Carrying on from my last post, with advice from Alexander Graf on #opensuse-arm, I was able to put together a reasonable looking pre-built openSUSE 12.2 image for the Gumstix Overo.  This is currently in home:tserong:branches:openSUSE:12.2:ARM on OBS, and will presumably remain there until next time I’m able to hack on this.

The two things that needed doing were:

1. A u-boot-omap3overo package, which is u-boot-omap4panda with an extra spec file and a small patch to add some load addresses and make the default environment boot off ext2 instead of FAT:

Index: u-boot-2012.04.01/include/configs/omap3_overo.h
===================================================================
--- u-boot-2012.04.01.orig/include/configs/omap3_overo.h
+++ u-boot-2012.04.01/include/configs/omap3_overo.h
@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@

 #define CONFIG_EXTRA_ENV_SETTINGS \
 	"loadaddr=0x82000000\0" \
+	"kerneladdr=0x80200000\0" \
+	"ramdiskaddr=0x81000000\0" \
 	"console=ttyO2,115200n8\0" \
 	"mpurate=500\0" \
 	"optargs=\0" \
@@ -175,10 +177,10 @@
 		"omapdss.def_disp=${defaultdisplay} " \
 		"root=${nandroot} " \
 		"rootfstype=${nandrootfstype}\0" \
-	"loadbootscript=fatload mmc ${mmcdev} ${loadaddr} boot.scr\0" \
+	"loadbootscript=ext2load mmc ${mmcdev} ${loadaddr} boot.scr\0" \
 	"bootscript=echo Running bootscript from mmc ...; " \
 		"source ${loadaddr}\0" \
-	"loaduimage=fatload mmc ${mmcdev} ${loadaddr} uImage\0" \
+	"loaduimage=ext2load mmc ${mmcdev} ${loadaddr} uImage\0" \
 	"mmcboot=echo Booting from mmc ...; " \
 		"run mmcargs; " \
 		"bootm ${loadaddr}\0" \

2. A JeOS-overo image, which is just another KIWI file for the base ARM JeOS image with a few tweaks to make it use my u-boot-omap3 overo package and the right kernel.  To give an idea, the diff between JeOS-panda.kiwi and JeOS-overo.kiwi is:

--- JeOS-panda.kiwi	2012-09-24 22:47:28.448247822 +1000
+++ JeOS-overo.kiwi	2012-09-24 22:49:16.844588795 +1000
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-<image schemaversion="5.3" name="openSUSE-12.2-ARM-panda">
+<image schemaversion="5.3" name="openSUSE-12.2-ARM-overo">
   <!--
  *****************************************************************************
  *****************************************************************************
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@
     <author>Marcus Schäfer</author>
     <contact>ms@novell.com</contact>
     <specification>
-   openSUSE 12.2 image for ARM (panda) boards
+   openSUSE 12.2 image for ARM (overo) boards
   </specification>
   </description>
   <preferences>
-    <type image="oem" filesystem="ext3" boot="oemboot/suse-12.2" bootloader="uboot" bootkernel="omap4panda" kernelcmdline="console=ttyO2 vram=16M">
+    <type image="oem" filesystem="ext3" boot="oemboot/suse-12.2" bootloader="uboot" kernelcmdline="console=ttyO2 vram=12M">
       <oemconfig>
         <oem-swapsize>500</oem-swapsize>
       </oemconfig>
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@
     <user pwd="$1$wYJUgpM5$RXMMeASDc035eX.NbYWFl0" home="/root" name="root"/>
   </users>
   <repository type="rpm-md">
+    <source path="obs://home:tserong:branches:openSUSE:12.2:ARM/standard"/>
+  </repository>
+  <repository type="rpm-md">
     <source path="obs://openSUSE:12.2:ARM/standard"/>
   </repository>
   <!-- dont remove qemu binfmt helpers from initrd -->
@@ -44,7 +47,7 @@
   </strip>
   <packages type="bootstrap">
     <package name="kernel-omap2plus" bootinclude="true"/>
-    <package name="u-boot-omap4panda"/>
+    <package name="u-boot-omap3overo"/>
     <package name="aaa_base"/>
     <package name="aaa_base-extras"/>
     <package name="branding-openSUSE"/>

I couldn’t specify bootkernel="omap3overo" because that profile doesn’t exist in kiwi. Leaving this out, combined with the reference to my repository and <package name="kernel-omap2plus" bootinclude="true"/> miraculously gave me the right kernel.

