ARMedSlack and Raspberry Pi?

justwantin · 06-07-2012, 04:29 AM

Quote:

there is also a premade 13.37 image available

I received my pi two days ago. Ran with debian image the first day and found it a slow boot with some issues I didn't stick around long enough to figure out. After apt-get updates and loads of sudos I had wired network up and ran LXDE but it wasn't as responsive as I would have liked. The next day I ran the arch image. Very fast boot. I got wireless up and pacman'ed what I was supposed to need for LXDE but never got it up and running.

Today a downloaded the above image ponce pointed out above and ran it on my pi. What a difference! The default wm is XFCE but it was much better than the debian experience. Add a user, run netconfig then /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 eth0 and I have a wired connection. Edit /etc/inittab to run level 4 and Bob's your uncle. I'm home.

Much better graphics out of the box with full resolution on a 20" monitor. No black framed 800 X 600 as was the case with debian.

drmozes · 06-07-2012, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markush

distcc is very nice, I've often used it with Gentoo. But since you will need a toolchain anyway when using distcc, I'd consider to crosscompile the packages for armedslack.
Markus

The build script for armedslack-current's distcc toolchain is on the FTP site.
You just need to build it and then you can use distcc on the ARM machines.

ponce · 06-07-2012, 10:21 AM

thanks a lot Stuart, also for that magic script!

55020 · 07-01-2012, 09:06 PM

Announcing a boatload of Raspberry Pi goodies here: http://daves-slackbuilds.comlu.com/raspi/

There's a Slackware ARM Installer image, up to date kernel and boot packages, a package that hacks fixes for several annoying problems, some patches for xorg on -current, and XFCE 4.10

The new kernels and boot firmware are a big improvement.

I hope it all works properly. If it does, Enjoy

justwantin · 07-01-2012, 11:52 PM

Cheers!!!

ponce · 07-01-2012, 11:53 PM

Great! I will try it as soon as possible, but in the meantime thanks a lot for your work, Dave!

brianL · 07-02-2012, 05:19 AM

I "expressed an interest" in Raspberry Pi ages ago (can't remember exactly when), and have heard nothing since. It might be that they're picky about email addresses. From:
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalD..._--_-questions

Quote:

Q - I do not seem to be receiving email updates from you

A - Generic email addresses such as admin@ or sales@ may have filters that could prevent you from receiving our emails. If you are about to register please use a non-generic email address such as name.name@. If you have already registered your interest in Raspberry Pi but you have not received any email from us, this could be the reason. In order to change your registration email address please contact us at raspberrypi@rswww.com highlighting your full name and also the original email address you used to register, as well as your new email address. Please note email addresses cannot be amended once an order has been placed.

My email address isn't admin or sales@, though. I'm not desperate, anyway. Probably **** it up, like I've done with my SheevaPlug.

thermite_1033 · 07-02-2012, 06:17 AM

I'm trying to create a script for generating a armedslack image for the raspberry pi, it looks like everything is correct and it should boot but it doesn't. On screen only the cursor keeps blinking.

Code:

#!/bin/bash


if [ $EUID -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "you need to be root"
  exit 1
fi

slack_release="current"

# always in megabytes
bootsize="64M"
rootsize="3776M"
swapsize="256M"
# these 3 sizes must add up to imagesize
imagesize="4096M"

splitGPUMEM="224" # 128 (for headless server of low grahical uses) or 192 (medium graphical use) or 224(video watching, ...)
kernelparams="dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 rootwait" 


newhostname="armslackPI"
newrootpassword="pi"
keylayout="us"

imagesizeMB=`expr "$imagesize" : '\([[:digit:]]*\)'`
bootsizeMB=`expr "$bootsize" : '\([[:digit:]]*\)'`
rootsizeMB=`expr "$rootsize" : '\([[:digit:]]*\)'`
swapsizeMB=`expr "$swapsize" : '\([[:digit:]]*\)'`

buildenv="./pi"

rootfs="${buildenv}/root"
bootfs="${rootfs}/boot"

creationdate=`date +%Y%m%d`

cleanup ()
{
echo "cleaning up"
umount $bootp > /dev/null 2> /dev/null
umount $rootp > /dev/null 2> /dev/null


losetup -d $bootp > /dev/null 2> /dev/null
losetup -d $rootp > /dev/null 2> /dev/null
losetup -d $swapp > /dev/null 2> /dev/null

