[09:33] <blackthund3r> Hi there
[09:33] <blackthund3r> Is anyone around so I can ask a couple of questions about porting to armhf?
[09:33] <blackthund3r> I'm trying to get started with porting ubuntu to a tablet
[09:52] <blackthund3r> hello?
[10:11] <wookey> ask away
[10:11] <wookey> blackthund3r: ^
[10:30] <blackthund3r> wookey: o.O hi
[10:30] <blackthund3r> Okay
[10:30] <blackthund3r> Basically I'm working on a tegra port of ubuntu
[10:30] <blackthund3r> and was wondering how I really start collating everything
[10:31] <blackthund3r> I have downloaded the linux4tegra kit and I've modified rootstock to produce an armhf package but I'm not really sure what the best way of testing all this is
[10:31] <blackthund3r> also how I would add certain patches to the kernel for specific device support
[10:44] <wookey> rootstock makes images not packages. Are you building a package for armhf or trying to build whole images?
[10:45] <blackthund3r> whole images
[10:45] <blackthund3r> and eventually a kernel too
[10:46] <blackthund3r> I'm attempting to get 12.04 booting on the Acer Iconia A500
[10:46] <marvin24> blackthund3r: you can use the ac100 image for starting
[10:46] <marvin24> but you will need a working kernel
[10:46] <blackthund3r> hmm ok. Is that a better option than starting from scratch?
[10:46] <marvin24> depends on your caps
[10:47] <blackthund3r> Sure. I believe there is a 2.6 chromeos kernel for this device but I'm trying to get as new a source tree compiled as possible
[10:47] <blackthund3r> caps?
[10:47] <marvin24> capabilities
[10:47] <blackthund3r> ok sure
[10:47] <marvin24> ac100 uses a 3.1 kernel (from nvidia)
[10:47] <blackthund3r> I'm new to kernel dev and this sort of thing although I'm very experienced with linux
[10:47] <blackthund3r> that makes sense. I've just checked that code out via git
[10:48] <blackthund3r> I believe the stuff I need to add in is here: https://github.com/iconia-dev
[10:48] <blackthund3r> how do I add that then tell make to use that config?
[10:50] <marvin24> what kernel is this based on?
[10:50] <blackthund3r> Not sure. I believe they're patches for stock linux
[10:51] <blackthund3r> (in the github link)
[10:51] <blackthund3r> I'm working with the 3.1 kernel for nvidia
[10:51] <blackthund3r> *from
[10:51] <blackthund3r> it is preconfigured (I believe) for the ventana test board. I need to add those patches so it will work on the tablet
[10:52] <blackthund3r> (and then work on adding in drivers once I see what is actually supported OOTB)
[10:52] <marvin24> sounds like a plan
[10:53] <blackthund3r> so how do I add those patches in?
[10:53] <blackthund3r> there is a vendor section with proprietary folder,
[10:54] <marvin24> I haven't seen any patches in the repo at all
[10:54] <blackthund3r> and a device tree
[10:54] <blackthund3r> https://github.com/iconia-dev/android_device_acer_a500 and https://github.com/iconia-dev/android_vendor_acer_a500
[10:56] <blackthund3r> also (probably a separate question) where is the section in the kernel source for the initramfs?
[10:56] <marvin24> these are scripts for some build system, no kernel patches
[10:56] <blackthund3r> The plan is to install linux into /data/linux from within Android and install the kernel to the spare partition. Then chroot to it
[10:56] <marvin24> the kernel seems to be available in binary form
[10:57] <blackthund3r> sure does. Should I try booting it to see what will happen?
[10:57] <marvin24> I think you can use the android kernel and see how far you come
[10:57] <blackthund3r> I need to bridge it to an initramfs or it won't be useful, unless I can open a serial connection with it to view the output?
[10:57] <blackthund3r> hmm
[10:57] <blackthund3r> I hadn't considered that
[10:58] <blackthund3r> okay so assuming I used that kernel as it is fairly up to date (one dev has a 3.2.x-based kernel)
[10:58] <blackthund3r> how can I chroot to /data/linux?
[10:58] <blackthund3r> is that even possible? Has anybody every tried installing linux to a folder?
[10:59] <blackthund3r> I assume it would go fairly early in the init script
[10:59] <blackthund3r> if /data was mounted by the initramfs, could you then chroot to /data/linux?
[10:59] <blackthund3r> Or would it need to be remounted as /?
[11:00] <marvin24> there is no /data on ubuntu
[11:00] <blackthund3r> I could call it anything when mounted though right?
[11:00] <blackthund3r> okay /mnt/data
[11:00] <marvin24> ah, you can try to mount an ubuntu fs in android
[11:00] <marvin24> and chroot to it
[11:01] <blackthund3r> no I've done that already ;)
[11:01] <blackthund3r> I mean use the kernel to do it and boot up from a chroot
[11:01] <blackthund3r> the data partition is mmcblk0p9
[11:01] <blackthund3r> the data partition is mmcblk0p8
[11:02] <blackthund3r> so if mmcblk0p8 was mounted by the ramdisk
[11:02] <blackthund3r> then the linux folder was set as the root
[11:02] <blackthund3r> would this work?
[11:03] <blackthund3r> that would mean Ubuntu could be booted natively whilst keeping that partition
[11:03] <blackthund3r> the data partition is pretty huge
[11:03] <blackthund3r> so it makes sense to install linux there
[11:03] <blackthund3r> and somehow boot it
[11:05] <marvin24> you may create your own initrd (from the chroot)
[11:05] <marvin24> and pass it to the kernel
[11:05] <blackthund3r> hmm
[11:05] <marvin24> also the root partition (via root=...) kernel command line
[11:05] <blackthund3r> can you mount a partition beforehand?
