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C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

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c201
Posts: 2
Joined: 2017-02-06 12:01

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#31 Post by c201 »

HDMI output doesn't work.

The 4.x kernel doesn't work - I am getting a white screen during boot with no further messages.

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#32 Post by logikarios »

Is there any news on installing debian on the C201? After installing debian on the sd card and booting from it, I also get a blank screen. I've followed this guide. Can anyone help?

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#33 Post by jguillen »

Hello everyone,

I have GOOD and BAD news regarding debian on the c201. The good news, it can be installed, and get to work. The bad news, we need to reconfigure Xorg without CONFIG_VT. Google has disabled CONFIG_VT in the kernel, in order to prevent the creation of consoles and the starting of Xorg from current stable.

There is a workaround in http://demo1.faikvm.com/trac/wiki/C201 but still no luck. But I think Im recompiling the wrong way.

I will try tonight https://www.x.org/wiki/Building_the_X_Window_System/ so I hope I can provide more helpful info.

PS. You can use ARCH in the meanwhile.

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#34 Post by jguillen »

BTW I strongly recommend flashing c201 BIOS to LIBREBOOT.

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#35 Post by logikarios »

jguillen wrote:BTW I strongly recommend flashing c201 BIOS to LIBREBOOT.
Installing libreboot was a piece of cake compared to (trying) installing debian. Can you please expand on the part of
Xorg: Recompile x without config_vt, so that we work with the chrome-OS kernel.
of the workaround you mentioned?

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#36 Post by jguillen »

logikarios wrote:Can you please expand on the part of
Xorg: Recompile x without config_vt, so that we work with the chrome-OS kernel.
of the workaround you mentioned?
We need to recompile Xorg 1.18.4 [1] applying a patch [2]. The problem im finding is that compiling Xorg via chroot is a pain, and cross-compiling, well I havent been succesfull yet. I contacted Ministry of Freedom, and they pointed me in this direction to install debian in c201.

When I get new info, I'll post it here. Arch, meanwhile, works ok, but not too efficiently.

[1] http://xorg.freedesktop.org/archive/ind ... 8.4.tar.gz
[2] http://demo1.faikvm.com/trac/wiki/C201

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#37 Post by jguillen »

Ok, today I've managed to install debian, and access the terminal. I used the ARCH c100p kernel.

Now Im going to try to install MATE and see where I can get to.

UPDATE

Managed to install lightdm and mate, but no wifi so far, and some issues while trying to execute some commands.

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#38 Post by logikarios »

jguillen wrote:Ok, today I've managed to install debian, and access the terminal. I used the ARCH c100p kernel.
Can you explain how you made it? Which guide did you follow?

Also, can you install any (relevant) kernel you want? For instance, the one mentioned here? Would that be better?

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#39 Post by jguillen »

logikarios wrote: Can you explain how you made it? Which guide did you follow?
I just followed Debian's guide, but modifying some steps. For example, in the debootstrap one, I installed stretch instead of jessie, as its going to be released soon:

Code: Select all

debootstrap --arch=armhf --foreign stretch ${MNT} http://http.debian.net/debian
Later, configured stretch repositories instead of jessie ones:

Code: Select all

cat > ${MNT}/etc/apt/sources.list <<EOF
deb http://http.debian.net/debian stretch main non-free contrib
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian stretch main non-free contrib
EOF
Finnally, when we get to the kernel steps:

Code: Select all

wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-veyron-latest.tar.gz
mkdir /tmp/c201
tar -xf ArchLinuxARM-veyron-latest.tar.gz -C /tmp/c201
dd if=/tmp/c201/boot/vmlinux.kpart of=/dev/mmcblk0p1
REMEMBER that this step you do it on your linux system, not in the c201, so mmcblk0p1 is the correct place. In the c201 should be mmcblk1p1 instead, but not sure if you can use dd

I also mounted mmcblk0p2 and copied vmlinuz to boot/vmlinuz. Then you continue using debian's tutorial in the "Mark the newly written kernel partition as good and set the priority" step.

Just remember, no wifi. Any question, hope I can help ;)
logikarios wrote: Also, can you install any (relevant) kernel you want? For instance, the one mentioned here? Would that be better?
Pretty interesting link, as the problem right now is recompiling Xorg, so Im going to read the code to see if we can manage a Debian script.

All distros use the "same" linux kernel, however all distros make slight changes to it in order make the kernel work best for them.

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#40 Post by logikarios »

jguillen wrote:
logikarios wrote: I just followed Debian's guide, but modifying some steps. For example, in the debootstrap one, I installed stretch instead of jessie, as its going to be released soon:

Code: Select all

debootstrap --arch=armhf --foreign stretch ${MNT} http://http.debian.net/debian
Later, configured stretch repositories instead of jessie ones:

Code: Select all

cat > ${MNT}/etc/apt/sources.list <<EOF
deb http://http.debian.net/debian stretch main non-free contrib
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian stretch main non-free contrib
EOF
Finnally, when we get to the kernel steps:

Code: Select all

wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-veyron-latest.tar.gz
mkdir /tmp/c201
tar -xf ArchLinuxARM-veyron-latest.tar.gz -C /tmp/c201
dd if=/tmp/c201/boot/vmlinux.kpart of=/dev/mmcblk0p1
REMEMBER that this step you do it on your linux system, not in the c201, so mmcblk0p1 is the correct place. In the c201 should be mmcblk1p1 instead, but not sure if you can use dd
I also mounted mmcblk0p2 and copied vmlinuz to boot/vmlinuz. Then you continue using debian's tutorial in the "Mark the newly written kernel partition as good and set the priority" step.
Just remember, no wifi. Any question, hope I can help ;)
logikarios wrote: Also, can you install any (relevant) kernel you want? For instance, the one mentioned here? Would that be better?
Pretty interesting link, as the problem right now is recompiling Xorg, so Im going to read the code to see if we can manage a Debian script.
All distros use the "same" linux kernel, however all distros make slight changes to it in order make the kernel work best for them.
Thank you so much! I just followed your advice and now I eventually managed to run Debian Stretch from my sd card! So, wifi is not working. How could I make it work? And then X would be good to run...

