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[ts-7000] Re: ts-7800 / compatible kernel status (and fconfig?)

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Subject: [ts-7000] Re: ts-7800 / compatible kernel status (and fconfig?)
From: "k_boal" <>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:08:32 -0000
Hi Chris,

Were you able to get the RedBoot bootstrap operating the TS-7800? I
had been considering trying to find a way to get RedBoot running on
this system, but I don't yet have an absolute need for this. My
understanding was the TS-7800s use the proprietary TS-BOOTROM loader
which is burned into the flash device. Unless you have RedBoot working
fconfig will not help you here I think.

It has been a while since I've worked with the MTD driver on that low
of a level, but if I recall correctly, it does in fact lock and unlock
partitions. The system I was working on at the time had a goofy
partitioning scheme and the last two partitions were not properly
aligned, and there was code in the MTD driver which locked it at a low
level. There wasn't too much effort needed to get around this.
However, I don't imagine this being a problem here since a quick look
at /proc/mtd shows all of the partitions on the [factory] TS-7800 are
correctly aligned with 0x20000. I don't believe you should have any
problems locking and unlocking the device from userspace code, but as
I said, it has been a while.  

That said, I don't anticipate there being be too much of a problem in
writing an update daemon or something similar if you are looking for a
clean updating system. A simple socket server bound to all local
interfaces or something of the sort would likely suffice.

The cheap and dirty way is to simply write over the partition with
zeros, cat the kernel/ramdisk images, and redirect their output to the
respective MTD partition. The only place you might run into trouble
with this is if these partitions happen to be formatted with a system
that supports wear-leveling. It would not make sense to format the
kernel or ramdisk partitions in that manner though...  

Without knowing more about the particular flash device and the state
of your TS-7800, I can't really offer much else; sorry. Hopefully it
was enough to point you in the right direction at least. Good luck!

Thanks,
Kunaal  



--- In  Christopher Friedt <> wrote:
>
> I was just wondering what the kernel status of the TS-7800 is - 
> particularly, are all of the necessary patches integrated into the 
> mailine kernel?
> 
> What, if any, are the proprietary TS modules that are binary-only?
> 
> Also, I was wondering if there is a suggested method to replace the
kernel.
> 
> For a while, I was looking into the userspace fconfig utility available 
> here:
> 
> http://andrzejekiert.ovh.org/software.html.en
> 
> pointed out in this message:
> 
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ts-7000/message/10646
> 
> But i wasn't having any luck with it.
> 
> I remember that there might be a slight problem where the flash 
> partition needed to be locked/unlocked, but the mtd driver doesn't do 
> that, and it would be too ugly to do it in userspace.
> 
> The original author solved this by keeping his redboot configuration on 
> an EEPROM. He was using a completely different board though.
> 
> Has anyone had any success with the userspace fconfig utility?
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Chris
>



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