Booting Debian on Pogoplug Pro

@restamp I couldnt get it to work using ntp, so I reverted to using ntpdate.

I have also run into some problem with the default settings for ntp in /etc/ntp.conf. Using the debian.pool.ntp.org did not seem to work consistenly for me, so I switched to some time servers that were much more responsive for my locale.

#server 0.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst
#server 1.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst
#server 2.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst
#server 3.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst

#montpelier.caltech.edu 
#tick.ucla.edu 
#bigben.cac.washington.edu 
#time.nist.gov


server 192.12.19.20
server 164.67.62.194
server 140.142.16.34
server 206.246.122.250


restrict 192.12.19.20     mask 255.255.255.255 nomodify notrap noquery
restrict 164.67.62.194    mask 255.255.255.255 nomodify notrap noquery
restrict 140.142.16.34    mask 255.255.255.255 nomodify notrap noquery
restrict 206.246.122.250  mask 255.255.255.255 nomodify notrap noquery

I have created and hosted a Debian Sqeeze rootfs for those who want to skip the manual step installation. This rootfs fits to the kernel which is installed with the current archlinuxarm installation process. Just grab the rootfs, untar it to a USB drive and you're done! Please see the post with download links in a German forum:
http://pogoplug.square7.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15

This rootfs image fit to the following kernel in the flash:

uname -a
Linux debian 2.6.31.6_SMP_820 #7 SMP Thu Jun 14 20:31:06 CDT 2012 armv6l GNU/Linux

Just extract it to an ext3 formatted disk. The partition name must be rootfs! After extracting update your correct ethernet MAC address in /etc/network/interfaces. Also regenerate your SSH keys once you are logged it to the debian system as given here -- http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-regenerate-openssh-host-keys/

The default login is root / root

The rootfs already contains a working driver for the WLAN module. You can find configuration hints for the wireless network with Debian in the following post: http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=2031&start=100#p25865.

To prevent some issues with the update of DNS servers references you should install the resolfvconf package.

apt-get install resolvconf

===========================================================

Wheezy rootfs: http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,6336,13993#msg-13993



Edited 19 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2017 09:32AM by shv.

Thanks shv! This will be a huge help. I had shelved my Pogoplug Pro after struggling with modules about seven months ago but plan to revive it as a backup system for the production one, which is running on a GoFlex Home. This will make my life much much easier.

shv, this is amazing! It just works right out of the box! I cannot thank you enough.

Does it works on OXNAS devices too on PogoPlug Pro since we are stucked on 2.6 kernel on arch linux

dinjo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does it works on OXNAS devices too on PogoPlug Pro
> since we are stucked on 2.6 kernel on arch linux

This is for PogoPlug Pro OXNAS :) the kernel is the same Arch Linux kernel .26 on NAND. But the rootfs is Debian. You can run Debian Wheezy (3.x.x) rootfs instead of Arch with the modification to /lib/modules and a few other files.

Thanks unfortunately Chrome wasn't translating the text for me ;-) Will give it try

I am trying to use the shv rootfs and it seems to work fine with wired but I am having issues getting the wireless to work. I followed the hints in the post he linked over at the archlinuxarm.org site: I copied over the RT2860 from the pogoplug side, installed wireless-tools and wpasupplicant and then modified the /etc/network/interface with the auto ra0 and the other stuff.

However when i try the ifup ra0 command, it doesn't do anything.

Did I miss anything obvious?

thespacepope Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am trying to use the shv rootfs and it seems to
> work fine with wired but I am having issues
> getting the wireless to work. I followed the
> hints in the post he linked over at the
> archlinuxarm.org site: I copied over the RT2860
> from the pogoplug side, installed wireless-tools
> and wpasupplicant and then modified the
> /etc/network/interface with the auto ra0 and the
> other stuff.
>
> However when i try the ifup ra0 command, it
> doesn't do anything.
>
> Did I miss anything obvious?

The first thing I would look at is the settings in /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RT2860STA.dat. Make sure that the default values in there match what your wireless router expects. Especially the security and mode. Dmesg will show the values being used when the card is initialized.

edit: deleting the rules file did not work. Still can't get a wireless connection to work.

edit: don't know what happened but it started working. oh well.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2013 02:12PM by thespacepope.

I don't know if this will work for everyone but it fixed my wireless problem.

Logged in to the shv's rootfs using wired ethernet and did everything in the post at archlinuxarm.org that shv linked except:

1. Rather than copying over the /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RTA2860STA.dat file, I did this:

mkdir -p /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA

then

touch /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RT2860STA.dat

I left the file empty, that's right no values in the file.

2. Did not add the hwaddress to the /etc/network/interfaces file. (My wireless has a different mac address than what is printed on the bottom of the pogoplug unit but I don't really care.)

Finally,

rm /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

(this file will be regenerated after reboot.)

Rebooted and had wifi up and running. Now I just need to learn how to use debian.

thespacepope Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

Quote

> 1. Rather than copying over the
> /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RTA2860STA.dat file, I did
> this:

> mkdir -p /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA
>

> then

> touch /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RT2860STA.dat
> 

I left the file empty, that's right no
> values in the file.

