Predefined kernel configs

grant123 · l33t Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 989

How can I configure my kernel with a predefined config such as this one:

arch/arm/boot/dts/omap4-panda-es.dts

Or am I missing something?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:02 pm Post subject:

grant123,

Rename the file to .config and put it at the lop level of the kernel source tree.
The make system will then use it
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NeddySeagoon

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grant123 · l33t Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 989

That doesn't seem to work but it's my fault because I don't think that file is a "predefined config" like I said it was. I think I need to rephrase my question.

1. How can I get a working .config for a weird device like the Pandaboard ES? There is a Gentoo guide for the Pandaboard but it uses a special Ubuntu kernel. I know people are booting it on the latest kernels these days but I don't know how to configure it.

2. What is arch/arm/boot/dts/omap4-panda-es.dts?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:40 pm Post subject:

grant123,

arch/arm/boot/dts/omap4-panda-es.dts is a relative path to something. Assuming its /usr/src/linux, its a file related to sound.

heiwa · n00b Joined: 24 Oct 2012 Posts: 70

*.dts files contain device trees describing the hardware of your board. It'll be converted to a binary *.dtb format. At boot time the correct (binary) device tree has to be loaded together with the kernel into memory so that the kernel loads (only) the correct drivers.

For the config file I'd start out with the one from Ubuntu and update it using 'make oldconfig'.

grant123 · l33t Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 989

I tried 'make omap2plus_defconfig' and I also tried downloading http://dev.gentoo.org/~armin76/arm/pandaboard/kconfig but neither will boot. I must be doing something wrong somewhere in the process. Here's what I'm doing right on the pandaboard:

# cd /usr/src/linux-3.12.6-gentoo
# 'make omap2plus_defconfig' or 'wget http://dev.gentoo.org/~armin76/arm/pandaboard/kconfig -O .config && make oldconfig'
# make LOADADDR=0x80000000 uImage
# mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /boot
# cp arch/arm/boot/uImage /boot

This is how I'm acquiring MLO and u-boot.img:

# wget ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/u-boot/u-boot-latest.tar.bz2
# tar xjpf u-boot-latest.tar.bz2
# cd u-boot-*
# make omap4_panda_config
# make
# mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /boot
# cp MLO /boot
# cp u-boot.img /boot

'make uImage' complains if I don't include a LOADADDR so I chose one arbitrarily.

cwr · Veteran Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 1969

An arbitrary address is probably not a good idea - you may well overwrite bits of the kernel.
On the BeagleBone Black uboot is controlled by a uEnv.txt file on the loader partition; I don't
know if the Pandaboard does the same.

The dtbs file is compiled from a dts file using the dtc compier, which should be somewhere
on your (Arm) system. If you can find the sources, you can compile it for x86 or whatever.

Some systems load the dtbs file as part of the kernel, and some separately, loading it at
a known address after the kernel. Really your best bet is to connect a terminal program
to the first serial port of the board (via FTDI?) and watch what uboot does when it's booting.
uboot's configuration is maniacally complicated, and I've never found another way to debug
boot problems, but at least it's pretty gabby on bootup.

Will
PS I am covered with pure vegetable oil and I am writing a best seller!

grant123 · l33t Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 989

I used 'mkimage -l uImage' on the uImage I downloaded which does boot and it has the LOADADDR at 80008000 so I changed 'make' to that one but it still won't boot. I also tried adding the following uEnv.txt but still no boot:

bootfile=/uImage
mmcroot=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rw
mmcrootfstype=ext4 rootwait
optargs=ip=none

I just ordered a USB to serial cable so I can get a better idea of what's going on.

grant123 · l33t Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 989

Gabby indeed. It's booting! I did need the uEnv.txt file from above.

The first issue was this:

** File not found /boot//uImage **

So I changed uEnv.txt to bootfile=uImage and moved uImage to /boot/uImage on the root partition.

Next issue was this:

Bad Linux ARM zImage magic!

So I did 'cp /usr/src/linux/arch/arm/boot/zImage /boot/zImage' and changed uEnv.txt to bootfile=zImage and it boots. For the kernel config I did 'make omap2plus_defconfig' and added CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD and CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD_OMAP for the ethernet interface.

u-boot said:

** File not found /boot/omap4-panda-es.dtb **

but booted fine anyway. I did 'make omap4-panda-es.dtb' which compiled /usr/src/linux/arch/arm/boot/dts/omap4-panda-es.dtb which I then copied to /boot/omap4-panda-es.dtb and the error went away.

The only other issue I see with u-boot is this message:

reading boot.scr
** Unable to read file boot.scr **
reading uEnv.txt

but I guess that's OK. Thank you for your help!