[olpc-help] Making image of onboard flash for restore purposes

[Denver Gingerich]

I just received my G1G1 laptop and I'd like to make a backup of the
onboard flash before I do anything with it so that I can go back to a
perfect factory default version if I want to.

I have done this before on regular laptops by using a boot CD and then
doing something like:

dd if=/dev/hda of=/mnt/backup/backup.img

where /mnt/backup is network-mounted or USB hard drive.

I understand from the wiki that the G1G1 laptops have firmware
security enabled by default so I will not be able to boot an external
device unless I get a developer key.  Is that correct?  Can I get a
developer key without booting the laptop?

It seems like doing a backup of the flash might be a bit of a hassle
given the firmware security.  Is it even worth it to try making a copy
of the flash?  Or can I get an image of the factory default flash
contents from somewhere else in case I need to restore?

I've seen in other posts that one can backup and load a custom OS
image with relative ease, but this seems to be just a part of the
flash, not the whole thing.  This is why I'm wondering if I can get a
perfect copy of the factory default flash image.

If this should be posted on another list, please let me know.  Please
CC me in replies; I am not subscribed to the mailing list.

Thanks for your time.

Denver