To actually get it running, first the image went onto a MicroSD card:

# xzcat openSUSE-12.2-ARM-overo.armv7l-1.12.1-Build1.17.3.raw.xz | dd bs=4M of=/dev/mmcblk0
# sync

Then the card went into the Overo, power was applied and it immediately failed to boot, because X-Loader couldn’t read the boot sector on the MicroSD.

Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.4ss (Oct 20 2010 - 10:10:28)
OMAP3530-GP ES3.1
Board revision: 0
Reading boot sector
Error: reading boot sector
Loading u-boot.bin from nand

U-Boot 2010.09 (Oct 20 2010 - 10:11:49)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max CPU Clock 720 mHz
Gumstix Overo board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  256 MiB
NAND:  256 MiB
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Board revision: 0
Tranceiver detected on mmc2
timed out in wait_for_bb: I2C_STAT=1000
timed out in wait_for_bb: I2C_STAT=1000
timed out in wait_for_pin: I2C_STAT=1000
I2C read: I/O error
Unrecognized expansion board
Die ID #529e0004000000000403a1f303025013
Net:   smc911x-0
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
Overo #

But, the old u-boot in my Overo’s NAND is sufficiently advanced that it can read from an ext2 partition, so I was able to do this:

Overo # mmc init
mmc1 is available
Overo # setenv kerneladdr 0x80200000
Overo # setenv ramdiskaddr 0x81000000
Overo # ext2load mmc1 0:1 ${loadaddr} boot.scr
Loading file "boot.scr" from mmc1 device 0:1 (xxa1)
541 bytes read
Overo # run bootscript
Running bootscript from mmc ...
## Executing script at 82000000
kerneladdr=0x80200000
ramdiskaddr=0x81000000
Loading file "boot/linux.vmx" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
4063704 bytes read
Loading file "boot/initrd.uboot" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
38289754 bytes read
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 80200000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    4063640 Bytes = 3.9 MiB
   Load Address: 80008000
   Entry Point:  80008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 81000000 ...
   Image Name:   Initrd
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    38289690 Bytes = 36.5 MiB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK

Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.
[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu
[    0.000000] Linux version 3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus (abuild@build14) (gcc version 4.7.1 20120723 [gcc-4_7-branch revision 189773] (SUSE Linux) ) #2 SMP Sat Sep 8 06:38:16 UTC 2012
[    0.000000] CPU: ARMv7 Processor [411fc083] revision 3 (ARMv7), cr=10c5387d
[    0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT nonaliasing instruction cache
[    0.000000] Machine: Gumstix Overo
...

And away we go! Interestingly while KIWI is doings its bootstrap thing, I got a bunch of I/O errors:

...
[    9.048309] mmc0: new high speed SDHC card at address 0001
[    9.061431] mmcblk0: mmc0:0001 00000 7.41 GiB 
[    9.075683]  mmcblk0: p1 p2
[    9.162902] mmc1: new SDIO card at address 0001
setterm: cannot (un)set powersave mode: Invalid argument
Loading KIWI OEM Boot-System...
-------------------------------
Creating device nodes with udev
[   11.118896] udevd[168]: starting version 182
udevd[172]: ctx=0x4ae4d8 path=/lib/modules/3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/libertas/libertas.ko error=No such file or directory
^M
[   11.648712] twl4030_usb twl4030_usb: Initialized TWL4030 USB module
[    4.950012] Including oem partition info file
[    5.145965] Searching for boot device...
[   16.582397] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 0
[   16.588317] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 0
[   16.595031] uncorrectable error : 
[   16.598480] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 8
[   16.604522] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 1
[   16.611145] uncorrectable error : 
[   16.614562] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 16
[   16.620727] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 2
[   16.627349] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 24
[   16.633300] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 3
[   16.640106] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 0
[   16.645996] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 0
[   17.727172] kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
[   17.733154] EXT3-fs (mmcblk0p1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
modprobe: FATAL: Could not read '/lib/modules/3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus/kernel/fs/fat/vfat.ko': No such file or directory
(...modprobe error repeated several times...)
[   20.200988] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 0
[   20.206939] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 0
[   20.213684] uncorrectable error : 
[   20.217102] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 8
[   20.223175] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 1
[   20.229827] uncorrectable error : 
[   20.233245] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 16
[   20.239410] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 2
[   20.246032] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 24
[   20.251983] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 3
[   20.258880] end_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock0, sector 0
[   20.264770] Buffer I/O error on device mtdblock0, logical block 0
[    9.848419] Found boot device: /dev/mmcblk0
[   12.598419] Repartition the disk according to real geometry [ parted ]
[   16.442352] Repartition the disk according to real geometry [ parted ]
[   30.380310]  mmcblk0: p1 p2 p3
[   20.821899] Activating swap space on /dev/mmcblk0p3
[   21.109192] Filesystem of OEM system is: ext3 -> /dev/mmcblk0p2
[   21.243927] Resize EXT3 filesystem to full partition space...
/dev/mmcblk0p2: clean, 17708/49056 files, 119867/195839 blocks
Resizing the filesystem on /dev/mmcblk0p2 to 1776688 (4k) blocks.
Begin pass 1 (max = 49)
Extending the inode table     XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The filesystem on /dev/mmcblk0p2 is now 1776688 blocks long.

