<TheLinuxBug>
if anyone is bored and would like to let me know if A. you get the little index that shows the files as well if you could paste me the dns of dl.extremehosting.us that you get and your location it would be appriciated. Tuning the CDN a bit.
<xomb_>
I'll try to explain my situation. To anyone that reads this, thank you for taking the time. The thing is, I need help turning my noname android tvbox (a20) into a more usefull web server / media center / nas (maybe one day). The closest thing to my noname device is this http://linux-sunxi.org/Semitime_Qt840a Its allmost the same except for the wifi (mine has Ampak AP6210). My board is labeled i12-tvbox and has 512mb of ram. I have
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<xomb_>
I have prepared a fast sdcard for the job but the main problem is the compilation of the image. I have jet to succeed in making one that even boots. I have tried to follow every step of the manual build howto (http://linux-sunxi.org/Manual_build_howto), unfortunately every step is a new mistery for me and takes a long time to debugg the steps that don't work as intended.
<xomb_>
I have had several attempts at making this manual build and it just isn't my thing it seems. Does anyone have a better solution for me? Maybe an image that could run on more than one device (which would include mine ofc)? Or a tutorial better suited for a noob like me? I would greatly appreciate any suggestion on this matter. Thank you for your time!
<TheLinuxBug>
only possibility is that the uBoot provided may not play nice and if that is the case you should be able to recompile uBoot and put it in place
<xomb_>
i have made the uboot for i12-tvbox specificaly with sunxi-tools
<TheLinuxBug>
but I would for example download that image and flash it to your sdcard with Win32DiskImager if your in windows or dd if in linux
<TheLinuxBug>
Also, I would expect if your device already has android on it
<TheLinuxBug>
you may be able to make use of berryboot
<xomb_>
it has
<TheLinuxBug>
not sure though
<TheLinuxBug>
Usually berryboot is for Android that is in NAND
<TheLinuxBug>
so that you can write our to the SDcard
<TheLinuxBug>
if you don't have NAND it may not work for you
<TheLinuxBug>
but as I said, the other thing would be to test images for Cubieboard 2 (A20)
<TheLinuxBug>
and see how they work for you
<TheLinuxBug>
I bet in most cases they should work without issue
<xomb_>
wow... i really thought i was done for. this chat was my last hope
<xomb_>
one month i've been trying to make my own image.. fml
<TheLinuxBug>
lol
<TheLinuxBug>
don't worry
<TheLinuxBug>
I spent about 8 hours this weekend teaching my self how to build Android SDcard for A10 and updating the Wiki as the information there was outdated and almost useless in its current form
<TheLinuxBug>
so I understand your frustration
<xomb_>
I hope you had success
<TheLinuxBug>
I did :)
<xomb_>
thats great. too bad its not for my device :P
<TheLinuxBug>
updated and has the images I made this weekend on it :D
<TheLinuxBug>
hehehee
<TheLinuxBug>
well
<TheLinuxBug>
if you did want to make your own Android Sdcard the basica principle works for A20
<TheLinuxBug>
just you can't use my premade images ;p
<TheLinuxBug>
if you already made your own uBoot you probably did the second most difficult thing
<TheLinuxBug>
hehe
<xomb_>
this seems really advanced on first glance..
<xomb_>
and probably is :D
<xomb_>
how long have you been into linux?
<TheLinuxBug>
hehee
<xomb_>
its obvious we are dimensions apart
<TheLinuxBug>
Linux.. 20 years
<TheLinuxBug>
Arm stuff though, which has been a whole new breed of animal in a lot of ways..
<TheLinuxBug>
maybe a few months
<TheLinuxBug>
;p
<xomb_>
by accident or you liked arm for some reason?
<TheLinuxBug>
Well been using the Arms low power arcitexture to build low powered media servers
<TheLinuxBug>
as well as small storage servers
<TheLinuxBug>
the onboard SATA on the Cubieboard and the price of around $30-$40 makes it cheap to mess around with as a hobby
<TheLinuxBug>
Though I won't lie, would love to get my hands on an A80, but thats a bit out of my budget
<xomb_>
that sounds great. thats what i'm trying to do. well.. with the exception of using other peoples code and not building my own boards and stuff..
<xomb_>
have you considered the olimex board?
