Qi

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(Bugs)
(==Enabling console messages==)
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Qi is a boot manager. It is designed to replace [[Uboot|uBoot]]. But Qi will be simpler and faster.
 
Qi is a boot manager. It is designed to replace [[Uboot|uBoot]]. But Qi will be simpler and faster.
  
 +
==Concept==
 
Qi's concept is it leaves everything possible to Linux, that includes even the video init. Therefore Qi does NOT provide a boot menu. The usual NOR uBoot menu you use to flash your Neo (Aux first, power second, wait for menu) of course works fine, but if you try the usual procedure to fire up NAND uBoot (Power first, aux second, wait for menu) you get no response.  (not even the 'backlighted black screen')
 
Qi's concept is it leaves everything possible to Linux, that includes even the video init. Therefore Qi does NOT provide a boot menu. The usual NOR uBoot menu you use to flash your Neo (Aux first, power second, wait for menu) of course works fine, but if you try the usual procedure to fire up NAND uBoot (Power first, aux second, wait for menu) you get no response.  (not even the 'backlighted black screen')
  
 +
==Partitions==
 
Qi will boot from any kernel named uImage-GTA0[123...].bin in the /boot folder in the root of an ext2 or ext3
 
Qi will boot from any kernel named uImage-GTA0[123...].bin in the /boot folder in the root of an ext2 or ext3
 
partition on the uSD card. (Note: Qi expects the / (root) filesystem to be on the same partition as /boot!) It
 
partition on the uSD card. (Note: Qi expects the / (root) filesystem to be on the same partition as /boot!) It
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== Download and installation ==
 
== Download and installation ==
 
 
The daily download is a ''qi-s3cXXXX-andy_somenumber.udfu'' file at http://people.openmoko.org/andy/ .
 
The daily download is a ''qi-s3cXXXX-andy_somenumber.udfu'' file at http://people.openmoko.org/andy/ .
 
(look at your dmesg output for the CPU to pick the right s3c* version.)
 
(look at your dmesg output for the CPU to pick the right s3c* version.)
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  # dfu-util -a u-boot -R -D qi-s3c6410-andy_8589b40295653557.udfu
 
  # dfu-util -a u-boot -R -D qi-s3c6410-andy_8589b40295653557.udfu
  
One could [http://git.openmoko.org/?p=qi.git;a=summary poke around the source code] but it may be less
+
===Source code===
confusing to just use strings(1) on the .udfu file to get an idea of where Qi currently looks for files.
+
git://git.openmoko.org/git/qi.git , http://git.openmoko.org/?p=qi.git;a=summary .
 +
One can also just use strings(1) on the .udfu file to get an idea of where Qi currently looks for files.
 +
 
 +
==Enabling console messages==
 +
[http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/openmoko-kernel/2008-November/006812.html]
 +
If it's SD Card boot, just create a text file, e.g., for a [[GTA02]] use
 +
/boot/append-GTA02
 +
on the rootfs in question, put in there
 +
console=tty0 loglevel=8
 +
and you'll see the messages on boot.  If it's NAND right now you need to edit the default commandline in Qi for gta02.
  
 
== Testing speed improvements ==
 
== Testing speed improvements ==

Revision as of 06:29, 28 November 2008

Qi is a boot manager. It is designed to replace uBoot. But Qi will be simpler and faster.

Contents

Concept

Qi's concept is it leaves everything possible to Linux, that includes even the video init. Therefore Qi does NOT provide a boot menu. The usual NOR uBoot menu you use to flash your Neo (Aux first, power second, wait for menu) of course works fine, but if you try the usual procedure to fire up NAND uBoot (Power first, aux second, wait for menu) you get no response. (not even the 'backlighted black screen')

Partitions

Qi will boot from any kernel named uImage-GTA0[123...].bin in the /boot folder in the root of an ext2 or ext3 partition on the uSD card. (Note: Qi expects the / (root) filesystem to be on the same partition as /boot!) It tries the it will try first, second and then third partitions. Failing to find that, it will boot from the kernel in NAND (if the kernel works of course, see below). Failing to find that, it will blink the blue Power LED a fraction of a second every 10 secs or so to say nothing valid to boot.

Download and installation

The daily download is a qi-s3cXXXX-andy_somenumber.udfu file at http://people.openmoko.org/andy/ . (look at your dmesg output for the CPU to pick the right s3c* version.)

The installation should be flashing like;

# dfu-util -a u-boot -R -D qi-s3c6410-andy_8589b40295653557.udfu

Source code

git://git.openmoko.org/git/qi.git , http://git.openmoko.org/?p=qi.git;a=summary . One can also just use strings(1) on the .udfu file to get an idea of where Qi currently looks for files.

Enabling console messages

[1] If it's SD Card boot, just create a text file, e.g., for a GTA02 use

/boot/append-GTA02

on the rootfs in question, put in there

console=tty0 loglevel=8

and you'll see the messages on boot. If it's NAND right now you need to edit the default commandline in Qi for gta02.