}

cleanupfailure ()
{
 cleanup
 echo failure
 exit 1
}

echo "creating image"
mkdir -p $buildenv || cleanupfailure
image="${buildenv}/rpi_armedslack_${slack_release}_${mydate}.img"
rm $image 2> /dev/null
dd if=/dev/zero of=$image bs=1MB count=$imagesizeMB || cleanupfailure


echo "$image created"


fdisk $image << EOF
n
p
1

+$bootsize
t
c
n
p
2

+$rootsize
t
2
83
n
p
3

+$swapsize
t
3
82



w
EOF

echo "written partition table"

echo "setting loopdevices for the partitions"
offset=$(( 2048 * 512))
sizelimit=$(( $bootsizeMB * 1024 * 1024))
bootp=`losetup --offset $offset --sizelimit $sizelimit --show -f $image`


offset=$(( $offset + sizelimit))
sizelimit=$(( $rootsizeMB * 1024 * 1024))
rootp=`losetup --offset $offset --sizelimit $sizelimit --show -f $image`

offset=$(( $offset + sizelimit))
sizelimit=$(( $swapsizeMB * 1024 * 1024))
swapp=`losetup --offset $offset --sizelimit $sizelimit --show -f $image`

echo "creating filesystems"
mkfs.vfat $bootp || cleanupfailure
mkfs.ext4 $rootp || cleanupfailure
mkswap $swapp || cleanupfailure


echo "setting up root fs"
tempcurrentdir=`pwd`

mkdir -p $rootfs
echo "mounting root $rootp on $rootfs"
mount $rootp $rootfs || cleanupfailure




# getting the armslack packages, using rsync

echo "retrieving/updating armedslack"

rsync -Pavv --exclude=source --delete ftp.armedslack.org::armedslack/armedslack-${slack_release} . > /dev/null

if [ ! -d armedslack-${slack_release}/slackware ]; then
   echo "Unable to find slackware package directory"
   cleanupfailure
fi

# all package sets
PKGSETLIST="a \
ap \
l \
n \
x \
xap
"
# all seperate packages
#packages from extra must be relative against armedslack/slackware directory, examples; y/bsd-games ../extra/bittornado/bittornado
PKGLIST="../extra/bittorrent/bittorrent \
"


rootfs=`cd $rootfs; pwd` # make absolute

echo "installing packages in $rootfs"
for PKGL in $PKGSETLIST ; do
  pushd armedslack-${slack_release}/slackware > /dev/null
    installpkg -root $rootfs $PKGL/*.t?z || cleanupfailure
  popd > /dev/null 
done

for PKG in $PKGLIST ; do
  pushd armedslack-${slack_release}/slackware > /dev/null
    installpkg -root $rootfs $PKG*.t?z || cleanupfailure
  popd > /dev/null 
done

echo "configuring the installation in $rootfs"


cat << EOF >> etc/ld.so.conf
/lib
/usr/lib
EOF
ldconfig -r $rootfs


# Create fstab
cat << EOF > $rootfs/etc/fstab
#
# Sample /etc/fstab 
# 
# 
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
#
# tmpfs            /dev/shm         tmpfs       defaults         0   0
#
/dev/mmcblk0p1       /boot           fat    errors=remount-ro 0       0
/dev/mmcblk0p3       none            swap    sw               0       0
/dev/mmcblk0p2       /            ext4    errors=remount-ro   0       1
EOF

chmod +x $rootfs/etc/rc.d/rc.{ssh*,rpc}

cat << EOF > $rootfs/etc/rc.d/rc.keymap
#!/bin/sh
# Load the keyboard map.  More maps are in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps.
if [ -x /usr/bin/loadkeys ]; then
 /usr/bin/loadkeys $keylayout.map
fi
EOF
chmod 755 $rootfs/etc/rc.d/rc.keymap

echo $newhostname > etc/HOSTNAME

if [ -d $rootfs/usr/share/fonts/ ]; then
   ( cd $rootfs/usr/share/fonts/
     find . -type d -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 | while read dir ; do
     ( cd $dir
        mkfontscale .
        mkfontdir . )
     done
   /usr/bin/fc-cache -f )
fi


if [ -d $rootfs/etc/X11/xinit/ ]; then
   ( cd $rootfs/etc/X11/xinit/
     ln -vfs xinitrc.wmaker xinitrc )
fi

cat << EOF > $rootfs/tmp/setrootpw
/usr/bin/echo "root:$ROOTPASS" | /usr/sbin/chpasswd
EOF
chmod 755 $rootfs/tmp/setrootpw
chroot $rootfs /tmp/setrootpw
rm -f $rootfs/tmp/setrootpw


