ArmedSlack 13.37

Earlier today on LinuxQuestions I announced a load of Raspberry Pi goodies for Slackware ARM, and I thought I'd cross post the news here.

There's a Slackware ARM Installer image and instructions for how to use it, up to date kernel and boot packages, a package that hacks fixes for several annoying problems, some patches for xorg on -current, and prebuilt packages for XFCE 4.10. The new kernels and boot firmware are a big improvement. I intend to update the kernel and boot firmware regularly. There are also SlackBuilds for the Pi specific packages and for the new XFCE, and some other stuff that might be useful.

Get them from here: http://daves-slackbuilds.comlu.com/raspi/

Great work. Need to test that installer

Hello All

I've just received my rpi and I'm trying to get armedslack 13.37 to work on it.
Today I've finaly made it and I've decied to share.

Before starting I just want to da that I can take no responsibility for any damage caused by following this text.

I must admit that I've taken the long way to do this, but at least it's working and it was a way to learn some new stuff.
I've tested the provied image on this thread to test out the rpi and to use it as OS (beying Slackware user for arround 7 years my rpi would defintily be running Slackware) but it seems not to have iptables.

Searching arround here I've found the requirements to add iptablesto the kernel.

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Networking  ---->
 Networking options  ---->
  Network packet filtering framework (Netfilter)--->
   Core Netfilter Configuration ---->
    <*> Netfilter connection tracking support
    <*> Netfilter Xtables support (required for ip_tables)
    <*>   "NFLOG" target support
    <*>   "conntrack" connection tracking match support
    <*>   "state" match support
   IP: Netfilter Configuration --->
    <*> IPv4 connection tracking support (required for NAT)
    <*> IP tables support (required for filtering/masq/NAT)
    <*>   Packet Filtering
    <*>     REJECT target support
    <*>   Full NAT
    <*>     MASQUERADE target support
    <*> Packet mangling


source: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=7293&p=114241&hilit=kernel+iptables#p114241

Copy the image on this thread on an SD card and boot it up.

Got the kernel from github (https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/) and following the howto at elinux (http://elinux.org/Rpi_kernel_compilation) copied the config file bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig (cp arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig /usr/src/3.1.9/.config) and added the options for iptables.

Compiled the kernel (make) and install the modules (make modules_install). Saved a copy of the installed modules on a usb pen drive for later use. Copy the kernel Image from arch/arm/boot and saved it also on the usb pen drive.

Downloaded a copy of the armedslack 13.37 tree to my server forlocal install.

I have a sata to usb case and an old 160G sata disk which is great for what I want.
Prepare the partitions (sda1 > swap; sda2 > / with ext4).

Mounted /dev/sda2 on /mnt/hd and smbfs share on /mnt/tmp and installed full packages except k, kde and xap (which I do not need) using installpkg (installpkg --root /mnt/hd *.tgz on respective folders). This way all packages are installed on the target drive which is my usb sata drive.

Placed the modules (preivously saved on a usb pen drive) onto the correct folder (my case /mnt/hd/lib/modules)

Created fstab on the target drive (/mnt/hd/etc/) with the following:

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proc                          /proc           proc     defaults        0       0
/dev/mmcblk0p1     /boot           vfat       defaults        0       0
/dev/sda1                 swap          swap    defaults        0       0
/dev/sda2                  /                  ext4     defaults        1       1


Created rc.keymap (/mnt/hd/etc/rc.d/) for my keyborad layout (PT) with

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#!/bin/sh
# Load the keyboard map.  More maps are in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps.
if [ -x /usr/bin/loadkeys ]; then
 /usr/bin/loadkeys pt.map
fi


Edited rc.inet1.conf for DHCP on boot (/mnt/hd/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf)

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USE_DHCP[0]="yes"

Powered down the raspberry and on another system erased the boot partition on the SD card which had the image of this thread and copied the firmware from git hub (https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware ... 53b09/boot).