[11:05] <blackthund3r> Wait no that wouldn't work
[11:06] <blackthund3r> okay so if root=magicinitrd
[11:06] <marvin24> no, the ubuntu initrd will try to mount root
[11:06] <blackthund3r> then somewhere in that initrd it needs to mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
[11:06] <marvin24> the initrd is mounted automaticly by the kernel (if it is there)
[11:06] <blackthund3r> then fuse-mount /mnt/mmcblk0p8 as /
[11:06] <blackthund3r> sure
[11:07] <blackthund3r> so how does linux's initrd then mount the rest of the filesystem?
[11:07] <marvin24> /etc/fstab ?
[11:07] <blackthund3r> because it is almost a union of the initrd and the partition
[11:07] <blackthund3r> makes sense
[11:08] <blackthund3r> okay android seems a little different
[11:08] <marvin24> yes, userspace is totally different
[11:08] <blackthund3r> the android initrd will use /fstab.t20 to mount all the partition in the own folders
[11:08] <blackthund3r> although (I assume) ubuntu will mount the RootFS as /?
[11:09] <marvin24> it should
[11:09] <marvin24> but I'm also not an expert
[11:09] <blackthund3r> ok sure.
[11:09] <blackthund3r> So in that case I need to understand roughly how that works
[11:10] <blackthund3r> in order to mount a partition then set a folder rather than a partition as /
[11:11] <marvin24> I still don't understand why you want to do this
[11:11] <blackthund3r> in order to boot ubuntu up with it installed in a folder
[11:12] <blackthund3r> currently there is /data/media, /data/Android etc etc
[11:12] <marvin24> in android, the partitions are also mounted on folders
[11:12] <blackthund3r> so I want a /data/linux
[11:12] <blackthund3r> which the linux kernel will use as a rootfs
[11:12] <blackthund3r> yes but android doesn't need to mount a new rootfs - the initrd is the complete rootfs as the main system works out of the /system folder
[11:12] <marvin24> if fact, the mount point doesn't matter
[11:13] <marvin24> why do you want to keep this strange android way of booting?
[11:13] <blackthund3r> so is what I want to do possible?
[11:13] <marvin24> why not just mount the root partition and you are finished
[11:13] <blackthund3r> to not have to wipe out all the userdata in order to install ubuntu
[11:13] <marvin24> you can also boot from a sdcard
[11:14] <marvin24> I guess the a500 has a slot for it
[11:14] <blackthund3r> so install straight to the data partition alongside the rest of the android data?
[11:14] <blackthund3r> yes you can but it's only cool if it works from the internal memory ;)
[11:14] <blackthund3r> more storage that way too - there are some 64GB tabs
[11:16] <blackthund3r> once I have a reliable way of doing this, I want to extend it to making an easy way of patching an existing android ROM to boot from, say, /data/sys2 or /data/sys3 so you can dual boot ROM
[11:16] <blackthund3r> *ROMs
[11:16] <blackthund3r> but that's a later project. For now I want a working ubuntu install
[11:17] <blackthund3r> for tablets like this it'd be really useful to have a full RootFS in a folder
[11:17] <blackthund3r> particularly as the filesystem is ext4 anyway
[11:17] <blackthund3r> it saves repartitioning stuff
[11:30] <marvin24> blackthund3r: you can split the "user" partition
[11:30] <marvin24> don't know anymore where it was mounted
[11:30] <blackthund3r> split how?
[11:30] <blackthund3r> repartition it?
[11:30] <marvin24> yes
[11:30] <blackthund3r> that would cause ROM issues
[11:30] <marvin24> it worked fine on the ac100
[11:30] <blackthund3r> hmm
[11:30] <blackthund3r> this is the anatomy of the a500
[11:30] <blackthund3r> http://projects.pappkartong.se/a500/
[11:31] <blackthund3r> actually it might work
[11:31] <blackthund3r> but then you have to dedicate that space
[11:31] <blackthund3r> (which is what I was trying to avoid :P)
[11:32] <blackthund3r> and the whole tablet would still have to be wiped out to do that as I understand
[11:32] <blackthund3r> nvflash isn't the most user-friendly of tools!
[11:33] <blackthund3r> eventually I want this to be available to the public
[11:34] <blackthund3r> brb :)
[12:12] <blackthund3r> thanks for your help marvin24!
[12:12] <blackthund3r> gtg :(
[12:16]  * lilstevie thinks he is going about that in the most difficult way he can find
[12:17] <lilstevie> picasso and tf101 are very similar, with a small patch it would boot with the same kernel
[12:18] <ogra_> nah, cant be that would break the well estabished arm fragemntation vendors worked on for years !
[12:18] <ogra_> :)
[12:19] <lilstevie> ogra_, muromec ported 2.6.38 to both the tf101 and picasso, if you compile it with both boards defined in the config it comes down to a few if(is_machine_picasso()) blocks difference
[12:20] <lilstevie> I have no idea why though :p arm fragmentation is common, and expected
[12:23] <ogra_> yeah, evil, the vendors should sue him to break it :)
[12:23] <ogra_> s/to break/for breaking/
[12:24] <lilstevie> :p
[12:25] <lilstevie> lol " hey guys there is a rumor about windows 8 coming out for tablets and im so excited for that " <-- got to love forums, that was posted today
[12:26] <ogra_> yeah, finally more locked down HW on the market
[12:28] <lilstevie> yeah
[12:28] <lilstevie> uefi comes to arm, but not to benefit the platform :(