installing debian on iomega iconnect

Hi,

I've succesfully (using jeff's method with a dockstar) created a nice debian squeezebox server, which my nephew has now comandeered !

I've just bought a cheap secondhand kirkwood iomega iconnect, which i am hoping to replicate as my own debian squeezebox server (this time with a bit more RAM, though less grunt as its only 1ghz) as they appear to be clearing old stock (i got an ex-display model with lost PSU)

I have seen some people on the forum have had a bash at this and am wondering if anyone has any tips on how best to approach it (i'm a linux newbie)

I have seen that the half height mini pci wifi card inside isnt supported, so in this respect it may be better picking up a cheap supported one from ebay .. anyone have any tips on the best type (needs to be half height).

thx

ian

Hi,

Heres a guy thats managed to get debian on the iconnect, despite being a linux newbie i'm gonna have a bash when my iconnect arrives in a few days (and i source a suitable PSU for it).

Being a linux newbie (and never having compiled a kernel before) i dont anticipate this being a smooth process but ive ordered a stock kernel supported cheap mini pcie card as well just in case so i can attempt it with a stock sheeva compiled kernel.

The outstanding question i have is that when the guy below setup uboot he set it up so that if the kernel (on usb drive) failed than it would attempt to boot a kernel on a server elsewhere on the network. Obviously this is a real pain in the ass and additionally as it takes an extra 30 seconds in boot time is a double pain in the ass - so is it possible to just revert to the stock iomega boot as backup (like jeffs uboot does). Also i take it that if i take an image backup of the boot usb drive (as i do with my dockstar) then its just a simple reboot after restoring the image on the usb drive - if so whats the best way of ammending the guy's below uboot procedure to do this ?

thx

ian


debian on an iconnect - part 1

debian on an iconnect - part 2

Heres doip.org's go :

doip.org's debian on iconnect


and heres the iconnect taken apart

iconnect taken apart

iconnect serial port details :

iconnect serial port

Got the iconnect and sourced a temporary psu and .....

In reflashing the device with the latest firmware, i noticed that iomega have produced a "imager" zip file (because the first batches of the device had defective firmware giving rise to the "blue flash of death").

As the device has a "reset firmware" hole/button which appears to reflash the device with the files in the zip when inserted on a flash drive (you have to press the reset button for 30 seconds starting within 10 seconds of boot) i wonder if this may be a simple way in to getting a usb drive bootable debian build on it

interestingly the files in the "imager zip" (that need to be in root of an inserted FAT32 usb stick) are :

apps
config
initrd
io_env.img
oem
uboot.ramfs.gz
uImage_nasplug_2.6.30.9_ramdisk
zImage

I wonder (i have little with linux and uboot/plug knowlege) if someone knowledgeable in such things could simply edit these files appropriately so that getting the device setup to boot a debian distro would be as easy as pie (and reimaging back to stock just as easy ??)

I did have a bash at using the imager to reflash to the latest firmware and i went through every usb stick i had (many of which worked faultlessly booting debian from jeffs uboot on a dockstar) in the end it worked on an old 1GB FAT32 formatted SD card in a usb2 SD cardreader !

the other thing to note is that the kernel patches for the lights, wifi card and more importantly the programmable switch (very useful to program to shutdown the unit properly ! - maybe a first for plugs ?? ) are on the CD or can be downloaded (as part of all the source code) from iomegas site so it should be easy enough for someone (who knows how to) to compile an appropriate debian iconnect kernel

iconnect source code (incl kernel patches)



The link for the iomega imager zip is :


iomega iconnect imager zip file

Hope it helps

ian

There seems to be a couple of problems supporting the iConnect in the current kirkwood release.

There is no common arcNumber:
- iomega uses 1682
- OpenWRT uses 2870
- Debian <asm/mach-types.h> does not list any reference to the iconnect. So it is "really" unsupported.

None of the kirkwood arcNumbers listed in Debian results in a functional network.
In OpenWRT is a patch that made the GBit network working (arcNumber=2870).
But the OpenWRT kernel is not able to read or write the flash correctly.

