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Latest Project Blogs
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 Efika MX Gentoo installation guide and status
Project: Gentoo/ARM support (Linux Distributions)
posted by Raúl Porcel on 7th March 2010
Hi,
Its been a while since i wrote something, therefore some things happened :)
- First i bought an USB HDD enclosure for using a SATA2 500GB HDD i used on another ARM board, but that board died 6 months ago, therefore the disk was unused. With so much space, i was now able to build a lot of stuff.
- I finally released the ARMv6J stages(although those aren't optimized for the Efika MX). I also kept building the ARMv7A monthly stages(which are optimized for the Efika MX).
- I created the ARMv7A and ARMv6J binary repositories. Both stable and unstable, so Gentoo users and developers from other distributions may use our binaries.
- Jeremy Olexa did a nice job with the documentation for installing Gentoo on the Efika MX. Try it out!
- I've been running the Efika MX non-stop since I got it, with no issues. Here's a sysinfo:
Hostname: efikamx - OS: Linux 2.6.31-ER1/armv7l - Distro: Gentoo 1.12.13 - CPU: ARMv7 rev 1 (v7l) - Processes: 136 - Uptime: 72d 15h 40m - Users: 5 - Load Average: 1.37 - Memory Usage: 147.23MB/470.49MB (31.29%) - Disk Usage: 36.55GB/461.23GB (7.92%)
- I also worked on getting Chromium to work on the Efika, here's the history: http://armin762.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/google-chromechromium-keyworded-armthe-definitive-post/
So, from the list i did on the last post:
Whats left to do:
-Document it <- done by Jeremy Olexa
-armv6j stages <- done
-Play with CFLAGS <- no time, will be the next thing i'll do, i guess
-binary repositories for tinderboxing <- done
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GPS Tracker
Project: Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) (Embedded)
posted by Johan Dams on 24th February 2010
I wasn't sure where exactly to put this entry, but I guess this is as good a place as any.
I've been working on a brand new GPS tracking solution (hardware/software combination) for some time now - almost ready for production!
The screenshot below shows the application running on the EfikaMX. It's a Qt application and is thus completely portable to any Qt supporting platform (runs already on Linux x86 and Windows and even on the Nokia N810).
The green circle is a geo-fence in case you're wondering. The screenshot is not as clear as it could be since it's running over VNC. The application allows for easy addition of vehicles and vehicle types, creation of geo-fences and much more.
I'm going to try yo integrate the server side hardware side into the EfikaMX itself - that would make a nice stand-alone, always on GPS tracking 'server' which should offer a nice energy efficient solution capable of tracking a multitude of vehicles.
Johan.
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Mandriva port now running on EfikaMX, demoed at FOSDEM 2010
Project: Mandriva Linux port (Linux Distributions)
posted by Olivier Blin on 12th February 2010
A few days ago, we received the Efika MX for our Mandriva Linux port project, in our Mandriva office in Paris.
Our target in the end is to merge Efika MX and Freescal i.MX51 support, and make our user-friendly distribution available the upcoming Efika MX Smartbook, using our netbook-oriented desktop from Mandriva Mini.
Before getting the Efika MX, we already built (natively) a Mandriva Linux port with ARMv5 as target. So, in just a few minutes, we managed to get in our Mandriva Linux chroot on the Efika MX, and run the X graphical server and GNOME desktop from Mandriva :-)
Then, we used the SD card installer from Genesi, and modified it to include our Mandriva Linux chroot.
As a result, after playing with DIP switches to boot from SD card by default, we now have the Efika MX booting on our Mandriva Linux, standalone.
This work is for now based on Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring (2009.1), and we will do a public release in the coming weeks.
We are still using the EfikaMX kernel from Genesi for now, but we plan to merge the patches in the main Mandriva kernel, to factorize the kernel maintainance for our products.
Next on our roadmap is the inclusion of the imx graphical driver and multimedia codecs (from the Freescale i.MX51 Linux SDK), which we started already.
Finally, we will merge our ARM port patches back in the Mandriva Cooker development distribution, so that the next Mandriva Linux 2010 Spring (2010.1) distribution is ARM-ready by default!
In the meantime, we demoed the Efika MX at FOSDEM 2010 in Brussel last week-end, and it got a bunch of attention!
Here are a few pics from the event, courtesy of Wolfgang Bornath (wobo) from the Mandriva German community:
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openSUSE 11.2
Project: openSUSE support (Linux Distributions)
posted by Peter Czanik on 12th February 2010
openSUSE 11.2 is now being ported to ARM. The base compile system is finally ready (there were some troubles due to incompatible Build Service changes), just as the third of the rest of the packages. Right now I'm reviewing failed packages, as these block the building of many others. My first fix was just accepted, and suddenly the compile farm started to work on many new 11.2 ARM packages again :-)
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Wireless working!
