Hi guys, how is this device currently going? Can be used as the typical linux box ? Ex. installing file/media servers, torrent, ssh, etc... The hardware looks great: 1.4GHz quad core, 1GB DDR3, usb 3.0, sata... I just found a cheap one, I'm considering to replace my old dockstar with it.by davidalfa - uBoot
Same (Silent). Interestingly, I found that when setting 256MB in uboot, the kernel does detect it: top MiB Mem : 235.9 total, Of course, using all that ram will crash the system, I'm simply being lucky due the low memory usage. So after all, it seems no more steps are needed.by davidalfa - Debian
U-Boot 2017.07-tld-1 (Sep 05 2017 - 00:17:19 -0700) Seagate GoFlex Net SoC: Kirkwood 88F6281_A0 DRAM: 64 MiB WARNING: Caches not enabled NAND: 256 MiB In: serial Out: serial Err: serial Net: egiga0 88E1116 Initialized on egiga0 Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0 starting USB... USB0: USB EHCI 1.00 scanning bus 0 for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found scanningby davidalfa - Debian
Yes, I also prefer properly coding it, but compiling for embedded systems is usually a huge mess. Given they are simple values, not cpu instructions, it's plain easy. Well, I made a very stupid error, and spend few hours recovering it with JTAG. First, me, Mr. Stupid, used net console, instead a solid serial port connection then used u-boot to modify the nand: nand read, nand erase, mwby davidalfa - Debian
I know this is a lot to read, sorry! I'm using it to quickly access my own findings. I already found everything I needed: You can go to the end of the post. I already compiled your uboot (as stated in the 1st post), but I wanted to know where the hardcoded memory is defined, it must be a simple number somehere in the code! I tried setting the memory size to 64M, but linux shows the saby davidalfa - Debian
I'm not even thinking on modifying the board to add more memory chips. Routing high speed bga parts is no joke! For now I will only replace the existing memory with the 256MB one. The original Nanya NT5TU64M16DG-AC also uses 8 banks, the difference comes in the internal row addressing, 13bit -> 14 bit, everything else is (or seems) the same. My kernel/uboot knowledge is not great,by davidalfa - Debian
Just for curiosity, it seems the memory could be doubled in any Kirwood box, the biggest DDR2 chip is 256MB (2Gbit). Researching compatible parts, I found some options: - MT47H128M16RT-25E - A3R2GE43JBF-8E - AS4C128M16D2-25BCN - W972GG6KB-25 All seem to be a direct replacement, they have the same timings (400MHz 5-5-5). Edit: I found a cheap one! Only $5! W972GG6KB-25 htby davidalfa - Debian
Trying to make it tidier, I broke one thin wire, I think it touched something because it never worked again. I've lifted the CPU two more times, all seems good. Removing the solder mask is dirty, tedius and dangerous, so use as little as possible! I switched to sata 0 Port, it works. Made it permanent, enlarging the usb hole in the side to make room for the data cable and fixing it toby davidalfa - Debian
It's a SSD, Ext4 , no journal... Async, every performance option... Only 7MB/s faster than a 5400rpm 2.5HDD?by davidalfa - Debian
I don't think so, sata seems to be left unconnected too. https://newit.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1991.0 Sata performance isn't good in this Marvell soc, a SSD didn't got over 122MB/s reading, 70MB writing, sata2 is a lot faster than that. Pretty limited in my opinion, and they aren't cheap either, any modern Linux SBC is cheaper and way more powerful.by davidalfa - Debian
Default threads was 8. Tried 2,4,32... Anything else than 1 made slower writes.by davidalfa - Debian
Meh, since modern Windows is able to access NFS, I removed samba, it's a performance hog! Tried different max_block_size values. - Default is 16384. Pretty slow. - 65536 does a little beter, but not great - 262144: 54MB/s - 1048576: 60MB/s. I also increased network buffer sizes: echo 1048576 > /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_default echo 1048576 > /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_by davidalfa - Debian
Yup, I always use 1GB swap partition. Hdd speed is 60/120MB/s (write/read), so that part is ok. Tried NFS, and while the CPU usage is a lot lower, the transfer speed isn't faster. Any tweaking ideas are welcome, but it's already pretty good, the hardware is very limited here!by davidalfa - Debian
