IRC log for #qi-hardware on 20161124

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01:43.42*** topic/#qi-hardware is Copyleft hardware - http://qi-hardware.com | hardware hackers join here to discuss Ben NanoNote, atben/atusb 802.15.4 wireless, anelok and other community driven hw projects | public logging at http://en.qi-hardware.com/irclogs and http://irclog.whitequark.org/qi-hardware
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17:38.47baabaHi, I have a problem, I debootstrapped debian, I can chroot fine to the sd card on my nanonote but if I try to boot pressing M as the wiki says there is a glitchy screen and nothing happens, I have to reset the ben using the button at the bottom
17:40.16baabado you know what could cause this issue ? By the way this is debian 8
17:42.29mthare you using a kernel from Debian or a NanoNote-specific kernel?
17:42.40baabai am using the nanonote kernel
17:43.01baabai followed this http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Debootstrap
17:43.25baabathe only thing I didn't do was installing fakeroot
17:44.50mthdid you run the command as real root then?
17:45.01baabawell yes
17:45.10baabaI only have a root user on my nanonote
17:45.22mthsome packages refuse to do certain actions as real root, but they'll usually print a warning about that
17:45.39baababut I can chroot fine to debian
17:45.44mth(to avoid breaking systems where people accidentally run it as root)
17:46.11mthsid is older than Debian 8.0, so maybe some new steps are requried?
17:46.25mthyou could try installing sid first and then dist-upgrading to 8.x
17:46.38baababut sid is just debian unstable
17:46.44baabait should be even more recent
17:46.47mthah, it's not a release name?
17:46.50baabanope
17:47.10mthdo you have a serial connection? that would help seeing error messages if the screen isn't working
17:47.21baabaI don't think so
17:47.40baabawell I have an arduino
17:47.42baabaif it can help
17:56.27*** join/#qi-hardware paul_boddie (~paul_bodd@host-37-191-208-15.lynet.no)
17:56.53paul_boddiebaaba: Sounds like a kernel loading issue to me. Which kernel are you using?
17:57.46baabaIt says Linux BenNanoNote 3.3.8 #4 PREEMPT
17:58.29baabamaybe not #4 PREEMPt
17:58.38baaba3.3.8
17:59.01paul_boddieHave you made it available on the SD card itself in the /boot directory?
17:59.19baabayes i did
18:00.25paul_boddieOne thing you have to be careful about is how init gets called.
18:00.39baabaoh
18:00.49paul_boddieOpenWrt uses a different convention to Debian, at least the version shipped with the Ben.
18:01.04baabawell i ran "ln -s /sbin/init /etc/preinit"
18:01.14baabain the chroot
18:02.24baabado you think a more recent kernel would work ?
18:04.39paul_boddieYou might experience issues with older kernels. Certainly, recent Debian relies on systemd-related features that the shipped kernel won't have configured.
18:05.11paul_boddieI guess if you've done the second-stage debootstrap in your chroot and have fixed up the preinit thing then that should work.
18:05.58paul_boddieI run User Mode Linux instances for various things, and I had to change the kernel configuration to let Debian Jessie run where Wheezy had been fine before.
18:06.26paul_boddieI guess that if you somehow force the debootstrap to use sysvinit instead, that might save you a kernel recompile.
18:07.07baabaokay thanks, well I will try to boot but I already did all of that and it didn't work, maybe I should try a more recent kernel as you said
18:07.33paul_boddieIt's odd that I don't mention this on http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Emdebian however.
18:08.30paul_boddieI did test Jessie on the Ben and it did work. Maybe I should see which kernel I was using.
18:09.02baabathere is a strange thing by the way, when trying to boot on debian the bottom of the screen has some kind of artifacts
18:09.09paul_boddieHowever, I don't think I got a mainline kernel working until fairly recently, and I was mostly using the OpenWrt one instead, albeit recompiled, but not a much newer version.
18:10.35paul_boddieThe boot process involves U-Boot in NAND initialising various things and then trying to execute /boot/uImage, if I remember correctly.
18:11.12baabawhat do you think about the small artifacts ?
18:11.28baabaonly at the bottom of the screen
18:12.09paul_boddieWhat happens after that is up to the kernel. When I was getting my own payload instead of Linux running, I saw all sorts of strange screen effects when things went wrong.
