As the currently-available source for the APC kernel does not include the necessary drivers for video output to a monitor (amongst other things..) but does include network drivers (Via Velocity..) it seemed logical that I could adopt the same approach to a graphical interface that I use for the Dreamplug (which is a real ‘headless’ device!). So.. … Continue reading →
After excellent work done by Mike Thompson from the Raspbian project, there is now a set of patches and a config file available for the APC-supplied 2.6.32.9+ kernel source, which enables a working kernel to be compiled and run – although with limited functionality due to ‘missing’ device drivers.. More details at : http://www.raspbian.org/ApricotImages To use this, … Continue reading →
Just to finally confirm that the U-Boot parameters were not in any way affection the APC boot – and therefore that the problem was in the APC’s kernel configuration, probably with the CONFIG_CMDLINE parameter in the original kernel’s .config file – I removed all the U-Boot parameters, as follows: WMT # setenv wmt.display.logoaddr; setenv logocmd; setenv wmt.gpo.lcd; … Continue reading →
In a break from all the APC angst.. This is the test environment I have set up, for the (2) APCs and the Raspberry Pi. The Dreamplug is already connected separately via a separate JTAG/UART connector, and is headless, so doesn’t need the HDMI and monitor connections. Typically, a 3-way USB/HDMI KVM would be used, but these … Continue reading →
On the hunch that there may be something within the U-Boot parameters that causes the boot-to-ram problem, I removed almost all the ‘wmt.xxx‘ parameters. The only one remaining was wmt.usb.param=11:3, which enables the USB subsystem – as I was booting from a USB-attached ‘disk’.. You can effectively ‘remove’ U-Boot parameters by setting their values to <blank>: setenv … Continue reading →
I found some (unused..) USB-related U-Boot parameters in some of the files contained in the ‘firmware’ zip file, and tried these, to get the APC to boot from USB instead of MMC/micro-SD.. The USB connection has to be to the top connector in the smaller of the two ‘towers’ on the board (the one without the ethernet … Continue reading →
My initial success at getting the APC to boot from the micro-SD card instead of built-in ram was tempered by another issue.. Apart from examination of the boot process on the console, I had confirmed that device boots from the micro-SD card when I inadvertently formatted it as EXT3, and the boot process failed with an appropriate … Continue reading →
My goal is to have a ‘standard’ flavour of Linux (in my case – Fedora) running on the APC, and one of the major pre-requisites was to have the system boot from the micro-SD card, instead of the internal ‘flash memory’.. Looking at all the U-Boot parameters, I had expected this to be a real pain, but … Continue reading →
Starting to ‘explore’ the system, and it looks very different from the typical Linux system I have been used to since 1997.. The base directory structure is different, with many ‘additions’.. This is probably standard for Android, but not what I am accustomed to! I decided to format a (micro) SD card, and insert it, as this … Continue reading →
The APC(s) have finally arrived, after payment of ransom and ‘fees’ to the appropriate revenue authorities, and shipping organisations.. As expected, this is a typical Android 2.3 system, with a Linux heart, but many proprietary drivers and scripts, and reduced Linux command functionality.. I connected a USB/UART serial converter, and – so far – have a root … Continue reading →