Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

I think I am a veteran of MMC boot, progressed from 2006Os, 2007He, 2008Os, internal, 2G to 16G, over 10 posts on MMC boot by myself, and I cannot search and find my own post!

I believe MMC boot is the number one hack for the tablet, or at least number two on application, right after MaemoMapper. MMC boot is NOT an application, not yet at the present stage, and it is technically challenging. Currently the largest thread are Fanoush (Nokia 770, 165 posts; Software>2008Os but posts have involved 2006Os 2007Os, 105 posts) Penguinbait (under Upgrading and we know, MMC boot is not necessary upgrade, 224 posts), and Milhouse's script (under Software>2007 Os but applicable to 2008Os, 291 posts) and are all under the wrong(?) forum AND different forums. Flipping between forums to get a grib is pain in the a55.
And search on info how to do it, comes up with more than a dozen of "MMC boot, how I did it", and search for "MMC boot, help, wont work, screw up" comes up more than several pages.

Finally, we know we have to visit MMC boot everytime, at least for myself, when there is a new OS, be it revision or upgrade.

I got my point accross. Please consolidate into a forum or subforum or subsubforum, that would tidy up the iTT and easier for people to find info. Wiki is NOT the solution. Thanks,


bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Come on, you guys, I cannot do everything by myself!
Where are those senior gurus of the forum? I need your support.

Just for today 2/16/08, there are 6 threads going on simultaneously about MMC boot (or KDE requiring MMC boot), each thread has more than 4-5 posts, for a total of 30 posts in 1 day. I myself, bunanson, already posted 9 of them. I think a subforum is absolutely justified. No subforum will translate into more fragmented info and disgruntled or discouraged MMC boot "attempters". A subforum is


bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

New_2_Linux, post your current status here, we will get it done.


bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Thanks bunanson. Before announcing my problem, I'd like to inform you all that I am very new to Linux and all these operating as the OS I use most of the times is Windows. However, please scold or flame if you must to get me to understand how to operate this process of booting a 16gb SDHC onto n800. Second, I would like to state that I have succeeded in booting from 2 GB SD card using this website http://thisweekinnuclear.com/KDEonN800.html, on maemo.org (how to easily boot from a mmc). Unfortunately, I struggled a lot because I didn't really understand what they were really talking about with the repository and stuff. And some stuff is missing because I believe they expect people to know it already. Such would be installing becomeroot in order to do sudo gainroot on xterm. Overall, I really didnt really know how I managed to boot from a 2GB SD card, but it was probably luck. I decided to install KDE, but it failed because it did not have sufficient capacity. Now before this time, I had about 1.4 gb on the device to use and around 400mb on the partition. KDE requires 1.5gb, so I decided to find the tarballs and certain files, but with my "newb-self" I wasn't able to find the tarballs or detemine which file is unnecessary to have. I tried to do search and type in tar and stuff like that, but it's not there. However, I began to realize that even with 2gb sd Card, I don't think that is sufficient for me as I want my n800 to have as much as possible because I would like to keep many useful apps to run on n800 and not just KDE. So I decided to purchase a 16gb SDHC ADATA card. After searching around, I have found so many people failing to boot from a 16gb SDHC. I began to be hopeless, but surprisingly, I came across this thread from Milhouse and bunanson and a few other people. I was very excited to see that they are able to boot from the 16gb SDHC.

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

This is the instruction I lean towards in hoping to boot a 16gb on n800 with os2008.

Here are the steps:
1. Reflash my n800 to os2008.
2. I believe we need to install os xterm, but on os2008, it already has the included os xterm(v. 1.6).
3. I added the repository: http://repository.maemo.org/, bora, free non-free
4. Then install becomeroot by doing this:
Web Address: http://eko.one.pl/maemo
Distribution: bora or mistral (N800 or 770 respectively)
Components: user
Afterward, I went to browse installable, and installed becomeroot.
5. sudo gainroot
apt-get install wget
exit (question, must we exit and then tye back gainroot for the next step? It seems pointless)
6. sudo gainroot
apt-get update
apt-get install e2fsprogs
exit (again, must we exit?)
7. #sfdisk /dev/mmcblk0 -uM

/dev/mmcblk0p1: 0,14000,0C
/dev/mmcblk0p2: ,,,
/dev/mmcblk0p3:
/dev/mmcblk0p4:
Question: By doing this it leaves the device with about 1gb of capacity only right? Why would we want to do that b/c we would be limited to the 1gb of app only. Or am I wrong? Well I followed the instruction anyway since I don't know much.

