qi-bootmenu-0.1 for GTA02

Fri May 21 13:43:46 CEST 2010

On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 01:00:01AM +0200, Marc Andre Tanner wrote:
> On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 11:54:50AM +0200, Jens Seidel wrote:
> > On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 11:20:03PM +0200, Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote:
> > > Still, the AUX press is needed.
> > I can confirm this. I also use the patched Qi and have to press AUX.
> The idea was to only show the menu upon AUX press. If you want the bootmenu
> everytime then 'hide' the other regular partitions via noboot-GTA02 files.

OK, that's simple to do. Nevertheless I wonder where this idea comes from?
Why not always display the menu by default? (There could be a default boot
without AUX press after some seconds of no action instead of waiting for
user input.)

> > Questions:
> > flash partitions are not scanned? Why?
>> The reason is that it was too slow to mount the jffs2 filesystem (it almost
> doubled the time from boot up to the menu). ubifs should be faster but I haven't
> really tried it. 

I would have no problem waiting one or two seconds longer.
Currently I have to boot into NAND from the NOR bootloader as the bootmenu
doesn't provides it, right?

> > Is it possible to use better names ("Debian" or maybe "1. partition SD
> > card") in the boot menu instead of /dev/mtd...
>> You can put an image to /boot/bootmenu.png which will be displayed along
> the partition name. I could probably read & display the partition label
> if set. Patches welcome.

OK.

> > Remarks:
> > http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/qi-bootmenu/#faq
> > "After downloading the kernel and bootloader they can be flashed to your
> > device like any other distribution with dfu-util."
> > is confusing. qi-bootmenu is *no* real distribution but just a kernel image
> > (with embedded initrd). Reading this sentence I was not sure whether I need
> > to create a new partition somewhere for the boot loader.
>> The bootloader and kernel can be flashed as you would do with every other
> bootloader / kernel that you want to install into NAND flash. Better?

Yep, it is.

> > "The initscripts of qi-bootmenu-system are checking /proc/cmdline for a
> > variable called qi-bootmenu-args and pass it to qi-bootmenu upon it's
> > execution. This can be used to tweak the behaviour of the boot menu
> > application via first stage bootloader arguments. Currently the flash
> > partition /dev/mtdblock6 is ignored using this method."
> > 
> > Mhm, how can I set a kernel command line for a kernel started from
> > /dev/mtdblock6? I also do not understand the last sentence, probably
> > it mentions the trouble I'm seeing.
>> You can change the kernel command line by creating/modifying the file
> under /boot/append-GTA02 in the relevant partition.

But /dev/mtdblock6 doesn't contain a filesystem!!? I don't see a way to
modify the parameters for qi-bootmenu's kernel.
> However the above
> paragraph means something different. The first stage bootloader passes:
>> qi-bootmenu-args=\"-i /dev/mtdblock6\"

Ah, thanks. This is not configurable but hardcoded, right? In this case I
suggest to drop the info from the end user docu.

> to the initramfs kernel where the initscript reads it and passes it on
> to the qi-bootmenu

Yep, I assumed this but as one has no way to change the parameter without
recompiling src/cpu/s3c2442/gta02.c it's a useless information for me ...

> which ignores the flash partition.

OK.

Jens