Kernel (> 2.6.32) problem

[SnakeSolidNL]

I know it's not RAQCop related, but since I noticed you also work on custom kernels for Cobalt RaQ's I wanted to ask a question.

I tried to compile kernels for my Cobalt RaQ550 but I keep ending up with the same problem. I know it can work, because I got it working once before, but I don't know what i'm doing wrong.

I tried to compile kernel 2.6.32 / 2.6.32.7 / 3.0.4 with various patches (which succesfully patched my kernels) and various configuration files but every time I get a EXT3-fs EXT2-fs unable to read superblock error, kernel panic.

My commands are:
tar jxvf linux-x.x.x.tar.bz2
cd linux-x.x.x
patch -p1 < /location/to/patch/file.patch
cp /location/to/file/cobalt.config /usr/src/linux-x.x.x/.config
make oldconfig (anwser all with 'enter')
make-kpkg clean
make-kpkg --initrd --revision='1' kernel_image kernel_headers modules_image
-----------------------
cd..
dpkg -i linux-image-xxxxxxxx.deb
dpkg -i linux-header-xxxxxxxx.deb
cd linux-x.x.x
strip vmlinux
bzip2 -c vmlinux > vmlinux.bz2
cp vmlinux.bz2 /boot/vmlinux.bz2
cd /boot
ln -s System.map-2.6.x System.map
ln -s initrd.img-2.6.x initrd.img

I'm trying to compile for Debian Lenny and I have ROM 2.10.3-ext3.

I would use a pre-compiled kernel, but I only found a 2.6.24 which didn't work on raq550, only on raq3/4 (other bzip2 file) and is also out-dated for me (i need > 2.6.32).

Does anyone know what i'm doing wrong because I read a lot of forums / tutorials / etc to try figure it out, but i'm really stuck right now.

[Davesworld]

Lose the initrd image, a Cobalt rom can ONLY see vmlinux.bz2 or vmilinux.gz it takes a pc with a bios to see the mbr and start a bootloader which can then load initrd. A Cobalt does not see or care about the mbr nor any bootloader, they are just wasted space and clutter in a Cobalt. in a Cobalt, your system kernel in /boot is really a stage II kernel with the rom kernel being stage I.

 Your kernel config should not even have initrd support in it and should also have the embedded or small system option, no Virtual terminal support or mouse support. There is a reason why my configs look the way they do. You need just enough drivers to get the boot started in the kernel image itself, everything else can be modules such as networking and usb etc. With a 550 you need the serverworks ide driver or pata, your /boot filesystem which has to be ext3 with the latest rom and your root filesystem whatever it may be. Your rom has to know where the root partition and boot partition are. With PATA it's a bit trickier at first as the boot still has to be set to hdx as always so the rom kernel can see it and the / root partition has to be set to sdx so the kernel image with it's PATA rather than IDE driver can find it. the rom only tells the kernel image where to find / root but does not try to do anything with it and doesn't see it. I've been running the newer PATA drivers on Cobalts for well over a year. Even on a Raq3. Eventually the IDE drivers will go away so it is preemptive on my part to ensure we won't be left out so sooner or later it is time to get used to the PATA drivers.

I have packages that will work for lenny but to use over 3.0 you need Squeeze. Did you see all of my Debian kernel packages? They are compiled to run on any X86 Cobalt with support for the 3000 series, the 5000 series which includes the XTR and 550. You do not have to stick with 2.6.32. Mine are set up to support usb printing over the usb port, SAMBA and NFS 3 and 4. If it's being used as a server it might as well be able to serve printing as well. I find Webmin to be the best to administer these as a server. Mine do NOT have the Cobalt LCD driver. Your 550 lcd is a standard parallel connected HD44780 compatible 16x2 character display. Lcdproc works better on a 550 than a 3000 series.   

I don't know where you found the 2.6.24 one as that is rather ancient. Too many changes happened during the 2.6.24 cycle and again a few versions later. Lenny works just fine with post 2.6.32 packages I have made but pre 3.0. Squeeze works just fine on my post 3.0 kernels. Some of what I am after with the 3.0 and newer is that the XFS filesystem has undergone major improvements which is the first time in years. I use XFS for Raid storage on XTR's.

There is a lot of convoluted inaccurate information all over the net about Cobalts some very good such as that of Jeff Walter's website parvi.org. He just doesn't have time to spend with the Cobalts anymore as he is recently wedded and works for Hurricane Electric which I'm sure keeps him very busy with a lot of hours.

