osoffice.co.uk

We have been working hard on a new product.

Please visit the following URL for details:

http://www.osoffice.co.uk/tera_qube/


See the OS v2 BETA thread if you want to help test the new OS.

regards

Tim

My first beta testing output.

Tested on 2 different qube's. one on 450 Mhz, one on 500 Mhz. 512 and 768 megs of ram respectively. One qube has a defective serial port.

Rom upgrade went very well. Did it by using a terminal session. Both roms are AMD. However after creating the usb stick for booting and setting the qube to boot from sda1 the following happens:

-------------------------------------

Strongbolt - Smarter, faster, newer and bluer
Firmware version 2.6.23.8-i586 <---- new kernel

Current date: Jul 06 18:02:51 UTC 2008
ROM build info: Fri Apr 18 11:19:16 BST 2008 hamster7.osoffice.co.uk.
System serial number: Uninitialized
System type: 3000 series system, Version 2 board
Silicon serial number: f9000007f5138901
Monitor: 153824 bytes
Memory: 768 MB
CPU: 1 processor(s) detected
CPU 0: AuthenticAMD 498MHz (5 x 100MHz host bus) [BSP]
Initializing flash: done
Flash Bank 0: AMD AM29F080B 1024KB (01:d5)
Flash Bank 1: not installed.
Mounting ROM fs: done
Initializing PCI: done
Host Bus: 0 (device 07:07) [33MHz]
Device: 00:00 10b9:1541 Acer Labs M1541 Aladdin V Host Bridge
Device: 01:00 10b9:5243 Acer Labs M5243 AGP Controller
Device: 02:00 10b9:5237 Acer Labs M5237 USB Controller (IRQ 6)
Device: 03:00 10b9:7101 Acer Labs M7101 PMU
Device: 07:00 10b9:1533 Acer Labs M1543 Aladdin V PCI-ISA Bridge
Device: 0e:00 1000:000f Symbios Logic SYM53C875 SCSI Controller (IRQ 12)
Device: 0f:00 10b9:5229 Acer Labs M5229 TXpro IDE Controller (IRQ 14)
Device: 10:00 100b:0020 National DP83815 MacPhyter Ethernet (IRQ 11)
Device: 12:00 100b:0020 National DP83815 MacPhyter Ethernet (IRQ 10)
Bridged Bus: 1 (bridge: 00:01:00)
Initializing ethernet: 2 controller(s) found
National Semiconductor DP83815 Found at port 0xfc00, MAC: 00:10:e0:04:d1:17
National Semiconductor DP83815 Found at port 0xfb00, MAC: 00:10:e0:04:d1:1a
Initializing IDE: found ALI M5229 at 00:78
spinning up second channel: done
scanning ide0: master
scanning ide1: master
IDE: stabilizing spinup: 100%
Checking Memory: done

Press spacebar to enter ROM mode
System is in LCD menu mode
Root device is set to 0x0801 <---- set to usb device sda
Enabling L2 cache: done
First stage kernel (Linux): Decompressing - done
ERROR: cannot relocate with filesize 0
command line: 'sbinit console=ttyS0,115200 debug cobalt_boot_image=/boot/vmlinux.bz2,/vmlinux.bz2,/boot/vmlinux.gz,/vmlinux.gz ip=off '
booting kernel...
Linux version 2.6.23.8-rom (root@beast.osoffice.co.uk) (gcc version 4.1.2 20070626 (Red Hat 4.1.2-14)) #21 Fri Apr 4 04:12:30 BST 2008
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e801: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009f000 (usable)
BIOS-e801: 0000000000100000 - 0000000030000000 (usable)
768MB LOWMEM available.
Entering add_active_range(0, 0, 196608) 0 entries of 256 used
Zone PFN ranges:
DMA 0 -> 4096
Normal 4096 -> 196608
Movable zone start PFN for each node
early_node_map[1] active PFN ranges
0: 0 -> 196608
On node 0 totalpages: 196608
DMA zone: 32 pages used for memmap
DMA zone: 0 pages reserved
DMA zone: 4064 pages, LIFO batch:0
Normal zone: 1504 pages used for memmap
Normal zone: 191008 pages, LIFO batch:31
Movable zone: 0 pages used for memmap
DMI not present or invalid.
Allocating PCI resources starting at 40000000 (gap: 30000000:d0000000)
Built 1 zonelists in Zone order. Total pages: 195072
Kernel command line: sbinit console=ttyS0,115200 debug cobalt_boot_image=/boot/vmlinux.bz2,/vmlinux.bz2,/boot/vmlinux.gz,/vmlinux.gz ip=off
Initializing CPU#0
PID hash table entries: 4096 (order: 12, 16384 bytes)
Detected 497.996 MHz processor.
console [ttyS0] enabled
Dentry cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Memory: 777080k/786432k available (1381k kernel code, 8864k reserved, 307k data, 120k init, 0k highmem)
virtual kernel memory layout:
fixmap : 0xffffa000 - 0xfffff000 ( 20 kB)
vmalloc : 0xf0800000 - 0xffff8000 ( 247 MB)
lowmem : 0xc0000000 - 0xf0000000 ( 768 MB)
.init : 0xc02aa000 - 0xc02c8000 ( 120 kB)
.data : 0xc0259440 - 0xc02a63c4 ( 307 kB)
.text : 0xc0100000 - 0xc0259440 (1381 kB)
Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode... Ok.
Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 996.99 BogoMIPS (lpj=1993998)
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: After generic identify, caps: 008021bf c08029bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
CPU: L1 I Cache: 32K (32 bytes/line), D cache 32K (32 bytes/line)
CPU: After all inits, caps: 0080213f c08029bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
CPU: AMD-K6(tm)-2 Processor stepping 08