8. This step is to install fanoush and I have no idea how to so I went to this website and did:
http://fanoush.wz.cz/maemo/initfs_flasher.tgz
Install the flasher application to create a boot menu (won't have to repeat this if you redo these steps in the future for a new SD card)

# cd /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/
# tar zxvf initfs_flasher.tgz (check location of Tar first)
# cd initfs_flasher/
# ./initfs_flash
Question: Throughout the entire process, do I say yes to everything? Here are a few questions I could recall: do you want to install telnet?, do you want to delete unecessary extras, do you want to install something bear. Anyway, I said yes to all. After those questions, it asks me, " are you ready to reflash the image?" Saying yes would install something I believe and reboot asking me which slot I want to boot on ( I thought this only occurs when we get to the last step which is after installing the OS). Saying No doesn't seem to have the file installed because, then after I complete the whole process as in the final step of rebooting after installing OS, it doesn't allow me to choose which to boot from.
I also would like to include that reflashing the image, makes me reboot and I chose MMC card, partition 2, ext2, but it failed and started to boot on flash. I receive this once I get to the desktop view: Memory corrupted or not formatted. ***Notice: I have followed other people's advise and had used panasonic formatted SD card. I have selected the FULL format and something Flash on, however, as a result after the completion, it shows that the card has been formatted to 15.4gb and so on, but it puts (it failed to do a FULL format Flash on because this device does not support it). Once again, the SDHC I am using is a 16GB A-DATA from neweggs $65.
9. For this problem of memory corrupted after it reflash the image, I began to take the last step before installing the initfs_flash.tgz which is:
mkdir ~/bin
cd ~/bin
wget http://www.nmacleod.com/nokia/bin/nupgrade.sh
wget http://www.nmacleod.com/nokia/bin/tar
chmod +x nupgrade.sh tar

and then sudo gainroot
cd /home/user/bin
./nupgrade.sh 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

In this step, it clones the OS2008, Sadly, it completed with many files not being able to install due to the limited capacity. By following Milhouse's script, I believe my device has 1 gb and the rest goes to the partition. Again, here was the step I did for the mmc1 and mmc2:
#sfdisk /dev/mmcblk0 -uM

/dev/mmcblk0p1: 0,300,06
/dev/mmcblk0p2: ,,,
/dev/mmcblk0p3:
/dev/mmcblk0p4:
(btw, must we umount /media/mmc2 or something? well I believe I had to do that for sfdisk to work) And I also tried to umount the way bananson as well and then did the sfdisk. Well, I really wish you guys could help me, but even if you guys cannot, I appreciate for reading. Will keep checking on this thread, maybe there will be miracle. Thanks every one!

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

This is NOT good enough, I am afraid, the 16G will give you about 15.3G after formatting, this will leave you with 1.3G space for progs install. Subsitute 14000 with 13600 is more failsafe.

For 16 G, what brand is your SD card? If it is Adata, you need low level formatting, http://panasonic.jp/support/global/c...formatter.html. You will know if the formatting is not good....


So how are we doing?


bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

__________________________________________________ ___
No. It failed not because of capacity. It failed because the card is not partition right.

Redo the panasonic low level formatting, the rest will be straight forward.

and the new script does not use step 1,2,3,4. The new script everything is automatic, look at thread #292 of Milhouse simple clone.....thread.



bun
__________________________________________________ __________

Hey, please stop asking many questions in one post, it took me a lot of problem to answer. I do not have a good blogger...........

Regarding the formatting, use any option but the quick option, it takes for a long time, quick formatting does NOT work.

post back if question

bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

What if I were to flash n800 again, Do I need to redo the initfs_flash.tgz again? Aside from this, I have already done the panasonic format, a Full Fromat. Yes the one that took forever, and as a result, it stated that it has sucessfully format the SDHC which is 15.4 gb. However it also has this: (it was not able to do the the Full Flash on because this device does not support it). I will run this n800 again right now. Thanks!

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Yes, reflash made you lose the bootmenu. There is a way to do without losing it. We will try that in the future. Why do you want to reflash the N800? There is NO point to reflash the N800. Full format with erase ON or Off is a moot point, it makes no difference. You may have to try with some other SD card if problem persisted.


bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Is there a procedure there? Sorry I clicked on it and it only shows something about installing maemo SDK. By the way, is there anything else I should say no to besides the step where you install fanoush? Before finding about the panasonic, I have tried to format it using windows by right clicking on the icon of the drive and format. I had also tried to format it by inserting it into the cannon S5 to low-level format it as well because it has that option. Could that affect it? I apologize for asking too many questions in one post, I will try to ask less. But I don't want to make too many posts. Anyway if you don't mind I have added you to my buddy list on AIM, maybe we could chat there. Thanks!

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

MMC booting doesn't need it's own forum, subforum, subsubforum, etc. At most, one stickied thread with detailed step-by-step instructions will suffice.

