745874

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=213816247

I really don't know Pogoplugs. So, what do we have here?

128MB or 256MB of main memory?

armv5 or armv6 cpu?

Are the grey and pink versions identical? If not, how do they differ?

Is there a viable uboot for these? The chatter here suggests that Jeff's dockstar uboot doesn't really work well, if at all.

Thanks in advance.

The models sold on Buy.com seems to be POGO-E02 & POGO-E02G which are compatible with Jeff's uBoot and the current installation method. They have the normal armv5 CPU and has 256 MB RAM and 128 MB NAND.

Its the new Pogoplugs with model numbers POGO-B01/02/03/04/P21 which have the armv6 CPU and is not supported properly.

http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/pogoplug-v2-pinkgray



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2011 06:24AM by varkey.

Pogoplug pink for $33.33 shipped from adorama.com
http://www.adorama.com/COCPOGOE02.html?emailprice=t&utm_term=Other&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=cj_361116

There's also this.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

Provisional specification

* 700MHz ARM11
* 128MB or 256MB of SDRAM
* OpenGL ES 2.0
* 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
* Composite and HDMI video output
* USB 2.0
* SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot
* General-purpose I/O
* Optional integrated 2-port USB hub and 10/100 Ethernet controller
* Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)

Optional (2 USB, Ethernet) model is slated to sell for $35.

If they end up going into full production, this could be a Sheevaplug killer.

Thanks for the info, varkey. FWIW, I ordered two grey Pogoplugs on Wednesday evening from buy.com and they were on my doorstep Friday around noon. I'm surely impressed with their free shipping!

I just upgraded the uBoot on one of them and have a spare Debian load I once built for a Dockstar and loaded onto a thumb drive up and running on it now. I like the extra 128MB of RAM memory, and frankly, I like the form factor. After an hour of uptime, it doesn't appear to be getting very warm -- even under a bit of a load -- a welcome change from the SheevaPlug. One downside is that, like the SheevaPlug, the power supply is built into the unit, rather than (my preference, for safety reasons) being in the form of an external brick. (I notice on their home page, that they've issued a recall for their newer "Pogoplug video product" because of instances of "smoke and potentially flame".

Edit: Another thing that's nice about the Pogoplug is that, unlike the Dockstar but like the SheevaPlug, the ethernet port is equipped with two small LEDs so you have some idea as to what is going on with it. I don't have a GB ethernet, but it connects and works fine with my100baseT local LAN.

One question: The rooting doc on archlinuxarm.org doesn't include the Dockstar warning about not booting the Pogoplug on an internet accessible network until you have deactivated the hbwd process. Is that not necessary with the Pogoplug? (It will save me some time and effort in converting my other one if that is indeed the case.)

I notice that the grey Pogos are sold out on buy.com, although the pink ones are still available. At less than $35 a pop, I may order another Pink one as a backup.

Thanks for the pointer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2011 11:49AM by restamp.

restamp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...
> I just upgraded the uBoot on one of them and have
> a spare Debian load I once built for a Dockstar
> and loaded onto a thumb drive up and running on it
> now.

Thanks for this confirmation. That's what I was wondering, whether you only need to upgrade Uboot on the Pogoplug pink/gray and then use a Debian stick which was built for a Dockstar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2011 05:10PM by bodhi.

Yup, works fine. Just make sure you stub out the default udev rules for the ethernet port. From my notes:

Quote

Fix to allow thumbdrive to be moved from one Dockstar to another:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,323,2038#msg-2038
# vi /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
/* comment out line: SUBSYSTEM=="net",...NAME="eth0" */
# vi /lib/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules
/* change line: KERNEL!="eth*... to KERNEL!="Eth*... */

But, I'm sure you already knew that.

BTW, does anyone know what the correct arcNumber for the Pogoplug is? Or, alternatively, if there is none, does it work better as a SheevaPlug (2097) or Dockstar (2998)?

Yes, I also think commenting out the rules is much better than removing the persistent-net.rules file. This allows us to have a backup USB Debian image that will work, no change needed when making the backup.

Speaking of backing up USB image, could you tell us more about your experience with Debian system on Free Agent GO HDD in the other thread (i.e. how do you deal with power failure)?
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,5461

(I think the question about the Free Agent GO HDD was directed at me. In any event, I'll take a stab at it, but I'll answer in the other thread that bodhi points to above.)

restamp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> (I think the question about the Free Agent GO HDD
> was directed at me. In any event, I'll take a
> stab at it, but I'll answer in the other thread
> that bodhi points to above.)

@restamp,

Indeed that was question for you! thanks for your clear answer in that Debian USB corruption by power failure thread!

bodhi

I got a pink Pogoplug and installed uboot on it then use a backup flash drive for my dockstar debian to boot it up (with the change for the 70-per* and 75-persi* files described by many here, btw, thanks all at lot). It works very well as replacement of the old dockstar with 128MB more memory. The only problem is that the front LED does not do anything now. I have to go to my router's clients list to find out if it boots or not. I am wondering if there is a way to make the front LED work as the dockstar? Thanks in advance.

restamp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...
> One question: The rooting doc on archlinuxarm.org
> doesn't include the Dockstar warning about not
> booting the Pogoplug on an internet accessible
> network until you have deactivated the hbwd
> process. Is that not necessary with the Pogoplug?
> (It will save me some time and effort in
> converting my other one if that is indeed the
> case.)
>

@restamp,

I think the archlinuxarm instruction was to let the pogoplug phone home, and then register at pogoplug.com to get user name and pasword, then enable SSH through the site. Did you try that approach for your 2nd grey pogoplug? It seems like even more of a hassle that way.

