Announcing Q3C09 for XO-1.5

[Samuel Greenfeld]

On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 9:50 PM, Mikus Grinbergs <mikus at bga.com> wrote:

> On 08/30/2012 11:53 AM, Samuel Greenfeld wrote:
>
>> what version of Open Firmware are you using that you are
>> replying to the Q3C09 thread?
>>
>
> q3c09
>
> The reason I posted to this thread is -- I did NOT have the described
> kernel panic when booting os21 on the XO-1.5 with q3c08


I apologize for asking; but in some cases people post to the wrong thread.

 What make and model of USB Ethernet adapter are you using?
>

SMC2208
>
> Do you think this matters?  I have been using these USB ethernet adapters
> for four years now, and have never had any problems using them (on XO-1 and
> XO-1.5) with any build.  [In the past I sometimes have had firmware
> failures (particularly with q2b firmware - which sometimes would "hang" in
> the firmware when I was trying to boot (unless the USB ethernet adapter was
> unplugged from the XO before the XO was booted).]
>

Open Firmware knows how to use certain types of USB Ethernet adapters in
addition to the internal Wifi adapter, and supports accessing files via
many network protocols in addition to local means.  You can tell OFW to
"fs-update http:\\download.laptop.org\xo-1.5\os\candidate\12.1.0-21\21021o1.zd"
(with the slashes intentionally backwards) and it would try to get on a
network and install the build that way.

We also have been tweaking USB timings related to probing; I have 4 GB USB
sticks that Q3C07 has to probe twice in OFW but Q3C08 handles the first
time.

Newer USB adapters also often simulate USB "sticks" or "CD-ROMs" with
driver software.  In this situation that does not appear to be the case.


 Does your network provide network-based boot services ?
>>
>
> No.  When I am using an ethernet-based LAN, that network provides __NO__
> services - not even DHCP.
>
> But I think this question is irrelevant - the described panic occurred
> while trying to load kernel software -- long before the build would get
> around to attempting any initialization of network services.
>

Linux needs to be told what the root device is.  OLPC OS builds rely on
Open Firmware to tell it where the kernel was loaded from so it knows if it
should mount partitions from the internal or external SD card, etc.

Although I have never tried it, OFW can fully network boot; which is why I
needed more information to figure out if it was trying to do so.


In any case I have upgraded a XO-1.5 to Q3C09 and I did not encounter this
issue with my USB adapter.  I was concerned about Q3C07 because we were
hoping to release the final version of 12.1.0 in the immediate future and
it includes Q3C07.

This does not mean you do not have a problem that needs to be fixed.  Given
Open Firmware probes all USB ports, and can use certain types of USB
Ethernet adapters in addition to the internal Wifi card, a bad attempt at
checking a USB Ethernet adapter could mess up futher booting.

---
SJG
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