Create a Bootable MicroSD Card (old)
To create a bootable microSD, compatible with the·OMAP3 boot ROM, set a special geometry using the·fdisk "Expert mode". These steps also work for verdex pro COMs.
Important Notes:
- When creating a bootable microSD card for an·Overo COM,·you MUST use expert mode. This sets the correct cylinders, heads and sectors for the microSD card before you partition it.
- Gumstix recommends using a microSDHC card for Overo COMs. Only use microSD cards for verdex pro COMs.
The example below shows the steps required to set up a new microSD card of any size. The numbers shown are given for a particular 2GB microSD card. You will be directed to make a simple calculation to determine the correct values for your microSD card.
First, insert your card into the development machine's flash card slot. You may need to use a microSD to SD card adaptor to fit your slot. example the device name will be /dev/sde. Please substitute the proper device name for your machine. You can use 'mount' or 'df' to see where the card mounts on your machine. Let's unmount the device's existing file system before we get started with fdisk:
$ sudo umount /dev/sde1
Partitioning the Card
Now, launch fdisk and create an empty partition table. Note that the argument for fdisk is the entire device (/dev/sde) not just a single partition (i.e. /dev/sde1):
# sudo fdisk /dev/sde
Command (m for help): o
Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only,
until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous
content won't be recoverable.
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)
Let's first look at the current card information:
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sde: 2032 MB, 2032664576 bytes
64 heads, 63 sectors/track, 984 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 = 2064384 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00aa8e5c
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
Note the card size in bytes. We will need it later in the process.
Now go into "Expert" mode:
Command (m for help): x
Next, set the geometry to 255 heads, 63 sectors and a calculated value for the number of cylinders required for the particular microSD card. To calculate the number of cylinders, take the 2032664576 bytes reported above by fdisk, divide by 255 heads, 63 sectors and 512 bytes per sector: 2032664576 / 255 / 63 / 512 = 247.12 which we round·down to 247 cylinders.
Expert command (m for help): h
Number of heads (1-256, default 4): 255
Expert command (m for help): s
Number of sectors (1-63, default 62): 63
Warning: setting sector offset for DOS compatiblity
Expert command (m for help): c
Number of cylinders (1-1048576, default 984): 247
Return to fdisk's main mode and create a new partition 32 MB FAT partition:
Expert command (m for help): r
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-247, default 1): 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-247, default 15): +32M
Change the partition type to FAT32:
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): c
Changed system type of partition 1 to c (W95 FAT32 (LBA))
Mark it bootable:
Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-4): 1
Now, create an ext3 partition for the rootfs:
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (6-247, default 6): 6
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (6-247, default 247): 247
To verify your work, print the partition info:
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sde: 2032 MB, 2032664576 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 247 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00aa8e5c
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 * 1 5 40131 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sde2 6 247 1943865 83 Linux
Finally, write the new partition table to the card and then exit:
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x
partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional
information.
Syncing disks
Formatting the New Partitions
Format the first partition as an FAT file system (the -n parameter gives it a label of FAT). You can change or omit this if you like.
$ sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sde1 -n FAT
mkfs.vfat 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
Format the second partition as an ext3 file system:
$ sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sde2
mke2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
121920 inodes, 485966 blocks
24298 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=499122176
15 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8128 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (8192 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: ^[done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 36 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
Installing the Boot Files
There are three files required on the first (FAT) partition to boot your Overo.
- MLO: the boot-loader loader - this small program is loaded into the OMAP3 processor's static RAM. It does some minimal configuration of system memory and I/O pins and then loads the second file.
- u-boot.bin: the boot loader
- uImage: the Linux kernel
Note: For verdex pro, MLO is not required.
You can build these yourself or download pre-built images. but these three files must be named as stated above.
After building or downloading these files, mount the FAT partition of your microSD card. The following example assumes you mount it at /media/card.
$ sudo mount /dev/sde1 /media/card
Due to constraints of the mask boot ROM in the OMAP processor, MLO MUST be written first.
$ sudo cp MLO-overo /media/card/MLO
Copy u-boot and the Linux kernel to the card:
$ sudo cp u-boot.bin /media/card/u-boot.bin
$ sudo cp uImage.bin /media/card/uImage
Now you can unmount the FAT partition.
$ sudo umount /dev/sde1
At this point you have a bootable FAT partition. Lastly, untar your desired root filesystem on the ext3 partition that you created above. Do not untar your COM rootfs onto your development machine! This example assumes that you have mounted it at /media/card:
$ sudo mount /dev/sde2 /media/card
Untar your desired rootfs.
$ cd /media/card
$ sudo tar xvaf /path/to/console-image.tar.bz2
Unmount the ext3 partition.
$ sudo umount /dev/sde2
U-boot Environment Refresh
U-boot comes with a default set of environment variables that can change as new versions are released. If you are updating u-boot, clear your current set of u-boot environment variables the first time you boot with the new version. Do this by breaking into u-boot and typing the following commands. (Overo ONLY).
$ nand erase 240000 20000
$ reset
To make additional changes to the environment, break into u-boot again, make the changes and type 'saveenv' to save. This also eliminates the "*** Warning - bad CRC or NAND, using default environment".
Instructions for Writing Images to NAND
Use this bootable microSD card to write a Linux kernel and root file system to the on-board NAND of your Gumstix Overo COM. Follow these instructions.
