iLiad How to create a bootable CF?

[ericshliao]

I used gparted to resize the original parition which took up all space on cf, and made a second partition on cf. The cf is still bootable.

[hansel]

Originally Posted by ericshliao

I used gparted to resize the original parition which took up all space on cf, and made a second partition on cf. The cf is still bootable.

Thanks! I'll get myself a cf soon, and experiment with it...
Do you think the speed of the cf matters for the boot time?

[ericshliao]

Originally Posted by hansel

Do you think the speed of the cf matters for the boot time?

I had a test once. About ten seconds slower than normal boot.

[KewlKid38]

Originally Posted by ericshliao

I don't know exactly. But I guess not. Because I only dd root partition.


.

The Linux Kernel is always located in the /boot dir. If you remove that from your working bootable CF and it stops working then you know the kernel is there.

I find great value in this project because this will make upgrading the kernel alot easier task. I believe most of the drivers for the current hardware has been written somewhere in cyberspace.

I'm going to over the next week or so write a how to on this.

Great work.

[ericshliao]

Originally Posted by KewlKid38

The Linux Kernel is always located in the /boot dir.

That's the generaly case for desktop Linux, not for iLiad. You might want to read this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31847

[KewlKid38]

Ohh I didn't know that it was that differnt. I thought all Linux's (is that a word) would be consistant so you could Roll your own distro easily.

I guess you live and learn. I still have to get sometime to build the compact flash card and write up the process even though there is enough information in this thread.

[ericshliao]

I found that my bootable cf has some errors in filesytem. If I fix them with fsck, it will not be bootable anymore. Any ideas?

It seems that there is some mystic in iRex's fiel for rom reflash.

[ericshliao]

Originally Posted by ericshliao

I just found a strange thing. My shell access disappeared. I found it disappeared because I couldn't execute dropbear from shell script. I have to download and install again. But newlister is still running. It's a proof that shell access disappeared after installed, or there won't be newlister installed on my iLiad.

I know why so now.

It occurred when I used a bootable CF created purely from the rootfs of official firmware (the file used to reflash iLiad from CF). Because in the first time boot, a template registry.xml will be created, and my original registry.xml (on iLiad) was over-written. Since the template registry.xml has not been added a shell access entry, it's quite normal that shell access disappears.

The solution is to create a bootable CF and ensure that its registry.xml is modified (so that shell acces is granted). After booting from CF, modify (or overwrite) the template registry.xml on /dev/tffsa7. In ordinary circumstance, /dev/tffsa7 is mounted to /mnt/settings.

So, if you want to create a bootable CF, do remember to create a dir /mnt/settings in your CF and copy all contents in /mnt/settings on you iLiad to that dir. Besides, modifying /etc/fstab (on CF) and removing the entry for /dev/tffsa7 is also required, so that your bootable will not mount /dev/tffsa7 as /mnt/settings and overwrite your working registry.xml.

I still haven't figured out why the bootalbe CF can only be used once. So, after it's created, don't use it immediately. Do remember dd your CF so that you can dd it back again.

[ericshliao]

I think I know how to make the bootable CF re-usable now. On the CF, in /var, remove a symbolic link "registry", and then the CF will be always bootable. The theory behind the veil is still unknown to me. (Wrong info. Ignore the above. The right answer is provided down below.)

So, the steps to create a bootable CF should be:
1. Make a ext2 partition on a CF of 128 MB or above.
2. Mount the CF on iLiad. The command should look like "mount -t ext2 /dev/hda1 /mnt/cf".
3. Copy everything on iLiad rootfs to /mnt/cf.
4. Create a directory "/mnt/cf/mnt/settings" and copy everything under "/mnt/settings" to that directory.
4. Edit /mnt/cf/etc/fstab and remark the line with /dev/tffsa1 (the iLiad rootfs), /dev/tffsa7 (/mnt/settings) and /dev/hda1 (the CF).
5. Delete a symbolic link "registry" under /mnt/cf/var. (Not necessary. Ignore this step)
6. Create a dummy directory (by copying a sibling directory) under "/mnt/cf/usr/share/contentlister/mode/en" so that you can differentiate whether iLiad boots from CF.
7. echo "boot" > /mnt/cf/config.txt

Now, iLiad developers can do more experiements on the device without touching the rootfs on iLiad.

Note (very important):
Some unknown program will create a "logfile.txt" in /. If iLiad got turned off without calling proper routines, it will cause "logfile.txt" not closed correctly and damage the filesystem on the bootable CF, which makes the bootable CF NOT re-usable. To avoid this problem, iLiad must be turned off by pushing the turn-off button.
This is only the case for bootable CF. It won't affect normal iLiad rootfs.

[Arco Witter]

Could someone do this and make an image which I could use on CF?

I don't know much about Linux, but I can read all scripts, so would love to invest some more time on optimizing this device.
Because the fear of destroying the iLiad, I do not change anything on it. Booting from CF would be the best alternative.

[ericshliao]

The contents of a bootable CF is iRex's property. It's not distributable unless under the consent of iRex.

Perhaps a working solution is to distribute a shell script capable of executing a series of linux commands.

[Arco Witter]

Originally Posted by ericshliao

The contents of a bootable CF is iRex's property. It's not distributable unless under the consent of iRex.

Perhaps a working solution is to distribute a shell script capable of executing a series of linux commands.

So you abandoned this idea?
iRex abandoned everything, so we cannot heal our books from the bugs currently in it? (I am referring to no wifi-connections and the 5 pages flip problems)

[ericshliao]

Originally Posted by Arco Witter

So you abandoned this idea?

Pardon me. What do you mean "this idea"? I don't quite understand.