Narcissus Questions: uBoot, SD, dd, ubuntu vs cygwin

GoogleGroups
1

Given the assertion that u-boot.bin may change per-kernel, what's the
proper file to use with narcissus build images?

(prev discussion on u-boot and kernel interdependance:
http://groups.google.com/group/beagleboard/browse_thread/thread/1f5075e3d603d34f/3c08b6dd66814655#3c08b6dd66814655
)

Narcissus provides a 1GB SD card image which I'd previously ignored,
since I have a handful of 2GB cards. Instead I was preparing new SD
cards according to the instructions at http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardBeginners#SD_card_setup
and using, as directed, the MLO and u-boot.bin files from the Angstrom
sample page at http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/demo/beagleboard/

Note that the u-boot.bin listed there has not changed since February,
making it somewhat older than the uImage -- and significantly older
than an image built today. Could this be the culprit w.r.t various USB
issues that I and others have experienced?

My new short-term plan is to go buy a 1GB card, use 'dd' under cygwin
to extract a narcissus SD.img, and try the u-boot.bin from there. If
it works, I'll try copying it to a 2GB card too.

My ubuntu machine crashed, so I'm stuck for a short while with cygwin
under XP. Will I still be able to use dd to create an SD card? It's
been years since I last used dd, will I need to set a specific
blocksize etc or will just defining 'if=' and 'of=' be enough?

(Or is there a copy of u-boot.bin in the main tarball created by
Narcissus? I see uImages, but no u-boot -- am I just looking in the
wrong places?)

Thanks again,
kb

PS: extra question: the task-boot/task-base/task-base-extended
checkboxes -- are they interdependant? Should only ONE be checked, or
for task-base-extended, ALL be checked (what I've done)?

off to Fry's....

2

Have any problem if used a 4Gb SD Card in the Boot?

I have used 2Gb cards without problems, but today I tested a 4Gb SD Card for the same application without sucess.

TKS

Alessandro

3

Have any problem if used a 4Gb SD Card in the Boot?

I have used 2Gb cards without problems, but today I tested a 4Gb SD Card
for the same application without sucess.

Be careful partitioning the card. You need to get the cylinders and
heads settings correct.

There should be partitioning instructions on the web.

Philip

4

I've used two different 4GB SD cards from SanDisk and Transcend with no problems

5

kingston sdhc 4gb cards give me errors -110 unless I relax the timing
in the kernel

6

From: beagleboard@googlegroups.com
[mailto:beagleboard@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Frans Meulenbroeks
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 10:57 AM
To: beagleboard@googlegroups.com
Subject: [beagleboard] Re: 4Gb SD Card for BOOT Angstrom

kingston sdhc 4gb cards give me errors -110 unless I relax the timing
in the kernel

I use class 4 or class 6 cards. My preference is Patriot 4G class 6 micoSD
cards, which work great. I have also used Panasonic 4G Class 4 and Kingston
8G class 6 and they all work fine on both my RevB6 and RevC2 boards.

7

How come the sectors/cylinders/heads settings are so important?
When we used CF-cards a few years ago we used LBA-addressing.

I'm no expert just curious...

/Janne

8

Be careful partitioning the card. You need to get the cylinders and
heads settings correct.

There should be partitioning instructions on the web.

Philip

How come the sectors/cylinders/heads settings are so important?
When we used CF-cards a few years ago we used LBA-addressing.

I'm no expert just curious...

I'm no expert either, but my impression is the RBL makes certain
assumptions about the SD card when it is looking for MLO. If the
geometry is not correct, it cannot find the code it need to load.

Philip

9

fwiw, I've been slammed on work schedule (my BB is for non-office
projects) and having my large(r) linux machine meltdown didn't help,
BUT:

the u-boot.bin curently generated by narcissus is definitely NOT the
same file that's in the Angstrom demo images. Haven't yet had a chance
to sort out whether that will help with USB.

It might be worthwhile (Koen?) to change teh SD image to 2GB or
larger. I could find no 1GB cards available for sale at either Best
Buy or Fry's, here in the Silicon Valley -- teh Fry's salesman
asserted that at this point, all sizes from 4GB down are close to
identical in terms of manufacturing cost, so it makes no sense to sell
1GB cards any more, since they must (?) have a lower price than the
4GB and 2GB cards!

kb

10

(g)parted is perfectly capable of resizing the ext3 partition for you to a larger size.

regards,

Koen

11

if that's all it needs, fantastic! thx Koen

12

apart from that you can also dd the image to a bigger card and just
put a 2nd partition on it where you e.g. mount /home or sol

FM