Thanks, bodhi. Nope, I just booted the Pogoplug on an isolated LAN (but one with a DHCP server), sshed in and deactivated hbmgr.sh, and never bothered with registering at the Pogoplug website. With the Dockstar, I was even cruder -- I just plugged an X/O cable between it and a laptop and used its MAC address to find it.

In all honesty, I've got a second Pogoplug, and have been thinking of actually purposefully activating it and trying out the Pogoplug software. Heck, it is supposed to do what I'd like to use it for, after all... Anyone have any comments on using the Pogoplug as a, um, Pogoplug?

YMMV.

restamp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...Heck, it is supposed to do what I'd
> like to use it for, after all... Anyone have any
> comments on using the Pogoplug as a, um,
> Pogoplug?

ROTFL!

Seriously, from what I've learned, really the only thing it does is allow you to access files on your Pogoplug box away from home. Pogo server acts as an intermediary to perform a handshake in the beginning and after that the connection is directed with the box.

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> restamp Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ...Heck, it is supposed to do what I'd
> > like to use it for, after all... Anyone have
> any
> > comments on using the Pogoplug as a, um,
> > Pogoplug?
>
> ROTFL! .
>
> Seriously, from what I've learned, really the only
> thing it does is allow you to access files on your
> Pogoplug box away from home. Pogo server acts as
> an intermediary to perform a handshake in the
> beginning and after that the connection is
> directed with the box.

I have used the Pogoplug service with my dockstar for several weeks. The experience is not very good. Here are the problems I had: if I plug a new drive in it when the pogoplug is running, then sometimes, the pogoplug software keeps adding directories and some temp files in the /tmp directory and eventually make it dead. Another problem is that Pogoplug keeps updating the software on the dockstar without noticing. This interrupted my Asterisk (optware) service several times. Also, the ssh was disabled 2 times by Pogoplug for over a day without reason (ssh enable button disappear in their webpage). I have to contact them to make ssh enabled again. This is the main reason I switched to debian to avoid these problem.

Thanks for the observations, folks. Looks like the original Pogoplug software isn't worth messing with.

Sheevaplug and the DP151 have been sold.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2011 08:28AM by rat.

davidnewton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got a pink Pogoplug and installed uboot on it
> then use a backup flash drive for my dockstar
> debian to boot it up (with the change for the
> 70-per* and 75-persi* files described by many
> here, btw, thanks all at lot). It works very well
> as replacement of the old dockstar with 128MB more
> memory. The only problem is that the front LED
> does not do anything now. I have to go to my
> router's clients list to find out if it boots or
> not. I am wondering if there is a way to make the
> front LED work as the dockstar? Thanks in advance.

David,

I've modified my pink Pogoplug to do a simple LED on/off successfully. It seems there are much more we can do. However, I still have arc_number set to 2097. That indicates no LED support. I've set the Dockstar arc_number to 2998 to have LED support (it does all the orange and green LED blinking sequences).

But for now, I'm satisfied with just: when I halt the pink Pogo box, the LED turns off; when it's done booting up, the LED turns on. This way I know when it's safe to unplug it, and also when it's fully operational.

These are 3 changes:

1. Make sure plug:green:health/trigger is in /sys/class/leds directory

# cat /sys/class/leds/plug:green:health/trigger

none nand-disk timer [default-on] mmc0

2. See the change in blue in the halt script below

# cat /etc/rc0.d/K08halt

#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          halt
# Required-Start:
# Required-Stop:
# Default-Start:
# Default-Stop:      0
# Short-Description: Execute the halt command.
# Description:
### END INIT INFO

NETDOWN=yes

PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
[ -f /etc/default/halt ] && . /etc/default/halt

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

do_stop () {
        if [ "$INIT_HALT" = "" ]
        then
                case "$HALT" in
                  [Pp]*)
                        INIT_HALT=POWEROFF
                        ;;
                  [Hh]*)
                        INIT_HALT=HALT
                        ;;
                  *)
                        INIT_HALT=POWEROFF
                        ;;
                esac
        fi

        # See if we need to cut the power.
        if [ "$INIT_HALT" = "POWEROFF" ] && [ -x /etc/init.d/ups-monitor ]
        then
                /etc/init.d/ups-monitor poweroff
        fi

        # Don't shut down drives if we're using RAID.
        hddown="-h"
        if grep -qs '^md.*active' /proc/mdstat
        then
                hddown=""
        fi

        # If INIT_HALT=HALT don't poweroff.
        poweroff="-p"
        if [ "$INIT_HALT" = "HALT" ]
        then
                poweroff=""
        fi

        # Make it possible to not shut down network interfaces,
        # needed to use wake-on-lan
        netdown="-i"
        if [ "$NETDOWN" = "no" ]; then
                netdown=""
        fi

        log_action_msg "Will now halt"
        halt -d -f $netdown $poweroff $hddown
        echo none > /sys/class/leds/plug:green:health/trigger
}

case "$1" in
  start)
        # No-op
        ;;
  restart|reload|force-reload)
        echo "Error: argument '$1' not supported" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
  stop)
        do_stop
        ;;
  *)
        echo "Usage: $0 start|stop" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
esac

:

3. See the change in blue in the start up script below

# cat /etc/rc.local
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
echo default-on > /sys/class/leds/plug:green:health/trigger
#echo none > /sys/class/leds/plug:orange:misc/trigger

/root/usb-storage.pmount

exit 0

Hope this helps!
bodhi

Bodhi:

Thanks a lot. I will try this.

BTW, I use the backup flash drive from my dockstar to boot the pogoplug pink. Because of this, there is no file/directory as /sys/class/leds/plug:green:health/trigger, instead, the it is /sys/class/leds/dockstar:green:health/trigger. Could I just change dockstar to plug?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2011 02:01PM by davidnewton.