From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from av10-1-sn2.hy.skanova.net ([81.228.8.181]) by bombadil.infradead.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69 #1 (Red Hat Linux)) id 1NiVBw-0003YE-GW for linux-mtd@lists.infradead.org; Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:55:00 +0000 Received: from smtp4-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net (smtp4-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net [81.228.8.93]) by av10-1-sn2.hy.skanova.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id E559B37F03 for ; Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:54:49 +0100 (CET) Received: from 'mail.unternet.org' (81-235-183-210-no20.tbcn.telia.com [81.235.183.210]) by smtp4-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id C6E2537E4A for ; Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:54:49 +0100 (CET) Received: from router.unternet.org ([192.168.1.1] helo=[192.168.1.108]) by 'mail.unternet.org' with esmtpa (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1NiVBp-0001vZ-9e for linux-mtd@lists.infradead.org; Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:54:49 +0100 Message-ID: <4B7EB448.8090402@unternet.org> Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:54:48 +0100 From: Frank de Lange MIME-Version: 1.0 To: linux-mtd@lists.infradead.org Subject: UBI bootloader support, any progress? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit List-Id: Linux MTD discussion mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Hiya, I'm in the process of reviving a piece of dot-bomb history in the form of a Virgin WebPlayer [1]. The thing is based around a Geode GLlv@200MHz + CS5530 and a 48 MB M-Systems DOC. When launched it ran a modified Redhat Linux distribution. Video and sound were handled through VSA-emulated drivers so performance was not super. This webplayer - one of four around here - has been used on a canoe expedition over the Yukon [2], after that as a dialup server and for the last 5 years as a file/print/web/mail server. This task has now been taken over by something slightly more beefy so it is looking for a new task. It will spend the foreseeable time as an NX terminal with some local processing capability intended mainly for my 5 y old daughter. After a week of hacking the thing now runs a native framebuffer, native X server and native audio and performs like it never did. It does still run from a harddrive though, one of the first batch of 'magical pixie dust' 20 GB travelstar drives which has been in continuous use for ten years now. The plan is to move the salient bits to the DOC and get rid of the drive. Moving the bits is easy but booting the thing will be harder given that I plan to use UBIFS. The DOC was supported in LILO so it still runs a patched, ancient LILO 21.7. Grub can be made to see the DOC with a bit of work so that would also be an option. The problem lies in UBI and UBIFS... this is not supported in either. Das U-Boot supports UBI but not this board. Porting it to the board is feasible - especially since I ignore all VSA stuff - but more work than I care for. The question then is whether there has been any progress in getting bootloader support for UBI. I have searched the archives and looked at the code but not found what I'm looking for: potential working bootloader (grub/lilo/something similar) support for UBI on nand mtd devices. Has anyone started implementing (read-only) UBI support in GRUB or another similar BIOS-loaded bootloader? I have also considered Linuxbios/Coreboot. That might be an option for the long term but short-term I'd like to use the existing BIOS and just replace the harddrive with the DOC. So... any pointers? TIA//Frank [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Webplayer [2] http://www.unternet.org/imagine/yukon/index.html