Note: If anyone tries that like I did, the memory card partition was /dev/mmcblk1 (0 is the chromebook's drive), so I had to put that and the rest worked flawlessly!

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#41 Post by jguillen »

logikarios wrote: Thank you so much! I just followed your advice and now I eventually managed to run Debian Stretch from my sd card!
Great news!
logikarios wrote: So, wifi is not working. How could I make it work?
Wifi may need some tinkering, I didn't really worked on that, as I'm trying another approach recompiling Xorg.
logikarios wrote: And then X would be good to run...
You can install for example mate. As I didn't had Internet in the c201, I used chroot. In a Linux terminal:

Code: Select all

DEV=/dev/mmcblk0
MNT=/mnt
mkdir -p ${MNT}
mount ${DEV}p2 ${MNT}
chroot ${DEV} apt-get install mate-desktop-environment
Good luck!

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#42 Post by logikarios »

jguillen wrote: Wifi may need some tinkering, I didn't really worked on that, as I'm trying another approach recompiling Xorg.
I'm a bit confused with wifi. Does the kernel load all the modules? I saw that the ArchLinux distro where we get the kernel from has the (proprietary wifi) modules at

Code: Select all

/usr/lib/firmware

whereas Debian has them in

Code: Select all

/lib/firmware
Oddly enough,

Code: Select all

lsmod
returns nothing... Is that possible? May it be the case that this is the outcome of the loading a different kernel from the Debian one?
jguillen wrote: You can install for example mate. As I didn't had Internet in the c201, I used chroot. In a Linux terminal:
I wanted to install MATE anyway :D
I'll try that, thanks!

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#43 Post by jguillen »

logikarios wrote: May it be the case that this is the outcome of the loading a different kernel from the Debian one?
Thats what I think, and the reason im trying to recompile xorg-server. Sadly I managed to apply the patch, but no luck yet. Mu next step is to compile a chromeos kernel which doesnt prevents the creation of consoles and the starting of Xorg from current stable. So we'll see what I can find out.

Just little steps, one at a time ;)

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#44 Post by logikarios »

Guys, this might interest us all :D https://github.com/atopuzov/c201
It's a guide to install Debian Stretch with the mainline kernel on an SD card and run that on C201 Asus Chromebook!

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#45 Post by jguillen »

logikarios wrote:Guys, this might interest us all :D https://github.com/atopuzov/c201
It's a guide to install Debian Stretch with the mainline kernel on an SD card and run that on C201 Asus Chromebook!
Anyone tried it out?

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#46 Post by logikarios »

jguillen wrote:
logikarios wrote:Guys, this might interest us all :D https://github.com/atopuzov/c201
It's a guide to install Debian Stretch with the mainline kernel on an SD card and run that on C201 Asus Chromebook!
Anyone tried it out?
I will, as soon as I find time! Are you asking out of curiosity or you think it won't work?

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#47 Post by jguillen »

logikarios wrote:
jguillen wrote:
logikarios wrote:Guys, this might interest us all :D https://github.com/atopuzov/c201
It's a guide to install Debian Stretch with the mainline kernel on an SD card and run that on C201 Asus Chromebook!
Anyone tried it out?
I will, as soon as I find time! Are you asking out of curiosity or you think it won't work?
I couldnt make it work. Got a white screen with either both kernel command lines he posted. Have opened an issue, so lets see if Aleksandar can help us a little more. Anyway, seems like there is a working Devuan image:

https://archive.org/details/devuan-jess ... -libre-2GB

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#48 Post by logikarios »

jguillen wrote:Anyway, seems like there is a working Devuan image:https://archive.org/details/devuan-jess ... -libre-2GB
Yeah, this is the one I'm using and it's running better than the Arch Linux one. I haven't managed to load the proprietary drivers for the wifi yet though; I'm using an Atheros dongle instead.

jguillen
Posts: 16
Joined: 2016-07-03 08:48

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#49 Post by jguillen »

logikarios wrote:
jguillen wrote:Anyway, seems like there is a working Devuan image:https://archive.org/details/devuan-jess ... -libre-2GB
Yeah, this is the one I'm using and it's running better than the Arch Linux one. I haven't managed to load the proprietary drivers for the wifi yet though; I'm using an Atheros dongle instead.
Have you managed to install a desktop environment and run it?

logikarios
Posts: 10
Joined: 2017-01-11 11:17

Re: C201 Chromebook : boot sequence after kernel

#50 Post by logikarios »

jguillen wrote:
logikarios wrote:
jguillen wrote:Anyway, seems like there is a working Devuan image:https://archive.org/details/devuan-jess ... -libre-2GB
Yeah, this is the one I'm using and it's running better than the Arch Linux one. I haven't managed to load the proprietary drivers for the wifi yet though; I'm using an Atheros dongle instead.
Have you managed to install a desktop environment and run it?
Yeah! X11 with lightDM and MATE. The same setup works far better in Devuan than in Arch Linux.

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