Added cmdline.txt with

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dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/sda2 ro rootfstype=ext4 rootwait

The ro next to root=/dev/sda2 is to mount the filesystem as readonly to avoid system error message which pauses the boot until enter is pressed.
An error like

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> Testing root filesystem status:  read-write filesystem

 *** ERROR: Root partition has already been mounted read-write. Cannot
 check!

 For filesystem checking to work properly, your system must initially mount
 the root partition as read only. Please modify your kernel with 'rdev' so
 that
 it does this. If you're booting with LILO, add a line:

    read-only

 to the Linux section in your /etc/lilo.conf and type 'lilo' to reinstall
 it.

 If you boot from a kernel on a floppy disk, put it in the drive and type:
    rdev -R /dev/fd0 1

 If you boot from a bootdisk, or with Loadlin, you can add the 'ro' flag.

 This will fix the problem *AND* eliminate this annoying message. :^)

 Press ENTER to continue.

Added config.txt with

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disable_overscan=1

And finally added issue.txt whit

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RaspberryPi/bcm2708 1.0.0

Inserted the SD card into rpi connected the disk to usb, ethernet cable and power up.

Booted up nicely and it seems to be running pretty good. User root has no password but just login and passwd to create it.
Root partition is arround 5G. I think I'll make an image from this just in case I need to get a clean install.

I'm no expert on linux or slackware and I'm not sure if this is good for installation but it's the way I've managed to install armedslack on a clean drive.

Anyways it was fun, and that's what all about

Many thanks to Raspbery Pi, Slackware and armedSlack team for all. Keep on doing the goodwork.

regards,
hyakutake

ArmedSlack pre-14.0 is cooking. An image will be available tomorrow

Searching arround here I've found the requirements to add iptablesto the kernel.
Got the kernel from github (https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/) and following the howto at elinux (http://elinux.org/Rpi_kernel_compilation) copied the config file bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig (cp arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig /usr/src/3.1.9/.config) and added the options for iptables.

Yes, the official kernel configs are just the start of the journey You might like to compare your kernel config with the config I'm using. The SLUB allocator is a better choice, lots of the crypto, library and nls stuff can be modules not built in, etc etc.

I`ll delay the release of pre-14 because since the latest changes in the -current repository i cannot compile the kernel. It gives me an error at the end of the compilation:


Inconsistent kallsyms data
This is a bug - please report about it
Try make KALLSYMS_EXTRA_PASS=1 as a workaround
make: *** [vmlinux] Error 1


I wrote in the armedslack lists and I`m awaiting an answer.

Hello, I have gotten armedslack on my pi (thanks for the image) and everything is working great, except I am having difficulty installing gcc and some of it's dependencies/associated packages. Is there any simple method on installing it? I am having trouble getting the codesourcery lite compiler to install properly, and was hoping there was an alternative.

I am having difficulty installing gcc and some of it's dependencies/associated packages. Is there any simple method on installing it?

Armedslack is just Slackware on Arm. There is nothing special about it. You install packages the same as you would with any other Slackware. If you're a Slackware beginner, to ensure you have a complete development environment you should download the whole of the a, ap, d, l and n series, and probably also x, and then install them with installpkg. Yes, that's a lot of work, and by the time you've downloaded and installed all that, you might as well have downloaded and installed the whole thing instead of being selective (though because kde and kdei are impractical on the R.Pi, don't install those). Slackware is intended to work as a co-ordinated whole. Being selective about what you do and don't install is possible, but definitely an advanced project.

If you want beginner's advice about Slackware, there is plenty of help on the LinuxQuestions Slackware forum, and you can learn a lot just from lurking there.

Thank you for reminding me of the repositories, I am so used to installing most software through the install dvd, and I guess I forgot about that aspect when I copied the image. Wasn't planning on installing kde, thought about xfce, but dismissed it. Been using slackware for about 3 years now, and was pleased to see it working on this.

Hi,

Got my RP a few days back and got it quickly up and running my favorite distro thanks to this image, thanks!

@sorinm

Hello

I`ll delay the release of pre-14 because since the latest changes in the -current repository i cannot compile the kernel. It gives me an error at the end of the compilation:

Armedslack current has kernel 3.4.4
As far as I know this kernel does not support BCM2835 architecture. Do you have the patches for the kernel to support RPIs BCM2835?