Testing speed improvements

Stopwatch results on Qi (error is approx ±1/2 second):

Booting SHR image with uBoot:

  • 0:00 power button held down
  • 0:07 splash screen appears
  • 0:15 drops to console showing kernel messages scrolling by for ~1 minute
  • 1:18 Openmoko 'please wait' splash
  • 1:31 desktop animated splash
  • 2:38 finished booting

Booting identical setup with Qi flashed over uBoot:

  • 0:00 power button held down
  • 0:06 backlit black
  • 0:13 please wait booting... (only this text on console for next 38 seconds)
  • 0:51 Angstrom console message (at the end of kernel output with uBoot, but ONLY text display to appear throughout this stage with Qi)
  • 0:54 Openmoko 'please wait' splash
  • 1:05 desktop animated splash
  • 1:54 finished booting

So for this particular configuration, it reduced time-to-desktop by about 28%, about 44 seconds. Surprisingly, the later segments of booting (desktop) were also noticeably faster than with uBoot - One would have expected just the fist stages up until init (kernel finished establishing itself) to be faster.

Bugs

  • Qi won't boot the 'first try' after power restored - the tester didn't count that first 10 seconds for Qi to be fair to its booting speed, not penalize it for what appears to be a bug that bears no relation to actual boot speed).
  • The current (Oct. 12, 2008) 2.6.27 kernel does not boot from the build-in flash NAND. It only works from the uSD boot on ext3. If one tries to boot it from the flash, then AUX red LED blinks ~4/sec. This means kernel panic... It's panicking because it has no rootfs because it can't mount the jffs2 because of the CRC errors because there is a bug that the mtd are not done properly.
  • Qi often doesn't want to resume after suspend.

LED codes summary

  • One Blue shine every ~10 second: did not found any valid kernel to boot
  • About four RED shines per second: kernel panic.
Personal tools

Qi is a boot manager. It is designed to replace uBoot. But Qi will be simpler and faster.

Concept

Qi's concept is it leaves everything possible to Linux, that includes even the video init. Therefore Qi does NOT provide a boot menu. The usual NOR uBoot menu you use to flash your Neo (Aux first, power second, wait for menu) of course works fine, but if you try the usual procedure to fire up NAND uBoot (Power first, aux second, wait for menu) you get no response. (not even the 'backlighted black screen')

Partitions

Qi will boot from any kernel named uImage-GTA0[123...].bin in the /boot folder in the root of an ext2 or ext3 partition on the uSD card. (Note: Qi expects the / (root) filesystem to be on the same partition as /boot!) It tries the it will try first, second and then third partitions. Failing to find that, it will boot from the kernel in NAND (if the kernel works of course, see below). Failing to find that, it will blink the blue Power LED a fraction of a second every 10 secs or so to say nothing valid to boot.

Download and installation

The daily download is a qi-s3cXXXX-andy_somenumber.udfu file at http://people.openmoko.org/andy/ . (look at your dmesg output for the CPU to pick the right s3c* version.)

The installation should be flashing like;

# dfu-util -a u-boot -R -D qi-s3c6410-andy_8589b40295653557.udfu

Source code

git://git.openmoko.org/git/qi.git , http://git.openmoko.org/?p=qi.git;a=summary . One can also just use strings(1) on the .udfu file to get an idea of where Qi currently looks for files.

Enabling console messages

[1] If it's SD Card boot, just create a text file, e.g., for a GTA02 use

/boot/append-GTA02

on the rootfs in question, put in there

console=tty0 loglevel=8

and you'll see the messages on boot. If it's NAND right now you need to edit the default commandline in Qi for gta02.

Testing speed improvements

Stopwatch results on Qi (error is approx ±1/2 second):

Booting SHR image with uBoot:

  • 0:00 power button held down
  • 0:07 splash screen appears
  • 0:15 drops to console showing kernel messages scrolling by for ~1 minute
  • 1:18 Openmoko 'please wait' splash
  • 1:31 desktop animated splash
  • 2:38 finished booting

Booting identical setup with Qi flashed over uBoot:

  • 0:00 power button held down
  • 0:06 backlit black
  • 0:13 please wait booting... (only this text on console for next 38 seconds)
  • 0:51 Angstrom console message (at the end of kernel output with uBoot, but ONLY text display to appear throughout this stage with Qi)
  • 0:54 Openmoko 'please wait' splash
  • 1:05 desktop animated splash
  • 1:54 finished booting

So for this particular configuration, it reduced time-to-desktop by about 28%, about 44 seconds. Surprisingly, the later segments of booting (desktop) were also noticeably faster than with uBoot - One would have expected just the fist stages up until init (kernel finished establishing itself) to be faster.

Bugs

  • Qi won't boot the 'first try' after power restored - the tester didn't count that first 10 seconds for Qi to be fair to its booting speed, not penalize it for what appears to be a bug that bears no relation to actual boot speed).
  • The current (Oct. 12, 2008) 2.6.27 kernel does not boot from the build-in flash NAND. It only works from the uSD boot on ext3. If one tries to boot it from the flash, then AUX red LED blinks ~4/sec. This means kernel panic... It's panicking because it has no rootfs because it can't mount the jffs2 because of the CRC errors because there is a bug that the mtd are not done properly.
  • Qi often doesn't want to resume after suspend.

LED codes summary

  • One Blue shine every ~10 second: did not found any valid kernel to boot
  • About four RED shines per second: kernel panic.