Install Image on SD Card

This is where we find out if our trouble has been worth it...

Before we go any further, you must read the file 'zipit2-angstrom-pkgs/fatroot/README-sdcard'. Do that now and follow the directions. I would suggest that you copy the prepSDcard.pl into the project directory and make the changes to it there.


TopPreparation of the SD Card

Assuming you read the file and have the altered prepSDcard.pl script in the 'ZipitZ2/' directory, let us begin. The Z2 has only been tested with SD cards of 1Gig or less.

Let us look at where the 'base-image' resides. If you look in tmp-zipit2-angstrom/deploy/glibc/images/zipit2/ you will see this:

[tom@slushy ZipitZ2]$ ls tmp-zipit2-angstrom/deploy/glibc/images/zipit2/
Angstrom-base-image-glibc-ipk-2007.12-r18-zipit2.rootfs.tar base-image-zipit2.tar@
Angstrom-base-image-glibc-ipk-2007.12-r18-zipit2-testlab/

The symlink is what we want, it points to the most current version of the image. Each time you build an image, a new dated version is created and the symlink will point to that one.

Insert a card into the media reader and run the prepSDcard.pl script:

[root@slushy ZipitZ2]# su
[root@slushy ZipitZ2]# ./prepSDcard.pl --partitions --fatroot=zipit2-angstrom-pkgs/fatroot/fatroot.zip --tarball=tmp-zipit2-angstrom/deploy/glibc/images/zipit2/base-image-zipit2.tar

This card contains these partitions:
/dev/sdg1 1 1023 967216 6 FAT16

Do you wish to continue and re-partition?
Enter (yes/no) yes

Deleting partition: /dev/sdg1

All partitions on /dev/sdg have been removed

Creating FAT16 partition on /dev/sdg1

Creating Linux partition on remainder of /dev/sdg


Format /dev/sdg1 as vfat

Format /dev/sdg2 as ext3
mke2fs 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)

filling /dev/sdg1 with the FAT16 component.

e2fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)

filling /dev/sdg2 with the Linux ext3 component.

Success!

[root@slushy ZipitZ2]#


TopTest the Card

The moment of truth... Insert the SD card into the Zipit, turn on the power, and, wait.

Your first bootup of an image will take time as the installation is finishing up. Group accounts are created, psuedo users are created (e.g. bin, daemon, adm, ...). Dropbear takes quite a bit of time to generate the ssh keys. After about 40 seconds, you should see the screen clear on the Zipit and a login prompt appear. Log in as 'root', no password is required. The message you do want to see on the screen is 'Please wait: booting...'. That message is printed out when linux starts executing the system startup from the SD card.

Take a look around. An 'ifconfig' should show you connected to your Wifi hub. Create a user account 'adduser tom' and try to ssh into the Zipit via your Wifi.

When you are satisfied, simply type 'halt' to shutoff the Zipit.


TopWhere To Go From Here

We move on to adding custom packages to the base-image.