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	jd4200	2013-03-25 , 23:13
	Posts: 451 \| Thanked: 424 times \| Joined on Apr 2010 @ England	#261

Originally Posted by Skry

Yeah, I've spent countless nights with this one, you're welcome. Hopefully you decide to give it a go.
......

Great thanks for the info., I've been using Arch on my systems for years, can't wait to have it in my pocket.

PM sent.

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caveman	2013-03-26 , 12:13
Posts: 191 \| Thanked: 415 times \| Joined on Jan 2012	#262

Originally Posted by Skry

Ok, uboot-n900-tools in the repo

I just had a chance to try this. I configured the default mountpoints in

Code:

/etc/default/u-boot-update-bootmenu

as follows:

Code:

BOOTMENU_FAT_DIR="/media/sd-mmcblk1p1"
BOOTMENU_CFG_DIR="/etc/bootmenu.d"
BOOTMENU_BOOT_DIR="/boot"
BOOTMENU_MAEMOBOOT_DIR="/maemo/boot"
BOOTMENU_OPTBOOT_DIR="/media/sd-mmcblk1p2"
BOOTMENU_TMP="/tmp"

and updated the u-boot bootmenu. No errors :-) Well done, Skry!

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Skry	2013-03-26 , 16:05
Posts: 204 \| Thanked: 754 times \| Joined on Jan 2012 @ Finland	#263

We now have hosting, thanks to jd4200!

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AhmadMhd	2013-03-27 , 19:22
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#264

Originally Posted by ArchiMark

Can you please clarify, is Arch installed all on your microSD card or ?

From your partition info, it seems like it is on your card....but from some comments read, I'm not sure...

Hope to get Arch installed on my 900 soon.....

Thanks.

Wlecome dude

so you need to install Arch on emmc

1- Partitioning

First things first , you have to know how to partition your emmc
The easiest way is to use BackupMenu

- Install BackupMenu from the repos

when done

- Open N900 keyboard, reboot then enter BackupMenu

- Chose Mass storage mode (press d)
Now you have direct access to partitions in the emmc

- Use gparted (easy) or cfdisk

you should keep the 1st partition as fat32 cuz it has u-boot config on it (bootimg.img.d and .src)
unless you change the config dir ( which I want to learn how ^_^ )
and be careful
<< consider making backup, use BackupMenu >>

- I recommend using Extended partition type ( since MBR only allow for 4 primary partitions in the same device )

extended partitions starts numbering from 5
mmcblk0p5 (first partition in Extended )
mmcblk0p6 (second partition)
and so on..

(Skip making swap partition now , you can do it later)

2- Format your partition
after partitioning you should format the partition to ext2/3/4

If formating from PC (recommended)

Code:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb5

else from N900

Code:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p5

3- Mount the partition

if you are mounting from your PC (recommended)

Code:

mount -t ext4 /dev/sd?? /mnt/arch

(if you don't know what "sd??" mean just ask :] )
/dev/sdb5 ( in my case

)

OR from your N900

Code:

mount -t ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p5 /mnt/arch

4- Extract FileSystem (also sync)

Code:

cd /mnt/arch

tar xzvf Arch-Skry-Unofficial-Img.tar.gz; sync

This may take some time ( faster if you do it from PC )

5- Install and configure U-boot

Install u-boot version (that spports booting 3.x kernels)
add boot entry in /etc/bootmenu.d/Arch.item

example

Code:

ITEM_NAME="Arch Linux ARM"
ITEM_KERNEL="/boot/uImage"
ITEM_DEVICE="${INT_CARD}p5"
ITEM_FSTYPE="ext4"
ITEM_OMAPATAG="1"
ITEM_CMDLINE="root=/dev/mmcblk1p5 rootwait init=/bin /systemd omapfb.vram=0:3M,1:3M,2:3M quiet"

This should work if you untar the image FileSystem on /dev/mmcblk0p5
run

Code:

u-boot-update-bootmenu

reboot

- Chose Arch from the menu

- Then run in U-boot console

Code:

run emmcboot

Done.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
For testing.