In my Debian kernel packages, the kernel config used can be found in /proc/config.gz on a system running my kernel packages. For raqcop it's a module that has to be loaded manually but will be found in /proc as well.

[SnakeSolidNL]

Thank you so much for your reply!

Ok so as I understand, I should remove the --initrd line (and make sure its not in the config), but still strip and bzip2 the vmlinux and move that to /boot since it'll be a Stage I kernel ? I know it's not the smartes solution, but I only have a / ext3 and a SWAP partition just for testing atm but that shouldn't be a problem ?

I understand that it's not possible to run Lenny with a 3.0 kernel, but I need to upgrade to Squeeze for that ? So for testing, I could use the 2.6.39 with latest subversion combined with your config and patch ? I'm still using old IDE HDD's but they should work with the PATA drivers ? Off-topic: Do you know what the max HDD size can be with the latest kernel, since I read that many people have exceeded the 147GB limit ?

I've seen your kernel packages, but they're only linux-image-x.x.x.deb and no linux-header-x.x.x.deb, I was wondering if that would be enough. I don't need a webbased control panel for my servers, since I do all by SSH if possible, but I agree Webmin is a good choice.

Isn't the cobalt-panel-utils enough to get the LCD working ? Does lcdproc also detects the buttons or only the LCD ?

The 2.6.24 kernel I found was on wiki.defcon.no which I used before as a reference guide, but only worked for my 3000 servers (RaQ 3/4). The best solution for me would be a kernel that works on 3000 and 5000, but I noticed your configuration file does.

Do the 2.6 and 3.0 kernel allow RAID support for my 550 ? I checked out parvi.org before, but as you already said, he left the project or at least, the project is on hold so i'm glad you picked it up.

My appologies for the many questions, but I'm really excited working with Cobalt RaQ's since they do the job at the right price and power usage. I'm already using your RAQCOP 2.0.2 on one of my 550 and it's working perfectly, thanks for that haha

[Davesworld]

No, the stage I kernel is in the rom itself, yours would be stage II. There is a limit to how large the uncompressed kernel can be before a Cobalt will not boot.

Don't try to use Debian's config for their kernel very closely and certainly do not try to hand edit. Beside the boot issue, there is support in the stock kernel that a Cobalt will never see and it's a rather long list. PCIe is but one example. Then you move on to things like chipset support of which you will only ever have three possibilities from the raq3/4 qube3 to the raq550 and xtr. It took others before me and then later myself a lot of work fine tuning the config by using menuconfig NOT by hand with an editor, to come up with something that will make a kernel that is small enough to boot yet suppports any possible thing you can use your Cobalt for with a given distro.

As far as drive size, there is no reason why a large drive can't be used in a 550 but personally I have never tested it. The serverworks chipset definitely should. On the XTR the drive ruler for the hot swap drives is an HPT370 which supports lba48 so I have 500GB drives in it. I also have tested a SATA drive with an ide adapter and it is usable but again, I have never tried with the 550 to do anything but use it as a firewall/router.   

[SnakeSolidNL]

My appologies for bothering you, but now I used kernel 2.6.39.1 with your patch and config, without the initrd, but now I get the error that the UTS  Release version isn't matching my current version (2.6.39-cobalt-cobalt (why double ??)) in include/linux/version.h. I've seen this before but I don't know what triggers this. Could you explain to me ?

[Davesworld]

What headers are you trying to use? In this type of a scenario with the voodoo it takes to get a kernel to boot on a Cobalt, I don't use any development tools on a Cobalt install nor sources and headers. When I used the virtual machine to make a Debian install to the os drive, I did the server install with no graphics and the Debian folks did a great job on that definition as I was left with very few if any irrelevant packages installed, especially graphics. For development and where I actually compile the kernel, I have Debian Squeeze installed on an older P4 PC and compile the kernel there. Yes, a full blown install with desktop and development for a workhorse. I would never consider trying to build anything on a Cobalt server itself. With the extra space from only having the binary part of the OS and not development, I simply make /var as big as possible on the drive that holds the os itsef. I then have everything else syslog to my main XTR server.

I use openSuSE to actually build IPCop on and develop Cobalt patches as well as do initial Cobalt kernel trial run compiles. It matters very little what distro it was built on as long as a recent version of gcc was used and the config doesn't have anything included that the OS doesn't support such as when we made the transition to udev years ago.