OpenWRT on Pogoplug Pro / V3 - Need Help Making U-boot Work

>> What kernel config file should I be looking for?
> >Is it the fdt or dtb file?

>Actually, neither. That kernel config file should be named something like config-xxx, and is in somewhere under:
>http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/oxnas/

The only config file there is config.diff, which is related to building a custom kernel. Is that what I need to do?

>Try this if you have serial console, or have setup netconsole: plug in the USB drive, power up, and interrupt the console >and do

>usb start
>usb part

>see if the drive is recognized in u-boot. If it is not, then chance is that will not be recognized in Linux either.

I have never been able to get netconsole to work. I followed instructions and opened separate terminals on a dockstar running debian on the same subnet, but get nothing on either. I could open the case and connect to the serial port. But the Pro still does boot debian on a USB drive and detects usb devices. The problem is within OpenWRT on the NAND. Perhaps this should be asked on an OpenWRT forum, as it does not seem to be related to Uboot.

dexter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have successfully installed OpenWRT on the
> Pogoplug Pro NAND using grayman4hire's guide:
> http://blog.qnology.com/2015/04/openwrt-on-pogoplu
> g-v3oxnas-proclassic.html
>

Which kernel image did you use to flash the NAND storage, i.e. openwrt-oxnas-default-ubifs.img, etc.?

> However, the snapshot trunk release no longer
> includes the zImage kernel:
> https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/oxna
> s/generic/
>

@Bodhi:
Perhaps, it is time to update your uboot for OXNAS with FIT capability as discussed here.

> So I used files from Chaos Calmer instead:
> https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1
> /oxnas/generic/
>

R U using both kernel and rootfs from CC?

>Which kernel image did you use to flash the NAND storage, i.e. openwrt-oxnas-default-ubifs.img, etc.?
openwrt-15.05.1-oxnas-zImage 1671992 15-Mar-2016 18:09

rootfs extracted from:
openwrt-15.05.1-oxnas-pogoplug-v3-squashfs-sysupgrade.tar

>R U using both kernel and rootfs from CC?
Yes, both.

dexter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have successfully installed OpenWRT on the
> Pogoplug Pro NAND using grayman4hire's guide:
> http://blog.qnology.com/2015/04/openwrt-on-pogoplu
> g-v3oxnas-proclassic.html
>

Sorry and I forgot to ask you a question related the above. The above procedure you took requires you flash OpenWRT firmware to the NAND storage, right?

dexter,

>
> The only config file there is config.diff, which
> is related to building a custom kernel. Is that
> what I need to do?

I was hoping to see the kernel config file to determine if the zImage kernel you ran support USB. I could not tell whether it is true from the config.diff.

> as it does not seem to be
> related to Uboot.

That is true. You have already booted Debian on USB successfully. All questions point to the Chaos Calmer zImage. Usually for distro that runs in NAND such as OpenWrt, USB support is built in to the zImage/uImage.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

@Bodhi:

On 3/20/16, OpenWRT has switched to use their new image generation template for the OXNAS platform. This new image generation template scheme no longer supports creation of both zImage and uImage files (and among others). As I mentioned in my post, perhaps we ought to start looking into updating uboot to include the FIT capability to support using the fit-pogoplug-pro.itb and fit-pogoplug-pro.its files found in the kernel source directory to boot the device?

@habibie,

Only if I have time. Besides, you could use the DTB to make it work with uImage. That should not be too difficult.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

>Sorry and I forgot to ask you a question related the above. The above procedure you took requires you flash OpenWRT >firmware to the NAND storage, right?

Yes, correct.

>I was hoping to see the kernel config file to determine if the zImage kernel you ran support USB. I could not tell whether >it is true from the config.diff.

>> as it does not seem to be
>> related to Uboot.

>That is true. You have already booted Debian on USB successfully. All questions point to the Chaos Calmer zImage. >Usually for distro that runs in NAND such as OpenWrt, USB support is built in to the zImage/uImage.

