Lawrence's Research

Avila board development [ Avila GW2348-4 Intel XScale IXP425]

The intention of this exercise is to get the board to run Linux. There are number of ways to do this and will consider as many as feasible.

Running OpenWRT on Avila board

The following steps were performed to get the board to run OpenWRT

Requirements

1. Installing and setting up tftp server (Ubuntu, hardy) 2. Download two files 'openwrt-ixp4xx-squashfs.img' and 'openwrt-ixp4xx-zImage' 3. Upload OpenWRT onto the board

A. Installing and setting up tftp server (Ubuntu, hardy)

$ sudo apt-get install xinetd tftpd tftp
$ vi /etc/xinetd.d/tftp 

Add the following lines in /etc/xinetd.d/tftp

service tftp
{
protocol        = udp
port            = 69
socket_type     = dgram
wait            = yes
user            = nobody               //Please note if you have trouble with running tftpd, change "nobody" to "root"
server          = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args     = /tftpboot
disable         = no
}

Create /tftpboot directory

$ sudo mkdir /tftpboot
$ sudo chmod -R 777 /tftpboot         //Please note the permissions need not be 777 but should be at least 444 (i.e readable by all) 
$ sudo chown -R nobody /tftpboot      //Please change "nobody" to "root" if in file /etc/xinetd.d/tftp you have specified "root"

Start tftpd using xinetd

$ sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd start

Testing tftp server

We test tftp server by transfering a file from a client called 'moon' with IP address 192.168.3.2) to tftp server called 'sun' with IP address 192.168.3.1. Assuming you have file testTFTP.txt in your home directory on the client machine:

miguel@moon:~ ls -l testTFTP.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 miguel miguel   3551088 2008-04-19 15:52 testTFTP.txt
miguel@moon:~ tftp 192.168.3.1
miguel@moon:~ trace
miguel@moon:~ put testTFTP.txt
sent WRQ <file=testTFTP.txt, mode=netascii>
received ACK <block=0>
sent DATA <block=1, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=1>
sent DATA <block=2, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=2>
.
.
.
received]] ACK <block=6933>
sent DATA <block=6934, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=6934>
sent DATA <block=6935, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=6935>
sent DATA <block=6936, 368 bytes>
received ACK <block=6936>
Sent 3551088 bytes in 5.8 seconds

miguel@sun:~ ls - -l /tftpboot/
-rw-r--r-- 1 miguel miguel   3551088 2008-04-19 15:52 testTFTP.txt

We now have a working tftp server!!

B. Download two files openwrt-ixp4xx-squashfs.img and openwrt-ixp4xx-zImage

Visit http://ftp.iasi.roedu.net/mirrors/openwrt.org/snapshots/ixp4xx/ and download files openwrt-ixp4xx-squashfs.img and openwrt-ixp4xx-zImage

C. Upload OpenWRT onto the board

Make sure you have a terminal emulation program, like minicom(*nix) or HyperTerminal(Windows).

Setting the serial interface on your Laptop/PC. Startup minicom and then Type "Ctrl+a o" or "Ctrl+A O"

+-----[configuration]------+ 
| Filenames and paths      |
| File transfer protocols  |
| Serial port setup        |
| Modem and dialing        |
| Screen and keyboard      |
| Save setup as dfl        |
| Save setup as..          |
| Exit                     |
+--------------------------+

Scroll down to option Serial port setup

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A -    Serial Device      : /dev/ttyS0                                |
| B - Lockfile Location     : /var/lock                                 |
| C -   Callin Program      :                                           |
| D -  Callout Program      :                                           |
| E -    Bps/Par/Bits       : 115200 8N1                                |
| F - Hardware Flow Control : No                                        |
| G - Software Flow Control : No                                        |
|                                                                       |
|    Change which setting?                                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Select the letters A-G to change the settings. The final settings should be as shown above.

Connect the Avila board to your PC/laptop using a serial cable.

It appears by default the Avila board are:

Local IP address: 192.168.3.2
Local IP address mask: 255.255.255.0
Default server IP address: 192.168.3.1

The Local IP address is for the RJ45 connector closest to the power connect on the board. And this the the RJ45 connector onto which you will connect the ethernrt cable to the switch.

To continue...