Installing Gentoo 2.6.16 to the Cobalt Raq 550 hardware PIII

[toysoft]

Hello !

I finally succeeded on the installation of Gentoo 2005.1 2.6.16 to my Raq550

Here are all the details here :

http://www.saggiori.com/GentooRaq550/

As well as the logs from the console during installation of the OS and then during the boot.

I believe all this can help others.

In my side I still have a problem, I cannot then install back the Raq550 OS on my Raq550... someone can help ? See the Raq550OS Install log.

Thank you.

--HowtoRaq550------------------------------------------------------

Howto to install Gentoo 2.6.16 on a Raq550
------------------------------------------

Install Linux Gentoo 2.6.16 to your Raq550 box (PIII). Also possible to install to the Raq4s,
but verify that you can have access to the console.

Pre installation :
------------------

1) Pressing before boot and up to the moment you see CONSOLE ON/OFF on the LCD,
- Set on/off Console on Raq550, the left arrow key
- Set on/off Console on Raq4s, 3s..., the password reset button

2) ROM : Installation of the BIOS compatible with EXT3 File System format.
Rom 2.10.x (I installed the 2.10.3 Flat 2 Mb for Raq550)

Upload the files on your root directory (you need to be root to use them).
chmod 777 them, backup your ROM first !, and then flash your server ROM.
For more precise informations see the 00_readme file.

Use the following command to back up your ROM:
./flashtool -v -r > backup.rom


Use the following command to reflash your ROM:
./flashtool -v -w 2.9.36-paged.rom


3) From a PC, boot under Gentoo evironment and execute dhcpd and nfs.
If these tools are not available you can create them going to the
source-compiling directory. emerge dhcpd.... and emerge nfs

Download and Install the precompiled package for networking install,

wget http://www.zolder.org/cobalt/nfsroot-x86-2005.1.tar.bz2
wget http://www.zolder.org/cobalt/nfsroot-x86-2005.1.tar.bz2.md5sum

Verify if the file hasn't been corrupted:
md5sum -c nfsroot-x86-2005.1.tar.bz2.md5sum

Unpack the stage to your root filesystem, this will get you a
/nfsroot-x86 directory.

tar -jxvpf nfsroot-x86-2005.1.tar.bz2 -C /

Install the files :

dhcpd.conf and exports

-> dhcpd.conf to directory /etc/dhcp/
-> exports to directory /etc/

In my side I had been obliged to recompile the nfs packages with emerge. You could do also the dhcp.

You can use my files dhcpcd.conf and exports directly if needed.

Data that has to be inside is :

-- /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
subnet 192.168.100.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.100.66 192.168.100.126
opeiotns routeres 192.168.100.1;
next-server 192.168.100.4;
option root-path = "/nfsroot-x86";
}
--

and

-- /etc/exports
/nfsroot-x86 192.168.100.0/255.255.255.0(rw,no_root_squash,sync)
--

The NFS server in the case above will have the IP address 192.168.100.4.

Control that your exports and dhcpd.conf are on the same subnet, 192.168.100.x (can be different,
but all need to be on the same subnet).

Copy the install.sh and local.start files, to prepare all to the installation.
(you need to modify your install.sh to copy the right vmlinux file, remove the # and add it to the other line)

install was modified to unpack automatically also the stage 4 file that you can download and
insert on a precreated directory /nfsroot-x86/files/

wget http://www.zolder.org/cobalt/stage4-x86-2005.1.tar.gz
wget http://www.zolder.org/cobalt/stage4-x86-2005.1.tar.gz.md5sum

Verify if the file hasn't been corrupted:
md5sum -c stage4-x86-2005.1.tar.gz.md5sum

Unpack the stage:
tar -zxvpf stage4-x86-2005.1.tar.gz -C /mnt/gentoo

The install.sh has already all inside (copy of files from that tar, as well as the mount/unmouts,
swap etc... as well as formatting of partitions and creation. All automatic.

The local.start autoruns the install.sh file installation.


INSTALLATION :
--------------

All automatic... ;o)))

Boot your PC with Gentoo with network install drive, on your network
(so he gets an IP address from your DHCP-router).

Remove the Ethernet cable from your network and replace it with a red cable
(cross) from the Pc to the Raq550.

Then type the two commands below.

