Done with setup, now we’re heading for the testing.
Preparing The Kernel
Download the kernel source from TS-Logic site (or your board manufacturer’s site). Compile it, and copy into /tftpboot directory.
# tar xvzf tskernel-2.6.21-ts-src.tar.gz
# cd linux-2.6.21-ts/
# make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-linux-gnueabi- ts72xx_defconfig
# make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-linux-gnueabi-
# cp arch/arm/boot/zImage /tftpboot/
Note if the compilation fails due to ‘PATH_MAX’ const not found, add “#include <linux/limit.h>” in the beginning of the failure file. Mine has some problem with scripts/mod/sumversion.c.
Now, turn on the TFTPD.
# sudo /etc/init.d/atftpd restart
Preparing The Root Filesystem
This step will copy the root filesystem into NFS shared directory. Therefore, our board can boot from it, rather than booting from SD-CARD/CF/Flash.
Download one of embedded linux distro from TS-Logic site (I’m using Debian 3.1 Sarge for TS-72xx). Untar it as root (because it needs root privilege to untar device files in /dev) to the NFS share directory. Note: Use TS-Linux distro with 2.4 kernel, use Debian 3.1 Sarge with 2.6 kernel, since it’s not interchangeable.
# sudo tar xvzf debian-sarge-udev-11-15-2007.tar.gz -C /nfs/
Then activate the NFS services
# sudo /etc/init.d/portmap restart
# sudo /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart
Booting The Board
Now, turn on the board, and press CTRL-C to cancel the standard Redboot booting sequence. The Redboot prompt should appear in your screen.
Then, plugin the ethernet of the board into the host’s ethernet port, and select your embedded linux profile.
Turn On DHCP Server
# sudo /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart
Load and Execute Kernel
From RedBoot’s prompt, load the linux kernel with:
Redboot> ip -l 192.168.0.2/24
Redboot> load -r -b 0×218000 -h 192.168.0.1 zImage
Redboot> exec -c “console=ttyAM0,115200 ip=dhcp nfsroot=192.168.0.1:/nfs/tmp/mnt”
That’s it. Your kernel suppose to boot with Debian’s root filesystem on NFS folder (the login should appears in your screen).
