Booting the Neo FreeRunner from SD via U-Boot - Revision history

Glenn: Exchg bootloader with U-Boot

2012-02-10T08:12:36Z

Exchg bootloader with U-Boot

KaiMartin: /* (Tutorial)EXperience summary of a Navie windows user now on Moko */ typo

2010-04-04T16:45:03Z

‎(Tutorial)EXperience summary of a Navie windows user now on Moko: typo

Marko Knöbl: Booting from SD moved to Booting the Neo FreeRunner from SD via U-Boot: clarifying what this page is about

2010-03-31T09:29:54Z

Booting from SD moved to Booting the Neo FreeRunner from SD via U-Boot: clarifying what this page is about

Glenn: /* NILFS */ move text to separate article

2010-01-17T13:29:31Z

‎NILFS: move text to separate article

Glenn: /* ext2 vs. ext3 */ chg

2009-09-06T12:33:25Z

‎ext2 vs. ext3: chg

Glenn: /* Partioning the SD card */ +link

2009-09-01T04:55:47Z

‎Partioning the SD card: +link

Glenn: /* Formatting the SD card */ needed umounts, SHR seems to automount

2009-08-30T06:00:27Z

‎Formatting the SD card: needed umounts, SHR seems to automount

Glenn: /* Formatting the SD card */ formatting

2009-08-30T05:57:20Z

‎Formatting the SD card: formatting

Glenn: /* Formatting the SD card */ +cr

2009-08-30T05:56:23Z

‎Formatting the SD card: +cr

Glenn: /* Formatting the SD card */ +opkg install dosfstools (SHR)

2009-08-30T05:56:08Z

‎Formatting the SD card: +opkg install dosfstools (SHR)

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 == How it Works ==
-On the Neo, [[u-boot]] performs a similar role to the 'grub' bootloader on a PC. U-boot loads a kernel image into memory and then passes a list of parameters to the kernel. These parameters specify, among other things, the device on which the root filesystem is located.
+On the Neo, [[U-boot-gena2x]] performs a similar role to the 'grub' bootloader on a PC. U-Boot loads a kernel image into memory and then passes a list of parameters to the kernel. These parameters specify, among other things, the device on which the root filesystem is located.
 As the kernel boots, it initializes the hardware and then mounts the root filesystem. The kernel then runs "/sbin/init", which handles the rest of the boot-up sequence (such as displaying the splash screen and progress bar).
@@ Line 95: / Line 95: @@
 === Partioning the SD card ===
-{{Note| This partition procedure it's '''NOT necessary if you use the [[Qi]] Bootloader'''. With [[Qi]] you can have the Kernel Bin in the same partition of the RootFS, there is no need to make this multipartition. Check [[Qi]] page for more information. }}
+{{Note| This partition procedure it's '''NOT necessary if you use the [[Qi]] bootloader'''. With [[Qi]] you can have the Kernel Bin in the same partition of the RootFS, there is no need to make this multipartition. Check [[Qi]] page for more information. }}
 This example shows how to do an example partition using the fdisk utility. Feel free to use the partitioning utility of your liking for this task. Also see [[#Partitioning_Hints| Partitioning Hints]] before defining your partition layout.
@@ Line 191: / Line 191: @@
 (Yes, lower case i and no extension.)
-Make sure your kernel is called ''uImage.bin'' (or ''uimage'' for some versions of NOR u-boot). If the u-boot doesn't find the kernel image during boot, [[Bootloader#Using usbtty from Linux|log into the bootloader]] with ''[http://www.airs.com/ian/uucp.html cu]'', mount the partition with mmcinit and check the presence and the name of the kernel image with ''fatls mmc 1:1'' for FAT filesystem or ''ext2ls mmc 1:1'' for ext2 filesystem. Compare this carefully with the result of ''printenv sd_image_name''. Remember that you can modify the environment in NAND FLASH, but not in NOR FLASH, so if you plan to boot from NOR FLASH you have to modify the file name to match the environment variable.
+Make sure your kernel is called ''uImage.bin'' (or ''uimage'' for some versions of NOR u-boot). If the U-Boot doesn't find the kernel image during boot, [[U-Boot#Using usbtty from Linux|log into the U-Boot]] with ''[http://www.airs.com/ian/uucp.html cu]'', mount the partition with mmcinit and check the presence and the name of the kernel image with ''fatls mmc 1:1'' for FAT filesystem or ''ext2ls mmc 1:1'' for ext2 filesystem. Compare this carefully with the result of ''printenv sd_image_name''. Remember that you can modify the environment in NAND FLASH, but not in NOR FLASH, so if you plan to boot from NOR FLASH you have to modify the file name to match the environment variable.
 Unmount both the rootfs partition and the kernel partition and make sure all remaining buffers are written to it:
@@ Line 205: / Line 205: @@
 If you are using a FreeRunner and have created an FAT kernel/ext2 rootfs partition you should be able to boot from the card right out of the box, because a boot menu entry for this should already exist in the NOR/NAND boot menu.
 In any other case you should at least make sure the needed entry exists in your menu before proceeding.
-You will need to enter the uboot shell of the NAND boot menu for this. A description on how to connect to the uboot loader shell can be found in this article: [[Uboot#Bootloader_prompt]]. Details on howto get into the NAND boot menu can be found [[Booting#Log_into_U-Boot_in_the_NAND_Flash|here]].
+You will need to enter the uboot shell of the NAND boot menu for this. A description on how to connect to the uboot loader shell can be found in this article: [[Uboot#U-Boot_prompt]]. Details on howto get into the NAND boot menu can be found [[Booting#Log_into_U-Boot_in_the_NAND_Flash|here]].
 After you read these two references you should be connected to your NAND uboot shell right now. The first thing to do is to set the boot menu timeout to a really high value. Unfortunately if you don't do this, the boot loader will continue booting after the default timeout (60 seconds) even if you are connected to the uboot shell. Just enter the following command to the menu prompt:
@@ Line 226: / Line 226: @@
 * help
 * help <command>
-* and [[Bootloader]] and [[Bootloader commands]].
+* and [[U-Boot]] and [[U-Boot commands]].
 {{Note| The backslashes (\) are important for uboot to set the command as new environment variable (menu_9) instead of just executing them as soon as enter is pressed.}}
@@ Line 341: / Line 341: @@
   GTA01Bv4 # saveenv
-then Power-off, and enter the Bootmenu to test the new Entry.If you can boot from NAND, shutdown, enter Boot menu, connect to bootloader and set the (auto)bootcmd for boot from SDHC:
+then Power-off, and enter the Bootmenu to test the new Entry.If you can boot from NAND, shutdown, enter Boot menu, connect to U-Boot and set the (auto)bootcmd for boot from SDHC:
   GTA01Bv4 # setenv bootcmd setenv bootargs root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootdelay=10 console=tty0 neo1973-nand:0x00040000(u-boot),0x00004000(u-boot_env),0x00200000(kernel),0x000a0000(splash)\; nand read.e 0x32000000 kernel\; bootm 0x32000000
@@ Line 373: / Line 373: @@
 Booting a rootfs from an extended partition with uboot has been tested successfully.
-===(Tutorial)EXperience summary of a Navie windows user now on Moko===
+===(Tutorial)Experience summary of a Navie windows user now on Moko===
 )If you want to install a DISTRO i.e if you want to boot from an uSD ,I suggest doing a NOR boot and then updating your bootloader to Qi.