/etc/init.d/dhcpd start
/etc/init.d/nfs start

You are then ready to startup your Raq550 and pressing S from the boot, then select
from the LCD menu the Boot from Net option.

- See for an example of a console log the file InstallGentooRaq550.log.

Possible Errors:
----------------
- Unmout root fs error : You have to set on the console boot menu the boot and root dev to HDA1.
(by default on the Raq the root dev is MD1, I think)


FIRST BOOT :
------------

Boot your raq, on your real network (remove the red cross cable and insert your network cable).
Your Raq will get an IP address automatically from your network DHCP. The install is a minimal one
so you will not have apache, not ftp or telnet. Only SSH. You can then compile the packages
and get these other services working.

- See for an example of a console log the file BootGentooRaq550.log.

Possible Errors:
----------------
- Kernel halt (Kernel panic on LCD) error with many numbers appearing, you have a wrong wmlinux.bz2...
try to use the compiled ones I have.
For the Raq550 hardware, copy vmlinux.bz2.550 to /boot/vmlinux.bz2.
For the Raq4s/3s hardware, copy vmlinux.bz2.k6 to /boot/vmlinux.bz2.


All should install in automatic on your Raq550 HDD...

Don't forget to shutdown your server the usual linux way, or use the LCD menu and select the HALT option.

That's all folks !

[ProgLocker]

hey dude,

great stuff!!

I am trying to boot up my xtr which hangs at no console found etc.
so how did you make your own kernel?
Do you have to set some specific options?

I followed the guides on 404ster and in this forum without success.
So maybe you can give me a hint.

Thanks,

flo

[toysoft]

Hello Flo.

You need to press the left arrow on your XTR before you turn on the power, and keep it pressed up to the moment you see "console on". If you get "console off" on the LCD screen, you need to redo it. Turn off, then turn on the XTR with the left arrow pressed. You will get that time the "console on" message on the LCD screen.

Also, then you need to login on your XTR via the console. It needs to be set to 115200 (other options as the default one of hyperterminal). Connect the cable to the Rs232 one of the XTR and to the PC you use. Then load Hyperterminal and select the right COM Rs232 port on it. Set the speed to 115200, and then you can turn on the XTR. You should see appearing the messages from the XTR.

If you have any questions, let me know, and please once you have the console access send the logs so we can let you know what to do.

Jan

[toysoft]

For the Kernel, just use the one I compiled. If it works, I will tell you how to do it yourself (compilation, patch etc...). But I prefer to be sure that my kernel compilation works first...

Jan

[ProgLocker]

Hey jan,

danke fuer deine Antwort

sooooo. When I set my root dev to hde3 and my root dev to hde1, I get the console error message..
when setting both to hde3, the machine boots up (I set bfd) but the rom kernel loads.
I am wondering a bit about that, because I told the rom to boot from disk and not from the rom itself.
very strange.

Here is my whole boot process. If you need more logs or info please let me know.

Thanks for your help. Hopefully I can boot up with my own kernel in the future...

Btw. I posted to a different thread a few weeks ago. maybe this can help:
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-225557-start-125.html#3346708

but this topic seems to be more related to my problem than the other thread. sorry for double post ...

[toysoft]

Gathering on internet, I beleive that the most possible reason is simply because the ext2 is not included on the Kernel compilation (the Kernel you used). Will have to check on my compilation if it's built in or in an external module.

Jan

[toysoft]

Found this on my config file (gen_v-minimal.config) :

#
# File systems
#
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
# CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR is not set
CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y
# CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL is not set
# CONFIG_EXT3_FS_SECURITY is not set
CONFIG_JBD=y
# CONFIG_JBD_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y
# CONFIG_REISERFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_JFS_FS is not set

So this could mean that I have not set the CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR, is it necessary ? Does someone can give some tips on this ?

Thank you,

Jan

http://csl.csie.fju.edu.tw/lxr/http/source/fs/ext2/xattr.h

[toysoft]

Posted the config files from the Kernel 2.4.x for Raq550

File is config-cobalt-RAQ.zip

http://www.saggiori.com/GentooRaq550/patchKernel2.6.16/

Someone can help to modify the for the 2.6.16 ?

Thank you.

Jan

[toysoft]

See forum message :

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-3406859.html#3406859