Digging through the forum's search isn't that hard. The problem is that people don't search at all. Google gives quality hits on this matter linking to pages with detailed instructions.

How about a forum on "how to search effectively" instead?

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

I spent a lot of times searching. I've explored on it for over 2 weeks, with about an average of 2 hours each night. Those are the websites I found, as far as booting and stuff like that. But just so many confusions that I can't seem to find all the answers together and understand better how the system works. It took me awhile to learn about the repository and such. I have to admit, I am very slow trying to adapt this specific new system. I basically almost gave up until I emailed bunanson for help. I never expected bunanson to respond back. But he really did and was extremely generous to this newb(me). I was actually planning to ebay this n800 because of my lack of intelligence of operating this n800 to boot on a 16gb SDHC. Well he sure did bring me hopes back. I appreciate it and I also appreciate you for telling me that I should search. Regardless helpful or not, you all put time into responding to this problem that I am facing, I thank each and every one of you.

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Please do not have to find the Panasonic, I gave it to you in the previous post, (here again, http://panasonic.jp/support/global/c...formatter.html) just click it to open a web page, dl the software, install it (talks only 10 second, a very small program), stuck in your SD card, and run any option but the quickformat, erase on or off makes NO difference. And take the SD card out and put in the tablet, and now, you do not have to redo the wget/dl/chmod +x all these BS, just run the ./nupgrade.sh 0-4 or the automatic one, the newer script, you are home!
Please use the panasonic one, I am NOT familiar with other formatter and do not want to investigate another variable.

Oh, I never meant to read that you are asking too many Qs. No, that is no what I meant. Feel free to ask as many as you want to. Oh, yes, add my AIM to your buddy list, we can then chat.... keep on trying, it will work.


bun


bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Unfortunately you are not on. I am on right now. However I don't mind staying up all night if I must, but if it's getting late or if you are tired, you should go get some sleep. I definitely don't want to make you struggle as this is my problem so you should do it out of your available time and not squeeze in. Thanks! We could definitely discuss it a lot better on AIM. I've added you, talk to you when you are on.

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Seriously, guys, what we need is an idiot-proof (me) step-by-step no-possibility-of-getting-it-wrong procedure to boot from internal MMC.

I have an Adata card and never realised it needed the Panasonic low-level formatting until now :(

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

There is no such thing. 'Idiots' are very clever at breaking stuff and getting lost. No chance to outsmart them in this area :-) Also most problems are caused by making typos or not following guides properly so such guide won't fix it.

IMO the solution is to make is as automatic as possible - http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ead.php?t=8631

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Yeah, no single person created more threads on this topic than you ;-) But don't get me wrong, we may differ in opinions on how many threads are needed to create but you are still doing great job by helping out newbies, thanks :-)

As for new forum - Well, personally I click 'new posts' or just use search, I never browse various subforums by its name, there is too many of them already (= more than one :-) and this IMO adds to the confusion. Where you should put topic about troubleshooting something with N810? 'Troubleshooting' 'N810' or 'OS2008'? Also sadly from time to time some poor soul gets an idea the best thing is to post same thing to all of them :-)

But still I see your point. It could be still useful to some people but only if someone would go over all old threads related to this and move it to this new 'mmc boot' forum. Which is IMO next to impossible and not worth the effort.

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Well, when the master speaks out, I listen. I drop the idea. I think the present situuation is not as CRITICAL as I thought to be, it is managable, and, in particular, somebody find the energy to gather all info is "not worth the effort". Thanks.

bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Well in this case I'm not best person to listen to and to shoot this idea down :-)

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Trying to explain the intricacies of Google-fu to a newbie is like trying to explain nuclear fission to a turtle--it simply can't be done.

Google-fu must be earned through hard work and perseverance. :p

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Well, that is also what I believe too. However, some echo the opinion that they want to 'know' the step cloning process, so prefer not to use Milhouse's script - 'I do not want a black box', so they go with wiki, now have problems and want help. Does it sound like a catch 44, 2 x of catch 22? Dont get me wrong, I will help, but, "bite' what you can chew"... In the end, I made them all go with Mil's script :)


bun

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

I had a really difficult time with partitioning and formatting - I would like to see either a seperate forum for partitioning or a sticky... better yet would be a wiki that can be maintained with current information about how to partition and boot from the mmc.

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Right, so you made it (like many people before). You are (like many people before) in ideal position to write such wiki page then ;-) See the problem?

Re: Its time for MMC boot to have a forum of itself
 

Another forum to fragment things more is a bad idea. Somebody just needs to go and write (and maintain) a wiki page that covers the whole procedure exhaustively for each and every maemo device.