Arch on ARM?

bdheeman · 2009-10-11 09:51:00

I doubt, ArchLinux's init/rc scripts are quite dependent on bash; where as the manual page for bash itself stats:

...
BUGS
It's too big and too slow.

There are some subtle differences between bash and traditional versions
of sh, mostly because of the POSIX specification.

Aliases are confusing in some uses.

Shell builtin commands and functions are not stoppable/restartable.

Compound commands and command sequences of the form `a ; b ; c' are not
handled gracefully when process suspension is attempted. When a
process is stopped, the shell immediately executes the next command in
the sequence. It suffices to place the sequence of commands between
parentheses to force it into a subshell, which may be stopped as a
unit.

Array variables may not (yet) be exported.

There may be only one active coprocess at a time.

GNU Bash-4.0 2009 February 7 BASH(1)

arew264 · 2009-10-11 18:46:59

@bdheeman: what is that in response to?

Ugh, I completely forgot to get that guide written. I have time today, so a link should be appearing here shortly.

I've started writing the guide at http://www.archmobile.org/trac/wiki/SheevaPlug/Install
I'm pretty much writing from memory, but I should be able to help with any issues that arise from those instructions (once they're finished).

Last edited by arew264 (2009-10-11 18:58:02)

mikestaszel · 2009-10-13 01:40:17

Thanks for the guide . I just need to get a proper Sheevaplug so I can use the Installer (I have a Tonido and Pogoplug). Hopefully it'll ship soon...

niku · 2009-10-13 16:19:41

Hi. I'm reading this silently since a while. Thanks to arew264 and markc for their valuable preliminary work!
I updated the guide a bit (sorry for interfering with your work, arew264 - feel free to remove it and/or mess with my stuff), and added a chapter about installing arch (manually) on usb stick and sdhc card. It's not finished yet... I'll look at it again tonight.

Maybe someone knows a cleaner way to install the kernel by using pacman and removing the openmoko kernel cleanly during installation.

Does anyone know, why logging in as root on the serial console doesn't work?

rott_at · 2009-10-13 16:32:28

If one of you guys create a PKGBUILD for the kernel you want, i'll add it to the repo and create a snapshot 'archmobile-base-kernel26-sheevaplug-*.tar.bz2", so you directly can use this snapshot, or install it with the installation script with target 'base kernel26-sheevaplug'.

greetings, neag

arew264 · 2009-10-13 20:30:49

niku wrote:

Hi. I'm reading this silently since a while. Thanks to arew264 and markc for their valuable preliminary work!
I updated the guide a bit (sorry for interfering with your work, arew264 - feel free to remove it and/or mess with my stuff), and added a chapter about installing arch (manually) on usb stick and sdhc card. It's not finished yet... I'll look at it again tonight.
Maybe someone knows a cleaner way to install the kernel by using pacman and removing the openmoko kernel cleanly during installation.
Does anyone know, why logging in as root on the serial console doesn't work?

The serial console needs to be listed in /etc/securetty for root logins to be allowed. If it doesn't already exist, just create a file that contains "ttyS0".

I installed the kernel from a different site (I posted the link above), and until userspace tools exist that allow the Sheevaplug to reflash its own kernel, kernel upgrades are going to need user intervention anyway. The kernel is stored in flash (U-Boot is supposed to allow booting from flash drives and hard drive, but neither worked for me, and the system is apparently quite glitchy right now).

My guide pretty much showed what I did except for the changes I made to /etc/inittab. I may have updated /etc/securetty as well, or I may have just been using sudo since I reflashed my Sheevaplug.

markp1989 · 2009-10-31 19:29:50

I am considering buying the SmartQ 5 tablet, which runs *buntu by default, i would like to run arch on it, if i could build a chroot on a memory card, how would i compile it for the arm arch?

thanks Markp1989

rott_at · 2009-11-01 09:58:28

You either use a toolchain with crosstools(like CLFS: Cross Linux From Scratch) or you could use our BuildEnvironment. Our Buildenv emulates ARM, so we compile the stuff "native", which is much easier. You don't even have to compile stuff if you use ArchMobile, outer Packages which aren't provided yet.(it's possibly not optimized for your ARMv, but ARM versions are backward-compatible).

gtklocker · 2010-05-28 18:43:52

Recovering the topic:

I'm considering buying a SheevaPlug to play the role of my "home-server". Of course I want to get rid of the Ubuntu crap, and to install Arch on it. Are there any better instructions for doing it?

rott_at · 2010-05-29 12:43:40

We have a wikipage about it. But currently our repos are totally out of date. We are working on a autobuilder, becausewe aren't able to keep the repo up to date manually.

You would have to create some of the packages yourself i guess. Join us on the IRC if you are interested in helping.

greetings, naeg

gtklocker · 2010-05-29 22:54:29

Of course when I get my SheevaPlug (and installing Arch-Arm on it), I can contribute in anyways !

