[fedora-arm] Fedora 18 Remix for Genesi EFIKA MX Smarttop made available

[Niels de Vos]

Hello all,

after quite some delay, I have been able to try out a work-in-progress 
kernel-tree (3.7) from Sascha Hauer[1] for the Genesi EFIKA MX 
Smartbook[1]. The Fedora Remix image I have created uses the barebox[2] 
bootloader to load the device-tree and the kernel (a zImage with 
concatenated initramfs).

The contents of the image is based on the Fedora 18 Generic Root 
Filesystem armhfp[3]. XFCE and most of the desktop basics are included.  
Very little changes were needed over all. As the Smartbook has only 
512MB of RAM, it is recommended to add some swap space, re-using the 
swap on the internal HD works for me (you need to update your 
/etc/fstab).

The current kernel configuration as found in Sascha's tree does not play 
very nice with the Fedora rootfs. When exercising some load, quite some 
oopses occur and it often results in a kernel panic (this happens 
because some 'sh' process reads /proc/meminfo, no idea what process, or 
why). I have been able to re-configure the kernel to the Fedora 
specifics, while keeping to the options from Sascha's defconfig. This 
kernel looks more stable, and a 'yum update' over the integrated Wifi 
adapter has finished successfully. So, if you have tried an earlier (not 
publicly announced) image, it would be in your benefit to update to this 
new release.

A difficulty with using this image, is that you need to configure your 
Smartbook to boot from SD-card, not the internal SPI-NOR. This change is 
done by flipping three dip-switches that are located under the keyboard, 
next to the flat-cable that connects the keyboard. The Genesi site 
contains a very good explanation on removing the keyboard[4] so that you 
can access the switches.

The standard and default configuration of these switches cause the 
system to use the bootloader (uboot) to boot from the internal SPI-NOR 
and look like this:

	+---------+
	| X       |
	|   X X X |
	+---------+

Change this to the following to boot with barebox from the SD-card:

	+---------+
	|     X X |
	| X X     |
	+---------+

For now, I was only successful with booting from the left SD-card slot.  
barebox should also support booting from the micro-SD-card slot that is 
accessible by removing the battery. You will need to modify the barebox 
configuration (see [2] for adding variables/scripts) for this. A future 
release of this remix will hopefully come with a modified barebox 
configuration so that both card slots work (and also separating zImage 
from the initramdisk).

These instructions and a link for downloading are captured in the Fedora 
Wiki[5] and anyone is free to improve, correct and amend that page.

Feedback is much appreciated! Thanks,
Niels


[0] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ports.arm.kernel/205566
[1] http://www.genesi-tech.com/products/smartbook
[2] http://wiki.barebox.org/doku.php?id=boards:efikasb
[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/F18/Remixes
[4] http://www.genesi-tech.com/support/smartbook/tutorial/keyboard:here
[5] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/Genesi_Smartbook

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/arm/attachments/20130504/d7045610/attachment-0001.sig>