Regards,
hyakutake

Hi folks,

FYI there is a new build of the Slackware ARM installer, and new packages for the kernel, modules and boot firmware (built from the official Raspberry Pi git repos last revised two days ago). These are available from http://www.daves-collective.co.uk/raspi/ (it's moved )

The new kernel includes a fix for the slow swap problem, new drivers for the Pi's i2c and spi hardware, and lots of bugfixes. The commit history is here. To upgrade your kernel etc, download the packages and use upgradepkg (or install them with installpkg if you haven't previously installed my kernel packages) and reboot.

There's also a new version of the raspi-hacks package that now includes teh_orph's memcpy/memset performance improvements, and slackbuilds to build everything, including the kernel and installer image.

I hope it all works properly and is useful. If you find any problems, I'll be grateful to read your feedback here or via PM. Thanks!

@sorinm

Hello

I`ll delay the release of pre-14 because since the latest changes in the -current repository i cannot compile the kernel. It gives me an error at the end of the compilation:

Armedslack current has kernel 3.4.4
As far as I know this kernel does not support BCM2835 architecture. Do you have the patches for the kernel to support RPIs BCM2835?

Regards,
hyakutake

ArmedSlack for Pi uses the kernel sources from the raspberry Pi git. It doesn`t uses the kernel packages available from the ARMedslack official repository. I`m taking two weeks off from work, I`ll upload an image of armedslack beta1. It seems there is a bug in the arm packages that prevent me from compiling a kernel. I even reverted to gcc and glibc from 13.37 but the error still persists. I`ll make a new image based on that available on the official armedslack site and see if there is a problem with my image or in slackware-current from arm/

Download mirror has changed:

http://slackware.spit-ct.ro/raspberrypi/

Hello All

I've found some patches that were used for kernel 3.1.9 at elinux (http://elinux.org/RPi_Software).
Just to test I've downloaded the 3.1.9 kernel from kernel.org and the patches do work (at least no error is reported, nevertheless I've just patched it, did not actually compiled)

Tried to patch current kernel (3.4.6 at the moment) but no luck. Maybe there's a workaround...

The kernels at Armedslack are the same as kernel.org they just have the configuration for Slackware.

So are you compiling kernel 3.1.9 with current packages from Armedslack?

Hope that support is added to main kernel.

regards,
hyakutake

Hi folks,

The patches on elinux.org are *very* *very* old and have none of the bug fixes and new features that the official Pi kernels have.

Besides the official Pi kernel (based on 3.1.9) on github, another good choice is Chris Boot's github where you can find 3.2.23 patched for the Pi. 3.2 is a long term support kernel, and 3.2.23 was the latest version until yesterday I don't know of anywhere that has Pi patches for 3.3 or 3.4 or 3.5, and it will certainly be a very long time before the device drivers for the Pi are good enough to be included in the mainline kernel.

sorinm's problem is not easy to solve. Linus himself had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago and didn't really find the cause. But there was also an ARM-specific thread that is probably more relevant and had two suggested patches. Maybe this patch (i.e. variant 2) will solve it.

I've had my Pi for about 2 weeks now, and been playing around with all the Distro's (always worth checking them all out to see what is best to use)

I'm more familiar with Debian / Fedora due to using these flavors on Server builds i run.

Ive been playing with the ArmedSlack version and i see great potential as a fantastic starting platform for novice users. (I even class myself as a novice due to not knowing slack as well as i should)

I see that you've changed your mirrors a couple of times, would you need somewhere to house your development work? i can offer you some development space for no cost to run all your stuff on just let me know, i will be keeping a close eye on the developments of this Distro

Hi folks and happy Yorkshire Day.

New kernel and firmware packages: http://www.daves-collective.co.uk/raspi/system.shtml - right up to date, including the changesets applied this evening
New pages on the website: Tuning, Emergency recovery
And a new installer image

Enjoy!

And a new installer image

I have not succeeded in booting the new installer image. The sd card is ok. I can put sorinm's image on the card and boot but have tried 4 times to dd this new installer image and boot it.; downloaded twice, sha1sum checks out. Has anyone else put this image on an sd card and booted the image on a pi?

I have not succeeded in booting the new installer image. The sd card is ok. I can put sorinm's image on the card and boot but have tried 4 times to dd this new installer image and boot it.; downloaded twice, sha1sum checks out. Has anyone else put this image on an sd card and booted the image on a pi?

Have to post a reply, apparently I can not edit my previous post.

I have not figured out why I could not boot the 1-aug image but I copied the 30-june image to the 8gb sd card. I could then boot into an install so I then replaced all the 30-june /boot files with the 1-aug /boot files plus copied in the 1-aug initrd. This required a resize of the boot partition so while I was at it I put a new swap partition after the boot partition and took up the balance of the card with an ext4 root partition. I am installing current now as I write.

Hi justwantin, sorry you've had such a difficult time with the installer. Obviously the shuffle you did with the 30Jun image proves that you're not doing anything wrong! I wonder if there is something dodgy about the partitioning of the new image. (Your shuffle appears to have exonerated all the actual files on the image, which just leaves the partitioning). I'll continue to look for possible causes of this problem but if anyone else has observations or ideas that would be really helpful. Thanks in advance.

If it's installing -current now, hopefully you won't have to do all that again!

Hi justwantin, sorry you've had such a difficult time with the installer

I should thank you, I never learn anything the easy way anyway ;^)

The install went ok but a bit of drama afterwards. I gave it a reboot after installing your kernel and boot pkgs then decided to hook up powered usb hub wireless and mouse so I pulled the plug when the screen went black. I couldn't boot again. I don't know why but figured maybe I'd screwed a filesystem but they both checked ok. It appeared the kernel and boot pkgs had installed. I dowloaded your kernel and boot pkgs and reinstalled using them and was then able to boot into armed-slack current. All seems ok in fluxbox, apparently I'm missing xfce but I recall something about that in the changelog.

Let me know if you want me to test anything out. I'll try to accomodate you but I do have a busy work schedule the next two days.

Thanks for your work, cheers.

It is possible have openbox on this?

It is possible have openbox on this?

Probably but you'll have to build it first, its not included in slackware. See slackbuilds.org and also note the bit about slackbuild scripts here:http://www.daves-collective.co.uk/raspi/tuning.shtml if you go that route.

I'm now using sorinm's 23/05 image with 55020's 01/08 kernel, modules and hacks. It seems to me that I used to be able to run shutdown -h now and the pi would shutdown and if I ran shutdown -r now it would also shutdown, i.e. not reboot. Even though it was still connected to a PS it would not reboot. It seems that now my pi will reboot when I run shutdown. If it remains connected to a PS it will always reboot after shutdown.

This is a problem as the PS must be disconnected between shutdown and reboot or else there is a danger of screwing a filesystem by disconnecting when mounted. Not too problematic when connected to a monitor and watching the screen go black but a bit dicey if using the pi in a ssh forwarded x session because the connection is dropped before the files are unmounted.

Has anyone else noticed this and perhaps suggest a way to shutdown and not have the pi reboot?

I'm now using sorinm's 23/05 image with 55020's 01/08 kernel, modules and hacks. It seems to me that I used to be able to run shutdown -h now and the pi would shutdown and if I ran shutdown -r now it would also shutdown, i.e. not reboot. Even though it was still connected to a PS it would not reboot. It seems that now my pi will reboot when I run shutdown. If it remains connected to a PS it will always reboot after shutdown.

This is a problem as the PS must be disconnected between shutdown and reboot or else there is a danger of screwing a filesystem by disconnecting when mounted. Not too problematic when connected to a monitor and watching the screen go black but a bit dicey if using the pi in a ssh forwarded x session because the connection is dropped before the files are unmounted.

Has anyone else noticed this and perhaps suggest a way to shutdown and not have the pi reboot?

shutdown -h now and shutdown -r now
working fine on mine!

Using ARMedslack 13.37
I'm using a old tv trough a RCA cable! The image is B/W! I have to still figure that out.
I will try to config xorg.conf

hello all

@kerml

My RPI was also displaying B&W and I fixed it editing the config.txt to set PAL.
Check this http://elinux.org/RPi_config.txt

Video mode options
sdtv_mode defines the TV standard for composite output (default=0)

sdtv_mode=0 Normal NTSC
sdtv_mode=1 Japanese version of NTSC – no pedestal
sdtv_mode=2 Normal PAL
sdtv_mode=3 Brazilian version of PAL – 525/60 rather than 625/50, different subcarrier

Hope it helps.

Regards,
hyakutake