@@ Line 443: / Line 443: @@
 sync
-Note :do step 8 and 9 from the directory of the phone where you have copied the two files using SCP by defualt this should be root@om-gta02 which again /home/root .
+Note :do step 8 and 9 from the directory of the phone where you have copied the two files using SCP by default this should be root@om-gta02 which again /home/root .
 Reboot the phone and TADAAAA you have SHR running on the '''Worlds first truly customizable open source phone NEO-FREERUNNER.'''

@@ Line 58: / Line 58: @@
 ====NILFS====
-NILFS ought to be tested?:
+[[NILFS]] ought to be tested?
-*[http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7345/ June 2nd, 2009: NILFS: A File System to Make SSDs Scream]
-*[http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_30#head-26a57d992910e405d688b760fc504dfe2e48e0a5 kernelnewbies.org: Linux 2.6.30: 1.1. NILFS2, a log-structured filesystem] Quote: "...Another advantage of this approach is that the log offers a coherent historical view of all the operations done in the disk in the past. This is called "continuous snapshotting" - snapshots of modifications done in all the filesystem at any time are created automatically due to the log-structure design, with no requirement of intervention from an admin, and with the filesystem size as the only limit. NILFS2 allows to access those snapshots and even mount them (on read-only mode)..."
-*http://www.nilfs.org/
 == Acquiring a tarfile rootfs ==

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 ==== ext2 vs. ext3 ====
-Opinion is divided on whether it is better to use ext2 or ext3 for the root filesystem. Ext3 in general is a superior choice, because it is a journalled filesystem and so does not require a long 'fsck' (file system check) after an unclean shutdown. However, if used on a flash device that does not support wear-leveling then ext3 may cause premature wear on the blocks of the card where the journal is stored. SD cards are supposed to support wear leveling, but this can not be guaranteed for all vendors.
+Opinion is divided on whether it is better to use ext2 or ext3 for the root filesystem. Ext3 in general is a superior choice, because it is a journalled filesystem and so does not require a long 'fsck' (file system check) after an unclean shutdown. However, if used on a flash device that does not support wear-leveling then ext3 may cause premature wear on the blocks of the card where the journal is stored. SD cards might to support wear leveling (check before you buy!), but this can not be guaranteed for all vendors.
 ====NILFS====

@@ Line 143: / Line 143: @@
     Syncing disks.
-''How about a swap partition? (t 82)''
+''How about a swap partition? (t 82)'' (also see [[SwapSpace]])
 ''How about an extra home partition?''

@@ Line 153: / Line 153: @@
 Just issue the following command to create at FAT filesystem:
   mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1
@@ Line 159: / Line 160: @@
 The second partition is about to be formatted with ext3 (for ext2 to work you need to make sure you compiled the kernel with the correct configuration):
+ umount  /dev/mmcblk0p2
   mkfs.ext3 /dev/mmcblk0p2

@@ Line 149: / Line 149: @@
 === Formatting the SD card ===
-Just issue the following command to create at FAT filesystem:
+  # SHR; dosfstools supply mkfs.vfat:
-−
   # SHR:
   opkg install dosfstools
   mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1
 {{Note|if you do not have mkfs.vfat you must find and install the "dosfstools" package. This package does not seem to be in the official feeds, but an unofficial build may be downloaded from http://members.shaw.ca/mmontour/neo/dosfstools_2.11-r0_armv4t.ipk<br>Image unstable 25. July Om2009 has it preinstalled.}}