Reflashing GlobalScale Mirabox filesystem

May 22, 2013 by
Filed under: Development, Hardware, Linux 

I just worked my way through reflashing the mirabox and figured I’d post some instructions on how to do it. I’ve used the descriptions from this http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3880.0 post but found it to be lacking a few steps that could be construed as obvious… perhaps. Especially the use of ubifs is quite new to me, even though the commands are quite straight forward I got snagged up a bit in understanding how it works.

I’ve used the following rescue disk image:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0imSF-34b8dZEc0SFo3N1Fzb0E/edit

And this rootfs image:

http://code.google.com/p/mirabox/downloads/list

Download and install the rescue disk on a microSD card:

  1. fdisk the microSD, create on FAT16 partition of 100mb size, the rest of the device as EXT3.
  2. Unpack the rescue disk
  3. Copy the mirabox file to the FAT16 partition
  4. Extract the rootfs.tgz file to the EXT3 partition.
  5. sync and umount the microSD card
  6. Connect a USB flash device to the computer
  7. Extract the rootfs image downloaded above
  8. Copy the rootfs to the USB flash device.
  9. Disconnect USB device.
  10. Connect micro-sd with mirabox kernel and rootfs to mirabox
  11. Plug in the mirabox to a computer via USB.
  12. Start the mirabox
  13. Hit a key at uboot
  14. >> set bootcmd ‘usb start; fatload usb 1 0x6400000 mirabox; bootm 0x6400000’
  15. >> set bootargs ‘console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/sdb2 rootwait’
  16. >> boot
  17. login as root password nosoup4u
  18. connect USB disk with rootfs on it to mirabox
  19. # cd /media/usbX where the rootfs img is located
  20. # ubiformat /dev/mtd2 –flash-image=rootfs-debian6.0-gti-mirabox-v5-0-1-120924.img
  21. # sync
  22. # reboot
  23. disconnect USB disk and remove devices.
  24. login to your hopefully working new filesystem using root/nosoup4u credentials.

 

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Comments

2 Comments on Reflashing GlobalScale Mirabox filesystem

  1. Johannes Ernst on Sat, 13th Jul 2013 07:00

    2. Any idea how to recompile kernel, run a distro other than debian, etc … ? Also, how did you figure out the steps above? It’s not like the Mirabox comes with any instructions! 🙁

  2. Oskar Andreasson on Sat, 13th Jul 2013 09:38

    3. Hi Johannes,

    I agree, the documentation is really lacking, and the device isn’t really ready for end-user usage. I think it could be, but it’s not, and the main thing I see holding it back is the very weird changes they make to the filesystem layouts etc (adding scripts which doesn’t work if you do apt-get upgrade for example). Personally, that’s one of the first things I do and winding up with a bricked unit as soon as you do that is… not funny :).

    Anyways, as for your questions, some of the stuff I already knew since I work a lot with embedded linux platforms (albeit never this specific CPU/system/brand before except for the guruplug), and most of the stuff I found out by doing a lot of googling. There isn’t a whole lot of information around, but there is some. For example, here’s a great start to look at to compile your own kernel: http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4036.0

    There do seem to be some issues with building your own kernel though, but I guess you’ll find out better on your own that I will be able to (I left the miraboxes at work and won’t be able to touch them for a few months).

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