WernerB,

hi,

first of i'm a complete linux/uboot newbie, i'm only really interested in getting a squeezebox server like on my little dockstar but with more memory [much needed for mplayer/playwma] (and using the button on the iconnect to shutdown the box (without booting up a pc and ssh in to it) which isnt possible on the dockstar and once in a while corrupts squeezebox server) ... hence me getting hold of this cheap exdisplay iconnect


take a look at the first of my links where the guy has got debian running on the iconnect and compiled a kernel including patches for the wifi card, lights and switch (iomega give the patches in the "opensource code they publish on th cd/online) ... i dont really have a problem connecting a nokia serial cable internally to the iconnect as its just a couple of screws to open the thing BUT i just wondered ifg iomegas "imager" download could be hacked a little to load a custom uboot etc to incorprate something this guys custom compiled kernel

Ive posted on this guys site asking him to upload his custom compiled debian kernel and then i'll have a bash using his process


an excert from his process is :

First step is to rip apart the iConnect and reach the serial port as depicted here.

After connecting your host to the iconnect through the usb serial adapter you should be getting a prompt:

Marvell>>In the prompt type:

setenv mainlineLinux yes
setenv arcNumber 1682
saveenv
resetTake note! You must really saveenv and reset

Hi all,

After getting my own iConnect and wanting to try this i have problems getting to a prompt. Somehow, the device won't even boot (blue led stays off) if the serial cable is connected. Only if i unplug the serial cable, plug power back in and wait approx. 2+secs i see characters w/i screen/picocom... unintelligible stuff though.

Does anyone have an idea what's wrong here? I use a pl2303 converter attached to ttyUSB0 and have made sure that the wiring is correct:

9 pin male rs232 connected to the plk2302 as follows:

pin 2 - Rx
pin 3 - Tx
pin 5 - GND

i connect using e.g. picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0

Any ideas what went wrong?

Great read btw, thanks!

Do a serial loopback test to check if pl2303 adapter is wired correctly. The adapter should echo whatever data is transmitted even when not connected to iconnect.

By the way what pinout did you follow over at the iconnect's end?

Since iconnect's uboot supports booting from usb, you could get away without serial console by trying this: http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1472

It's good to have serial access though when things go wrong.

Hi,

thanks for the input dpffan!

The loopback test shows everything alright, "cat /dev/ttyUSB0" and "echo 'test' > /dev/ttyUSB0" behaves as expected when bridging PIN's 2 & 3 on the Prolific.
Here's the "lsusb -v" output for the device:

Bus 004 Device 003: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               1.10
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x067b Prolific Technology, Inc.
  idProduct          0x2303 PL2303 Serial Port
  bcdDevice            3.00
  iManufacturer           1 Prolific Technology Inc.
  iProduct                2 USB-Serial Controller
  iSerial                 0 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           39
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              100mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x000a  1x 10 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

Wiring on the iConnect side is done as described elsewhere: looking at the serial connect pins positioned at the top left, i've connected the bottom three as Rx, GND, Tx (starting from the top/ 2nd pin).

Thanks for helping out!

Fred

Hi,

after googling some more there is some conflicting information out there. Some sites state that the serial pinout on the iconnect device is

   0 - Kensington Lock Opening top left

PIN 1 - 3.3V
PIN 2 - Rx
PIN 3 - GND
PIN 4 - Tx

(e.g.http://www.kroonen.eu/wiki/Console%20Access , http://doip.org/iconnect_console , http://it-spock.blogspot.com/ & some more), while others state is is

   0 - Kensington Lock Opening top left

PIN 1 - 3.3V
PIN 2 - Tx
PIN 3 - GND
PIN 4 - Rx

(e.g.http://forum.nas-central.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1886 , http://gramlich.net/projects/iconnect/notes.txt , http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.embedded.openwrt.devel/6928 plus some).

