Gentoo, 2.6.x, RaQ 3i (updated 2005/07/28)

JeffW_ · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:15 pm Post subject:

Bullet,

Sending the kernel over serial in a RAW mode depends on what serial terminal program you're using. If you could let us know, we could help you.
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JeffWalter

atopian · n00b Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 29 Location: Columbus, OH

Using another linux box, the simplest solution is to run (as root) `cat <kernel>.bz2 > /dev/ttyS<x>` where <kernel> is the kernel filename and <x> is whatever serial port number to use (typically its 1 or 0)

that with minicom makes for the best RaQ management solution ive found so far. I usually use a second raq as the other linux box too, so when it breaks i have another to fix it with *evil cackle*

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Gentoo, boldly going places only NetBSD dare venture.

JeffW_ · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:45 am Post subject:

I actually have my RaQ plugged in to a FreeBSD machine, so I typically use tip. It's an odd interface, but I'm used to it.
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JeffWalter

BulletSponge · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 5:26 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys,
i'm using minicom for a terminal

i'll try the cat kernel > serial port thing now.

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

Hi guys,

thanks for all the work, that went into this, before i even came here.
After a lot of fiddling and checking at five different hardware stores to find a Serial cable, i now got a running Gentoo on our Qube3!!!

But i still have a problem. I am logged in via minicom and i get these errors:

JeffW_ · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:29 pm Post subject:

Can you post all of the kernel boot messages? This would help in diagnosing the problem.
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JeffWalter

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

i just noticed, that CONFIG_NATSEMI wasn't set. I am going to recompile the kernel and see then.

Thanks for the quick reply, though.

regards
samuel

JeffW_ · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:40 pm Post subject:

No problem, let us know how it turns out.
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JeffWalter

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

Perfect, compiling did the trick!!!
Two more things: Do i need to recompile to have fsck.reiserfs? (sorry for my ignorance!)
The first nic is working. But what about the other one?
I kind of declare it in /etc/conf.d/net, but it doesn't get used.
What must i do?

Thanks a lot, even though these probably are normal linux questions, not cobalt-specific!

regards

samuel

JeffW_ · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:09 pm Post subject:

The get the ReiserFS stuff do:

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

Quick update: I can start eth1 manually! I put net.eth1 in /etc/init.d/, but i had forgotten to add it to the default runlevel!

Now the second thing: When i log in, i have some form of bash, but when i type in bash, only then does it use my .bashrc. It then changes the colors and takes the commands i put in the .bashrc. When i type "exit", i get the other one again???

Third:

JeffW_ · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:35 am Post subject:

It's missing the signature, so as root do mkswap /dev/hda2 then you can do swapon /dev/hda2 so you don't have to reboot. I'm not sure about the BASH thing.
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JeffWalter

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

Thanks, i had tried the swapon, but forgot the mkswap.

Besides me being happy about the install working, my boss actually wants me to put Smoothwall on the Qube.
Before we got it, it was used as a firewall at a customers office. But after someone used the old Cobalt webinterface for sending thousands of spam messages, we said, they have to replace the maschine. So we tried to get something else working on there. Me anyway working with Gentoo for a while now and finding the bold developers for gentoo on this thread, i went ahead.
I actually think, the Qube is to cute to work with smoothwall, the white box we put there in the meantime does the job perfectly well. Anyway nobody looking at that thing.
But i guess that it is possible to get smoothwall working on the Qube. SWExpress 2.0 works with a 2.4.29 kernel. Maybe i can patch that one with the cobalt patches on the net.
Any opinions on that are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

samuel

lleo_ · n00b Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 7

Hi All,
I am trying to run Gentoo from a M-SYSTEMS flash solid-state disk. These have a 44 pin notebook hard-drive connector and I use an adaptor to connect it to my Raq3i.
The kernel works, because if the same everything is on a normal hard-drive, it boots and runs fine. When I am trying it from the flash, the boot-rom doesn't sees the flash at all. It is like trying to boot the raq from disk without a hard-drive attached.

Any ideas why the flash is not seen on the Raq3i? This setup works even on a old pentium 166...

One thing comes to my mind is that the boot kernel from the rom uses DMA by default. How can I pass ide=nodma to the boot-rom command line and second stage?

Thanks a lot! Cheers, Lleo_

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

Hi Everyone,

just a quick update:

The cute qube is now working as a firewall with gentoo/shorewall at our customers site. So far it is working perfectly fine.
Thanks a lot for all the help and i hope, that i will be able to get my hands on another of these cute machines and use it for myself, once i am back home in good old germany!

regards,

samuel

madmango · Guru Joined: 15 Jul 2003 Posts: 507 Location: PA, USA

I wonder if anyone can help me.

I'm having trouble getting my qube3 to boot the second stage kernel. I've flashed the rom with 2.10.3-ext3, and that loads and works correctly, even over a serial console. It seems to boot the first stage kernel correctly, but it won't decompress vmlinux.bz2 no matter what I do. I even tried to transfer vmlinux.bz2 over /dev/ttyS0 and load it from that and it still won't work.

Here's the output

JeffW_ · Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 2:18 am Post subject:

How big is the bzip2'd kernel?
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JeffWalter

madmango · Guru Joined: 15 Jul 2003 Posts: 507 Location: PA, USA

JeffW_ · Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 3:40 am Post subject:

That's too big. I've found there to be a limit on even the compressed kernel size, even with a newer ROM image. The limit seems to be right around 1800KB. At that point you have to start making modules. I know that people think down on modules, especially in hardened environments, but there's no current way around it.
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JeffWalter

madmango · Guru Joined: 15 Jul 2003 Posts: 507 Location: PA, USA

NIce!!!!

It works with a smaller kernel, thanks. Now I'm loading 117 modules on bootup, but nice (mostly netfilter stuffs).

And the lcd works too, though the text is rather... bland looking.
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word.

JeffW_ · Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 4:34 am Post subject:

Modules for netfilter/iptables is how I keep my kernel size down as well; everything else is compiled in to the kernel. As for the LCD, its text will always be bland, there's only so much you can do rendering a character on 5 pixels by 7 pixels.
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JeffWalter

atopian · n00b Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 29 Location: Columbus, OH

The second stage size limit is due to the method by which the bootloader works. One could realisticly go into the rom source and make the memory bigger, preventing this issue from happening.

Then again, why do you have 2.1meg of compressed kernel? Ive never seen mine float much more than 1500, and thats with KITCHEN_SINK enabled. Just trim some of the non-cobalt required drivers, as well as unneeded filesystems and whatnot

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Gentoo, boldly going places only NetBSD dare venture.

nagel · n00b Joined: 13 Sep 2004 Posts: 21

hi... who can give me a howto or some tips for setting up a qube3 on gentoo???
the links to the stages are broken

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

Hi dude,

i still have the stage3-x86-cobalt-raq3i-2.6.10-01-reiserfs-2004.3.tar.bz2 if you need it. But actually i am sure, that Jeff Walter is better able to provide it, as i don't have such a good upload connection here in good old africa!

Besides, i managed to get it working perfectly (except the lcd) with the hints mentioned in this thread. It took me a while, but i did it partially by putting the Qube's harddrive in my other pc, and mostly by working over the serial console and ssh as long as the original Qube-OS is still on there. (Basically used the harddrive swap only for stupid mistake reasons!)

So have fun trying, it's worth it!

Just post again, maybe i can upload the file over night!

regards,

samuel

smlgbl · Guru Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 305

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