Hmm, can't get samba faster than 34-37MB/s. Cpu usage was quite high (~90%) so I overclocked it to 1.5GHz, no difference. Forced the cpu to stay at 375MHz, that slowed the speed down to 16MB/s, not linear performance drop, so I think the problem isn't caused by the cpu itself, but probably I/O delay or something like that? After few boots the bad block issue no longer happens. Maby davidalfa - Debian
I'm having a small issue with the latest Debian rootfs. With the old 4.0.0 it boots quick and smooth, however with 5.6.13, I get a lot of mtdblock0 ECC errors, slowing down the boot speed quite a bit: [ 17.130199][ C0] mv643xx_eth_port mv643xx_eth_port.0 eth0: link up, 1000 Mb/s, full duplex, flow control disabled [ 17.140874][ T99] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link bby davidalfa - Debian
Thans for the tip, I'll check it out! I discarded the SSD...only 120GB, too small, also it's not that fast for big files... I'll test it again in the future, when I add the 2nd sata port. After some tweaking, the 2.5" HDD became a little faster: Writing: root@debian:/home# dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=1M count=1024 1024+0 records in 1024+0 records out 1073741824 byby davidalfa - Debian
It's interesting to see how everything else is routed, except sata/pcie pins. There's an old thread in the archlinux forum about this device: https://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=258by davidalfa - Debian
I attach the 88F6281 pinout (taken from the datasheet). Here's the sata connection. https://i.postimg.cc/0kgj2CY8/dockstar-sata.jpg I also marked the pci express pins, theorically you could plug any pcie device there... if there's support for it in Linux. The board works perfectly fine either with goflex and dockstar-sata dtb. Even the led. I upgraded to the latest version,by davidalfa - Debian
Yes, I'm that kind of guy that makes guides, it's just that I hadn't enough free time yet :) . I'll do of course (I'm already at it, using by master Paint skills)by davidalfa - Debian
Honestly: I don't feel like wasting my money for hobby use, like some people do (and I respect that, do whatever you want with your own money!). This is my pofffesionel setup: (not a typo) $20 hot air station, 8585D (Amazing for such price!) www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001319830627.html $40 Quicko T12 soldering station www.aliexpress.com/item/32994824865.html Check out my cby davidalfa - Debian
Edit: Nevermind, stupid mistakeby davidalfa - Debian
Aaaand..working! Lifted the cpu again, bridged VDO (3.3V) to Sata_0_VDD and Sata_1_VDD. I also exposed Sata0 pins this time. And it worked! Scan device ide Reset IDE: Bus 0: not available Bus 1: OK Device 1: Model: TOSHIBA-TR150 Firm: SAFZ12.3 Ser#: 46DB45HHK8VU Type: Hard Disk Supports 48-bit addressing Capacity: 114473.4 MB = 111.7 GB (2344by davidalfa - Debian
No wonder it failed... I missed the Sata Vdd pin! (Power) I didn't knew sata used its own power... It's unconnected in the dockstar. So cpu needs to be lifted again.by davidalfa - Debian
I think it should work right away. There're only 2 sata interfaces, can't be mapped to any random pin. Using goflex net uboot+dtb, everything works normally... except sata. I've tried everything. I know the sata pins are ok, I can see the Sata pins in diode mode (internal ESD diodes) and the 120Ohms sata termination resistors for each Rx/Tx pair (Internal, inside the soc). Sby davidalfa - Debian
I already updated u-boot back in the day (2017.07). I don't really care about what it says it is, as long asthe hardware works. Edit: I also had to flash goflexnet uboot to get "ide" command. For now it's not working, might be wired incorrectly, or it could be a signal quality issue. More testing coming! At uboot, I get this: GoFlexNet> ide reset Reset IDE: ideby davidalfa - Debian
Hi, First I must thank the community, specially Bodhi for supporting the project during all this time! I got a Dockstar about 9 years ago, served me well, however I always wanted to try lifting the cpu and directly interfacing the native sata. I wanted a small NAS but the USB became too slow for modern networks, so I stopped using it. Since it's been unused for 2 or 3 years, I decideby davidalfa - Debian