I've since 'debugged' some more and found out that my device seems to have it's Tx at pin 2 from the top. At least, if i connect gnd and that pin i get the gibberish i was talking about earlier, as soon as i connect Rx (the bottom pin) the device won't even boot. Here's a link to the screen output with pin 2 (from top) and gnd connected:

http://i40.tinypic.com/65tx1d.png

I there anything more i can do to debug this further/ find out the exact pinout? I've tried with a multimeter against the serial port's GND and all 3 other pins give back 3.3V...

Also: I'm using an audio jack connection with a stereo cable that has one of the wires as 'shielding wires' (no teflon) and that i used for GND. Could that be a problem?

Thanks,
fred

It could be the wrong baud rate set if garbage is received and the connections are right.

Maybe you could try a different point for GND and see if noise is another cause.

The TX,RX pinout exchange is common since it depends on which perspective you take.

I experience the same problems as FredJ . Not booting with serial cable connected and just weird stuff as output on the console. Loopback test was successful. Tried several settings for the connection (Speed,parity, ...) no success.

I tried to install Debian resp. Arch without serial cable on the device as described in http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1472 (which was reported to work). but it seems, that the device was maybe modified. could it make sense to think of a somehow encrypted serial port???

Also tried to set up a iconnect Debian solution.
Tried both PIN settings and nothing worked. Using the PL2303 it actually outputs
^BOOT: 26434601,0,0,0,24

^RSSI: 12

and so forth. ... No garbage only this behavior ...

hyena Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Got the iconnect and sourced a temporary psu and
> .....
>
> In reflashing the device with the latest firmware,
> i noticed that iomega have produced a "imager" zip
> file (because the first batches of the device had
> defective firmware giving rise to the "blue flash
> of death").
>
> As the device has a "reset firmware" hole/button
> which appears to reflash the device with the files
> in the zip when inserted on a flash drive (you
> have to press the reset button for 30 seconds
> starting within 10 seconds of boot) i wonder if
> this may be a simple way in to getting a usb drive
> bootable debian build on it
>
> interestingly the files in the "imager zip" (that
> need to be in root of an inserted FAT32 usb stick)
> are :
>
> apps
> config
> initrd
> io_env.img
> oem
> uboot.ramfs.gz
> uImage_nasplug_2.6.30.9_ramdisk
> zImage
>
> I wonder (i have little with linux and uboot/plug
> knowlege) if someone knowledgeable in such things
> could simply edit these files appropriately so
> that getting the device setup to boot a debian
> distro would be as easy as pie (and reimaging back
> to stock just as easy ??)
>
> I did have a bash at using the imager to reflash
> to the latest firmware and i went through every
> usb stick i had (many of which worked faultlessly
> booting debian from jeffs uboot on a dockstar) in
> the end it worked on an old 1GB FAT32 formatted SD
> card in a usb2 SD cardreader !
>
> the other thing to note is that the kernel patches
> for the lights, wifi card and more importantly the
> programmable switch (very useful to program to
> shutdown the unit properly ! - maybe a first for
> plugs ?? ) are on the CD or can be downloaded (as
> part of all the source code) from iomegas site so
> it should be easy enough for someone (who knows
> how to) to compile an appropriate debian iconnect
> kernel
>
> iconnect source code (incl kernel patches)
>
>
>
> The link for the iomega imager zip is :
>
>
> iomega iconnect imager zip file
>
> Hope it helps
>
> ian

The problem is probably with the voltage, should be 0-3.3V, but for example mine usb to serial converter gives 0-5.5V...

Hi,

I am a complete beginner to Linux and am interested in installing Debian on my iconnect. The procedure looks straight forward enough. Just curious as to how you then install and use programs such as a media server etc on the iconnect after Debian is installed. Is it all through a command line or can you use some sort of graphical remote connection? Sorry to be asking such basic questions but it seems like a really nice project that I'd like to try!

You are right, its the voltage...
I got another cable which is intendet for Nokia mobile phones. You can buy it very cheap (1,40€) and follow the instructions you can find on several pages to connect the iconnect. The cable uses the same chip (pl2303) but at an other voltage rating (for embedded devices, 3,3V). And its worth to use it!
When I am done with everythin I will post a complete description (maybe even without using the cable) to install Debian on the device...

I just found this german page! They have created an USB-Image which is automatically booted. Its what I wanted to do... so look at it. I didnt test it yet. Debian auf der Iomega iConnect

have actually tried the iConnect Debian Image from the german site and it works like a charm! No flickerung LEDs and no problems connecting to Fast-Ethernet-Routers as I experienced with archlinux arm.

Just put the image on a USB-stick and power-on while pressing the reset-button. On first boot, it configures itself and automatically boots up the next time fairliy quick. The original firmware is untouched.

Btw, it is a Debian 6.0.3

Mike

>Also tried to set up a iconnect Debian solution.
>Tried both PIN settings and nothing worked. Using the PL2303 it actually outputs
>^BOOT: 26434601,0,0,0,24
>
>^RSSI: 12
>
>and so forth. ... No garbage only this behavior ...
>
Sure that you use the correct ttyUSBx. This messages looks like the diagnostic port output of a qualcomm umts stick.

Is it possible to restore the original firmware after instaling debian?

Dennis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is it possible to restore the original firmware
> after instaling debian?

Yes, http://markup.io/original/published/tk3h07gzaf5w

@PC Any idea what the root password is for that german website image is? I tried congenio, but access denied. Did "congenio" work for you?

Hi I seem to be coming here after everything is solved more or less http://www.kroonen.eu/wiki/ pretty much has all that is needed from the german website in English.

Basically you download an image and use dd to write it to a usb stick it makes a small 154meg partition (fat 16) leaving the rest of the stick unallocated. When you dd the stick look at the write speed mine was 1.4 meg a second.

to boot it up initially insert usb stick into a port the rear one has highest priority but it doesnt matter hold down reset and connect the power after roughly 15 seconds the led on the front goes red at which point you release the reset switch and wait. It does a couple of things a small mod to the iconnect so it boots from usb if its connected (it should boot the std firmware without the stick) It then creates an ext2 partition and debian install in the unallocated space the drive should be 2gb+ in size I used a 4gb writing takes ages it needs to write about 1 gb to the stick at the speed of my stick thats about 1000 seconds ~ 15 minutes or so. eventually it completes and reboots into debian you can tell because the blue led on the front flashes a little bit of red as well as the blue.

Took me a couple of attempts due to impatience, I had to use gparted to put a fat32 partition on the usb stick before dd ing the 154 meg image again (just to return the stick to its stock format maybe unnessary but I couldnt get the installation going again without it).

Waited long enough for the stick to install properly and connected to my router which gave it an address which i used ssh and the ccongenio password. edited sources to sid apt-get update apt-get upgrade (another hour) upgraded the kernel per the wiki and installed the deb for the wireless card and wpa supplicant set up wifi and the router was happy to give it a 2nd ip
printserver cups is on :631 I installed minidlna on :8200 still got work to do setting things up but it works :)

Guys,

I'm looking for information about Debian wireless driver on iConnect . What wifi driver module do you have on your Debian system? is it available from the Wheezy kernel tree? I'm running my own Wheezy build for all my plugs and it works fine booting Debian on iConnect with the OpenWRT uBoot. I assume I would need a particular driver for this Wifi module?

TIA

It's a Ralink 3090 (with bluetooth). --> http://kroonen.eu/wiki/Ralink%20RT3090%20PCIe

Its mainlined since 2.6.39 but DO NOT expect a reliable driver as r8187, zd1211 or ath9k

I've changed this card with an ath9k ( in ebay for $4 with international shipping from Hong Kong) and, of course, everything goes _MUCH_ better (and you can have access point facilities :))

pazos Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's a Ralink 3090 (with bluetooth). -->
> http://kroonen.eu/wiki/Ralink%20RT3090%20PCIe
>
> Its mainlined since 2.6.39 but DO NOT expect a
> reliable driver as r8187, zd1211 or ath9k
>
> I've changed this card with an ath9k ( in ebay for
> $4 with international shipping from Hong Kong)
> and, of course, everything goes _MUCH_ better (and
> you can have access point facilities :))

Thanks pazos, it's a time saver to know what to avoid :) and $4 for a wifi card! aweasome.