sed -i 's?USE_DHCP\[0\]=.*?USE_DHCP\[0\]="yes"?g' $rootfs/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf 

cat << EOF > $rootfs/etc/e2fsck.conf
# These options stop e2fsck from erroring/requiring manual intervention
# when it encounters bad time stamps on filesystems -- which happens on
# the Versatile platform because QEMU does not have RTC (real time clock)
# support.
#
[options]
        accept_time_fudge = 1
        broken_system_clock = 1
EOF

echo "vchiq
snd_bcm2835
" >> $rootfs/etc/modules

rm -r $rootfs/boot/*
rm -r $rootfs/lib/modules/*

#setup boot fs
echo "setting up boot fs"
mkdir -p $bootfs
echo "mounting boot $bootp on $bootfs"
mount $bootp $bootfs || cleanupfailure

# download the latest firmwares/kernel
firmware=$buildenv/firmware

if [ -d "$firmware/.git" ]; then
  tempcurrentdir=`pwd`
  cd $firmware
  git pull || cleanupfailure
  cd $tempcurrentdir
else
 git clone git://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-firmware.git $firmware || cleanupfailure
fi

#copy all to boot dir except the .git stuff

targetdir=`cd $bootfs; pwd`
tempcurrentdir=`pwd`
# cd $firmware
# find . -type f | grep -iv .git | xargs -r -I TT cp -r --parents TT $targetdir || cleanupfailure
# cd $tempcurrentdir
cp $firmware/* $targetdir # || cleanupfailure

# decide which start.elf to use

cp $bootfs/arm${splitGPUMEM}_start.elf $bootfs/start.elf || cleanupfailure

echo $kernelparams > $bootfs/cmdline.txt

echo "boot fs done"


echo "installing kernel modules"
mkdir $rootfs/lib
cp -r $firmware/modules $rootfs/lib

echo "copying vc"
mkdir $rootfs/opt
cp -r $firmware/vc $rootfs/opt

cleanup

echo "succes; created image in $image now use dd command to put it on an sd"

can somebody give me some pointers what needs to change to make it bootable?

55020 · 07-02-2012, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thermite_1033

I'm trying to create a script for generating a armedslack image for the raspberry pi, it looks like everything is correct and it should boot but it doesn't. On screen only the cursor keeps blinking.

can somebody give me some pointers what needs to change to make it bootable?

I don't know if the following pointers solve everything, but here goes:

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=$image bs=1MB count=$imagesizeMB || cleanupfailure

'bs=1MB' in the dd command means 1*1000*1000, not 1*1024*1024. Therefore the image is smaller than you think. You need to use 'bs=1M'.

Code:

fdisk $image << EOF
n
p
1
[...]
w
EOF

You need to allow for the partition table overhead before partition 1. You can see the error messages when the script is run:

Code:

Partition number (1-4, default 3): First sector (7866368-7999999, default 7866368): Using default value 7866368
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (7866368-7999999, default 7999999): Value out of range.
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (7866368-7999999, default 7999999): Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (7866368-7999999, default 7999999): Value out of range.
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (7866368-7999999, default 7999999): Value out of range.
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (7866368-7999999, default 7999999): Using default value 7999999

Best fix would be to calculate a smaller swapsize instead of setting it as a constant:

Code:

bootsizeMB="64"
rootsizeMB="3776"
imagesizeMB="4096"
swapsizeMB=$(( $imagesizeMB - $bootsizeMB - $rootsizeMB - 3 ))

bootsize="${bootsizeMB}M"
rootsize="${rootsizeMB}M"
imagesize="${imagesizeMB}M"
swapsize="${swapsizeMB}M"

Other stuff:

Code:

splitGPUMEM="224" # 128 (for headless server of low grahical uses) or 192 (medium graphical use) or 224(video watching, ...)

arm192_start.elf gives 192 to Linux and 64 to the GPU, arm224_start.elf gives 224 to Linux and 32 to the GPU, so the comment is the wrong way round ;-)

Code:

kernelparams="dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 rootwait"

Slackware prefers the root filesystem to be read-only until it's remounted, so add 'ro' at the end. If you're not using the serial output, change 'console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200' to 'console=tty1', like this:

Code:

kernelparams="dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 rootwait ro"

But you have some good ideas in there too. In particular, the e2fsck.conf idea is great and I'll probably steal it! Thanks!

