Question for Buzz

Everything relating to hacking, expanding and modifying the Joggler hardware.
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pete
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Question for Buzz

Post by pete »

Can I put an EFI boot partition on the MMC that will boot your latest version of Ubuntu off an SSD drive?

I am currently using a mini USB stick boot inside of the Joggler to boot the SSD to Linux.

I want to leave the wireless USB stick inside and just boot from the mmc to the SSD.

Can I just copy the EFI boot directory on the USB stick stuff over to the MMC EFI boot partition?

boot.nsh reads

fs1:
grub

startup.nsh reads

fs1:boot2
fs0:boot

grub.cfg reads

loadfont /unicode.pf2
terminal_output gfxterm
set timeout=5
menuentry "Xubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty) - 3.2.69joggler1" {
linux /vmlinuz-3.2.69joggler1 root=LABEL=linux-root ro quiet splash
initrd /initrd.img-3.2.69joggler1
}

would I break my Joggler doing this or will it still boot from a USB stick if I disconnect the SSD drive?

I have put your server base on the 2Gb Openpeak device and it runs fine.

Could I just put the server base on the Joggler MMC and change the grub cfg to boot main OS from the SSD instead of the MMC?

Trying a bit to shrink down the Ubuntu base to maybe copy it. So far looked at the MMC space.

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 1028 MB, 1028128768 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 31376 cylinders, total 2008064 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Then current Ubuntu partition shrinking got it to 1002.98 Gb

This is taking me to when I played with XBMC running on the OF2 with the 2Gb.

Thinking of maybe trying to thin it out even more and maybe doing a dual boot; little Ubuntu big Ubuntu thing maybe?

Created a new SSD boot image using the new posted Ubuntu image. Works with a USB stick EFI boot partition as before.

Next wondering now if I wipe out the MMC EFI boot partition if I can still boot with a USB stick?

Does the primary EFI boot ROM look only at the USB stick first then MMC boot partition next?
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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BuZz
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Re: Question for Buzz

Post by BuZz »

it should boot from the SSD if the sata driver is included in the initramfs (initrd) but I haven't tested this.
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pete
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Re: Question for Buzz

Post by pete »

Thank you Buzz.

Yeah this set up is on an Openframe small (not the OP2 with the mini pcie slot) using the ZIF PATA connector to the SSD drive.

I did change over to the Avaya EFI boot rom which does have the stuff to look at the PATA port.

First try at this was using your new SATA driver build.

Looked a bit like it wanted to boot and hung during booting and never went to the MMC to boot primary Joggler OS.

Installing your new build on a USB stick it booted just fine.

Note that I tested this with the new build on the SSD (EFI and EXT partition) and then tried it using the USB boot EFI. Both times it did hang.

I am guessing if I had the SSD plugged in to a miniPCIE SATA card it would probably boot up fine.

I digressed to the original Ubuntu 14.04 new build without the SATA driver and it boots fine using the USB EFI boot stick.

Shipped the Openpeak 2 to a peer using a small 128Mb boot stick (EFI boot) booting to the SSD drive for Ubuntu use from cold boot.

Back to my original testing trying to boot the SSD maybe from the MMC EFI boot partition. I know it works on the OP 3 with the 2Gb KODI configuration and the Squeeze box build on the 1Gb partition. So could I just modify the EFI boot partition on the Squeezebox build to include booting to the SSD if it is plugged in.

IE: boot order would be USB boot, MMC (with no SSD) or SSD?
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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pete
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Re: Question for Buzz

Post by pete »

I was afraid to test.

That said tried today and it works perfectly.

Wrote Squeezebox OS on MMC on Openframe 1.

Wrote Ubuntu Buzz 14.04 V.71 to 16GB SSD. Expanded OS partition to 16Gb realm.

Booted up via an EFI boot on a USB stick (with no OS) to SSD.

Mounted the MMC EFI boot partition from the Squeezeplayer OS.

Removed all of the EFI boot partition files.

Copied over all of the new V.71 Ubuntu EFI files to the MMC boot EFI boot partition.

Ubuntu now boots fine starting initially with the MMC EFI boot partition then loading the OS via the SSD.

It also will boot up a new USB stick using whatever OS just fine.

I don't really know why I hesitated to try this.

With this methodology I can put the wireless stick back inside of the test Joggler using it or the Gb port. This device also has a mini USB hub glued to the back of the Joggler wired to a spare USB 2.0 trace on the mother board.

I am using the Avaya boot rom here which does have pieces of the pata port stuff although it will not boot from the SSD EFI boot partition.

Apologies for bugging you about this Buzz.
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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pete
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Re: Question for Buzz

Post by pete »

Direction here is to turn the Joggler in to a reasonably priced automation controller with a capacitance touch screen if you are in to automation.

The current set up also will let you run Squeezebox and or XBMC. You can upgrade the SSD for more space.

You can utilize an external Z-Wave stick with configuration and get the software for free.

Here I am a Homeseer automation software user (since the 1990's). I have tested Homeseer, OpenHab and HomeGenie to run fine on the Joggler.
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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BuZz
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Re: Question for Buzz

Post by BuZz »

Good news - glad it's working.

What do have currently have automated at your home ? Sounds interesting.
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pete
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Re: Question for Buzz

Post by pete »

Lighting, heating and cooling, irrigation, zoned audio, et al.
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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