Cool. I guess there were values in this RT2860STA.dat file that conflicted with your router network settings.

Is it okay to run

apt-get upgrade

on the Pogoplug Pro with Debian? It seems to have quite a few packages that would be installed if I said yes but they seem to be for the 2.6.32 Kirkwood kernel.

Back your system up first, and then you have an out if the upgrade causes problems.

Yes, it is OK to do apt-get upgrade. But as restamp said, should backup your system first.

You can also change apt sources list to use wheezy before apt-get upgrade. But prepare for a massive amount of updates! a lot of packages will be kept at older version, because the kernel is still 2.6.x.

Yes, you shoud remove the file 70-persistent-net.rules to prevent problems due to wrong MAC address of the ra0 interface.

rm /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2013 03:41PM by shv.

As the Pogoplug V3 versions were recently sold for very good prices (classic and pro), I used my previous work to create some scripts to make switching from Arch Linux to Emdebian much easier. So, if anyone here is interested, have a look here:
https://github.com/ingmar-k/Pogoplug_V3_Emdebian

If you use the right settings in the main file for those, namely "general_settings.sh", you should get a fully bootable Emdebian USB drive. You also have the option for a newer kernel and/or rootfs in NAND, according to my howto. I didn't automate kernel upgrade and/or NAND rootfs setup, as this should only be done by people who know what they are doing. The risk of bricking the devices seemed too high. And also, I don't really have unlimited time. :-)

Also big thanks to all contributors in this thread and all other poeple giving good hints all around the web. This made my work far easier!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2013 12:29PM by ingmar_k.

ingmar_k,

Thanks for sharing your script! I always wanted to run Emdebian on my PogoPro :) never got the time to do it. Will definitely try this.

-bodhi

I'm going to try use this rootfs but i guess i need to change my bootargs as currently its set to sda1 and I'm not sure whether i should set it to sdb or sdb2 ? since my external drive always gets mounted as sdb2 but below is parted info

/u

sr/local/cloudengines/bin/blparam bootargs="/dev/sdb"

[root@alarm ~]$  parted /dev/sdb print
Model: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
 2      1138MB  500GB  499GB  primary  ext3

[root@alarm ~]$  parted /dev/sdb2 print
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/sdb2: 499GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags:

Number  Start  End    Size   File system  Flags
 1      0.00B  499GB  499GB  ext3

[root@alarm ~]$  fdisk -l /dev/sdb2

Disk /dev/sdb2: 499.0 GB, 498970132480 bytes, 974551040 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

You have to keep in mind that hard drives as well as usb thumb drives both get the /dev/sd* IDs, because both are SCSI to the kernel. So,if the drive you try to boot from is the only USB or SATA drive, it always will be /dev/sda. If you have more than one drive connected, it will be a matter of timing (or maybe of udev rules).
In the latter case, you will have to try.

Edit: Scratch the udev rules part. It's only timing, because at that point, udev obviously doesn't run yet. Sorry!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2013 01:37PM by ingmar_k.

So there is no way around this ?

You will have a pretty good probability that the SATA HDD will get recognized first. Other than that, no other way with this uBoot.

There should be way of scripting it. Like the kernel loading procedure from NAND, where it starts loading from the backup address, if loading the standard kernel Image failed. ;) Would need a bit of testing, though.

And btw, we are talking about multiple drives, BUT all connected via USB? Bodhi's post just confused me a bit. If it really is one USB and one SATA (directly!), then the situation would be different.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2013 03:57AM by ingmar_k.

I think dinjo want to boot with 2 or more USB drives. So I suggested if 1 SATA drive connecting to the internal SATA port is used for boot drive instead, then there would be no need (hopefully :) to force it.

I've tried playing with uBoot envs a couple times but not successful. Because I think what happened was the kernel image in the stock uBoot kept hanging when it tried to mount rootfs on a wrong drive, and would not exit out. I was also thinking of extload or fatload, but these are not available, either.

You are probably right. I forgot that the V3 is using some "crippled" U-Boot version which only supports the absolutely necessary.
And yes, I think your idea about using SATA as boot drive might work fine. The only problem might be that it needs some tinkering to find a way to connect a drive to SATA directly without making it look too wild, if you know what I mean. :-)

Possibly something like this?
Outside
Inside

The Pogoplug Pro starts from SATA first without any usage of Flash content (see Link). The uImage which is provided in the tarball must be replaced with a newer one.



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2013 09:14AM by shv.

Yes, like that. But, as I said, this probably requires some handicraft work, which is not necessarily anyone's preference.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2013 10:29AM by ingmar_k.

Makes me think to move to Raspberry Pi , the kernel is older on Pogo Pro , several issues with systemd changes not available for OXNAS

There are newer kernel sources and with Debian I don't think there are the same problems as with Arch.
I am running my Pogos with Kernel 3.1. and Emdebian Stable. I can't say anything about longterm stabilty of Kernel 3.1., though.. So far I didn't run into any problems, however.