Post by mrwim on Dec 10, 2007 1:06:45 GMT 7
Recently I have been thinking about installing Debian my Thecus n1200. I am aware it is possible on the n2100 and is indeed a supported target for the Debian installer but I want my n1200 to run it for the additional flexibility it would provide. Ultimately the idea was born out of a dream that I could use my n1200 to record TV from a USB DVB stick.
Loosely in order of increasing chances of bricking my n1200
1. Use debootstrap - debootstrap takes an existing Linux system and from within this system installs Debian. This process would result in a system which can benefit from the Debian repositories. If it were to go wrong, the Thecus installer could just be run to bring the system back to it's original state.
2. Debian installer over TFTP - It might be possible to use the features of the u-boot boot-loader to get the Debian installer to do a clean install over the network. I would probably require building a u-boot kernel image for the box to kick the installer into action. The existing in-flash kernel would not be replaced. This approach would have the advantage that the resulting installed system would be cleaner than 1.
3. Overwrite kernel in flash with kernel I want - I could build a new kernel for the n1200 and overwrite the existing one in flash. This has the advantage that I could load a recent kernel with better support for USB TV cards, webcams, etc. Installing a new kernel should not be too difficult but it is potentially dangerous so I would not want to do it often which precludes kernel updates. If I were to get it wrong first time and put the system in a state in which it is unable to boot then I could use the u-boot boot-loader over serial terminal to bring it back to life, although this would be inconvenient.
4. Make kernel that boots another kernel on disk - I believe it is possible to build a Linux kernel whose sole purpose is to load another kernel and execute that (not virtualisation). This method would allow the proper kernel to live on disk and be easily updated from there as the in-flash kernel would be essentially acting as a second boot-loader. This method is rather obtuse but has the advantage of 4 that it would be harder to mess the machine up properly.
5. Overwrite boot-loader to boot from disk - The boot-loader on the n1200 is a version of u-boot forked by Freescale shortly before the 1.1.3 release. I believe it would be possible to build version 1.3.0 (which incorporates Freescale's changes among many other improvements) to boot straight from the HD (or even from USB). This would be the cleanest option but if I were to mess it up first time round (likely) then I would need a JTAG programmer to fix it.
Does anyone have any comments/suggestions/experience with this stuff? Maybe you know where the JTAG headers on the board are, or know the config options to build a kernel to boot another kernel?
Loosely in order of increasing chances of bricking my n1200
1. Use debootstrap - debootstrap takes an existing Linux system and from within this system installs Debian. This process would result in a system which can benefit from the Debian repositories. If it were to go wrong, the Thecus installer could just be run to bring the system back to it's original state.
2. Debian installer over TFTP - It might be possible to use the features of the u-boot boot-loader to get the Debian installer to do a clean install over the network. I would probably require building a u-boot kernel image for the box to kick the installer into action. The existing in-flash kernel would not be replaced. This approach would have the advantage that the resulting installed system would be cleaner than 1.
3. Overwrite kernel in flash with kernel I want - I could build a new kernel for the n1200 and overwrite the existing one in flash. This has the advantage that I could load a recent kernel with better support for USB TV cards, webcams, etc. Installing a new kernel should not be too difficult but it is potentially dangerous so I would not want to do it often which precludes kernel updates. If I were to get it wrong first time and put the system in a state in which it is unable to boot then I could use the u-boot boot-loader over serial terminal to bring it back to life, although this would be inconvenient.
4. Make kernel that boots another kernel on disk - I believe it is possible to build a Linux kernel whose sole purpose is to load another kernel and execute that (not virtualisation). This method would allow the proper kernel to live on disk and be easily updated from there as the in-flash kernel would be essentially acting as a second boot-loader. This method is rather obtuse but has the advantage of 4 that it would be harder to mess the machine up properly.
5. Overwrite boot-loader to boot from disk - The boot-loader on the n1200 is a version of u-boot forked by Freescale shortly before the 1.1.3 release. I believe it would be possible to build version 1.3.0 (which incorporates Freescale's changes among many other improvements) to boot straight from the HD (or even from USB). This would be the cleanest option but if I were to mess it up first time round (likely) then I would need a JTAG programmer to fix it.
Does anyone have any comments/suggestions/experience with this stuff? Maybe you know where the JTAG headers on the board are, or know the config options to build a kernel to boot another kernel?
