USBNetwork failed to start sshd

[knc1]

I have never figured out WHY the user storage is handled this way.
Unless it is the way that gumstick dev board did it.

The file format is (Visa) FAT-32 -
Most likely to be compatible with the greatest number of user's PC systems.

By the same logic -
They should just use a CIFS export over the (already present) USBnetworking.
That is also a 'natively supported' file system by the greatest number of user's PC systems, which (like nfs) already handles concurrent access.
and is also supported by users of Linux/*nix/MacOSx PCs.

or
an http/https export (BB has had a light weight http server since, like, forever)

of my collection of 'electronic appliances' - only Kindles use this stranger than strange export method.

= = = Off Topic = = =

Since I have the factory install image and the end-user image for PW3-5.6.1.1 under my hands at the moment -
I should probably make up a list of the things that **where** installed on the Kindle **before** they shipped it.

Like being able to mount a cdrom drive on your Kindle.
Hmm...
And maybe boot from it - perhaps that is where the 'factory restore' feature went to on the touchscreen devices.
It never occurred to me to check for that.

or having VNC on the Kindle (it was, it is one of the things deleted before shipment).
or having sshd on the kindle (it was, it is also one of the things deleted before shipment).

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

I have never figured out WHY the user storage is handled this way.

I think it was probably done that way to accurately emulate a USB flash stick. USB sticks work on devices that do not have network drivers loaded (even in the BIOS, where you can select them as a boot device). SMB shares are a PITA in windows, and depend on your security settings and whatnot. Even then, windoze boxen that can see each other, and both have file sharing enabled, still get permissions violations trying to access each others files -- ever since windoze vista, and worse on x64 systems... USB sticks are much more reliable in that regard...

In general, windows file sharing DOES NOT WORK out of the box, and even so-called "experts" (like myself) find it not worth the hassle when it used to work on a given configuration and then inexplicably no longer works. I generally pass files through an intermediary NAS device, or USB stick "sneakernet" when my windoze network shares are wonky (all too often).

I have a bunch of windows boxes, with SMB file sharing enabled, and they can pretty much NEVER all see each other at any given time.

Though some kindles (i.e. K4) do support NFS in diags, and I once successfully (and several times usuccessfully) got my K4 and linux host PC to share a common NFS-shared folder, to which both sides had rw access. I test a lot of my apps and demos in diags, because more free memory (and the K4 loads a MUCH FASTER K5-style eink driver in diags, but a slow K3-emulation eink driver in main -- or at least it was that way early on; not sure now).

[NiLuJe]

The fuse proxy should take care of allowing us to write over in-use files (it creates .fuse-hidden copies that *should* get dropped on file close).

I've never had any issues updating USBNet while checking MRPI's log over USB, in a shell whose binary was being updated, for instance.
(In fact, being able to do that without dropping the USBNet connection, like on legacy FW, was a big incentive when working on MRPI).

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

The fuse proxy should take care of allowing us to write over in-use files (it creates .fuse-hidden copies that *should* get dropped on file close).

I've never had any issues updating USBNet while checking MRPI's log over USB, in a shell whose binary was being updated, for instance.
(In fact, being able to do that without dropping the USBNet connection, like on legacy FW, was a big incentive when working on MRPI).

I have not studied fuse, but I suppose it makes sense when you have rw access to both sides of fuse (i.e. /mnt/us AND /mnt/base-us). There could still be a problem on the Windoze side though, where it arbitrarily writes to the directory structure with no awareness of changes within the device.

I fought this problem with a USB wifi SD card when I had root shell on the SD internal processor WHILE windows was writing to the mounted SD card storage. Files written by either side might disappear, with the most recent file-writer being the winner. They were both fighting over the same directory structure, no doubt.

We might see this same "lost recent data" problem when USBMS and USBNET are loaded at the same time IF both sides are writing to the same files and/or directories -- though persistent sync/fflush after writes would help a lot (though there would still be that stale disk cache problem on reads). If you needed a custom app to do this successfully, it may have to close/sync/reopen the file between transactions, on both sides.

And even on the linux side, there is that whole "4K STDIO non-TTY buffering" issue everybody pulls their hair out over (though "screen" and/or other "fake-PTY utilities" help a lot). But first you need a network stack, and my K1s ain't got none...

NFS has its benefits (when it works). SMB (in the windows world) is always more than a little "iffy".

However, having USBNET and USBMS definitely has its uses for certain "expert" corner cases, though SCP is a whole lot safer.

[NiLuJe]

USBMS and USBNet are currently properly mutually exclusive. At worst volumd exports a zero-size fake partition.

[geekmaster]

Though my SSHD started working on my PW3 after reinstalling it (after upgrading to the newest firmware), WinSCP now reports that SCP no longer is supported by my PW3 and that I should try SFTP. I made that change, and it works now. My other kindles (older firmware) work fine with SCP (the default protocol for WinSCP).

[encol]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Though my SSHD started working on my PW3 after reinstalling it (after upgrading to the newest firmware), WinSCP now reports that SCP no longer is supported by my PW3 and that I should try SFTP. I made that change, and it works now. My other kindles (older firmware) work fine with SCP (the default protocol for WinSCP).

This is strange, WinSCP works fine with my PW3 and SCP protocol

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by encol

This is strange, WinSCP works fine with my PW3 and SCP protocol

And SCP works on my other kindles too. A mystery (that does not need to be solved at this time, because of SFTP). At least SSH works now on this PW3, so I am not stuck with telnet. But SCP does not work on it.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

- - - -
My other kindles (older firmware) work fine with SCP (the default protocol for WinSCP).

Do all your Kindles have the same build of USBnetworking installed?

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

Do all your Kindles have the same build of USBnetworking installed?

No, but SCP works on SOME of my kindles that ARE running this usbnet version. This PW3 has other weird symptoms as well (which survived faactory reset and firmware updates), but the intermittent touchscreen is the most annoying. THe SCP problem at least has the working SFTP alternative.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

No, but SCP works on SOME of my kindles that ARE running this usbnet version. This PW3 has other weird symptoms as well (which survived faactory reset and firmware updates), but the intermittent touchscreen is the most annoying. THe SCP problem at least has the working SFTP alternative.

You probably want to avoid Windows, WinSCP when you can, since that is the utility that has a tendency to change text line endings when you least expect it.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

You probably want to avoid Windows, WinSCP when you can, since that is the utility that has a tendency to change text line endings when you least expect it.

Sadly, apps I need only run on Windoze.

But I am about to dedicate my core i7 quad laptop to gentoo, though this ultrabook will likely stay on win7 for awhile longer... Other laptops may get other linux distros on them -- perhaps arch linux on the next one?

My main desktop machine now has Win 10 on it (but I rarely use it). I am thinking of making a Beowulf cluster from the bulk of my quadcore and octocore desktop collection (but they do make the power meter spin when I fire them all up). Though now that I recycled all my (perfectly working, but heavy as hell) 25-inch CRT monitors, they will have to be "headless"... The CRTs often ran at 1920x1440 (interlaced), but I like my 4K LCD displays better.

Yeah, linux distros are less of a pain, except when I was trying to run multiple video cards of different brands in the same machine (which worked fine on windows, but linux? not so well)...

[knc1]

Sorry that I was unclear -
I meant only to avoid that one utility, not all of Windows.