Project: Assisting Gentoo Linux ARM team (Linux Distributions)
posted by Stephen Klimaszewski on 5th February 2010
So, there has been a new kernel release from Genesi - 2.6.31.12-ER1-efikamx.
On Gentoo, you download the 51mb 2.6.31-ER1-efikamx lzmaball, and then the patch.
extract both - since on a Gentoo machine, it is fairly standard to have the kernel in /usr/src/linux - thats where I extracted the files. Then I moved the patches into the linux-2.6.31.12-ER1-efikamx directory (renamed from 2.6.31-ER1-efikamx) and then created a symlink.
Make the kernel as per norm (by default when you apply the patches, it copies the Genesi config file to .config) editing the config whichever way you prefer to add/remove options, and build it.
Don't forget to mount /dev/sda1 before you make modules_install!
Now we download the driver from Ralink for the RT3070 - 2009_1110_RT3070_Linux_STA_v2.1.2.0.tar.bz2 (sorry, no direct link as they do request you accept the license) - extract it wherever.
Go into the 2009_1110_RT3070_Linux_STA_v2.1.2.0 directory, and then edit os/linux/config.mk
Change HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=n to HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=y
change HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT=n to HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT=y
make
Wait a bit - then delete /tftpboot (Ralink's makefile copies the driver to there)
Then copy the module somewhere in /lib/modules/2.6.31.12-ER1-efikamx (I like to use /extras or /networking) then blacklist all the in-kernel wifi stuff in
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist rt3070sta
blacklist rt2870sta
blacklist rt2800usb
blacklist rt2x00usb
blacklist rt2x00lib
blacklist mac80211
blacklist cfg80211
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and then in /etc/modules.autoload.d
add "rt3070sta" (as I'm writing this, yes I see that I'm blacklisting it and then explicitly autoloading it - will fix later)
Don't forget to run depmod -a
Reboot!
Now you need to edit your RT3070STA.dat file - this will reside in /etc/Wireless/RT3070STA/
Mine looks like this:
#The word of "Default" must not be removed
Default
CountryRegion=5
CountryRegionABand=7
CountryCode=
ChannelGeography=1
SSID=<YOURSSIDHERE>
NetworkType=Infra
WirelessMode=9
Channel=6
BeaconPeriod=100
TxPower=100
BGProtection=0
TxPreamble=0
RTSThreshold=2347
FragThreshold=2346
TxBurst=1
PktAggregate=0
WmmCapable=1
AckPolicy=0;0;0;0
AuthMode=WPAPSK
EncrypType=TKIP
WPAPSK=<YOURPASSWORDHERE>
DefaultKeyID=1
Key1Type=0
Key1Str=
Key2Type=0
Key2Str=
Key3Type=0
Key3Str=
Key4Type=0
Key4Str=
PSMode=CAM
AutoRoaming=0
RoamThreshold=70
APSDCapable=0
APSDAC=0;0;0;0
HT_RDG=1
HT_EXTCHA=0
HT_OpMode=1
HT_MpduDensity=4
HT_BW=1
HT_BADecline=0
HT_AutoBA=1
HT_BADecline=0
HT_AMSDU=0
HT_BAWinSize=64
HT_GI=1
HT_MCS=33
HT_MIMOPSMode=3
HT_DisallowTKIP=1
EthConvertMode=
EthCloneMac=
IEEE80211H=0
TGnWifiTest=0
WirelessEvent=0
MeshId=MESH
MeshAutoLink=1
MeshAuthMode=OPEN
MeshEncrypType=NONE
MeshWPAKEY=
MeshDefaultkey=1
MeshWEPKEY=
CarrierDetect=0
AntDiversity=0
BeaconLostTime=4
FtSupport=1
Wapiifname=ra0
WapiPsk=
WapiPskType=
WapiUserCertPath=
WapiAsCertPath=
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When playing with wpa_supplicant, you want to have it run non-daemonized while trying to debug it - by default, on the Efika MX you will run it with the following command:
wpa_supplicant -Dwext -Ira0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf |
(Note: the location of wpa_supplicant.conf may be different if you aren't on Gentoo)
If you are on Gentoo and using the stable "arm" keyword, then you may want to go into /etc/conf.d/net and set
modules_ra0=( "!iwconfig" ) |
So that it will use wpa_supplicant rather than trying to set everything up manually with iwconfig.
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A small delay due to translate
Project: Add supoort to OpenOCD for the i.MX515 cpu (Embedded)
posted by Rafael Campos Las Heras on 20th January 2010
Dear Power Developer devs. I'm putting this post to announce my new location. I'm moving to brazil, as i said in my other blog: A lot of time without news.
I've been so bussy with the paperwork & packaging all the furniture of my house.
I've going to flight this weekend, and i hope to have time to deal with the EfikaMX around middle of February.
I keep you up to date.
See u soon, from the South Emisphere ;)
Rafael Campos (aka Methril)
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