But - any link to the wiki page?

rott_at · 2010-05-30 13:49:38

Oh, sorry.
Here is the link:http://www.archmobile.org/trac/wiki/TitleIndex
You either start with Sheevaplug/InstallationOnNAND or Sheevaplug/InstallationOnExternalStorage.

Last edited by rott_at (2010-05-30 16:35:28)

GizmoTheGreen · 2010-06-11 21:48:18

Guess what guys, i got a pandora here now!

any way to install arch arm on a sd card and boot from that?

rott_at · 2010-06-15 07:06:14

Sure, that's the usual way we are doing it. Look at the InstallationGuide.

But note that our repo is out-of-date, and we are currently 'sleeping'. We are working on a autobuilder because we don't have enough manpower to keep the repo up-to-date.

Last edited by rott_at (2010-06-15 07:08:06)

GizmoTheGreen · 2010-06-16 18:41:04

hmm, i got the archmobile root on an sdcard now, booted pandora of it.
still using pandora kernel form nand though.

i cant login? root, root not working...

edit: added autologin so works now, now for another issue! wifi, getting some help from the pandora peple about that.
edit2: i have an rt73 chipset usb dongle if anyone knows how to make that work.

Last edited by GizmoTheGreen (2010-06-16 20:39:11)

rott_at · 2010-06-17 06:44:31

That's a thing of your kernel and/or firmware/other drivers. Google it.

GizmoTheGreen · 2010-06-18 18:04:35

yeah i know, but the usb stick i got should be supported by the standard kernel natively, and it seems to load ok since my act led is blinking.

but i cant find it in ifconfig -a
or iwconfig... so i have no clue whats wrong

edit: it seems to not work in pandora os either, maybe they stripped it from the kernel, hmm?
but why wouldnt the internal wifi work? im still using the pandora kernel, maybe it loads som firmware missing from the archmobile rootfs?

Last edited by GizmoTheGreen (2010-06-18 18:13:50)

sparchy · 2010-06-27 07:34:19

Has anybody here tried PlugApps Plugbox Linux http://www.plugapps.com/index.php5?title=Main_Page. It's an ARM-optimized(ARMv5TE) distro based off Arch. It looks like a full Arch system with ABS,pacman,etc., but for MARVELL/ARM based plug computers. What other ARM devices(ARMv5TE) are there out right now, besides the plug computers, that you think could run on Plugbox. I've seen a number of NAS's that use the Kirkwood 88F628x cpus but haven't seen very many smartphones/tablets/mids yet based on the Marvell Sheeva core or if there is an Android port to it yet, but it would be kind of neat to be able to run Arch and Android off the same smartphone/tablet/mid or plug.

DePingus · 2010-07-06 01:20:18

I just got a Seagate Dockstar (from woot for $20). Its a 1.2ghz ARM with 128mb RAM. Plugbox is working very nicely on it.

One thing to note, it does NOT have the full blown Arch repos. The repo is pretty skimpy right now actually (remember, all the packages need to be compiled on the ARM cpu). The AUR sort of works. You need to make sure that any deps of the AUR package are available in the standard repos (if not, you have to manually build and install them first). No yaourt either.

This distro is very much a work in progress. The devs visit their forums regularly and are very helpful. I'm hoping it takes off. So if there are any curious Arch gurus out here, jump over and give it a try. It also works with the SheevaPlug and TonidoPlug.

Currently, I have samba, rtorrent, and ushare running on my Dockstar...now if I could get moblock to work; I'm done!

mikestaszel · 2010-07-07 15:59:07

To my defense (PlugApps developer), we've got loads more packages that ArchMobile for ARM and we're constantly working on it. Repos may be smaller, but we're always working on getting things compiled. Plus, it's not like we only have 100 packages, we have well over 2000 - look here: http://plugapps.com/arm

Esmil · 2011-01-07 21:22:21

Hi.

I just want to announce that I've ported Archlinux to run on my Pandaboard.
I've pushed the most interesting changes I needed to make to PKGBUILDs here.

It is compiled with -march=armv7-a -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard, so you'll need a recent ARM chip with NEON support.
The OMAP3 chip on the Beagleboard should be ok and it has even been reported to work on a Samsung H1 phone.
If your chip can't handle this I'd still recommend pluggapps as above.

It's still early days so the repos aren't very big yet, but if you want to test it that would be cool.
You can download a gentoo-stage3-style root filesystem in a tarball from here.
Since you'll probably need a kernel specific to your platform anyway I haven't included one in the rootfs. You'll have to supply your own kernel and copy the modules to /lib/modules yourself.

After you've up rc.conf, fstab, inittab, securetty etc. it should be bootable and if you don't have access to chroot into the new rootfs before booting the root password is set to "panda".