[   99.565460] kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
[   99.578399] EXT3-fs (mmcblk0p2): using internal journal
[   99.584350] EXT3-fs (mmcblk0p2): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
[  100.448394] kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
[  100.458648] EXT3-fs (mmcblk0p1): using internal journal
[  100.464263] EXT3-fs (mmcblk0p1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
[  108.013458] kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
[  108.025207] EXT3-fs (mmcblk0p1): using internal journal
[  108.030761] EXT3-fs (mmcblk0p1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
/dev/mmcblk0p1: LABEL="BOOT" UUID="6505f4d4-6000-4609-899f-9b6634916922" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
[   98.791229] Creating boot loader configuration
[  101.126831] Activating Image: [/dev/mmcblk0p2]

Anyway, it did boot successfully after that and I was able to log in, poke around a bit, and reboot. During reboot I got a couple of kernel oopses, same as (or presumably the same as) with my previous manually constructed image:

[  353.409118] Restarting system.
[  353.412963] Internal error: Oops: 80000007 [#1] SMP ARM
[  353.418640] Modules linked in: af_packet autofs4 dm_mod omapdrm(C) drm_kms_helper snd_soc_twl4030 snd_soc_core drm regmap_spi libertas_sdio snd_pcm fb_sys_fops sysimgblt sysfillrect libertas syscopyarea snd_timer snd cfg80211 soundcore snd_page_alloc rfkill twl4030_wdt lib80211 twl4030_usb
[  353.446960] CPU: 0    Tainted: G         C    (3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus #2)
[  353.454162] PC is at 0x0
[  353.456970] LR is at smp_send_stop+0x50/0xe4
[  353.461639] pc : [<00000000>]    lr : [<c0019378>]    psr: 600f0013
[  353.461669] sp : cc82be60  ip : 00000000  fp : 00012fc0
[  353.474060] r10: c07dd930  r9 : cc82a000  r8 : 4321fedc
[  353.479766] r7 : 45584543  r6 : cc82be64  r5 : c07a8ee0  r4 : 000f4241
[  353.486846] r3 : 00000000  r2 : 00000000  r1 : 00000006  r0 : cc82be64
[  353.493927] Flags: nZCv  IRQs on  FIQs on  Mode SVC_32  ISA ARM  Segment user
[  353.501647] Control: 10c5387d  Table: 838b4019  DAC: 00000015
[  353.507904] Process systemd-shutdow (pid: 1, stack limit = 0xcc82a2f8)
[  353.514984] Stack: (0xcc82be60 to 0xcc82c000)
[  353.519744] be60: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 cc82a000 c00152f4 00000000 00000000
[  353.528656] be80: 01234567 c0051dd4 cc82bea8 c86a9dd8 0000002b 00000005 002dc6c0 00000000
[  353.537536] bea0: 0112a880 00000000 c0a868c8 c0071e48 c07a8f58 00000000 c2c56078 cc81ed4c
[  353.546417] bec0: c0a868c8 cc8bbaf8 c000e788 fffffffe 00000000 c050db8c cc8ca01c cc81eac0
[  353.555328] bee0: cc82a000 c07a9ce8 00000000 c0788880 c8539580 cc82a000 cc82bfac c050ad08
[  353.564208] bf00: cc82bf24 c0069e08 00000001 c07a9ce8 c07a9ce8 00000000 c0013e60 c0788880
[  353.573089] bf20: 42cb86f0 00000052 c0788880 c0788880 00000000 00000000 c0786398 c0788880
[  353.582000] bf40: c53df680 c5377284 c080c5bc c0013fc8 cc82a000 00000000 00012fc0 c538e400
[  353.590881] bf60: c538e400 c538e800 c07e44d8 c011c050 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000
[  353.599761] bf80: 00000024 c0013fc8 cc82a000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000058 c0013fc8
[  353.608673] bfa0: 00000000 c0013e00 00000000 00000000 fee1dead 28121969 01234567 45584543
