Booting from a flash card

2008-11-23T14:15:28Z

84.123.116.147:

This article covers the steps you need to follow to boot from a flash card. The process is somewhat involved, so some familiarity with the command line is recommended.

Advanced users may wish to read [[advanced booting]] as well, for more advanced booting-related configuration and setup information.

== Why would we want to boot from a flash card? ==
* For more space to install applications.
* An easy-to-use bootable backup.
* To improve performance (note, this is dependent on the quality of your flash card).

== Gain root access ==

First of all you need to be able to gain [[root access]].

== Partition your card ==

Follow the instructions to [[partitioning a flash card|partition your card]].

== Install the necessary tools ==

First, we need to install wget, so open Xterm and, '''as root''', run:

apt-get install wget

Then run:

mkdir -p /home/user/bin
cd /home/user/bin
wget <nowiki>http://www.nmacleod.com/nokia/bin/nupgrade.sh</nowiki>
wget <nowiki>http://www.nmacleod.com/nokia/bin/tar</nowiki>
chmod +x nupgrade.sh tar

Then, to install the proper filesystem tools, run:

apt-get install e2fsprogs

== Install bootmenu ==

Now we need to download and install fanoush's [http://fanoush.wz.cz/maemo/#initfs initfs flasher], so, '''as root''', run: 
''Note, although putting initfs_flasher in the directory given is not required, it ''cannot'' be placed on a FAT partition (i.e., one of the cards).''

cd /home/user/bin
wget <nowiki>http://fanoush.wz.cz/maemo/initfs_flasher.tgz</nowiki>
tar zxvf initfs_flasher.tgz
cd /home/user/bin/initfs_flasher/

=== Configuration ===

This is an optional step, but if you want to customize the bootmenu to properly reflect your partitioning setup, change the partition labels, and a number of other options, then you'll need to rename the appropriate <code>bootmenu.conf.''device''.example</code> file to <code>bootmenu.conf</code> and edit it to your liking. The README included with flasher and the comments in the configuration file should be enough to tell you what everything is.

The flasher will ask you if you want to include your bootmenu.conf file if you renamed it properly.

=== Flash the initfs ===

cd /home/user/local/bin/initfs_flasher/
./initfs_flash

Follow the onscreen instructions. You can answer yes to all of these questions if you don't understand what they mean.

=== Set the default boot device ===

Once the initfs is flashed, you may wish to change to default boot device so the tablet will boot into your preferred partition without intervention. To do this, '''as root''', run:

chroot /mnt/initfs cal-tool --set-root-device ask:mmc2

To set the default to partition 2 on the internal card. If you would like to set the default to something else, the device is <code>mmc''#''</code> (where # is the partition number) for the internal card, and <code>mmc1''#''</code> for the external card. To set it back the default behavior of booting from the built-in flash, use <code>flash</code>.

== Clone to the card ==
''Many thanks to [[User:Milhouse|milhouse]] for writing and maintaining this script.''

Now it's time to clone your install over to partition 2 of the internal card. The script works in stages to allow better control and error detection, and should take about 10 minutes to complete:
* 0 - Create ext2 filesystem on partition 2 of the Internal memory card
* 1 - Mount partition 2 as /opt
* 2 - Mount rootfs as /floppy
* 3 - Perform cloning process
* 4 - Commit filesystem updates and unmount /floppy and /opt

So, '''as root''', run:

cd /home/user/bin
./nupgrade.sh 0
./nupgrade.sh 1
./nupgrade.sh 2
./nupgrade.sh 3
./nupgrade.sh 4
reboot

Your device will reboot when done, and you can select the partition you want to boot from from the bootmenu.

== Remove the menu ==

If you decide you do not wish to see the bootmenu any longer, you can uninstall it by either [[upgrading tablet OS|reflashing the whole OS image]], or just flashing the initfs (in Linux and OS X) by running:

sudo ./flasher-3.0 -F <FIASCO image> --flash-only=initfs -R

== Advance booting ==
For more advanced configuration and setup information for booting-related stuff, please see [[advanced booting]].

== Testing ==

Testing it in a 770... (results in a couple of hours...)

[[Category:Users]]

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Booting from a flash card