[OLPC-devel] Update on conversion to LinuxBIOS.

[Mitch Bradley]

Richard has put together a small, easy to install USB key image that 
will reflash the SPI.

I'll QA it and put a clean set of instructions in a prominent place on 
the Wiki.  It should be
in place by Monday morning.

Mitch

Jim Gettys wrote:
> Some last minute unresolved problems on Thursday and Friday mean we
> don't have the conversion process together and tested properly as we
> expected to have by the end of Friday.
>
> When we do, the process will be easy:
>   1) dd an image onto a disk or USB key
>   2) boot the image
>   3) run a utility to update the serial bios.
> Then, presuming you are using Fedora, you'll have the option of:
>   4) installing the image onto another disk, or installing a jffs2 image
> onto the internal flash.  These builds will have the new fbdev driver,
> and the new amd X driver.
>
> If you are running something other than Fedora or for some reason want
> to preserve your existing installation, then you'll need to update both
> your installation to the new fbdev driver and X server driver; that can
> be done any time prior to the conversion to LinuxBIOS.
>
> Since it is easy to turn the clock back and does not involve removing
> the clock battery, we would prefer if most people wait until we have
> this process fully debugged; unless you are working directly with Ron
> Minnich, Richard Smith, Jordan Crouse and/or Dave Zeuthen on testing
> this process, we prefer that you wait until we make an announcement that
> everything is ready, tested, and documented.  Rewriting the BIOS serial
> flash incorrectly can result in a board that will not boot.
>                                 Jim Gettys
>
>