The alternative Debian install method.

[meldini@ngi.it]

Hi, this is my first message.
i don't understand this passage:
"At the end of the build process (which should only take about 10 minutes), you will be left with a rootfs.tar.gz that can be used to overwrite the one in the sheeva installer 1.0 download."
I have downloaded a prebuilt rootfs.tar.gz
I have downloaded sheevaplug-installer-v1.0.tar.gz
and now?
Sorry for my english 

You don't need to use the "build process", this is if you want to use the script to build your OWN rootfs.tar.gz  You have opted to download a pre-built one.

You need to untar the sheevaplug-installer-v1.0.tar.gz, replace the Ubuntu rootfs.tar.gz with the debian one you have download.  Then follow the instructions for SheevaInstaller.

ok, thanks, tomorrow i'll try!!

[fnordianslip]

Thanks for this. I  had been running Ubuntu 9.04 on my plug for a while, but now have Squeeze with a 2.6.34 kernel 

[truehl]

Hi Mark,
do you still support your script? I've just tried and it won't work because of a wrong URL while bootstrapping.

Greetings,
Thomas

[mgillespie]

Yes, I still support it.

Just tried both Lenny (stable) and Squeeze (cutting edge) and they both compile fine on my Sheevaplug.   What errors are you seeing exactly?

[zwh114]

hi,

i'd like to install the prebuilt image on my new SheevaPlug. If i understand this correctly, i need to follow the instructions for the Installer found here http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/SheevaPlug_Installer , right?
But this page has a warning that states that owners of a 2010 SheevaPlug (like me) will brick their plugs using the installer, so they need to follow the instructions found here: http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=3680.0 . But that page is a howto to repair a bricked plug and reinstall ubuntu...
Can someone please enlighten me what howto i need to be using? I'm a total newbie to SheevaPlug (switching from NSLU2) and my plug does not need to be unbricked, i'd just like a fairly simple way to get started with Debian.

Thanks a lot!

[spinifex]

If someone has not mentioned it already, the following would be a nice addtion

Code:

echo LANG=C > etc/default/locale

[radael]

Hi zwh114,

First thing -- unlike the Slug, the SheevaPlug is almost impossible to permanently brick.  It is just a matter of how much effort it will take to unbrick it.  As long as the bootloader is still intact, all the kernel stuff is relatively easy.  You will probably find you will need to get to know the guts of the Plug much more closely than the Slug.  Often, you may need to modify a list of instructions to fit your needs.

If you look through the wiki and these forum pages (for about 3 to 4 days), you will find about 3 to 4 different ways to upgrade the kernel.  They might all work fine for you, or you might try two or three that will fail before you finally find the one that works.  Patience and determination are needed.

With that said, before you even touch the kernel, I would recommend you first upgrade U-Boot.  The following page worked well and easily for me:

http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/uboot-upgrade.html

However, I would make one changes to the USB method:

   usb start
   fatload usb 0:1 0x0800000 uboot.bin
   nand erase 0x0 0xa0000
   nand write.e 0x0800000 0x0 0xa0000


Using write.e deals with any error blocks encountered.

About the SheevaPlug_Installer page -- some of the comments about the "latest" SheevaPlugs were in error:

• Some of the Plugs shipped in the U.S. (maybe elsewhere) in December 2010 (and after?) use the older 1.2 GHz cpu with the new power supplies.  (Still replaced my with an external.)
• Those same Plugs are using the older VID/PID.
• The comment about the partition sizes is an error.  In U-Boot, do the command printenv.  If you have something like mtdparts=. . .0x400000@0x100000(uImage). . . , then you have no problem with those sizes.

In fact, it seems like small errors exist in most of the pages and documentation you might find (that happens when the hardware keeps changing).  Another reason to try to understand what the instructions are trying to do before marching into them blindly.

The other page you listed:  http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=3680.0   does, in fact, install the 2.6.36 kernel, and modules.  However, it does not change the file system (will leave Ubuntu).

You may save yourself some time if you first decide which distribution you want to use, and where you want your root file system.

I found these two pages to be helpful when deciding how to add a new kernel:

http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/Install_Prebuilt_Kernels_From_sheeva.with-linux.com

http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/Installing_Debian_To_Flash

[mgillespie]

Some of these Debian install methods seem massively convoluted.   I don't consider myself a hardcore Linux guy, but I found the self-build method I used for this method trivial and it flashed using ESIA.   Why complicate things?   I have a uber-stable squeeze install of Debian that uses Sheeva-With-Linux mainstream kernels, and i'm guessing that's what 99% of people want to be running.

[mgillespie]

Just updating my script, retired Lenny, promoted Squeeze to stable, and introduced Wheezy...

Script is online, testing the prebuilt packages now, will upload them when done.

[peter a]

ahead of you on that one !!!!!!

http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=5082.0

[mgillespie]

• Script now online
• Updated Squeeze rootfs (dated yesterday), tested.  Included a PackageList.txt
• Uploading Wheezy rootfs (dated today), untested.  Included a PackageList.txt

Enjoy.   If anyone is brave enough to try out the wheezy rootfs, please post here if it's working for you.  I have uber-stable Squeeze setup and I don't want to disturb that right now, but as squeeze packages become outdated I will switch to wheezy at some point.

If you want to see the package differences between Squeeze and Wheezy, I have attached a HTML report with the differences.

[peter a]

I`ve had my play with Wheezy and only problems have been that some packages don`t run on start up like they should.
I had to play around with Webmin a little to get it to work right.

[davall]

Thanks for updating this script mgillespie.

I'm using your script on an ubuntu i386 for both debootstrap stages.
You only have to ensure that <apt-get install qemu-arm-static> and <apt-get install binfmt-support> is performed.
You have to add a "cp /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static ./debian/usr/bin" right before stage 2.
Now you can build the whole rootfs.tar.gz faster on your ubuntu i386 machine.

Hope this helps others too.

[spinifex]

One small correction for bash, quoting the manual

<<[-]word
        here-document
delimiter

...  If word is unquoted, all lines of the here-document are subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion. ...

Hence

Code:

cat > ./debian/etc/inittab << EOF

becomes

Code:

cat > ./debian/etc/inittab << 'EOF'

To see this at work try with bash -u before and after the above change.  Bash tries to expand the $id.

[littlebigman]

Hello

Just a couple of questions before I try this solution to upgrade my SheevaPlug from Ubuntu 9.04 to Debian 6.0.6 Squeeze:

1. I assume the SheevaPlug 003-SP1001 (bought from New IT) only has internal memory, no SD card. Should I buy one to upgrade to Debian?

2. I'm not sure how this alternative method works: Is there a script I should first on an Ubuntu or Debian PC which will generate a root filesystem, copy that filesystem on the SheevaPlug, and run a second script that will take care of upgrading everything?

Thank you.