Installing the new uBoot offline?

Hello Jeff,

First of all I must confess that I'm a Linux newbie, therefore I don't own any Linux PC (just another Linux based NAS). I just know how to use the Windows PuTTY Connection Manager to SSH in to a specific device. However, I dared to buy me a DockStar in order to get me another well-working network adapter which I can use for my USB-HDD's.

Because I was afraid to catch any firmware update from Pogoplug right from the start, yesterday I was attempting to follow all Wiki steps, I just was executing them offline. That means I prevented any internet connection to my home network after I downloaded all necessary files from PlugApps.com. To make the "wget" command still work, I just set up an FTP server at home and fetched up the necessary installation files directly from there in order to apply them to the DockStar. At least creating NAND dumps of the original PogoPlug NAND partitions was still no problem that way.

Unfortunately all went ok up to the point where I intended to install the new uBoot script. After reading the warning messages and confirming that the PogoPlug environment will be disabled on my device, the installer started to work. After a while it complained several times that doozan.com could not be found. Then it stated, that there was a problem with the blparams and the installer was intending to exit. So it finally did. As the abort was very clean without any further error messages, it kept me very unsure if the flash process was successfully completed or not. I just came back to my usual prompt "bash-3.2#". I didn't continue, neither creating any USB file system on my USB stick nor to install any OS to it. However, I dared to reboot the device and fortunately it went back to the PogoPlug environment. Now my questions:

1) Is it really required to be online in order to run the install_uboot_mtd0.sh script? Is there any other stuff included which needs an internet connection at this time? If yes, why is this important?

2) Why does the PogoPlug environment (after my first uBoot install attempt) look somehow different from the initial one I had before (out of the box)? For example, why was the "bash-3.2#" prompt replaced by a "Pogoplug~$" prompt? Is this just a cosmetic thing or are there several original PogoPlug environments with significant differences?

3) After checking that the PogoPlug service really has been deactivated by default after my uBoot installation attempt, I'm now wondering if it's safe to re-connect the internet at that point. If yes, can I just try to re-install the new uBoot again (and this time of course online)? If that's not the correct way, what would you advise me to do next in my case?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Regards,
BillyBoy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2010 08:10AM by BillyBoy.

If install_uboot_mtd0.sh is run offline then the flash process was not completed.

3) Its safe to rerun install_uboot_mtd0.sh script while your dockstar is online. When you ran install_uboot_mtd0.sh it should have disabled the PogoPlug service. It says "Done fixing pogoplug environment." afterwards.

1) The script needs to download several files as it goes. If you did have a need to do it offline, the script is open source & can be easily modified to grab them from your FTP server. The download addresses are the first thing in the script & could be changed even without knowledge of any coding.

Oh, btw think about joining the dark side!
Wubi-installer is a very easy way to install Ubuntu alongside windows.
Even the standard (non-wubi) Ubuntu install will auto-detect windows & set itself up as dual boot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2010 10:35PM by Twi.

Twi,
Thank you, I appreciate your reply.

Doh! I should have taken a closer look into the installer script before asking stupid questions. However, I'll try installing the uBoot again today.

To get in touch with Linux I was already thinking of downloading an application which can be run in a separate window within Windows. But later on I decided booting up my PC using a Knoppix 6.2 Live CD when I needed it. But hey, I really have to consider installing that Wubi installer in order to have a "real" Linux environment which can help me to improve my knowledge.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Regards,
BillyBoy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2010 05:25AM by BillyBoy.

Adding Ubuntu to your windows box is very easy. Plus it makes a great rescue environment. Knoppix is great and it's how I got back into unix/linux. But the extra speed of having it on disk is really worth it.

At least try it on a USB stick. :)