Hi Dave,
> Thanks for the info. I've looked at your docs previously in setting
> up crosstool. So far, I've managed to download and compile the
> kernel. Your docs suggest compiling modutils, but my
> ts_7200-manual(rev 2.2) doesn't ... so I'm a bit confused on that.
The last step of the kernel build, i.e., make modules_install
uses the depmod tool, which is part of modutils. Perhaps you
didn't run that step and find you needed the tool.
> I have a USB compact flash reader, and even the luxury of a spare 1
> gig flash card! But where I'm really lost is on what exactly to copy
> up to that card now. As I've said, I've compiled the ts11 kernel ...
> but don't know precisely how to copy it up to the flash card. Also,
> what about filesystem basics and other executables? vi?
>
> I see the instructions regarding RedBoot. But what about other
> aspects of my root filesystem? EG., /bin, /sbin, etc... I don't see
> how or where I compile all those things.
>
> What I'm basically doing is putting a new 2.4 (ts11) kernel + various
> executables on a new flash memory card to be used by the TS-7200
> board. Unfortunately, I'm a bit stuck wrt. copying things up to the
> card mounted as a USB drive on my Intel based laptop.
>
> Input / advice appreciated.
As you can tell from the document, I'm at a similar point.
So it sounds like the TS-7200 uses a CF card, whereas the
TS-7300 uses an SD card. Regardless, the basics are the
same.
The TS guys have copied Debian as their reference filesystem.
As far as creating custom filesystems, the simplest way is
to start with whatever TS have created and add to that.
'Add to that' generally means that on your development machine
you have some form of /home/dave/ts7200/filesystem folder
that you have copies of etc/ bin/ sbin/ dev/ and so on that
you copy ARM executables and scripts into. In fact if a tool
has been setup for cross-compilation correctly, the
--prefix for the build can be set to that build folder
and things will be installed in the right spot.
When you want to use this filesystem you can use it NFS mounted,
or you can copy it onto a CF card for use.
I haven't tried this, but I think it should work, unpack
the TS filesystem for your board, and then mount it using
NFS, then use chroot on your board to use that mounted
filesystem as the new root. Try running applications or
building something. If it works, it proves you have a working
filesystem. Type mount, and you should see that root is
coming from an NFS mount. Now you can hack the filesystem
on your development machine without bricking your current
working filesystem.
I'm not sure how TS setup their CF card, but the SD card
kernels use a partition for the kernel, another for an
initial RAM disk (to hold their proprietary SD card driver),
and then the filesystem image. Its possible that the CF
card is just treated as an IDE drive, and you'll find
the kernel in /boot/.
Building a custom filesystem from scratch is generally a lot
of work. Google 'Linux from Scratch'
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
Files like bin/ sbin/ etc are initially empty directories,
and they are populated as you build up your filesystem.
Configuration files like /etc/hosts either start out
mostly empty, or you just copy from a development machine.
For example, for a PowerPC system I am using, I just use
the Denx Embedded Linux Development Kit (ELDK), www.denx.de.
Its a PowerPC version of most of the modules from Fedora
Core 5 (or perhaps its a Yellow Dog Linux distro). There
is also OpenEmbedded which maintains a Linux filesystem,
though I've never looked at it.
As another example, for our PXE booted x86 machines, we
install Centos 4.1 on a machine, then copy it to an NFS
server. All the machines use a read-only copy of /bin,
and machine specific versions of /etc, and other files.
The /etc/fstab file determines which NFS filesystems
are mounted where, and whether read-only or read-write.
Basically its easier to start with something known, eg.
Debian, and then remove the stuff you don't want,
keep a copy of that and call it your template, and then
start adding more packages.
Debain uses different configuration files that the
Red Hat based stuff, so configuring the system is a little
different, however, its just files ...
Sorry if this is stuff you are familiar with, but there
might be a gem or two in there for you.
Cheers,
Dave
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