I wrote a simple script to chroot to this arch from maemo.

arch-chroot.sh
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Code:

echo "==> Mounting FS"
mount /dev/mmcblk0p5 /mnt/arch

echo "==> Mounting proc, sys, dev/pts/, dev/ "
cd /mnt/arch
mount -t proc proc proc/
mount -t sysfs sys sys/
mount -o bind /dev dev/
mount -t devpts pts dev/pts/

echo "==>Chroot to Arch"
chroot /mnt/arch /bin/bash
echo "Done!"

When done from Arch chroot, run

Code:

exit

close-arch.sh
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Code:

cd /mnt/arch
echo "==> Umounting proc, sys, dev/pts/, dev/ "
umount proc/
umount sys/
umount dev/pts/
umount dev/

echo "==>Closing Arch chroot"
cd && sleep 5
umount /mnt/arch ||  umount /dev/mmcblk0p5
echo "Done!"

Have Fun

Last edited by AhmadMhd; 2013-03-27 at 20:03.

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AhmadMhd	2013-03-27 , 19:27
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#265

Originally Posted by Skry

We now have hosting, thanks to jd4200!

Great

I think I can help

If the packages has a small size.
I can provide a mirror using my free webspace. (for direct links)
which you can access and modify using ssh

Last edited by AhmadMhd; 2013-03-27 at 19:50.

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	ArchiMark	2013-03-27 , 19:30
	Posts: 414 \| Thanked: 109 times \| Joined on Mar 2007 @ Silicon Valley	#266

THANK YOU for your incredibly helpful post!

I think a lot more people will try installing Arch as a result of it.

Most grateful to you...

Will give it a go later today...

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Nokia N900
Previous: Nokia N810 & N800

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AhmadMhd	2013-03-27 , 20:08
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#267

Originally Posted by ArchiMark

THANK YOU for your incredibly helpful post!

I think a lot more people will try installing Arch as a result of it.

Most grateful to you...

Will give it a go later today...

@ArchiMark
You are very welcome.

Many thanks to @Skry

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Skry	2013-03-27 , 22:25
Posts: 204 \| Thanked: 754 times \| Joined on Jan 2012 @ Finland	#268

Originally Posted by AhmadMhd

Code:
u-boot-update-bootmenu

reboot
- Chose Arch from the menu

- Then run in U-boot console
Code:
run emmcboot

There is something wrong if you need to do it like this, simply choosing a menu item should start the kernel.

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	jd4200	2013-03-27 , 22:37
	Posts: 451 \| Thanked: 424 times \| Joined on Apr 2010 @ England	#269

Originally Posted by Skry

There is something wrong if you need to do it like this, simply choosing a menu item should start the kernel.

It was the same issue I was having. No matter how much debugging or re-flashes of the kernel, re-installtion of uboot, or using SD card/emmc could fix it.

I've eventually got it to work by doing a complete emmc/kernel flash, and reinstalled u-boot.
I can't see how, but older versions of u-boot-* must be lingering around on the device no matter how much it is removed.

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AhmadMhd	2013-03-28 , 03:55
Posts: 13 \| Thanked: 6 times \| Joined on Oct 2012 @ Damascus, Syria	#270

Originally Posted by jd4200

It was the same issue I was having. No matter how much debugging or re-flashes of the kernel, re-installtion of uboot, or using SD card/emmc could fix it.

I've eventually got it to work by doing a complete emmc/kernel flash, and reinstalled u-boot.
I can't see how, but older versions of u-boot-* must be lingering around on the device no matter how much it is removed.

@Skry
That may be true

cuz I've installed older version of u-boot before the new one.

but is there any way that I can save the u-boot configuration in a different partition than MyDocs (in /etc for example)