[  353.617553] bfc0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000058 00000000 00000000 00000000 00012fc0
[  353.626434] bfe0: b6eda2b0 be862944 0000b7dc b6eda2d0 600f0010 fee1dead 00fbff04 107ffe00
[  353.635437] [<c0019378>] (smp_send_stop+0x50/0xe4) from [<c00152f4>] (machine_restart+0xc/0x4c)
[  353.644958] [<c00152f4>] (machine_restart+0xc/0x4c) from [<c0051dd4>] (sys_reboot+0x174/0x1f4)
[  353.654357] [<c0051dd4>] (sys_reboot+0x174/0x1f4) from [<c0013e00>] (ret_fast_syscall+0x0/0x30)
[  353.663818] Code: bad PC value
[  353.667480] ---[ end trace a8f4050048b60a4e ]---
[  353.690063] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b
[  353.690093] 
[  353.700286] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000
[  353.709259] pgd = c0004000
[  353.712341] [00000000] *pgd=00000000
[  353.716308] Internal error: Oops: 80000007 [#2] SMP ARM
[  353.721984] Modules linked in: af_packet autofs4 dm_mod omapdrm(C) drm_kms_helper snd_soc_twl4030 snd_soc_core drm regmap_spi libertas_sdio snd_pcm fb_sys_fops sysimgblt sysfillrect libertas syscopyarea snd_timer snd cfg80211 soundcore snd_page_alloc rfkill twl4030_wdt lib80211 twl4030_usb
[  353.750274] CPU: 0    Tainted: G      D  C    (3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus #2)
[  353.757476] PC is at 0x0
[  353.760253] LR is at smp_send_stop+0x50/0xe4
[  353.764923] pc : [<00000000>]    lr : [<c0019378>]    psr: 600f0113
[  353.764953] sp : cc82bbd0  ip : 00000000  fp : cc82a000
[  353.777374] r10: fffffffc  r9 : cc81eac0  r8 : cc82bc83
[  353.783050] r7 : c078c040  r6 : cc82bbd4  r5 : c07a8ee0  r4 : 000f4241
[  353.790130] r3 : 00000000  r2 : 00000000  r1 : 00000006  r0 : cc82bbd4
[  353.797210] Flags: nZCv  IRQs on  FIQs on  Mode SVC_32  ISA ARM  Segment user
[  353.804962] Control: 10c5387d  Table: 838b4019  DAC: 00000015
[  353.811187] Process systemd-shutdow (pid: 1, stack limit = 0xcc82a2f8)
[  353.818267] Stack: (0xcc82bbd0 to 0xcc82c000)
[  353.823028] bbc0:                                     c078c040 00000000 c0819230 c07dde04
[  353.831939] bbe0: cc81eac0 c05025b8 fffffffc cc82bc14 cc81eac0 c07dde04 c07dde04 cc81eac0
[  353.840820] bc00: c078c040 cc82bc83 fffffffc c0042358 c0651090 0000000b 00000000 cc82dc00
[  353.849700] bc20: c0817a58 cc82bc38 cc82a000 00000001 fffffff8 cc81ed18 cc82bc38 cc82bc38
[  353.858612] bc40: cc82bc83 cc82be18 c0817a58 cc82a000 00000001 cc82bc83 fffffff8 fffffffc
[  353.867492] bc60: cc82a000 c0017e3c cc82a2f8 0000000b 5d383536 00000000 00000008 bf000000
[  353.876373] bc80: 627c3694 50206461 61762043 0065756c 00000000 c3a11000 cc82be18 00000000
[  353.885284] bca0: c8539580 80000007 cc82be18 00000000 00000000 00000028 cc82a000 00000000
[  353.894165] bcc0: c8539580 80000007 cc82be18 00000000 00000000 00000028 cc82a000 c05023e4
[  353.903045] bce0: cc81eac0 c050d8c4 00000000 00000000 00000000 cc892c08 c0313000 c85395b8
[  353.911956] bd00: 00010000 00000000 c0820022 600f0093 00000022 c030bf84 cc892c00 00000004
[  353.920837] bd20: 00000005 00000010 c07a891c c03138c0 cc82bd5c c00659a8 00050000 00000001
[  353.929718] bd40: 00000000 c07f5acc c0819680 000064bc c07dbcec 00000007 c050d6fc c07ae574
[  353.938629] bd60: 00000000 cc82be18 cc82a000 c07dd930 00012fc0 c0008408 000064de 000064de
[  353.947509] bd80: c0819680 600f0093 ffffff96 00000000 000064de c003e93c 00000019 000064de
