Author Topic: Where Is The Kernel Stored?  (Read 3114 times)

Meanie

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« on: September 19, 2006, 09:55:19 am »
on most linux systems, the kernel is in a file called zimage or bzimage which gets loaded by the boot loader. where is the kernel located on the Zaurus?
SL-C3000 - pdaXii13 build5.4.9 (based on pdaXrom beta3) / SL-C3100 - Sharp ROM 1.02 JP (heavily customised)
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(Zaurus SL-C3000 owner since March 14. 2005, Zaurus SL-C3100 owner since September 21. 2005)
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Hrw

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2006, 10:20:47 am »
It is stored in one of flash partitions - no filesystem, just pure data.
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Meanie

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2006, 02:04:16 am »
Quote
It is stored in one of flash partitions - no filesystem, just pure data.
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thanks HRW, that's what I suspected. Is the OZ kernel on C3000 also stored on flash or on the microdrive? I think pdaXrom places it into /dev/mtdblock4. Where does OZ put it? /dev/mtdblock3? since there is no /dev/mtdblock4 on my C3000 using OZ.
SL-C3000 - pdaXii13 build5.4.9 (based on pdaXrom beta3) / SL-C3100 - Sharp ROM 1.02 JP (heavily customised)
Netgear MA701 CF, SanDisk ConnectPlus CF, Socket Bluetooth CF, 4GB Kingston CF,  4GB pqi SD, 4GB ChoiceOnly SD, 2GB SanDisk SD USB Plus, 1GB SanDisk USB Plus, 1GB Transcend SD, 2GB SanDisk MicroSD with SD adaptor, Piel Frama Leather Case, GoldX 5-in-1 USB cable, USB hub, USB mouse, USB keyboard, USB ethernet, USB HDD, many other USB accessories...
(Zaurus SL-C3000 owner since March 14. 2005, Zaurus SL-C3100 owner since September 21. 2005)
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wyso/myZaurus - zBook3K

Da_Blitz

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2006, 03:28:33 am »
microdrive with the kernel in the /boot dir

there is however a kernel in flash, what happens is that it boots from flash into an intrd, mounts the MD and then kexecs the kernel

i amy be wrong but thats what it seems to do from all my tinkering
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Hrw

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2006, 05:54:24 am »
Sharp bootloader load kernel from flash (same partition in all PXA models iirc). We cannot change it in easy way.

One way to change it is using kexec to boot other kernel so we would get:
1. sharp bootloader boot kernel from flash
2. our system starts
3. our system use kexec to boot other kernel (taken from filesystem)
4. our kernel boots
5. our system starts again, checks that correct kernel is used
6. system boot into selected environment.

Other way is replacing 2nd stage of bootloader with u-boot (like pdaX beta4 did) - this allow us to keep kernel on jffs2 partition so we can update it from working system without problems. But users have problems with installing u-boot and thats stopped me from using u-boot in OZ.
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DaemonsGR

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2006, 06:12:03 pm »
Hrw, plz give a try on uboot! Itll be better if we can boot oz,pdax and openbsd(If the dev hack it) easily!(and pass kernel parameters easier)

Thnx
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Da_Blitz

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2006, 08:45:24 am »
is uboot the evolution of LAB (linux as a bootloader) from handhelds.org?

and is uboot a bootloader like grub/lilo or a linux image dedicated to bootloading other OS's?
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Hrw

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2006, 09:53:18 am »
Da_Blitz: http://u-boot.sourceforge.net/

DaemonGR: I saw too many users failed to install it so I will not go into it.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2006, 09:54:04 am by Hrw »
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Meanie

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Where Is The Kernel Stored?
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2006, 12:11:14 am »
Quote
Sharp bootloader load kernel from flash (same partition in all PXA models iirc). We cannot change it in easy way.

One way to change it is using kexec to boot other kernel so we would get:
1. sharp bootloader boot kernel from flash
2. our system starts
3. our system use kexec to boot other kernel (taken from filesystem)
4. our kernel boots
5. our system starts again, checks that correct kernel is used
6. system boot into selected environment.

Other way is replacing 2nd stage of bootloader with u-boot (like pdaX beta4 did) - this allow us to keep kernel on jffs2 partition so we can update it from working system without problems. But users have problems with installing u-boot and thats stopped me from using u-boot in OZ.
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thanks! this is great info. i checked under /boot but it was empty. then I realized that I was using the hentges loop image using altboot so I mounted /dev/hda1 to check /boot there and found a symbolic link zImage which points to zImage -2.6.16

I will try and see if I can boot and run pdaXrom and OpenBSD from altboot  If successful, I will flash OZ/boostrap and have multiple distros wrapped in loop images on the microdrive and/or sd/cf card.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2006, 12:15:57 am by Meanie »
SL-C3000 - pdaXii13 build5.4.9 (based on pdaXrom beta3) / SL-C3100 - Sharp ROM 1.02 JP (heavily customised)
Netgear MA701 CF, SanDisk ConnectPlus CF, Socket Bluetooth CF, 4GB Kingston CF,  4GB pqi SD, 4GB ChoiceOnly SD, 2GB SanDisk SD USB Plus, 1GB SanDisk USB Plus, 1GB Transcend SD, 2GB SanDisk MicroSD with SD adaptor, Piel Frama Leather Case, GoldX 5-in-1 USB cable, USB hub, USB mouse, USB keyboard, USB ethernet, USB HDD, many other USB accessories...
(Zaurus SL-C3000 owner since March 14. 2005, Zaurus SL-C3100 owner since September 21. 2005)
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wyso/myZaurus - zBook3K