Bios/hardware/software Support For External Dvd Drives

[dbzeag]

Which distro of Linux is the Pandora going to be running? Will the ability to mount and dismount DVDs be available? Will the BIOS support booting from a DVD?

Would a distro of Debian for ARM be possible? I got to thinking that you can get a copy of Debian on an ISO for a DVD. Stripped down, it should be able to fit into the ROM to be "run". Installing it to the ROM, however, would require booting from either the USB flash or more properly from an external DVD drive.

 

[DJWillis]

You seem to mix distribution and architecture. You can't pick up Debian ARM on a bootable ISO that easily .

Anyway, for the record I will restate "at this time Pandora will not be running a stock Debian ARMEL distribution" but will feature existing forms of package management for the NAND (and NAND only) that should be compatible with DPKG. Our approach for looking after packages on the SD is another matter all together.

On to your main question.

Don't expect boot support for USB mass storage devices, at least in the beginning (it is an idea I like but not on my TODO list that's for sure).
You do realise you can boot the whole system off the SD card anyway don't you? so this is all a bit of a moot point for now at least.

Mounting DVD's, CD's etc. (in fact any storage class USB device) on the EHCI host when the unit is booted should not be a big problem. There may be some issues with anything that is non-standard as drivers have to be readily available for ARM EABI Linux but that's about it.

 

[Squidge]

Which distro of Linux is the Pandora going to be running?
Not 100% confirmed, but you can find a lot about if you look through past threads.

Will the ability to mount and dismount DVDs be available?
Standard DVDs, yes. Copyprotected sector locked CSS Video and Audio CDs, maybe not.

Will the BIOS support booting from a DVD?
No. The BIOS does not support USB drives. However, you could boot an application from an SD card (such as a stripped down Linux kernel) that could support USB should you need it.

Would a distro of Debian for ARM be possible?

Possible, yes. See elsewhere for more info. It's been discussed already.

I got to thinking that you can get a copy of Debian on an ISO for a DVD. Stripped down, it should be able to fit into the ROM to be "run". Installing it to the ROM, however, would require booting from either the USB flash or more properly from an external DVD drive.

Are you forgetting that a typical Diaban ISO/DVD will not come with drivers for any of Pandora's hardware?

 

[Svartalf]

Standard DVDs, yes. Copyprotected sector locked CSS Video and Audio CDs, maybe not.

If you're providing the standard USB storage support, all I think one would need for supporting that would be an external drive (good luck on finding anything that'll not hose your battery real quick... ) and a few bits and bobs (like libdvdcss...) to be able to play them back. I'd think that the LG USB powered slimline DVD burner would do nicely if you used something like the USB slot type battery backup packs that've come out for iPods for the power for it. You could probably even BURN DVDs with it in that mode. (Keep firmly in mind that this would eat batteries like candy still...it's not what I'd call an ideal mode of operation, really...)

Now...having said all of this...

Is it worthwhile to do this? Perhaps. But most likely only if to prove that most everyone else's handheld
console isn't worthy... >;-D

 

[slint]

Are you forgetting that a typical Diaban ISO/DVD will not come with drivers for any of Pandora's hardware?

Are there so many modules, that aren't in the main Linux kernel?

I think easiest way to install Debian, is to debootstap (with armel as arch) to SD card an use the standard Pandora kernel.
That should work, but some things might have to be changed (I think omap needs an own vesion of xorg, keys could possible not work out of the box)

 

[_VWV_]

Are you forgetting that a typical Diaban ISO/DVD will not come with drivers for any of Pandora's hardware?

Are there so many modules, that aren't in the main Linux kernel?

I think easiest way to install Debian, is to debootstap (with armel as arch) to SD card an use the standard Pandora kernel.
That should work, but some things might have to be changed (I think omap needs an own vesion of xorg, keys could possible not work out of the box)

I might be wrong here, but you have to have a .deb kernel package to install Debian via debootstrap. And to obtain a .deb kernel package, you need to compile the kernel from scratch. There are some proprietary modules (like 3d binary driver), than may somehow interfere with compilation. I've already asked about whether it would be possible to create a .deb package out of TI's kernel with no luck.. Maybe no one has tried yet.

 

[DJWillis]

I've already asked about whether it would be possible to create a .deb package out of TI's kernel with no luck.. Maybe no one has tried yet.

If you want to go down that route look towards Linux-OMAP GIT rather then TI's 2.6.21 as a base.
The closed source modules and there respective loaders/stubs may well cause issues but they could at worse be hacked around/left out.

Anyway, how did a thread about mass storage boot support become a generic "Debian" thread .

 

[sindbad]

Anyway, how did a thread about mass storage boot support become a generic "Debian" thread .
I think the OP's first question might have helped with that. Just a bit

 

[Squidge]

Are there so many modules, that aren't in the main Linux kernel?

Well, yeah, there are OMAP-specific modules, and libraries. So whichever distribution you put on, you'll have to ensure to use a Pandora kernel, and then copy the modules and libraries across, and then modify the startup scripts to create the application nodes in the dev directory. Then you'll probably want to trim down the bootup sequence so it doesn't take 10 minutes to boot. Then you'll probably want to add the scripts to configure the power management/etc.

etc, etc.

Or you could use the distribution which comes with it and has all that done already

 

[_VWV_]

Anyway, how did a thread about mass storage boot support become a generic "Debian" thread .

I'm sorry, it's just my curiosity.
Any way thank you DJWillis and Squidge for detailed answers. I guess such kernel tricks are a bit too complicated for me. So A) nice to know that there is an option, but B) I guess I'll stick with preinstalled OS.