Slackware inside Pandora.


hns said:

Any recent kernel should work... But I'd recommend to take the latest LTS (Long Term Stable) kernel which is currently 6.12.37/38 (https://www.kernel.org), because it will get updates for the next handfull of years. LetuxOS provides these as "letux-rolling-lts": https://download.goldelico.com/letux-kernel/letux-rolling-lts/

A more general issue is that I only have a 600 MHz Pandora for testing and I remember, that there had been problems for the 1GHz version which could not be checked nor fixed.

But I just have updated this 600 MHz Pandora to letux-6.12.37. It boots fine, X11 works, keyboard works, touch works, WLAN works, charging works, USB works. Sound works.
What I did see are some "omap_i2c 48060000.i2c: timeout waiting on XUDF bit" and the NUBs seem not to work ("pandora_nub 2-0066: read failed with -110").
And, it is unclear if the GPU is configured and working well (1.17.4948957 driver is included in this kernel but I have no user-space code).

A minor issue is that there is a bq27000 driver in addition to the bq27500 which make some noise in the console log. This was a quick fix, which will be included in the next letux-6.12.y version.

So, bug reports are welcome. Only then, we have a chance to improve it.
@hns So I grabbed your recommended kernel.
I formatted a card with only one EXT4 partition. Everything is as usual for the OS part.

In / I have:
Code:
autoboot.txt
boot.scr
u-boot.img
u-boot.img.flash

u-boot.img files are old (2022), but I guess it's ok. Is it ?

In /boot:
Code:
bootargs.scr
omap3-pandora-1ghz.dtb
omap3-pandora-600mhz.dtb
uImage

Modules are in the right place.

Here's my autoboot.txt:
Code:
# this file makes the SD card bootable on the OpenPandora
#
# please convert this source into a boot.scr:
# mkimage -A arm -O linux -T script -C none -a 0 -e 0 -n 'Boot Script' -d boot-pandora.txt boot.scr
#
# operation:
#  1. press right shoulder button
#  2. power on
#  3. select boot from SD by D-Pad arrow keys
#  4. press "B" button
#
# (c) Golden Delicious Computers, 2014-2016
# compare http://pandorawiki.org/Debian_On_SD#auto.2Fboot.txt

setenv stdout serial    # output should go to console and not flash across the screen

# check the CONTROL_IDCODE to distinguish between OMAP3530 and DM3730

if itest.w *0x4830a204 == 0x102f
then
    # could check "speed binned bit" to decide 800/1000MHz
    echo "DM3730 1GHz Pandora"
    setenv devicetree omap3-pandora-1ghz
else
    # could check bit to decide 600/720MHz
    echo "OMAP3530 600MHz Pandora"
    setenv devicetree omap3-pandora-600mhz
fi

setenv mmc 0        # mmc number as seen by u-boot where it looks for kernel
setenv kernelmmc 0    # mmc number as seen by kernel
setenv defaultdisplay   lcd
setenv PARTITION 1    # partition where kernel is found (simulates the partition selection mechanism of the GTA04)
setenv PARTITIONTYPE EXT    # we are located in / of an ext partition

echo set some defaults for bootargs.scr
setenv console "ttyO2,115200n8"
# setenv nand "not yet sure if kernel does not damage system in nand"
setenv mmcroot "/dev/mmcblk${kernelmmc}p1"
setenv mmcrootfstype "ext4,ext3 rootwait"
# setenv mmcargs 'setenv bootargs elevator=noop console=${console} root=/dev/mmcblk${kernelmmc}p${PARTITION} rw rootwait earlyprintk fixrtc'
setenv bootargs "console=${console} ubi.mtd=${nand} root=${mmcroot} rootfstype=${mmcrootfstype}"

# load device tree and kernel binary
ext2load mmc ${mmc}:${PARTITION} 0x825f0000 /boot/${devicetree}.dtb
ext2load mmc ${mmc}:${PARTITION} 0x80300000 /boot/uImage

# run mmcargs

# allow to overwrite boot args (incl. kernelmmc)
if ext2load mmc ${mmc}:${PARTITION} 0x81300000 /boot/bootargs.scr
then
    source 0x81300000
fi

setenv fdt_high 0x84000000
bootm 0x80300000 - 0x825f0000

I booted on a 600MHz unit, using the boot menu.
DSC08631.JPG
 
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Hm.
The screen shot shows that the itest command of U-Boot is working but not from the script.
So there is an issue with the autoboot.txt mechanism or file.
But your setup looks to be the same (at least from file locations). I have attached my autoboot.txt (pulled from the working SD card) to compare.
Could there be a difference in the flashed U-Boot (right shoulder + power on) which shows the boot menu?
Mine says something about "kernel 3.2" and "older 2.6.27".
There, I can also manually choose "boot from SD1:1".
 

Attachments

If I let the unit boot normally, nothing happens. But then if I press a button or the d-pad, the screen turns on with a blinking cursor or not, and the leds blink wildly.
BTW, my unit boots ok with the "old" Slackware.

If I use the normal boot option, I got a "Unrecognized filesystem type".

I noticed that it's /boot.scr which unlock access to the "boot from SD1:1" option in the menu, not /boot/bootargs.scr
 
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Not putting the free space at the start of the SD card changes nothing.
If I change the mmc parameter from 0 to 1, still can't boot, but this time doing a default boot gives the "Unrecognized filesystem type" but loads the Pandora OS from the flash.
Journaling is disabled on the filesystem.
Could this be of any help ?
 
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$ md5sum boot.scr
63e0cb4cf0c7294565bdaf348846df5b

$ file boot.scr
boot.scr: u-boot legacy uImage, Boot Args, Linux/ARM, Script File (Not compressed), 2044 bytes, Tue Jul 15 15:48:55 2025, Load Address: 00000000, Entry Point: 00000000, Header CRC: 0XC2D039E5, Data CRC: 0X4E0407E
 
Didn't know that boot.scr is a partial script, I made it editable it with:
$ dd if=boot.scr of=boot.script bs=72 skip=1
Then uncommented the echoes, and added the binary header back:
$ mkimage -A arm -T script -C none -d boot.script boot.scr

This is what I get:

DSC08636.JPG
 
Now I regenerated a boot.scr from the autoboot.txt.
I have the same cursor + led frenzy as default boot before with the SD1:1 boot option.
This time the frenzy lasts much longer.
 
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Something is really weird: I can't echo anything from the file generated from autoboot.txt while it works when editing the original boot.scr.
 
The "wrong image format ... source" was because I replaced /boot/bootargs.scr with the autoboot file.
I removed /boot/bootargs.scr, should be useless. Is it ?
 
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