Hi!

I got iconnect and was not sattisfied with original OS specially with limitations of remote access without premium service and downloading torrent over 5 GB (some error messages) so I install Debian like member blackest describe.I can access over Putty on Windows7
Till now I use only Ubuntu so I have no idea how to start using iconnect on Debian without GUI.

My question for you experienced is :

1. how do you start/install some GUI or graphical interface (I'm connecting with Putty on Windows 7),

2. how to setup torrent client (is it possible start downloading from work place over internet),

3. how to remote access to my HDD connected to iconnect over internet,

4. how to see/access my HDD and folders on iconnect through my home network

5. how to create users and give them privacy for folder access?

Thank you!

fonsty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi!
>
> I got iconnect and was not sattisfied with
> original OS specially with limitations of remote
> access without premium service and downloading
> torrent over 5 GB (some error messages) so I
> install Debian like member blackest describe.I can
> access over Putty on Windows7
> Till now I use only Ubuntu so I have no idea how
> to start using iconnect on Debian without GUI.
>
> My question for you experienced is :
>
> 1. how do you start/install some GUI or graphical
> interface (I'm connecting with Putty on Windows
> 7),
>
> 2. how to setup torrent client (is it possible
> start downloading from work place over internet),
>
> 3. how to remote access to my HDD connected to
> iconnect over internet,
>
> 4. how to see/access my HDD and folders on
> iconnect through my home network
>
> 5. how to create users and give them privacy for
> folder access?
>
> Thank you!

fonsty,

Your questions will take some long tutorials to answer! so I'm suggesting some search words and you can Google them. You will get some results and start reading them.

1. You will need to use either Windows remote desktop to connect, or tool such as Teamviewer (I'd recommend remote desktop for Windows). On Debian, lightweight desktop packages such as fluxbox, xfce, lxde,... and other communication packages like xrdp, tightVNC,...

2. transmission

3. This will take substantial works so it should be the last item on your list. Basically you need to start with a web server such as apache, or lighttpd.

4. install samba (most convenient for Windows)

5. Linux command adduser

Somewhere in this forum, your question 1 was answered best, IIRC, by petergunn. So search for petergunn's posts.

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

fonsty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> 2. how to setup torrent client (is it possible
> start downloading from work place over internet),

As bodhi said, transmission. Here's one google hit off a search of transmission torrent command line

Note that transmission has a small webserver, which allows you to add, start and stop torrents.


> 3. how to remote access to my HDD connected to
> iconnect over internet,
>
ssh

> 4. how to see/access my HDD and folders on
> iconnect through my home network
use sftp

Has anyone tried using a mini pcie sata adapter with the iconnect? I think could be quite handy to use sata drives...
Something like this:
http://www.mini-tft.de/xtc-neu/product_info.php/info/p145038_Delock-95233---MiniPCIe-I-O-PCIe-full-size-SATA-6.html
Of course you would have to power them somehow and also cut the Case of the iconnect. But beside this, would it be possible or has anybody expierence with this?
I would enjoy to know what you think about this.

--- nIcE

I have successfully installed Debian Wheezy on my Iconnect. Quite a simple, but lengthy process.
Im using my IConnect as a stand-alone torrent machine, monitoring a folder for new files, then downloading them to a different folder.
I have Transmission as the torrent client, with transmission-daemon as my web UI.

I started off with the congenio method, then updated/upgraded to wheezy. I thought about going to sid as it says on the kroonen wiki, but sid is still to unstable.

Anyway, this is how I did it.
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=109330#p520101