-------------------snip---------------------------------

ALI15X3: 100% native mode on irq 14
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfdd0-0xfdd7, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xfdd8-0xfddf, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: Maxtor 6G160P0, ATA DISK drive
hda: selected mode 0x42
ide0 at 0xfdf8-0xfdff,0xfdf6 on irq 14
Probing IDE interface ide1...
hdc: Maxtor 6G160P0, ATA DISK drive
hdc: selected mode 0x42
ide1 at 0xfde8-0xfdef,0xfde6 on irq 15
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: cannot use LBA48 DMA - PIO mode will be used for accessing sectors > 268435456
hda: 312581808 sectors (160041 MB) w/8192KiB Cache, CHS=19457/255/63, UDMA(33)
hda: cache flushes supported
hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 hda6 > hda3 hda4
hdc: max request size: 128KiB
hdc: cannot use LBA48 DMA - PIO mode will be used for accessing sectors > 268435456
hdc: 312581808 sectors (160041 MB) w/8192KiB Cache, CHS=19457/255/63, UDMA(33)
hdc: cache flushes supported
hdc: hdc1 hdc2 < hdc5 hdc6 > hdc3 hdc4
ohci_hcd: 2006 August 04 USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: irq 6, io mem 0xf7fff000
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.

--------snip------------------------------------------------

Waiting for USB disks
md: delaying resync of md1 until md3 has finished (they share one or more physical units)
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access USB Flash Memory 1.04 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1003520 512-byte hardware sectors (514 MB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1003520 512-byte hardware sectors (514 MB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sda: unknown partition table
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
usb-storage: device scan complete
VFS: Cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block(3,1) <---- This is where things keep going wrong
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
0300 156290904 hda driver: ide-disk
0301 1542239 hda1
0302 1 hda2
0303 514080 hda3
0304 131990040 hda4
0305 32129 hda5
0306 136552 hda6
1600 156290904 hdc driver: ide-disk
1601 1542239 hdc1
1602 1 hdc2
1603 514080 hdc3
1604 131990040 hdc4
1605 32129 hdc5
1606 136552 hdc6
0906 136448 md6 (driver?)
0904 131989952 md4 (driver?)
0903 513984 md3 (driver?)
0901 1542144 md1 (driver?)
0800 501760 sda driver: sd
Kernel panic - not syncing


It seems that the filesystem on the USB stick is not recognized by the qube. Tested 2 sticks (toshiba 512 MB and Sandisk cruzer 4 gb).

Thing is I dont have a linux pc, so had to do it by using vmware. Tried on both centos 5.2 and 4.6 boot images.


Bit stuck here so far. Jimbob any suggestions about the incorrect root device in the end of the log output?


Cheers,
Daedalus

Hi,

Use the serial console to do the following:

on boot press space to enter the CMOS

type boot to go into the boot menu
then do this

set_root_dev sda1
set_boot_dev sda1
bfd

This will set the system to boot from the usb key

Jimbob

I will write a script to do all if this automatically when I find the time.

Forgot to mention that I tried your suggestion as well. Still gives similar output:

Waiting for USB disks
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access USB Flash Memory 1.04 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1003520 512-byte hardware sectors (514 MB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1003520 512-byte hardware sectors (514 MB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sda: unknown partition table <--- problem with partition on usb?
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
usb-storage: device scan complete
VFS: Cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block(8,1)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
0800 501760 sda driver: sd
Kernel panic - not syncing



I guess there is no way to create the usb flash drive under a windows environment?

