Running Zubuntu From Internal Memory

[cortez]

Hi,

I've posted how-to instructions on my blog. Following these instructions makes it possible to run Zubuntu from internal flash memory. This should work for all currently supported models.

Most part of Zubuntu is squashed into the small amount of internal memory, except for the /usr and /var directories. Unfortunately these have to be located on a different place, being a CF, SD, or MD.

Cheers,
cortez

[ppyo]

Hi,

I've posted how-to instructions on my blog. Following these instructions makes it possible to run Zubuntu from internal flash memory. This should work for all currently supported models.

Most part of Zubuntu is squashed into the small amount of internal memory, except for the /usr and /var directories. Unfortunately these have to be located on a different place, being a CF, SD, or MD.

Cheers,
cortez

Hi Cortez
Once again, congrats on your achievement, very cool!
Now the question: How about keeping Cacko in the internal flash and Zubuntu in SD? This due to Cack being a lot smaller than Zubuntu. How can I do this?
Thanks in advance!

[Capn_Fish]

Easy*:

-Get Cacko kernel, put it in Cacko's /boot (if it doesn't exist, make it, call it zImage)
-Untar the Zubuntu stuff to SD
-Look at the Zubuntu files in /boot (minus the kernel)
-Copy them to Cacko's /boot and adapt as necessary
-Flash the Kexec/altboot/whatever it is kernel
-Reboot and enjoy

*These steps have not been tested by me, and are from my understanding, based off of other posts.

[jfv]

Easy*:

-Get Cacko kernel, put it in Cacko's /boot (if it doesn't exist, make it, call it zImage)
-Untar the Zubuntu stuff to SD
-Look at the Zubuntu files in /boot (minus the kernel)
-Copy them to Cacko's /boot and adapt as necessary
-Flash the Kexec/altboot/whatever it is kernel
-Reboot and enjoy

*These steps have not been tested by me, and are from my understanding, based off of other posts.

That can't possibly work. The GUI, programs, etc. that make Cacko what it is do not reside in the kernel. What is needed is to make a mirror of /bin, /lib, /usr, /home, /etc, etc :-) and copy to the SD. I've tried to do that with the Sharp ROM but it didn't work and I'm not sure why.

I'd love to hear of anybody who managed to get Cacko or Sharp alongside Zubuntu in the multiboot setup with detailed instructions. Thanks.

EDIT: Maybe I misunderstood your instructions. Do you mean that the Cacko ROM (except the kernel) will be left untouched by the reflash?
So if I start with a Cacko/Sharp ROM in my internal flash it will still be there? Maybe I'll try that. Thanks.

EDIT 2: /boot on Sharp ROM is readonly. I vaguely recall there is a way to get around this. Any suggestions?

EDIT 3: Figured out how to do the remount ( mount -o remount,rw / ), now the Sharp ROM shows up as internal flash option in the omegamoon boot menu but I have the same problem with "init" as in this post.

[cortez]

Hi Cortez
Once again, congrats on your achievement, very cool!
Now the question: How about keeping Cacko in the internal flash and Zubuntu in SD? This due to Cack being a lot smaller than Zubuntu. How can I do this?
Thanks in advance!

This is kind of off-topic... running Cacko from internal memory should work. The only important thing would be to adjust the kernel-cmdline by adding the correct mtdpart parameters. That's all. By doing that Cacko should boot normally. Running it from a memory card would mean a lot more tweaking though

[pelrun]

That would be because the kernel cmdline being passed to the cacko kernel has a wrong/missing mtdparts option - you have to explicitly and correctly describe your nand partition layout.

[jfv]

Hi Cortez
Once again, congrats on your achievement, very cool!
Now the question: How about keeping Cacko in the internal flash and Zubuntu in SD? This due to Cack being a lot smaller than Zubuntu. How can I do this?
Thanks in advance!

This is kind of off-topic... running Cacko from internal memory should work. The only important thing would be to adjust the kernel-cmdline by adding the correct mtdpart parameters. That's all. By doing that Cacko should boot normally. Running it from a memory card would mean a lot more tweaking though

And what would these correct mtdpart parameters be?

[tanjian2]

Hi,
I installed zubuntu - it was so easy. I see from your sig that you have pdaXii13 on the microdrive - is it possible to dual boot this on a C3000? Can you point me at what might need changed to make it happen?
What exactly does updater.sh and zImage.bin replace on the C3000? Is it the boot loader? How does the new one detect what distros/devices are bootable?

Thanks for all the work on zubuntu.

[Capn_Fish]

Look at my (apparently incorrect for Cacko) Cacko instructions above. It gives a good idea of how to add distros to the boot list.

[jfv]

Look at my (apparently incorrect for Cacko) Cacko instructions above. It gives a good idea of how to add distros to the boot list.

So I've located the mntpart info in /proc/cmdline in the Sharp ROM, I copied that to /boot/kernel-cmdline, followed the flashing procedure again and still get the same init error.

[ofels]

What exactly does updater.sh and zImage.bin replace on the C3000? Is it the boot loader? How does the new one detect what distros/devices are bootable?

updater.sh is the script which normally flashes kernel and root image into NAND memory.

The zImage.bin provided by cortez is a special kernel image which pretends to be a kernel but instead shows the boot screen with all partitions found which either have a kernel-cmd-line file or a *.nfo file in the /boot directory.
After the user selected a partition it loads the kernel file from the /boot directory (usually labelled zImage) and boots the corresponding distribution as usual.

The only difference to the normal boot process is the kernel location (/boot/zImage instead of a NAND image).

Oliver

[tanjian2]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.
I guess I should have read Cortez's blog more closely as he also explains how it all works. Also searched this forum - thanks for bearing with me.
I have created the /boot directory and added the nfo file and zImage.
Not sure yet where to find the command line for pdaxrom.... but booting fails
Why do I need to pass the NAND partition into the kernel - given pdaXrom for the C3000 actually runs of the microdrive - is it sufficient to put the correct kernel in /boot and then set root=/dev/hda1 for the commandline (no it fails too)? The kernel boots but I can not work out what it is looking for and not finding.....
Any more help would be appreciated.

[speculatrix]

cacko's root would be an mtdblock device, not hdaX. I'm hoping to get this working too, so if someone can post the exact text for the cacko /boot nfo file, it'd be great (assuming that you previously had cacko installed, then installed zubuntu to hard drive, and flashed the multiboot kernel)

[scottlfa]

How much faster is it running from flash?  Booting etc?

[ppyo]

cacko's root would be an mtdblock device, not hdaX. I'm hoping to get this working too, so if someone can post the exact text for the cacko /boot nfo file, it'd be great (assuming that you previously had cacko installed, then installed zubuntu to hard drive, and flashed the multiboot kernel)

This is what I found in /proc for the kernel-cmdline file:

[div class=\'codetop\']CODE[/div][div class=\'codemain\' style=\'height:200px;white-space:pre;overflow:auto\']console=ttyS0 root=/dev/mtdblock2 mtdparts=sharpsl-nand:7168k@0k(smf),32768k@7168k(root),-(home) jffs2_orphaned_inodes=delete EQUIPMENT=0 LOGOLANG=1 DEFYEAR=2006 LOGO=1 LAUNCH=q[/div]

I am still tinkering with it, but so far I get as far as the blue splash screen that reads Loading Linnux and QTopia. I think I need to do it with a fresh Cacko installation.

BTW Zubuntu works great! Many, many thanks again, Cortez!