[  353.956390] bda0: 00000052 0000000f cc82be14 cc82be14 00000028 c0819732 00000000 c0819747
[  353.965301] bdc0: c07dbcec c003eeb0 00000000 c0819732 2d177fff 0000002c 48d331bb 00000052
[  353.974182] bde0: 00000003 c0819680 00000000 3b9aca00 10624dd3 600f0013 00000010 0088de08
[  353.983062] be00: 00000000 600f0013 ffffffff cc82be4c 4321fedc c050c1b8 cc82be64 00000006
[  353.991973] be20: 00000000 00000000 000f4241 c07a8ee0 cc82be64 45584543 4321fedc cc82a000
[  354.000854] be40: c07dd930 00012fc0 00000000 cc82be60 c0019378 00000000 600f0013 ffffffff
[  354.009735] be60: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 cc82a000 c00152f4 00000000 00000000
[  354.018646] be80: 01234567 c0051dd4 cc82bea8 c86a9dd8 0000002b 00000005 002dc6c0 00000000
[  354.027526] bea0: 0112a880 00000000 c0a868c8 c0071e48 c07a8f58 00000000 c2c56078 cc81ed4c
[  354.036437] bec0: c0a868c8 cc8bbaf8 c000e788 fffffffe 00000000 c050db8c cc8ca01c cc81eac0
[  354.045318] bee0: cc82a000 c07a9ce8 00000000 c0788880 c8539580 cc82a000 cc82bfac c050ad08
[  354.054199] bf00: cc82bf24 c0069e08 00000001 c07a9ce8 c07a9ce8 00000000 c0013e60 c0788880
[  354.063110] bf20: 42cb86f0 00000052 c0788880 c0788880 00000000 00000000 c0786398 c0788880
[  354.071990] bf40: c53df680 c5377284 c080c5bc c0013fc8 cc82a000 00000000 00012fc0 c538e400
[  354.080871] bf60: c538e400 c538e800 c07e44d8 c011c050 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000
[  354.089752] bf80: 00000024 c0013fc8 cc82a000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000058 c0013fc8
[  354.098663] bfa0: 00000000 c0013e00 00000000 00000000 fee1dead 28121969 01234567 45584543
[  354.107543] bfc0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000058 00000000 00000000 00000000 00012fc0
[  354.116424] bfe0: b6eda2b0 be862944 0000b7dc b6eda2d0 600f0010 fee1dead 00fbff04 107ffe00
[  354.125396] [<c0019378>] (smp_send_stop+0x50/0xe4) from [<c05025b8>] (panic+0x98/0x1cc)
[  354.134124] [<c05025b8>] (panic+0x98/0x1cc) from [<c0042358>] (do_exit+0x6f4/0x7f8)
[  354.142486] [<c0042358>] (do_exit+0x6f4/0x7f8) from [<c0017e3c>] (die+0x294/0x320)
[  354.150756] [<c0017e3c>] (die+0x294/0x320) from [<c05023e4>] (__do_kernel_fault.part.8+0x54/0x74)
[  354.160430] [<c05023e4>] (__do_kernel_fault.part.8+0x54/0x74) from [<c050d8c4>] (do_page_fault+0x1c8/0x3ac)
[  354.171020] [<c050d8c4>] (do_page_fault+0x1c8/0x3ac) from [<c0008408>] (do_PrefetchAbort+0x34/0x9c)
[  354.180877] [<c0008408>] (do_PrefetchAbort+0x34/0x9c) from [<c050c1b8>] (__pabt_svc+0x38/0x80)
[  354.190185] Exception stack(0xcc82be18 to 0xcc82be60)
[  354.195678] be00:                                                       cc82be64 00000006
[  354.204589] be20: 00000000 00000000 000f4241 c07a8ee0 cc82be64 45584543 4321fedc cc82a000
[  354.213470] be40: c07dd930 00012fc0 00000000 cc82be60 c0019378 00000000 600f0013 ffffffff
[  354.222381] [] (__pabt_svc+0x38/0x80) from [] (smp_send_stop+0x50/0xe4)
[  354.231506] [] (smp_send_stop+0x50/0xe4) from [] (machine_restart+0xc/0x4c)
[  354.241027] [] (machine_restart+0xc/0x4c) from [] (sys_reboot+0x174/0x1f4)
[  354.250427] [] (sys_reboot+0x174/0x1f4) from [] (ret_fast_syscall+0x0/0x30)
[  354.259857] Code: bad PC value
[  354.263519] ---[ end trace a8f4050048b60a4f ]---
[  354.268707] Fixing recursive fault but reboot is needed!
[  354.383544] omap_i2c omap_i2c.3: timeout waiting for bus ready

