booting from DOC

[Denis Dowling]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "stephen" <lcbr17306 at blueyonder.co.uk>
To: <linux-mtd at lists.infradead.org>
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 10:09 PM
Subject: booting from DOC


> Hi All,
>
> didn't get a reply from my last post , which was me rambling on a bit too
> much or my text sounds arrogant? (sorry if it does i am just a newbie)
>
> I've been reading Karim Yaghmours book, got much further now, maybe
someone
> can put me straight on a couple of things? (hopefully)
>
> first of all I managed to install grub using 'doc_loadbios' so it replaces
> the DOC's SPL , then I managed to use 'nftl_format' and formatted from
> memory address '98304' which isn't the size of the grub boot loader but I
> assume represents '16384 + 81920' , '81920' being the last erase offset,
> from here I managed to 'fdisk nftla' and created a new partition
> '/dev/nftla1', I can format this partition and safely read and write data.
I
> compiled all the DOC files as modules, I didn't patch the kernel I decided
> to use a clean '2.4.19' kernel' , I also couldn't compile the latest CVS

> tools ;/ so I went back to a previous snapshot
> 'Mtd-snapshot-20020708.tar.bz2' , this compiled fine (mainly I couldnt
> compile nftl_format and something to do with empty LIST_HEAD structures,>
blktrans.h with the latest CVS).
My last patch fixes this :-)

> I also realised that 'grub-0.92' needed
> patching so i did that and repeated the steps with 'doc_loadbios' and
> realised the last erase offset was now '65536' so the boot loader is
smaller
> and my new partition begins at offset '81920', plus this should have
> contained 'ctrlbypass' as part of the grub compiled with patch.

I cannot get ctrlbypass working with grub at the moment. Code looks correct
but always boots to the grub prompt even if I hold down the control key.
Very strange.

>
> The grub loader boots from the DOC but stops at the grub prompt, how do I
> get grub to boot my kernel image ?

At the grub prompt type "kernel (" then TAB this should show all filesystems
that grub supports.

> in karims book it talks about building a root filesystem and
> /boot/grub/menu.lst but I can't see how this can run without the modules
> loaded needed by the kernel (e.g. docecc.o, doc2000.o etc) confused ;/ ...

It is grub that needs to know how to read /boot/grub/menu.lst not the
kernel. If you have applied the correct patches to grub then it should be
able to read the ext2 partition and load the menu file. I am trying to get
grub and DoC working at the moment so should be able to help you out with
questions. Also have a look at
http://lakeshoremicro.com/diskonchip-grub-howto.html

Regards,
Denis.