I am working on a group project. We are trying to load Linux onto an eBox 2300-MSJK. This is the website I have found:

http://www.dmp.com.tw/tech/os-xlinux/

DM&P make the Vortex86 system-on-chip that is in the eBox we have.

This is the manual from the above link, from the section "Download and Installation > DM&P X-Linux R5.6 Developer's Manual: xlinux-manual-r563.pdf (263 KB)"

ftp://ftp.dmp.com.tw/os-xlinux/xlinux-manual-r563.pdf

I have followed the instructions from this manual, on page 5, under "Boot From DOS".

I used the 'makebootfat' utility. I have an autoexec.bat file with one line:

@loadlin linux initrd=ramdisk.gz ramdisk_size=32768 root=/dev/ram0 rw

(The manual incorrectly specifies 'loadin' instead of 'loadlin' for the above line)

We are using the Linux distribution "Download and Installation > X-Linux 5.6 for Vortex86DX > Running from DOS: xlr563-dx-ramdisk.tar.gz (8.33 MB)" from the first link posted above.

The flash memory onboard our eBox is 512MB (488MB actual).

On booting, the FreeDOS loads, followed by LoadLin.

The screen shows "LOADING.....",

then

"Now reading INITRD:",

then

"LOADING......(screen full of .'s)",

then

"This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: fpu"

followed by

"Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU"

This thread kind of mentions my problem: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-380xd-614861/

...but there are no solutions listed. 8 hours to compile a kernel? Really? Yikes.

I was wondering if anybody had any ideas? I've done a bit of research, and everything I can find tells me I have to (re)compile the kernel?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Look at 'LinuxRT eBox distribution' to see if that works for you.

BTW, you can build on any computer then move to your embed. It's done all the time, no need to do a compile on such a slow embed. Do a search here on LQ as I know that it's been covered.

You can also look at similar threads at the bottom of this thread.

Just a few links to aid you to gaining some understanding;

Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
Linux Home Networking


The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

You need floating point processor emulation - the maths co processor. Either that, or the kernel thinks you do when you don't.

I don't know your processor. I think if you select i486, you can have floating point emulation. i586 and above didn't have co-processors, iirc

You can stop reading - you definitely need a rebuild, but you can cross compile if you are resource challenged.

I know nothing about ebox or xlinux, but here's an old thread from DSL forum about this hardware.

I'd look at Damn Small Linux and/or Puppy Linux for something like this.