So ignoring that for the moment, on the second boot (after KIWI had done its magic to finish setting up the MMC card), my new u-boot loaded. Note though that it’s still using the old environment variables at this point (which try to “fatload” in “loadbootscript”, which isn’t going to work), so that needed resetting:

U-Boot SPL 2012.04.01 (Sep 24 2012 - 12:48:02)
OMAP SD/MMC: 0
mkimage signature not found - ih_magic = ea000014

U-Boot 2012.04.01 (Sep 24 2012 - 12:48:02)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max CPU Clock 720 mHz
Gumstix Overo board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  256 MiB
NAND:  256 MiB
MMC:   OMAP SD/MMC: 0
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Board revision: 0
Tranceiver detected on mmc2
No EEPROM on expansion board
Die ID #529e0004000000000403a1f303025013
Net:   smc911x-0
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
Overo # nand erase 240000 20000

NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x240000, size 0x20000
Erasing at 0x240000 -- 100% complete.
OK
Overo # reset
resetting ...

Third time, we can see the new default environment:

U-Boot SPL 2012.04.01 (Sep 24 2012 - 12:48:02)
OMAP SD/MMC: 0
mkimage signature not found - ih_magic = ea000014


U-Boot 2012.04.01 (Sep 24 2012 - 12:48:02)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max CPU Clock 720 mHz
Gumstix Overo board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  256 MiB
NAND:  256 MiB
MMC:   OMAP SD/MMC: 0
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Board revision: 0
Tranceiver detected on mmc2
No EEPROM on expansion board
Die ID #529e0004000000000403a1f303025013
Net:   smc911x-0
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
Overo # printenv
baudrate=115200
bootcmd=if mmc rescan ${mmcdev}; then if run loadbootscript; then run bootscript; else if run loaduimage; then run mmcboot; else run nan
dboot; fi; fi; else run nandboot; fi
bootdelay=5
bootscript=echo Running bootscript from mmc ...; source ${loadaddr}
console=ttyO2,115200n8
defaultdisplay=dvi
dieid#=529e0004000000000403a1f303025013
dvimode=1024x768MR-16@60
ethact=smc911x-0
kerneladdr=0x80200000
loadaddr=0x82000000
loadbootscript=ext2load mmc ${mmcdev} ${loadaddr} boot.scr
loaduimage=ext2load mmc ${mmcdev} ${loadaddr} uImage
mmcargs=setenv bootargs console=${console} ${optargs} mpurate=${mpurate} vram=${vram} omapfb.mode=dvi:${dvimode} omapdss.def_disp=${defaultdisplay} root=${mmcroot} rootfstype=${mmcrootfstype}
mmcboot=echo Booting from mmc ...; run mmcargs; bootm ${loadaddr}
mmcdev=0
mmcroot=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rw
mmcrootfstype=ext3 rootwait
mpurate=500
nandargs=setenv bootargs console=${console} ${optargs} mpurate=${mpurate} vram=${vram} omapfb.mode=dvi:${dvimode} omapdss.def_disp=${defaultdisplay} root=${nandroot} rootfstype=${nandrootfstype}
nandboot=echo Booting from nand ...; run nandargs; nand read ${loadaddr} 280000 400000; bootm ${loadaddr}
nandroot=ubi0:rootfs ubi.mtd=4
nandrootfstype=ubifs
ramdiskaddr=0x81000000
stderr=serial
stdin=serial
stdout=serial
vram=12M

