On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 8:14 PM, Karsten Merker merker@debian.org wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 07:35:35AM +0100, Ian Campbell wrote:
On Sat, 2014-04-26 at 23:25 +0200, Karsten Merker wrote:
No uImage is required for sunxi,
no uImage is required for sunxi but a uImage is required for *debian installer*. that is after all the whole point of the exercise. ok, sure you can put debian-installer onto an SD card directly but then you will not be able to install the OS onto the SD card because debian installer will be using it.
karsten it would seem that you are being mis-advised by people not familiar with debian installer, who think that booting off of pre-prepared images is quotes normal quotes.
although it would in some limited cases be useful to boot debian installer without a uImage, it would not be the most helpful thing to the most people.
may i respectfully suggest that you speak to henrik nordstrom (hno) - you can find him on #linux-sunxi - and get a uImage up and running that may be loaded over the USB-FEL. henrik and others such as myself have got USB-FEL up and running for a number of A10 and A20 devices: the advantage of boot-installing a device from USB-FEL is that it is simple to do: just plug in to a Micro-USB, load the 1st stage bootloader directly into RAM, load the kernel directly into RAM, load the debian installer uImage directly into RAM, then hit the execute command. instantly you have all the hardware available on which to install a *clean* OS.
l.
On Sun, 2014-04-27 at 20:32 +0200, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 8:14 PM, Karsten Merker merker@debian.org wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 07:35:35AM +0100, Ian Campbell wrote:
On Sat, 2014-04-26 at 23:25 +0200, Karsten Merker wrote:
No uImage is required for sunxi,
no uImage is required for sunxi but a uImage is required for *debian installer*. that is after all the whole point of the exercise.
What on earth are you on about? Debian installer has absolutely no requirement for uImage. uImages purely a per-platform requirement based on the feature set of the u-boot on the system.
ok, sure you can put debian-installer onto an SD card directly but then you will not be able to install the OS onto the SD card because debian installer will be using it.
Where did anyone in this thread talk about putting d-i onto an SD card?
karsten it would seem that you are being mis-advised by people not familiar with debian installer, who think that booting off of pre-prepared images is quotes normal quotes.
Are you referring to me here? I assure you that I am quite familiar with debian installer and am not at all in the habits of using pre-prepared images.
although it would in some limited cases be useful to boot debian installer without a uImage, it would not be the most helpful thing to the most people.
Utter rubbish.
may i respectfully suggest that you speak to henrik nordstrom (hno) - you can find him on #linux-sunxi - and get a uImage up and running that may be loaded over the USB-FEL. henrik and others such as myself have got USB-FEL up and running for a number of A10 and A20 devices: the advantage of boot-installing a device from USB-FEL is that it is simple to do: just plug in to a Micro-USB, load the 1st stage bootloader directly into RAM, load the kernel directly into RAM, load the debian installer uImage directly into RAM, then hit the execute command. instantly you have all the hardware available on which to install a *clean* OS.
FEL is a good idea for something to support, but it is completely unrelated to uImage AFAICT.
Ian.
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 8:54 PM, Ian Campbell ijc@hellion.org.uk wrote:
On Sun, 2014-04-27 at 20:32 +0200, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 8:14 PM, Karsten Merker merker@debian.org wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 07:35:35AM +0100, Ian Campbell wrote:
On Sat, 2014-04-26 at 23:25 +0200, Karsten Merker wrote:
No uImage is required for sunxi,
no uImage is required for sunxi but a uImage is required for *debian installer*. that is after all the whole point of the exercise.
What on earth are you on about? Debian installer has absolutely no requirement for uImage.
we may be talking at cross-purposes, then. my understanding of debian installer is that in its most stripped down form it is the minimalist netboot system that is typically loaded over PXE networks.
frans pop before his death kindly created a debian installer kernel and uImage for the CT-PC89e. it allowed the people who bought that ARM-based 9in laptop to boot cleanly off of external media, wipe the NAND flash as if it was a standard drive. as the machine came with a pre-loaded proprietary GPL-violating OS this was kinda important.
perhaps it would help to clarify what you have in mind, when you hear the words ¨debian installer¨?
l.
On Sun, 2014-04-27 at 21:10 +0200, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 8:54 PM, Ian Campbell ijc@hellion.org.uk wrote:
On Sun, 2014-04-27 at 20:32 +0200, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 8:14 PM, Karsten Merker merker@debian.org wrote:
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 07:35:35AM +0100, Ian Campbell wrote:
On Sat, 2014-04-26 at 23:25 +0200, Karsten Merker wrote:
No uImage is required for sunxi,
no uImage is required for sunxi but a uImage is required for *debian installer*. that is after all the whole point of the exercise.
What on earth are you on about? Debian installer has absolutely no requirement for uImage.
we may be talking at cross-purposes, then. my understanding of debian installer is that in its most stripped down form it is the minimalist netboot system that is typically loaded over PXE networks.
Which has nothing to do with uImage.
A uImage is a historic u-boot container format containing a Linux zImage (also often called a "vmlinuz"), which was booted using the "bootm" command. This is no longer needed and the zImage can be booted directly with the u-boot "bootz" command.
frans pop before his death kindly created a debian installer kernel and uImage for the CT-PC89e. it allowed the people who bought that ARM-based 9in laptop to boot cleanly off of external media, wipe the NAND flash as if it was a standard drive.
Maybe this platform had a bootloader which needed a uImage, that is not the common case today and is certainly not the case with sunxi.
perhaps it would help to clarify what you have in mind, when you hear the words ¨debian installer¨?
I mean the Debian Installer, the development of which is the subject of the debian-boot list where this thread originated and the thing which Karsten was posting patches against.
The current daily builds of Debian Installer for the next version of Debian can be found at: http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-armhf/current/imag...
initrd.gz and vmlinux-foo in there can be booted as is on sunxi (and many other armv7 systems) from the u-boot prompt using bootz, or using PXE or (on sunxi) by using FEL.
If you want to hijack this thread to talk about some other thing which you want to call "debian installer" then please leave me out of it.
Ian.
On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 9:37 PM, Ian Campbell ijc@hellion.org.uk wrote:
On Sun, 2014-04-27 at 21:10 +0200, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
A uImage is a historic u-boot container format containing a Linux zImage (also often called a "vmlinuz"), which was booted using the "bootm" command. This is no longer needed and the zImage can be booted directly with the u-boot "bootz" command.
ah then i understand the source of the confusion. i was referring to zImage not uImage. i apologise therefore for that because it has been the source of confusion for much of this thread.
anyway, good luck with your endeavours, i wish you all success with your efforts.
l.
arm-netbook@lists.phcomp.co.uk
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Ian Campbell -
Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton