DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

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#26 2010-09-15 13:05:27

Grunt
Member
From: Villeurbanne, France
Registered: 2010-07-18
Posts: 16
Website

Re: DNS-323 project: may work?

RoganDawes wrote:

I have no idea. What platform are you running kermit from?

I'm running it on Debian Sid. And this is not "kermit" but Gkermit:

Code:

gkermit - G-Kermit (GNU Kermit) 1.00 file transfer software.

So I tried with kermit (from columbia.edu) and it works fine.

Did you try my "console" script (that starts #!/bin/kermit)?

Yes, it works with kermit, not with gkermit.

The regular Debian install process works just fine with the existing boot loader. It's what I did in the end, installing to a USB flash disk.

Did you install it on hardware rev C? Maybe I'll try to, there are no risks, right?

There is something I'd like to understand: Are there two persistant memories in DNS323?
- One for U-Boot (some equivalent of BIOS or Sun OpenBoot),
- One for OS, with network sharing, web interface..

Is this right?

Anyway, I now have the necessary connectors to finish the JTAG interface. I'm just trying to pluck up the courage to actually solder them on, and connect the JTAG adapter. I have not had good luck with JTAG in the past, frying a router irretrievably. :-(

Was the same for me with RS232, I bricked my first DNS323. Second try is the good one ;+)

Anyway, one of these days I'll give it a go. When I do, I'll let you know.

Ok, thanks.

In the mean time, you can explore the functionality present, such as the network level stuff (e.g. set an IP address, try to TFTP a file from a server, etc, etc), and confirm that all the high level stuff works.

Will do that smile


Free software is about freedom: the freedom to have fun.

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#27 2010-09-15 13:26:52

RoganDawes
Member
Registered: 2010-07-01
Posts: 44

Re: DNS-323 project: may work?

Grunt wrote:

The regular Debian install process works just fine with the existing boot loader. It's what I did in the end, installing to a USB flash disk.

Did you install it on hardware rev C? Maybe I'll try to, there are no risks, right?

Well, of course there are risks. Keep in mind that this replaces your firmware completely (in the flash). What I did was install onto USB, with no other disks in the DNS323, not wanting to take the chance of formatting a data volume.

Since you have the serial cable, you should have no problems replacing the kernel and ramdisk with original firmware if you have to.

There is something I'd like to understand: Are there two persistant memories in DNS323?
- One for U-Boot (some equivalent of BIOS or Sun OpenBoot),
- One for OS, with network sharing, web interface..

Is this right?

In theory yes. U-boot normally defines an area in the flash where its settings can be saved. And the OS generally also has somewhere for its settings to be saved.

In the case of the DNS323, the vendor U-Boot has all the settings compiled in, and there is no saveenv command. This basically implies that there is no "reserved" location for U-Boot settings on a DNS323. In fact, the first 64KB is made up of 8 8KB sectors, which is traditionally where U-Boot likes to store its settings. A smaller sector means less rewriting when settings are saved. I used one of these sectors for my custom U-Boot's settings.

However, the vendor firmware on the DNS323 uses the first 64KB for a Minix filesystem, in which things like your Samba config, and passwords, etc, get saved. These are apparently duplicated on another Minix fs in the next 64KB of flash, for redundancy purposes.

So, ultimately, if you keep the vendor firmware, and use my custom u-boot to save some additional settings, the first Minix fs will be corrupted, and the vendor firmware will overwrite it with the FS in the second 64KB, overwriting your settings.

Debian on the other hand does not use the flash for any settings, and will ignore that region of the flash chip.

Anyway, I now have the necessary connectors to finish the JTAG interface. I'm just trying to pluck up the courage to actually solder them on, and connect the JTAG adapter. I have not had good luck with JTAG in the past, frying a router irretrievably. :-(

Was the same for me with RS232, I bricked my first DNS323. Second try is the good one ;+)

Anyway, one of these days I'll give it a go. When I do, I'll let you know.

Ok, thanks.

In the mean time, you can explore the functionality present, such as the network level stuff (e.g. set an IP address, try to TFTP a file from a server, etc, etc), and confirm that all the high level stuff works.

Will do that smile

Cool beans.

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#28 2010-09-15 13:29:58

RoganDawes
Member
Registered: 2010-07-01
Posts: 44

Re: DNS-323 project: may work?

RoganDawes wrote:

Grunt wrote:

The regular Debian install process works just fine with the existing boot loader. It's what I did in the end, installing to a USB flash disk.

Did you install it on hardware rev C? Maybe I'll try to, there are no risks, right?

Well, of course there are risks. Keep in mind that this replaces your firmware completely (in the flash). What I did was install onto USB, with no other disks in the DNS323, not wanting to take the chance of formatting a data volume.

Since you have the serial cable, you should have no problems replacing the kernel and ramdisk with original firmware if you have to.

In fact, there is recent code in the Linux kernel to handle the Rev C boards. However, I don't think that the Debian installer has those more recent kernels available. So, I'm not 100% sure about how functional Debian on C hardware is.

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