Feel free to message me on gitorious or catch me on IRC if you have any questions.

/Esmil

CPUnltd · 2011-01-08 22:17:23

Esmil!!! Thanks for this! Between your build and plugapps, I may (once I learn all I need to know) pull off making my own firmware for the SmartQ V5II! I found a howto on the smartq unofficial forum for bulding my own custom linux firmware... now I just gotta sit and hash out the details to combine all this info (and hopefully find an accelerometer module/driver cause the Ubuntu side of this device does not support the desktop switching feature like android... you have to use an xrandr option that's on the desktop. Not horrible, but I'd like it to be as easy as android, if possible... Could you offer a howto for what you did in order to pull this off? I'd like to have access to as much info as I can get my hands on!

http://translate.google.com/translate?h … 3Divnsrlfd (sorry for the long link... page is in chinese, so I used google translate)

Esmil · 2011-01-09 00:47:26

Hi CPUnltd

I looked at that page and they write your SmartQ V5 has an ARM11 chip inside. According to the table on wikipedia that means it only supports the ARMv6 instruction set and no NEON, so unfortunately you won't be able to run my hardfloat port. However, since the ARM instruction sets are backwards compatible you should be able to run the ARMv5 port of plugapps. It won't take advantage of the floating point unit on the chip though since plugapps is meant to run the plugcomputers which have none.

Happy hacking!

/Esmil

CPUnltd · 2011-01-09 08:12:41

so yours is too new to function and theirs is too old to get decent support... should I just make my own from scratch? (arch-based, of course...

I take it that is pretty much how you ported your version to the device in question... I'm sure that a small bit of coaching/tutorial pointing between you and the guys over at plugapps would get me on the road to where I'm attempting to go. This is DEFINITELY something I'd like to at least start (and get momentum going once it's beyond my ability to handle), if not officially accomplish. The v6 chipset seems to be the most common as of now (chances are, by the time I'm done, the v7 will have just about taken over), so having an option aside from Ubuntu (which is horrific at the moment, I can't even get this thing to allow me to install software... what kind of Linux is that???) would be great, and I'd expect Arch to be the next most powerful option...

I'm actually surprised that Arch isn't already ported to more architectures than Ubuntu, as the developer backing of this distro is enormous (varying on skill levels, but still enormous)... but I can't be surprised in the fact that it's not like everybody is sitting at their desks waiting for the next cool thing to port Arch to. Oh, how interesting life would be if that were true... if I can get my own team together, that would be something I'd see worth tossing some manpower behind... but that's just me.

Not sure what else there is out there at the moment besides Meego, Ubuntu and Debian... Wouldn't really matter to me anyway, as I'd still wanna see Arch running on this thing...and everything else I can get my hands on because I see the potential Arch has to be ABLE to run on anything... gotta get my hands on a 586 build of Arch (or make my own) too so I can see what I can pull of with older hardware lying around the house that I'd like to get back in action. But I digress...

thechitowncubs · 2011-01-12 12:42:30

Good luck guys!

ARM is the future of budget computing.

Arch Linux

#51 2009-10-11 09:51:00

Re: Arch on ARM?

#52 2009-10-11 18:46:59

Re: Arch on ARM?

#53 2009-10-13 01:40:17

Re: Arch on ARM?

#54 2009-10-13 16:19:41

Re: Arch on ARM?

#55 2009-10-13 16:32:28

Re: Arch on ARM?

#56 2009-10-13 20:30:49

Re: Arch on ARM?

#57 2009-10-31 19:29:50

Re: Arch on ARM?

#58 2009-11-01 09:58:28

Re: Arch on ARM?

#59 2010-05-28 18:43:52

Re: Arch on ARM?

#60 2010-05-29 12:43:40

Re: Arch on ARM?

#61 2010-05-29 22:54:29

Re: Arch on ARM?

#62 2010-05-30 13:49:38

Re: Arch on ARM?

#63 2010-06-11 21:48:18

Re: Arch on ARM?

#64 2010-06-15 07:06:14

Re: Arch on ARM?

#65 2010-06-16 18:41:04

Re: Arch on ARM?

#66 2010-06-17 06:44:31

Re: Arch on ARM?

#67 2010-06-18 18:04:35

Re: Arch on ARM?

#68 2010-06-27 07:34:19

Re: Arch on ARM?

#69 2010-07-06 01:20:18

Re: Arch on ARM?

#70 2010-07-07 15:59:07

Re: Arch on ARM?

#71 2011-01-07 21:22:21

Re: Arch on ARM?

#72 2011-01-08 22:17:23

Re: Arch on ARM?

#73 2011-01-09 00:47:26

Re: Arch on ARM?

#74 2011-01-09 08:12:41

Re: Arch on ARM?

#75 2011-01-12 12:42:30

Re: Arch on ARM?

Board footer