dnl $OpenBSD: prep,v 1.10 2010/04/14 17:13:51 jasper Exp $ To be able to boot the OpenBSD/MACHINE installation program on the Thecus N1200, you will need to learn a bit about Das U-Boot, the low-level process that controls the microprocessor after hardware initialization. On the RouterBOARD RB600A, that task is handled by RouterBOOT. Thecus N1200 setup: Talking to the Thecus N1200 The Thecus N1200 needs a serial cable. On the back of the disk drive circuit board, there is either a 10-pin header (with one pin removed), or 9 holes for you to solder in your own header. The ribbon cable that connects from there to your serial cable or the serial port on your computer is of the same type as used on older i386 PCs, but be aware that there are two different types of 10-pin IDC to DB-9M ribbon cable in use, which look identical (the differences are hidden inside the DB-9 connector). The cable you need is wired using the "AT-Everex" or "Asus" pinout, as described here: http://www.pccables.com/07120.htm and *not* the more straightforward to solder "crossed" type: http://www.pccables.com/07121.htm. If you wish to check a cable, or make your own, the pinouts are: DB9 IDC10 === ===== 1 2 3 4 5 1 3 5 7 9 6 7 8 9 2 4 6 8 10 Wire pin 1 to 1, 2 to 2 etc, with 10 not connected. Booting the Thecus N1200 When you have connected your computer, a command such as "tip -115200 tty00" (assuming tty00 is your serial port device) should connect you to the Thecus console. Now apply power to the Thecus and start it. After some device probe information, you should see this prompt: Hit any key to stop autoboot: 1 You have exactly one second to press a key and enter interactive U-Boot. Fortunately it will typically accept a key typed during the diagnostics that precede this prompt. The recommended way to boot OpenBSD on Thecus is to configure networking and load bsd.bin from a TFTP server. First networking must be configured using the setenv command. => setenv ipaddr 10.0.0.21 => setenv serverip 10.0.0.7 => setenv gatewayip 10.0.0.7 Once you have done this, and have set up your TFTP server on the gateway machine (10.0.0.7 in the above example), you can boot manually. => tftpboot 200000 bsd.bin Speed: 1000, full duplex Using Freescale TSEC0 device TFTP from server 10.0.0.7; our IP address is 10.0.0.21 Filename 'bsd.bin'. Load address: 0x200000 Loading: ########################################################## ############################################################# ... ###### done Bytes transferred = 295148 (480ec hex) => go 200000 Once OpenBSD is installed on the hard disk, you will only need to load the OpenBSD/MACHINE boot loader: => tftpboot 200000 boot => bootm and just hit "return" to boot OpenBSD. Automatic Booting However, for easier booting, you may wish to store the OpenBSD boot loader in the flash memory, so that the Thecus will boot automatically into OpenBSD when it is powered up. => erase fe780000 fe800000 .... done Erased 4 sectors => tftpboot 200000 boot Speed: 1000, full duplex Using Freescale TSEC0 device TFTP from server 10.0.0.7; our IP address is 10.0.0.21 Filename 'boot'. Load address: 0x200000 Loading: ########################################################## done Bytes transferred = 295148 (480ec hex) => cp 200000 fe780000 20000 Copy to Flash... 512 KBdone => setenv bootcmd bootm FE780000 => saveenv Saving Environment to Flash... Un-Protected 2 sectors Erasing Flash... .. done Erased 2 sectors Writing to Flash... 256 KBdone Protected 2 sectors => reset This configuration can easily be set back to the default, as the existing Linux system does not get erased from the flash memory. To set it back, just change the boot command back to what it was, for example: => setenv bootcmd flashboot => saveenv The bootloader is command driven with timeout like many other OpenBSD architectures. It may be needed to increase the 'bootdelay' variable in order to give the SATA-chip a chance to initialize. Having a too short delay could cause OpenBSD/MACHINE to not find its root device (and thus kernel image). Although sometimes as much as ten seconds of delay are necessary, five seconds will do in most cases: => setenv bootdelay 5 => saveenv RouterBOARD RB600A setup: The RouterBOARD RB600A comes with a standard DB9 serial port, so no special cables are needed. Like the Thecus, the default baudrate is 115200, so a command like "tip -115200 tty00" should connect you to the RouterBOARD console. As soon as you apply power to the RouterBOARD, it will start booting. Shortly after RouterBOOT starts, you will see a message like: Press any key within 2 seconds to enter setup. Since board initialization is very fast, it is rather easy to miss this message, in which case the board will load its RouterOS (which is just Linux) from flash. The recommended way to install OpenBSD on the RouterBOARD is to copy the miniroot "miniroot{:--:}OSrev.fs" image to CompactFlash on another machine and place in the first (J301) CompactFlash slot on the board. Use the dd(1) utility to copy the miniroot to CompactFlash. The command would likely be, under OpenBSD: dd if=miniroot{:--:}OSrev.fs of=/dev/rsd1c Replace ``rsd1c'' with the appropriate device name for the raw device on the system used to do the copy. You will need to configure your RouterBOARD to boot from CompactFlash. To do this, enter the RouterBOOT setup by pressing a key when the message shown above appears on the serial console. This should present you with the following menu: RouterBOOT-2.20 What do you want to configure? d - boot delay k - boot key s - serial console o - boot device f - cpu frequency r - reset booter configuration e - format nand g - upgrade firmware i - board info p - boot protocol t - do memory testing x - exit setup your choice: Choose 'o' to enter the boot device menu: Select boot device: e - boot over Ethernet * n - boot from NAND, if fail then Ethernet c - boot from CompactFlash only 1 - boot Ethernet once, then NAND 2 - boot Ethernet once, then CompactFlash o - boot from NAND only b - boot chosen device your choice: Choose 'c' to select CompactFlash and then, at the main menu, choose 'x' to save the setting. The board will reset, and immediately attempt to boot from CompactFlash, straight into the OpenBSD installer.