18:12.27baabaoh okay
18:15.52paul_boddieOK. So I see that my (slow-booting) Debian is running 4.7.2. That's the mainline kernel with no patches necessary.
18:16.16baabais it a problem that my sd card is /dev/mmcblk0p1 and not  /dev/mmcblk0
18:16.21baabawell no
18:16.24baabathe contrary
18:18.13paul_boddiecat /proc/partition will show you what's going on. The first partition is what will provide the root filesystem.
18:19.49paul_boddieModifier keys don't seem to work with this kernel. :-/
18:20.26baabathe 4 first lines end with mtdblock[0..3]
18:20.42baabathen comes the mmcblk0
18:23.07baabashould I try to compile linux mainline for the ben nanonote ?
18:23.11paul_boddieI don't think that's a problem.
18:23.20paul_boddieI'll have a look at the other kernel.
18:23.29baabaokay thanks
18:32.51paul_boddieOK, so I'm actually running Debian 7.7 in my rootfs, not Debian 8. This is with kernel 3.3.8 (or 4.7.2 as noted before).
18:33.23paul_boddieI must have another partition somewhere with Debian 8, though.
18:34.23baabaOh okay :o well it should work then…
18:34.33baababut it doesn't :(
18:35.08baabamaybe I should copy the kernel again to the sd card
18:35.22paul_boddieAs I noted, the systemd stuff might be demanding certain kernel features that you would need to enable. Otherwise the kernel will panic and just hang the Ben.
18:36.01baabaso better try to put a recent kernel you think ?
18:37.19paul_boddieGive 4.7.2 a try or maybe a later kernel. That was the latest one when I looked, I think.
18:38.24baabaokay thanks, but I don't really know how to compile it, I tried getting the toolchain for the ben nanonote but it wouldn't compile, do I need it or only gcc ?
18:39.13paul_boddieI guess you're running Debian on your other computer. If so, there are decent cross-compilers for unstable which I use in a chroot.
18:39.41paul_boddie(I just checked another partition on the Ben and it had Debian 7.3.)
18:39.51baabaoh okay
18:40.38paul_boddieIt's been a while since I looked at Linux/Debian on the Ben. Most recently, I was messing around with my own payload being launched from the bootloader instead.
18:41.03baabaoh okay
18:41.07baaba:p
18:41.09paul_boddieI'll check in on this later, but getting a cross-toolchain working is handy, anyway.
18:41.11baabayou must be a pro
18:41.34baabaWell I tried to compile the ben nanonote toolchain but it wouldn't
18:42.09paul_boddieYou want whatever it is that provides mipsel-linux-gnu-gcc.
18:42.27paul_boddieProbably the gcc-mipsel-linux-gnu and binutils-mipsel-linux-gnu packages.
18:42.56baabaI'm running fedora, it has gcc-mips64-linux-gnu
18:43.03baabaI suppose it's not good
18:43.13paul_boddieKeep posting your progress if you like, but I have to do other stuff. ;-)
18:43.25baabaokay :p
18:43.38paul_boddieYou want 32-bit MIPS little endian (mipsel).
18:44.10paul_boddieI haven't tried building the OpenWrt toolchain for a while, but it should still build.
20:20.27arossdotmewhat plastic are laptops (lids) mostly made from?
20:20.31arossdotmeabs?
20:23.12arossdotmegot these, hoping to laser engrave them http://bayimg.com/album/aAaOPAAAC
20:31.18baabayour site is not working
20:31.54baabaoh now it is
21:42.34baabapaul_boddie, I found that : F1/2/3 will load kernel from sdcard partition 1/2/3
21:42.34baabaF4 will load kernel inside the ubi rootfs of nand.(we need put kernel at /boot/uImage)
21:42.34baabathose kernel command line. boot kernel command can be changed by 'fw_setenv'
21:42.37baabahere http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/OpenWrt_Software_Image
21:45.31paul_boddieYes, there are probably some special keys that can be used.
21:46.29paul_boddieWas just trying to initialise a Jessie rootfs with the 3.3.8 kernel, but it seems to hang after setting up.
21:46.35baabamaybe it doesn't work because of how my sdcard is partitonned
21:46.37baabaoh
21:46.53paul_boddieI may try and boot now and see if I reproduce what you got before.