<TheLinuxBug>
Yeah but generally they are underpowered for the price point
<TheLinuxBug>
if you look for example you can get the Cubieboard A10 for around $30 without 4GB NAND and about $40 w/ NAND
<xomb_>
seems to me like cubieboard is a good alternative to rPi
<TheLinuxBug>
and thats the 1Ghz 1Gb ram
<TheLinuxBug>
the Olimex board in the same range
<TheLinuxBug>
is only 512M
<xomb_>
and other similar boards
<TheLinuxBug>
now I haven't really priced the A20s tbh
<TheLinuxBug>
Yeah
<TheLinuxBug>
well
<TheLinuxBug>
If you are between
<forkit1>
What MAC modes does the A20 RGMII / MII / RMII?
<forkit1>
er.. support*
<TheLinuxBug>
RPi B+ and Cubieboard A10, Cubieboard has SATA, 2x memory and 300mhz faster CPU.
<forkit1>
I know the answer is a bit mroe complex cause it has an EMAC and a GMAC
<TheLinuxBug>
if you don't need the SATA RPi 2 is better though
<xomb_>
hell. i think i'll stick to my noname for now. since i can't even get it to work with an sdcard what would i do with a better board...
<xomb_>
but the idea of making my own NAS... well..it could result in me buying cubieboard for example :D
<TheLinuxBug>
Allwinner's A20, A31, and the upcoming A80 contain a MAC unit called GMAC. The controller supports MII and RGMII modes. On the A20 it is pin compatible with the EMAC in MII mode. The controller is an early version of the Synopsys DWMAC (DesignWare MAC), with some hardware specific glue.
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<TheLinuxBug>
xomb_: can you link that>?
<TheLinuxBug>
would be interested to see what your talking about
<xomb_>
it says 1gb of ram. but when i opened the box i only found 2x512 chips
<TheLinuxBug>
:(
<TheLinuxBug>
er
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<TheLinuxBug>
2x512 should be 1Gb?
<xomb_>
fck
<TheLinuxBug>
did you mean 2x256?
<forkit1>
depends how wide it is
<xomb_>
i ment 256
<TheLinuxBug>
got ya
<xomb_>
yeah
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<xomb_>
i tried doing the jtag. but allmost burned some wires in the process. i don't have the proper tools i guess. the jtag looks exactly as in the picture in the semitime i mentioned above
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<TheLinuxBug>
got ya
<xomb_>
i downloaded the cubie image.. lemme try what you said
<forkit1>
Ok. SO RGMII has some difficiencies unless I can configure the delay in the stmmac driver. MII it is
<TheLinuxBug>
Taking a break for dinner, I should be back around in an hour if you need anything else xomb_ and your welcome to pm if you need ;)
<xomb_>
have a nice meal. and thank you for all your help and info. i appreciate it!
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<xomb_>
Progress report: I have written the cubie image to my sdcard and the device failed to boot into it. I left the device running for 5 minutes but the tv just said no-signal (conencted via hdmi).
<forkit1>
do you have a USB to TTL adapter?
<forkit1>
you really should try to get one. It really helps with stuff
<xomb_>
I have written the image with win32DiskImager. I will try again with dd. diskImager created 2 partitions (dunno if thats normal). one seems to be a linux distro by the looks of it (folder structure). the other seems to be an uboot partition it has uImage file in it
<forkit1>
it is norma. the first is a VFAT partition. Second is rootfs
<xomb_>
you think i should make jtag?
<forkit1>
nah. I mean boring old serial.
<forkit1>
uboot and the kernel (android included) spew stuff out via serial
<xomb_>
i have bought an adapter that has 6 pins and outputs usb.. or vceversa
<xomb_>
but failed at soldering
<xomb_>
the little goldn pins are so small that i could barely see them
<forkit1>
yes. you need to write it to the whole disk, not the partitions: sdcard should be /dev/sda or /dev/sdb, not /dev/sdb1
<xomb_>
ooooh . i see
<forkit1>
s/whole disk/whole disk as a block device/
<forkit1>
in x86 linux, /dev/sda is your first hard drive, /dev/sda1 is your first partition.
<xomb_>
got it. i will try rewriting the uboot now
<xomb_>
do i need to make sync or something after the write?
