Talk:Booting the Neo FreeRunner from SD via U-Boot

From Openmoko

(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(Neede a different partition layout)
 
m (Talk:Booting from SD moved to Talk:Booting the Neo FreeRunner from SD via U-Boot: clarifying what this page is about)
 
(12 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
= Needed a different partition layout for my SD card =
+
== Updating U-Boot ==
I needed a SD (Not HDMC) card and needed the following layout:
+
Can you link to instructions on updating the u-boot. I think this is it [[Flashing_the_Neo_FreeRunner#Flashing_the_boot_loader_to_the_NAND|here]].
* Partition 1 is a primary partition with a FAT filesystem containing the uImage
+
* Partiton 2 is a Ext3 Filesystem containing the root filesystem. Since the uImage from this partition is never used - it is not really important keeping it up-to-date.
+
  
My hardware setup is:
+
== sync after umount? ==
* Latest uBoot (July 12, 2008)
+
Using a sync after the umount is completely redundant right? After umount there is no block part in the kernel doing any caching, so there is nothing to actually sync anymore. So I think the sync should be removed.
* Freerunner (GTA02V5)
+
[[User:Bram|Bram]]
 +
 
 +
== Benefits ==
 +
What are the benefits of booting from SD? Does it improve the performance in terms of speed and/or non-SD RAM/ROM memory usage of the device? [[User:Pander|Pander]] 11:05, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 +
 
 +
== Take care with inode size when formatting ext2 partitions ==
 +
 
 +
I noticed uboot was having difficulty reading the cards I had formatted using my linux box.  Google to the rescue, I found the following discussion:
 +
[http://www.nabble.com/Problems-with-ext2ls---SD-ts22728281.html#a22756563 Uboot Discussion]
 +
 
 +
So apparently uboot is currently only reading ext2 partitions with an inode size of 128.  Recent default is 256.  I wonder if the mkfs with our distros defaults to 128?
 +
 
 +
Workaround:  mke2fs -I 128 /dev/sd*
 +
 
 +
Hopefully uboot will be updated to allow default inodes to be recognized.
 +
 
 +
--[[User:Undrwater|Undrwater]] 06:11, 14 August 2009 (UTC)Russell Dwiggins

Latest revision as of 10:29, 31 March 2010

Contents

[edit] Updating U-Boot

Can you link to instructions on updating the u-boot. I think this is it here.

[edit] sync after umount?

Using a sync after the umount is completely redundant right? After umount there is no block part in the kernel doing any caching, so there is nothing to actually sync anymore. So I think the sync should be removed. Bram

[edit] Benefits

What are the benefits of booting from SD? Does it improve the performance in terms of speed and/or non-SD RAM/ROM memory usage of the device? Pander 11:05, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Take care with inode size when formatting ext2 partitions

I noticed uboot was having difficulty reading the cards I had formatted using my linux box. Google to the rescue, I found the following discussion: Uboot Discussion

So apparently uboot is currently only reading ext2 partitions with an inode size of 128. Recent default is 256. I wonder if the mkfs with our distros defaults to 128?

Workaround: mke2fs -I 128 /dev/sd*

Hopefully uboot will be updated to allow default inodes to be recognized.

--Undrwater 06:11, 14 August 2009 (UTC)Russell Dwiggins

Personal tools

Needed a different partition layout for my SD card

I needed a SD (Not HDMC) card and needed the following layout:

  • Partition 1 is a primary partition with a FAT filesystem containing the uImage
  • Partiton 2 is a Ext3 Filesystem containing the root filesystem. Since the uImage from this partition is never used - it is not really important keeping it up-to-date.

My hardware setup is:

  • Latest uBoot (July 12, 2008)
  • Freerunner (GTA02V5)