Hi Daedalus,

Did you repart your USB key?

can you email/pm me a msn address?

Jimbob

Daedalus wrote:.....
I guess there is no way to create the usb flash drive under a windows environment?

Hi,

The USB stick needs to be partitioned as an ext2 file system.

Can you get hold of a Linux demo CD, boot a PC with it and then format the USB stick.

If not, then you can use a RaQ to do it....


Instructions:
=========
To prepare your USB key:
Please note, we will be formatting the USB key.
All data on the USB key will be destroyed.
Plug the USB key in.
From your linux PC (or RaQ) do
dmesg

you should see something similar to this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda: sda1
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Linux installations and desktop installations will probably automount
this now.

type df and look for the device

if the device automounted at /media/usbdisk do

umount /media/usbdisk

if the device mounted at /mnt/usb1 do

umount /mnt/usb1

you get the general idea.

If you are sure that the drive is unmounted, please proceed to the next step.

Stage 2
=======
In step one, we found out our key was called sda (yours may be different).

fdisk /dev/sda (or whatever your device is called).

The following commands will delete the partition that is there and create a new one

d [press enter]
n [press enter]
p [press enter]
1 [press enter]
[press enter again]
[press enter again]
w [press enter]

This will rewrite the USB keys partition table.
Next, we need to format it:

mke2fs /dev/sda (or whatever your device is called).

We now need to mount our key:
In the next command, please replace sda1 with the name of your key

mkdir /mnt/tmp
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/tmp

Your USB key should now be ready to copy the SB tar onto.

regards

Tim

Yes Tim, Thank you.
I read the instructions. Only option for me was to test it with two of my qube3's. Screwed m both up in the beginning. So had nothing to create the usb stick. Switched to vmware, that works allright.

However it turned out that the first stick went into the trashcan and mke2fs /dev/sda needed to be mke2fs /dev/sda1 for me on the other stick. That did the trick.

Server is installing now. Unfortunately the harddrives or the controller switchted to PIO mode when rebooting after the install. This means its gonna be a slow ride for now. Decided to let it run for now and see what happens. Its stuck for hours now at the "running cce constructors".

After the first startup has finished i will reboot again and see if the pio switches to dma again.

---
It finished.. what is the root password by the way? Cant reset it by the lcd. Doesnt work so far. (webgui not working as well) Will reboot and see what happens

Ok all solved now. Faulty filesystems on the original disks (2x160 GB). Switched to a set of 80 GB drives. Install went fast and flawless. Just as promised. Now I can login as well. Appears that the former install was corrupt. Finally can start testing! Very nice and clean way to install centos 4 and BQ. I found an appropriate silicon image sata cart on the internet. Ordered it, and its on its way. See what happens with large sata drives. Must improve the speed I think, allthough the pci bus is only 33 mhz.

Funny how far you can push these little blue fellows. Only thing missing now is a pci card that has sata, usb2, wireless g, 4gigs of ram and a coffeemachine on a few square inches. That would improve things. Looking forward to the centos 5 install as well. But with 2 sata drives in it, wouldn't that be a problem booting from usb? (sda, sdb and sdc) since it states that the usb install should be from sda.

Oh well. Ill get back here in a few days and let you know how things are working out. Good job Jimbob, very nice and properly done. Lots of new options now. If only michael and brian would release bq on centos 5.... i would buy them a beer if they do. Soho functions on a qube? hmmm the ultimate is coming......


cheers

Grrr, I'm missing the fun here as I'm waiting on a Smartmedia reader to arrive from eBay so that I can attempt to revive my ROM chip which I knackered whilst trying to flash over serial

If I can just avoid ruining the rest of the components surrounding the ROM chip I'll have done well

We now have an easy to use install script that will update a RaQ from Strongbolt to Strongbolt2

Please also note that the beta testing area of the forum is now open.
Please post here:

http://www.osoffice.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=654

Beta testers, please contact me for the update script.

Jimbob

ink wrote:Grrr, I'm missing the fun here as I'm waiting on a Smartmedia reader to arrive from eBay so that I can attempt to revive my ROM chip which I knackered whilst trying to flash over serial

If I can just avoid ruining the rest of the components surrounding the ROM chip I'll have done well

:<

Turns out the method I was hoping to use for writing to the ROM chip won't work as it was intended to be used on slightly different sorts of TSOPs.
Bugger. Anyone got a spare Qube3 motherboard they want to donate?

ink wrote::<

Turns out the method I was hoping to use for writing to the ROM chip won't work as it was intended to be used on slightly different sorts of TSOPs.
Bugger. Anyone got a spare Qube3 motherboard they want to donate?

