On Tue, 7 Sep 2010 12:27:25 +0800 Jason Heeris <jason.heeris@gmail.com> wrote: > (I wasn't sure whether to go with debian-embedded or debian-boot... > -embedded seemed more appropriate, but my apologies if -boot would be > better.) Neither, unfortunately. :-) Generally in Debian, installer == Debian Installer (d-i) which has various limitations for embedded stuff, principally that it needs to boot the device in order to start the install and it is interactive when many embedded devices need a production-style "just blat this binary to that device node" method. d-i is also limited in that it is aimed at a full server/desktop installation and it isn't easy to adapt it to only install the packages needed by the device. Finally, many embedded devices do not use packages for the kernel but instead put the kernel at a particular address on the flash (e.g. NOR instead of NAND) - d-i does not support this, at all. Due to these problems, Emdebian can supply neither an installer nor a pre-built image, only the tools to create a root filesystem and a kernel. The rest is up to you. ;-) > I'm trying to install Emdebian on a Helios SBC[1] (the proc. is some > sort of x86 flavour). The recommended method is multistrap which gives you a root filesystem which can be converted into an image or just unpacked onto the device. It also includes support for creating device nodes and configuring the base system (/etc/hosts and /etc/inittab etc.) With multistrap, the kernel and the kernel modules are entirely separate from the rootfs - although you can, of course, choose to put the modules into the rootfs, the kernel can be handled entirely separately. That way, you can have any kernel (with modules or with the functionality built into the kernel) with any rootfs. If you want to convert the .tar.gz to an image, you can do that too. (Just use dd to create a suitable file from /dev/zero, create a filesystem within that space and mount it loopback to unpack the tarball onto it.) In time, multistrap may gain support for this kind of conversion. Scripts are welcome. The thing with multistrap is that, by replacing d-i, there are various things that need to be done which are device-specific and fairly low level (such as working out what the device needs to be able to boot). It can be hard working out what those things are, but once done, it becomes a lot easier to manage the installation across many devices. > I don't think the instructions[2] are for > squeeze, but I prepared a USB stick for booting in the usual way > anyway. Not necessarily. USB can be OK for netbooks and other devices of that ilk but other devices need to be installed over ethernet or serial. Here, a multistrap tarball is a better bet. The instructions to which you refer are for Lenny (because only Lenny has been released with a version of Emdebian). > I can start up the installer fine, but since they're different > versions, I get a notice during installation that kernel modules > couldn't be loaded. My question is: where can I get a matching set > (installer/ISO)? I don't care whether it's 2.6.30 or .32, as long as I > can get Emdebian going... If you don't want to use multistrap, use the Lenny installation instructions and then upgrade to Squeeze later. That at least gets you a working system, it allows you to work out what you need to do in multistrap to make the rootfs bootable and then you can use multistrap to get the next evolution of your system. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/ http://e-mail.is-not-s.ms/
Attachment:
pgpC6a259JReK.pgp
Description: PGP signature