Edit: Damn, I forgot to mention, the ARMedslack devs package doesn't include device nodes for /dev/mmcblk*, and that might be another problem. Create the nodes like this:

Code:

mknod -m 660 $rootfs/dev/mmcblk0    b 179  0
mknod -m 660 $rootfs/dev/mmcblk0p1  b 179  1
mknod -m 660 $rootfs/dev/mmcblk0p2  b 179  2
mknod -m 660 $rootfs/dev/mmcblk0p3  b 179  3
chown root:disk $rootfs/dev/mmcblk*

Another Edit: Someone else (way above my brain level) reminds me that udev is active from very early in the boot, so the static device nodes are unlikely to be important

unclejed613 · 07-02-2012, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 55020

Announcing a boatload of Raspberry Pi goodies here: http://daves-slackbuilds.comlu.com/raspi/

There's a Slackware ARM Installer image, up to date kernel and boot packages, a package that hacks fixes for several annoying problems, some patches for xorg on -current, and XFCE 4.10

The new kernels and boot firmware are a big improvement.

I hope it all works properly. If it does, Enjoy

while i wait for a raspi, i am using qemu to "get accquainted" ..... any way to load the armedslack image into qemu? i don't have enough experience with qemu to "automagically" get the command line right.....

55020 · 07-03-2012, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejed613

while i wait for a raspi, i am using qemu to "get accquainted" ..... any way to load the armedslack image into qemu? i don't have enough experience with qemu to "automagically" get the command line right.....

You can't run the Raspberry Pi boot images on qemu -- qemu is more like a different arm machine in its own right, with different 'hardware' than the Pi. The Pi boots using its GPU and SD card, but qemu doesn't have them. Also, Linux kernels for ARM are not interchangeable between machines, so you can't use a Pi kernel on qemu, you can't use a Tegra kernel on the Pi etc etc. But (apart from booting and the kernel) everything else in Slackware ARM is transferable between qemu and the Pi.

If it's any consolation, I actually found qemu more difficult -- and I'm still waiting for my Pi too, but I've borrowed one from a jammy **** who has three!

brianL · 07-03-2012, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 55020

You can't run the Raspberry Pi boot images on qemu

Quite a few distros have been:

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&gs_nf....,cf.osb&cad=b

ponce · 07-03-2012, 05:16 AM

FYI, it looks like that farnell will open for general orders (without registering interest) on july 5th.

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/bespoke/be...aspberryPi.jsp

brianL · 07-03-2012, 05:18 AM

Thanks, ponce. Might try to get one then.

55020 · 07-03-2012, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

Quite a few distros have been:

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&gs_nf....,cf.osb&cad=b

Wellll, that's not the same thing. Those links show people running non-Pi 'versatile' kernels (which are already available in ARMedslack). Also, the two images I've prepped are partitioned in a way that's obvious for the Pi but nonobvious for qemu (the root partition is partition 2, not partition 1, because on the Pi /boot *must* be vfat, and *must* be p1, and *must* contain the closed source boot blobs). Also also, I've not included the kernel modules for 'versatile' under /lib/modules. I could, but would the extra space be justified? (Actually, thanks to your question, I'm now thinking maybe yes

)

So, although those links purport to show people running Pi stuff on qemu, they've done it by ignoring everything that makes the Pi a Pi and using qemu-specific stuff instead.

You could get the same effect with my Pi miniroot I've prepped by adding the versatile modules and then specifying -kernel blah -append "root=/dev/sda2" etc, but if you're going to do that, you're be better off using the official ARMedslack miniroot image -- it's already got all the right stuff for qemu.

As for the installer image, again, if you want to do that in qemu, use the standard ARMedslack installer. My RasPi Installer image is quite different. Slackware's installer images, including ARMedslack, have everything in an separate initrd.gz file. Unfortunately, you can't (currently) use a separate initrd.gz file on the Pi, because the GPU based bootloader doesn't support it. You have to build the initramfs directly into the kernel image itself. That's why you can't use the Pi installer on qemu, and you can't use the qemu installer on the Pi. But really, that's the *only* structural difference between the two installers.

Except for the boot and the kernel, you aren't losing any part of the Pi experience by using standard ARMedslack on qemu -- after all, the whole point is that the Pi experience should be the *same* as standard ARMedslack.

Edit: Umm, I think I may have misunderstood the original question. Yes, you **CAN** run standard ARMedslack on qemu, and there are instructions here INSTALL_QEMU.TXT and tools in the armedslack-devtools. What you can't run directly on qemu is the Pi-specific stuff I've been cranking out. For pragmatic reasons that could change, but the definitive official standard qemu implementation is official standard ARMedslack, the original and still the best

Sorry for the confusion!