The alternative Debian install method.

[knireis]

If you want to download a pre-compiled Debian Squeeze rootfs.tar.gz then I have uploaded a freshly compiled one here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?nwzlyvmjzlf

Thanks again, this one works.
Now on to the next issue, how to make it multiboot. I read the wiki and understand the principle of making it multiboot. To boot it from the SD-card i use this set of commands,

Code:

setenv bootargs_console console=ttyS0,115200
setenv bootcmd_mmc 'mmcinit; ext2load mmc 0 0x0800000 /uInitrd; ext2load mmc 0 0x400000 /uImage'
setenv bootcmd 'setenv bootargs $(bootargs_console); run bootcmd_mmc; bootm 0x400000 0x0800000'

But which commands should i give to start from nand?

[alexschomb]

I created my own rootfs.tar.gz running your script on my sheevaplug. after installation i figured out having the same problem being unable to login as root. the password nosoup4u is not accepted... there has to be a failure in your script. i try using now your file from mediafire but i'd prefer having a script that does work for me too, so i can build working rootfs.tar.gz in future

thanks for your work!

[mgillespie]

It was mentioned it could be down to the system, or shell thats being run on the build system. Without knowing too much about your build environment, it's hard to tell.

I use BASH, and that script works 100% correctly (both on the standard Ubuntu 9,.04 that the plug comes with, and Debian Squeeze)...   If that part of the script fails, it's likely others may be too

[alexschomb]

Thanks for your quick reply. I have to confess that I ran the script with the command "sh SCRIPT" (interpreting as dash in Ubuntu) instead of "bash SCRIPT". learned something new, thank you again!
i rebuild the rootfs.tar.gz and flashed again, now it works with "nosoup4u" password!

[mgillespie]

Done some fixes to the script to identify the dash problem and inform the user if they launch the script incorrectly, and a few other tweaks (include ssh server for example).

Just done a build from it, and all seems fine, any problems with the update script, please post.   I'll also upload the rebuild rootfs.tar.gz  (as it will have newer packages than the older one).

[marcus]

Just seen your post about rebuilding the rootfs.tar.gz. Despite which, I am here to report a success using the downloaded rootfs.tar.gz and the installer 1.0 (ie I didn't test the script, but the procedure certainly works on my hardware).

[mgillespie]

The updated prebuilt of Squeeze it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?tiifeiwnyle

[marcus]

I downloaded the prebuilt squeeze rootfs and used the installer (to install to SD card): worked fine.

I then modified DebianSheeva1-03.sh to refer to lenny instead of squeeze and executed the script on my SD-booting squeeze plug. The rootfs was fine except for /dev/ttyS0, which wasn't created (and I didn't notice until I tried to log in). Double-checked the script, yes, the chroot ./debian/ mknod -m 660 /dev/ttyS0 c 4 64 line is there. Manually executed chroot ./debian/ mknod -m 660 /dev/ttyS0 c 4 64 and tar czf ../rootfs.tar.gz * and this time it worked fine.

Tried a second time, by renaming the original debian directory and this time I noticed mknod: `/dev/ttyS0': File exists (and I double checked, it did seem to exist). Tested the new rootfs usiung the installer; same result (can't login using serial):

Code:

INIT: Id "T0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel

ssh'ed in and mknod -m 660 /dev/ttyS0 c 4 64; now I can log in via serial port.

Third attempt. Go back to previous filesystem; manually executed

Code:

chroot ./debian/ mknod -m 660 /dev/ttyS0 c 4 64
cd ./debian
tar czf ../rootfs.tar.gz *

Re-run installer, serial login fine now.

Does that make sense? Line 152 in the script chroot ./debian/ mknod -m 660 /dev/ttyS0 c 4 64 isn't behaving the way we want it to ... for me, at least.

[mgillespie]

Fixed for the mknod serial console (script 1.4 attached to the first post in this thread).  Also some other tweaks (see readme for details).

[dawsonit]

Tried doing this with Lenny, and encountered the same error with the serial console reported above, so it doesn't seem to be fixed if you want to use lenny instead of sqeeze.

[dawsonit]

Another optimization you could make is to remove all the .deb files from /var/cache/apt/archives/. There were almost 70MB of .deb's in there.

[mgillespie]

Tried doing this with Lenny, and encountered the same error with the serial console reported above, so it doesn't seem to be fixed if you want to use lenny instead of sqeeze.

Can't seem to reproduce this.  I'm not getting errors on either build.   Just to confirm, you were building on a filesystem that allowed device creation (dev) and exxecution (exec)?

Thanks for the tip about the apt cache, that's taken 40MB out the download size (both about 60MB -70MB).   I'll upload a prebuild lenny and squeeze..

[mgillespie]

Another optimization you could make is to remove all the .deb files from /var/cache/apt/archives/. There were almost 70MB of .deb's in there.

Thank for pointing that out.   Updated script and images are uploaded here: 

http://www.mediafire.com/sheeva-with-debian

[hungarianhc]

Thanks so much for posting these! However, after playing with them for the past 24 hours (using your prebuilt rootfs), I'm bumping into two errors...

The install works flawlessly, but with Lenny, on boot, i always  hangs when starting crond:

Code:

Starting periodic command scheduler: crond.

As for Squeeze, that works... however, I get an odd issue where it doesn't seem to try and mount anything in /etc/fstab upon boot. I wrote about it here. Once again, I appreciate the work you do to make everyone's lives easier.

[mgillespie]

There is a issue with the speed that the system boots from nand (too fast), and the system is up and ready before your HDD has spun up.

I have this issue, and used the wait4usbdisks tip which works perfectly.

http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=485.msg2858#msg2858

I don't think it's distro specific, it seems to affect all Linux distros, including the stock Ubuntu one.  I am tempted to include it in the build process.

As for the Lenny problem, sorry, I don't know, I only have the one plug, running Squeeze, and can't test the Lenny ones.  I have to rely on the fact it's Debian Stable, that it works...