<forkit1>
dd writes in basically raw mode (normally meaning no, you shouldnt need to). if you are concerned, just 'sync' after and that should be sufficient
<xomb_>
gonna put the scdard in the device now.. here goes nothing
<forkit1>
the file "Fedora-Xfce-armhfp-20-a10-1-sda.raw.xz" contines a complete image of what should be on the SD card, uboot, partition table, partition and rootfs. xzcat does use file system buffering, so sync is absolutely needed (and its why it is present)
<xomb_>
the led indicator usually shines either red or blue. now its purple...
<xomb_>
but still no signal on the tv.
<xomb_>
does it usually take a long time for it to boot up the first time?
<forkit1>
idk. Depends on the vendor. Does it get an IP?
<xomb_>
fuck me
<xomb_>
something is happening
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<forkit1>
good?
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<xombb>
got dc or something
<xombb>
i have hdmi output
<xombb>
so yeah. its progress
<forkit1>
well, there you go!
<xombb>
unfortunately i'm stuck at boot. there is an error
<xombb>
waiting for PY auto negotiation to complete
<xombb>
no link
<xombb>
*PHY
<forkit1>
thats ethernet. just wait
<xombb>
missing environment variable
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<forkit1>
try another image
<xombb>
will do. i'm so happy right now
<forkit1>
at a min, you now know where u-boot lives :-)
<xombb>
the erroers ended now and i have : sunxi#:
<forkit1>
ok. your in
<xombb>
yeah. both uboot and partition tables :)
<xombb>
thats to you <3
<forkit1>
they are very different things
<forkit1>
u-boot is basically the bios firmware
<xombb>
what to do now...
<xombb>
maybe try to connect via wifi
<forkit1>
nmcli scan and friends
<forkit1>
ifconfig
<xombb>
shouldn't this image have gui? this is only cli
<xombb>
i don't mind, just wondering
<forkit1>
try startx
<xombb>
kk. give me a sex
<xombb>
kk. give me a sec
<xombb>
didn't prepare. i don't hae keyboard attached
<forkit1>
ha! you assumed failure rather than success!
<xombb>
yes. well. after a month of trial and error
<xombb>
error wes the logical solution
<forkit1>
I know how you feel
<xombb>
oh man.. its 1 in the morning and i feel like its 10am. so pumped up now
<forkit1>
haha my day is just ending. ASbout to head home
<xombb>
so.. slacking off are we? :P
<forkit1>
nope. working hard before leaving in 10
<xombb>
oh man. thats really late. hope the pay is good
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<forkit1>
im in the US :-)
<xombb>
that answers everything :D
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<xombb>
i have tried another image and still the same problem. i seem to be stuck inside the uboot (if thats even possible). when i connect the ethernet cable it says serverip is not defined. and i cant get my keyboard to work via usb.
<TheLinuxBug>
hmm
<xombb>
i will try with another uboot image. or try compiling it again
<xombb>
have you seen tlb? we made some progress
<TheLinuxBug>
yeah :)
<TheLinuxBug>
but sounds like your stuck in uBoot
<TheLinuxBug>
you getting a kernel failure?
<TheLinuxBug>
or anything like that
<TheLinuxBug>
sounds like its at least loading the hdmi drivers so thats a plus
<xombb>
i have a picture of the screen
<xombb>
if you want i can upload... its faster then writing it all down
<TheLinuxBug>
hehe
<TheLinuxBug>
sure you can do that if you want
<xombb>
well makes no difference to me.. its your time i'm wasting... :/
<xombb>
and really guys. thank you so much. you both really helped a lot :)
<xombb>
the first part on this screen is when the ethernet cable has been disconnected. then i reconnect it and another loop starts. it says loading, and then starts over.
<TheLinuxBug>
looking like uboot is trying to TFTP boot
<TheLinuxBug>
it doesn't seem its finding your kernel
<xombb>
the image you gave me had 3.4.79 kernel. and this one has 3.0.62
<TheLinuxBug>
Well there are always older version
<xombb>
so you think that uboot is fine? that the kernel is the problem?
<xombb>
my eyes are starting to hurt. imma go sleep now. thank you all for the help. i will continue tomorrow and hopefully succeed in making use of my noname board.