Fast Boot Firmware - 15 Second Boots

[Minkoff]

Blech, I get the updating screen, but it doesn't finish after 20 minutes. After a restart I'm confirmed to not be bricked. Weird.

And it's not deleting the firmware image, either.

 

[Smiths]

11 seconds on my new GP2X using a MiniSD card + SD Adapter.

I think I love you.

 

[Tobriand]

i got art103's u-boot on my gp2x, plus theodboots' fastboot, and now my GP2X is a *DREAM* machine as far as boot-time features go .. boots under 10 seconds, very fast, and serial console is up right away ..

well done to the both of you guys! seriously, very well done! this is the sort of improvement we were expecting from the community, and you guys have definitely delivered ..

​

Art103's U-boot? Dare I ask how that effects things, and, for that matter, where it's available (assuming it's not in the private beta type stage)

 

[woogal]

Art103's U-boot? Dare I ask how that effects things, and, for that matter, where it's available (assuming it's not in the private beta type stage)

Faster boot, no auto flash, lets me flash with my 2 sd cards (gph u-boot doesn't work with either), and a boot menu that lets you get a serial prompt, flash, or boot a kernel from sd.

It's not completely stable though so art103 isn't making it publicly available just yet. I flashed it so I could upgrade the filesystem on a pre release board, and although everything seemed to suggest it worked, the image flashed was a mess. It looks like the sd code isn't quite right yet, although it works fine for me with smaller .img's like u-boot and kernels. The people testing it at the minute either have a jtag, or like to live dangerously .

 

[FluffyPanda]

Faster boot, no auto flash, lets me flash with my 2 sd cards (gph u-boot doesn't work with either), and a boot menu that lets you get a serial prompt, flash, or boot a kernel from sd.

​

This might be a silly question, but how did you flash it if GPH's uboot doesn't recognise your SD cards?

I have 3 1gig cards of different brands (disclaimer: I suspect they may all be rebranded toshiba) and none work for me. This would be a very interesting update.

 

[woogal]

This might be a silly question, but how did you flash it if GPH's uboot doesn't recognise your SD cards?

By sending the image directly to u-boot with a serial cable, then telling it to flash. It's not a problem for me to upgrade u-boot and kernels this way, but the filesystem image is 24mb and takes 4 hours to send over serial . I don't know if the gph released u-boot still supports serial access in this way though as it looks like they might have removed the 'hit a key' delay.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

If you think thats quick, you should try the 9 second boot

(does mean reflashing uboot though, which can brick your gp2x, so definitely not recommended unless you have a jtag setup)

​

Ill try it out. Im daring like that

​

wow for 4 seconds faster im soooooooo tempted h34r:

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DCGM, you were there when I flashed 1.2.1 on low battery right?

​

not that I recall

 

[FluffyPanda]

This might be a silly question, but how did you flash it if GPH's uboot doesn't recognise your SD cards?

By sending the image directly to u-boot with a serial cable, then telling it to flash. It's not a problem for me to upgrade u-boot and kernels this way, but the filesystem image is 24mb and takes 4 hours to send over serial . I don't know if the gph released u-boot still supports serial access in this way though as it looks like they might have removed the 'hit a key' delay.

​

So if one of us wanted to do this? Is the filesystem locked while linux is running? If everything important gets loaded into memory we should be able to dd a filesystem from the SD card, no?

At least that would take less than 4 hours, but I'm not too sure how well the gp2x would cope with having its OS wiped while it's turned on.

 

[PSyMastR]

So...
Can someone post the UBoot fix too? That 9 seconds thing im itching to use.

 

[Hanz™]

So...
Can someone post the UBoot fix too? That 9 seconds thing im itching to use.

​

Go on to IRC, it is not right for "somebody" to go posting art103's unfinished work.

 

[PSyMastR]

Whats the channel?

 

[Hanz™]

Whats the channel?

​

#gp2xdev @ efnet

 

[Paradox]

i cant find the skin changer for this on the archive, someone mentioned it but i cant find it only cramfs with blue poison skin.

found a link to it thanks-

 

[theoddbot]

So if one of us wanted to do this? Is the filesystem locked while linux is running? If everything important gets loaded into memory we should be able to dd a filesystem from the SD card, no?

​

No. You can't use DD on a jffs2 filesystem as it stores data in the OOB areas as well. There are ways to write it from within linux, but if you're still using the official firmware you won't make it very happy by rewriting the root filesystem from underneath it. I'm working on a method of having the root filesystem on an SD card, but it's a bit hard to debug without a serial port

 

[Paradox]

10 seconds boot time here from the grey/black screen to the menu

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Im getting 12 second boots now, so wtf is everyone still crying about to get a 9 second boot? geez, it aint even worth the extra work in my book <_<

 

[PSyMastR]

Im getting 12 second boots now, so wtf is everyone still crying about to get a 9 second boot? geez, it aint even worth the extra work in my book <_<

​

Its such a simple answer. shes noT CHRISTIAN!!!!!! GRAAAAHHHH!!!

 

[iignotus]

Just updated! Went from about 28 seconds down to 13 seconds. Had to use my Kodak 64mb card, but it is great to have the faster boot.

 

[Reesy]

I've updated as well. I'm very impressed, the boot time is fantastic. I should have done this ages ago

 

[critical]

I've updated as well. I'm very impressed, the boot time is fantastic. I should have done this ages ago

​

Same here - it's almost like a new console (I like the poison skin lot too). I wish that gp2xmenu didn't keep re-spawning when I kill it, though... is there a way of disabling that feature, as otherwise apps I launch from the command line keep contending with the menu for input focus, which makes everything really slow?

Otherwise, I can't fault it at all