I believe I found an error on my part. The files I used were not from the latest CC release 15.05.1 as had said. They also were not all from the same release, from looking at the file names:

-rwxrwxr--+ 1 nobody nogroup 6993 Apr 21 04:09 openwrt-15.05-rc2-oxnas-pogoplug-pro.dtb
-rwxrwxr--+ 1 nobody nogroup 1690592 Apr 21 04:09 openwrt-15.05-rc2-oxnas-zImage
-rwxrwxr--+ 1 nobody nogroup 3399680 Apr 9 10:36 openwrt-15.05-rc3-oxnas-pogoplug-pro-squashfs-sysupgrade.tar

I don't know how I managed to get to the download page for these, thought I had the latest release but the saved evidence shows otherwise.

I am now installing OpenWRT on a different Pogoplug Pro to see if the usb issues are fixed.

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @habibie,
>
> Only if I have time. Besides, you could use the
> DTB to make it work with uImage. That should not
> be too difficult.

Hello Bodhi,

R U saying to use DTB to generate uImage file?

dexter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >Sorry and I forgot to ask you a question related
> the above. The above procedure you took requires
> you flash OpenWRT >firmware to the NAND storage,
> right?
>
> Yes, correct.

In this case, I believe the uImage file is included in the firmware, IIRC.

habibie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bodhi Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > @habibie,
> >
> > Only if I have time. Besides, you could use the
> > DTB to make it work with uImage. That should
> not
> > be too difficult.
>
> Hello Bodhi,
>
> R U saying to use DTB to generate uImage file?

Use the DTB to boot with uImage.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> habibie Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > bodhi Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > @habibie,
> > >
> > > Only if I have time. Besides, you could use
> the
> > > DTB to make it work with uImage. That should
> > not
> > > be too difficult.
> >
> > Hello Bodhi,
> >
> > R U saying to use DTB to generate uImage file?
>
> Use the DTB to boot with uImage.

Hello Bodhi,

That is what I currently have configured on my PogoPlug Pro 02 using DTB with uImage. However, dexter has brought up in this post that OpenWRT no longer provides zImage and uImage files (I can confirm this from my own builds, too). So, using DTB with uImage approach will no longer be viable if we need to use OpenWRT. Meanwhile, I have pointed out in my other post that perhaps we can use these fit-pogoplug-pro.itb and fit-pogoplug-pro.its files found in the kernel source directory to boot. But, you said in your post FIT option is not supported, yet. I am hoping this will bring to your attention to contemplate adding the support for FIT image sooner.

>That is what I currently have configured on my PogoPlug Pro 02 using DTB with uImage. However, dexter has brought >up in this post that OpenWRT no longer provides zImage and uImage files (I can confirm this from my own builds, too). >So, using DTB with uImage approach will no longer be viable if we need to use OpenWRT. Meanwhile, I have pointed >out in my other post that perhaps we can use these fit-pogoplug-pro.itb and fit-pogoplug-pro.its files found in the kernel >source directory to boot. But, you said in your post FIT option is not supported, yet. I am hoping this will bring to your >attention to contemplate adding the support for FIT image sooner.

I did say OpenWRT no longer provides zImage and uImage files in the snapshot trunk release, but they do provide these files in their current tested release:
https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/oxnas/generic/

That is what I have used and booting with both the 2015 and 2013 uboot versions. Everything works once I used the current and matching rootfs, dtb, and zImage files. Got OpenWRT to load the firmware for the stock pcie wifi card but have yet to get it configured and connected to anything.

> That is what I have used and booting with both the
> 2015 and 2013 uboot versions. Everything works
> once I used the current and matching rootfs, dtb,
> and zImage files.

Cool!

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

Well dexter's prompting, it finally works! Just installed OpenWRT 15.01 on my dual antenna Pro with Atheros wifi card in the mpci-e slot and it now is an access point. Just had to load the kmods for ath9k and wpad and a little configuration changes (simple is the key) and I have an access point which has been my goal all along. Have the SATA port mod so that it can be a file server too.

Thanks SO MUCH everybody, it's nice to finally achieve what you set out to do months ago :)