I would think eBay is your friend in this case.

Trouble is: Qube's (and in particular Qube 3's) seem to be sold at a premium.... unless of course, it's got a dead ROM

Might be worth getting a spare working RaQ 3 or 4 (which sell for much less) and remove the firmware chip and transplant it into your Qube....

You'll need very good eyesight, plus a damn fine desoldering technique...!

regards

Tim

Well after many days of scouring the internet for datasheets I finally find those for the Ali M1541/1543 chipset in the hopes they support JTAG to allow programming the AMD flash chip without me having to remove it from the board :

http://www.inkhorn.net/site/log/Entries ... _woes.html

What I find, sadly, is that it won't be possible as there's no JTAG interface to twiddle the bits on the BIOS chip with

Anyone any good at unsoldering little TSOP chips, I'm loathed to skip this Qube 3 Pro Plus.

ink wrote:Well after many days of scouring the internet for datasheets I finally find those for the Ali M1541/1543 chipset in the hopes they support JTAG to allow programming the AMD flash chip without me having to remove it from the board :

http://www.inkhorn.net/site/log/Entries ... _woes.html

What I find, sadly, is that it won't be possible as there's no JTAG interface to twiddle the bits on the BIOS chip with

Hi,

I'm pretty sure that Cobalt must have had these chips pre-programmed with the firmware, before flow soldering the things to the mobo....

Unless of course, they had some form of boot-loader installed, which could then be accessed from the Cobalt hardware (such as by serial, USB or RJ45 means), which then allowed them to flash them once they were fully assembled.

Either way, it's just a shame that a few cents were shaved off the prime cost, by dispensing with a socket.....

ink wrote:Anyone any good at unsoldering little TSOP chips, I'm loathed to skip this Qube 3 Pro Plus.

One of my friends has done this for me, as a fellow forum member had a duff Qube and we went through the process of salvaging a ROM from a faulty RaQ and successfully transplanting it into his Qube.

But, my friend told me afterwards - once was enough, as it's a real pain...

So, not a help, but at least in the right hands, it can be done....

regards

Tim

For getting the ROM chip off of the board, invest in some Chip Quik solder.

http://www.chipquik.com/newsletters/cq_ ... e_2004.htm

Removal demo video:
http://www.curiousinventor.com/store/product/102

This has an extremely low melting point, and when applied to the existing solder joint will allow fairly easy removal of the existing chip and cleaning of the pads on the board.

For replacement, liberal use of flux to hold replacement chip and aid in solder flow. Soldering of new chip demo video:
http://www.curiousinventor.com/guides/S ... dering/101

Makes it look easy enough for me to try!

macwunder wrote:For getting the ROM chip off of the board, invest in some Chip Quik solder........

Makes it look easy enough for me to try!

Hi,

That chip removal video certainly does make it look real easy....


And I s'pose that, given the Symantec mobo you have is pretty much scrap otherwise, it might be worth a punt to see if this "miracle" solder could do the job easily.

Let us know if you try it and it works....!

regards

Tim

I got a replacement Qube3 from ebay for just over £40, but it arrived damaged. Fortunately I could salvage the main I/O board with the CMOS chip on it, though that meant losing a ferrite core near the power circuitry and replacing two SMD capacitors that had been smashed off it by the hard disk cage (I'm guessing DHL drop kicked this thing into their van).

My Qube boots again, so I flashed the ROM with the update (from the OS this time and I'll be installing the OS image tomorrow.

What has become of the SATA card testing, any progress by anyone ?

Over a month and no news on the TeraQube project
Has there been any progress with the SATA card support?

Hi,

James and his people are hard at work developing a load of stuff....

No release dates have been given to me yet. So I guess we have to keep fingers crossed and wait for James to make a formal announcement....

regards

Tim

Hi,

Is there still progress on the tera-qube project? I'm not sure if this is the right place but it would be great if there would be a modified version of the SB2 installation to serve as an advanced Home NAS System (FreeNas/Openfiler?).

Some features that I would like.
-SAMBA
-AFP
-Webserver
-FTP server
-Mail server
-UPnP
-Itunes Server
-Print server
-SATA Support
-VPN Server
-Router functionality (DHCP server)

Hiya Lasse,

The nearest thing would be to install Firebolt. This is a port of ClarkConnect.
Check out some of the features of ClarkConnect

You could then mod the Qube to run the sata enabled ROM and a sata_sil card.

Jimbob