21:47.06baabaokay :p thanks for helping
21:47.37paul_boddieNo problem! Got to keep people using these things. :-)
21:48.51baabaif i copy dumbly my old sdcard contend to my new one but new partition, is it supposed to work ?
21:51.32paul_boddieYou can do dd to copy to and from partitions. I don't know whether that answers your question, though.
21:52.08paul_boddieIt looks like Debian 8 plus 3.3.8 won't work. I suspect systemd. Will look at doing a rootfs using sysvinit instead.
21:52.33baabaoh okay
21:54.05*** join/#qi-hardware werner_ (~werner@90-134-231-201.fibertel.com.ar)
21:54.51baabayou can't boot but you can chroot
21:54.54baabaright ?
21:56.31wpwrakforced upgrades suck :-( ubuntu 16.10 no longer has xchat. and hexchat "it's just exactly like xchat" of course isn't
22:03.43paul_boddieIs hexchat tightly integrated with systemd? ;-)
22:06.50baaba:p
22:11.35baabahow many partitions do you have on your sdcard for debian 8 + linux 3.3.8 ?
22:12.11paul_boddie3: 1 for the rootfs, 1 for swap, 1 for backups. But only the first two will be used.
22:12.43baabaoh okay thanks
22:13.11baabaI thought the fact that there is a single partition on my sd card was the problem
22:13.37paul_boddieYou only need one partition really.
22:14.00paul_boddieWell, you really need swap if you want Debian. Otherwise stuff like apt won't work.
22:14.14baabaoh okay
22:14.33baabaIs there any other up to date OS for the nanonote ?
22:17.06paul_boddieI don't think so. As for Debian, I'll see if I can't persuade it to switch to sysvinit.
22:17.29paul_boddieOtherwise, a recompiled kernel might be necessary. Or I could try Devuan. :-)
22:19.11baabaOkay :p
22:19.22*** join/#qi-hardware wpwrak (~werner@90-134-231-201.fibertel.com.ar)
22:20.19paul_boddieTrying again now. Given the poor documentation and multistrap's "silently ignored" features with preseeding, I await failure.
22:20.39paul_boddieBut I could also try hacks with preinit before switching to Devuan. ;-)
22:21.43baabaWhat is the preinit ? :p The wiki says to create a symbolic link of /bin/init to /etc/preinit i believe
22:24.38paul_boddieIt seems to be an OpenWrt thing. They configure the kernel to use /etc/preinit as the init program for some reason.
22:24.50baabaoh okay
22:25.05baababy the way there is no systemd in debian 7 ?
22:29.10paul_boddieThat's right: Wheezy uses sysvinit. As I noted, when I set up some User Mode Linux instances for Jessie, I noticed that my kernels didn't boot those instances, whereas they did for Wheezy.
22:29.57baabaoh
22:30.05paul_boddieOK. I obviously didn't read the mind of the developers, and the Ben still doesn't init, so I'll try a preinit hack.
22:30.26baabahow are you planning to do that ?
22:32.04paul_boddieWhen my preinit file finishes configuring, instead of linking to /sbin/init, I'll invoke some apt magic and hopefully force systemd out.
22:32.19paul_boddies/instead of/before/
22:32.20qi-botpaul_boddie meant: "When my preinit file finishes configuring, before linking to /sbin/init, I'll invoke some apt magic and hopefully force systemd out."
22:32.53baabacool bot !
22:44.08baabaok, i am going to bed ! good luck :p
22:44.31paul_boddieThanks! You'll read what I find out in the logs.
22:44.43baabaokay thanks :p
23:24.27paul_boddieWell, sysvinit doesn't seem happy with /run/initctl, but it's not over yet.
23:27.31paul_boddieOK, I get a login after "preinit" now.
23:31.11paul_boddieAnd booting from MMC/microSD works.
23:34.38paul_boddieSo, the trick was to put sysvinit-core in the package list for multistrap.
23:35.09paul_boddieLots of advice about preseed files and excluding systemd may only be relevant for debootstrap, but that may be fixed by now as well.
23:45.10paul_boddieSo, 3.3.8 works with Debian 8, but you must use sysvinit-core in the packages list.

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