Thread: Ubuntu 12.04 on N900 with U-Boot
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int_ua is offline int_ua
2012-03-05 , 18:56
Posts: 676 | Thanked: 1,067 times | Joined on Jul 2010 @ Kyiv, Ukraine
#1
Notice:
Currently I switched to Arch as main alternative OS for N900 and encourage everyone to do this.

Old message

So, we've got 12.04 booting.
Thanks to PanzerSajt, Estel, Pali, freemangordon, Skry, Aravinda, NIN101, MohammadAG, skykooler, apachelogger, mpoirier, 白い熊 and others

12.10 thread: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=87002

Hardware support
Check what's working and what's not in the wiki (needs updating by users): https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/n900#Hardware_support

Brief instruction
  • Get
    • Linux PC (instructions are for Ubuntu, but other distros might work as well)
    • N900 with U-Boot
    • 4Gb+ microSD card
    (optional) Make backups of all your data.
  • Insert microSD card (it will be completely erased) into your N900 (or cardreader).
    (optional) Launch X-Terminal on your N900 and execute " cd ~/MyDocs ".
  • Connect N900 (or cardreader) to PC in Storage Mode.
    (optional) copy /lib/firmware/ folder from your N900 to your PC.
  • Execute this code on the PC:
    Code:
    sudo apt-get install bzr
bzr branch lp:ubuntu-n900
cd ubuntu-n900
sudo bash install.sh
    To update to the latest revision use
    Code:
    cd ubuntu-n900
bzr pull
You can return to any revision using
Code:
bzr uncommit --revision 50
Kernel
Foreword by freemangordon:
The kernel you use MUST have kernel-power or kernel-cssu thumb patches forward-ported, otherwise system instability is imminent.
The patch in question: https://gitorious.org/community-ssu/...ad2e7588408129
One can check if kernel has the needed patches by checking if there is "errata_430973" node in /sys/kernel :
Code:
ls /sys/kernel/errata_430973
And one can check if binaries are thumb-compiled by using
Code:
readelf -a $random_sys_binary
This is the result for sqlite3 in cssu-thumb http://pastebin.com/E1Ke2cyD
Tag_THUMB_ISA_use: Thumb-2
A custom kernel compiled by unknown.obvious (meego n900 adaptation + dto=14 patch + ARM errata 430973) is the only one working good with Ubuntu yet:
Debs: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=253
Source: http://code.google.com/p/n900/source...ce-2.6.37-n900
To install it easily update to revision >= 106 and unpack the downloaded archive in the ubuntu-n900 directory. The script will look for
Code:
custom_kernel/linux-image-*.deb
custom_kernel/linux-headers-*.deb
if you select a custom kernel option. Warning: stock kernels don't even boot.

How to boot
uboot-pr13 will try to boot from your microSD card automatically (use run noloboot to start Maemo).
There is an ubuntu.item for the Bootmenu (rev 84+) generated in the root filesystem, but it's not yet confirmed to work, we are waiting for someone to test/fix it.

Code
You can check the code here:
https://code.launchpad.net/ubuntu-n900

Your help
Feel free to fix anything and edit wiki (it needs you even if you didn't fix anything ):
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/n900
Please post even if you succeed. Template is generated by the script in the end. Most of the selected options are stored in options subdirectory. You can check script revision with
Code:
bzr revno
If you want to make a patch, please make it against the unstable branch and run it first only in the empty virtual machine.
Code:
bzr branch lp:~xintx-ua/ubuntu-n900/unstable
https://code.launchpad.net/~xintx-ua...-n900/unstable


webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#maemo-alternatives

Briefly about troubleshooting
Unmount order: /mnt/dev/pts /mnt/dev /mnt/* /mnt
Try stopping all daemons that may have started in chroot before. Use # lsof | grep /mnt on the host machine to find out these daemons.

How to debug (thanks to caveman for the instruction):
1. in your terminal, run 'script' (see its man page for details)
2. run the install script with full debug: 'sudo bash -x install.sh'
3. when the script ends, type 'exit'
4. post the contents of the typescript file so we can take a look at the output


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRUlJ2GXI04
Attached Images
 
Last edited by int_ua; 2013-02-24 at 09:16. Reason: update
 

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