Environment size: 1363/131068 bytes
Overo # saveenv
Saving Environment to NAND...
Erasing Nand...
Erasing at 0x240000 -- 100% complete.
Writing to Nand... done
Overo # reset
resetting ...

Fourth time’s the charm. Straight into loading the kernel and initrd without any manual intervention required:

U-Boot SPL 2012.04.01 (Sep 24 2012 - 12:48:02)
OMAP SD/MMC: 0
mkimage signature not found - ih_magic = ea000014


U-Boot 2012.04.01 (Sep 24 2012 - 12:48:02)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max CPU Clock 720 mHz
Gumstix Overo board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  256 MiB
NAND:  256 MiB
MMC:   OMAP SD/MMC: 0
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Board revision: 0
Tranceiver detected on mmc2
No EEPROM on expansion board
Die ID #529e0004000000000403a1f303025013
Net:   smc911x-0
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
Loading file "boot.scr" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
625 bytes read
Running bootscript from mmc ...
## Executing script at 82000000
kerneladdr=0x80200000
ramdiskaddr=0x81000000
Loading file "uImage" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
4063704 bytes read
Loading file "initrd" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
9087228 bytes read
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 80200000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    4063640 Bytes = 3.9 MiB
   Load Address: 80008000
   Entry Point:  80008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 81000000 ...
   Image Name:   Initrd
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    9087164 Bytes = 8.7 MiB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK

Starting kernel ...

Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.
[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu
[    0.000000] Linux version 3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus (abuild@build14) (gcc version 4.7.1 20120723 [gcc-4_7-branch revision 189773] (SUSE Linux) ) #2 SMP Sat Sep 8 06:38:16 UTC 2012
[    0.000000] CPU: ARMv7 Processor [411fc083] revision 3 (ARMv7), cr=10c5387d
[    0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT nonaliasing instruction cache
[    0.000000] Machine: Gumstix Overo
...

Then after a little while…

Welcome to openSUSE 12.2 "Mantis" - Kernel 3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus (ttyO2).

linux login: root
Password: *****
Last login: Sat Jan  1 01:07:59 on ttyO2
This is the Lime-JeOS 12.2 SuSE Linux System.
To upgrade your system call:

    zypper refresh
    zypper install -t product openSUSE-12.2

Have a lot of fun...
linux:~ # uname -a
Linux linux 3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus #2 SMP Sat Sep 8 06:38:16 UTC 2012 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux
linux:~ # uptime
 02:01am  up   0:01,  1 user,  load average: 2.23, 0.77, 0.27

So I call that reasonable success. At least now I have a documented point to start from next time. Oh, and that little red LED? It’s a heartbeat indicator. So long as it’s blinking, the kernel hasn’t crashed.

I’m having a late Hackweek (or hackish week, or at least a few hackdays), which seems like the ideal time to try running openSUSE on the Gumstix Overo Fire board that’s been sitting in my hackdrawer for the last year or so.  Thanks to the people working on the openSUSE ARM port, there are already suitable rootfs images and a kernel that’s close enough, so mostly this has been an exercise in getting the right bits onto a MicroSD card and learning how to interact with u-boot.

Current status: It boots and I can log in on the console.  The kernel seems to panic during shutdown. I haven’t tried networking, video, sound or anything else yet.

If anyone else wants to replicate my setup, you will need:

• One Gumstix Overo Fire.
• One Tobi expansion board (or any other board that gives you a USB console).
• An openSUSE 12.2 JeOS ARM image (I used openSUSE-12.2-ARM-JeOS.armv7l-1.12.1-Build1.15.3.tbz)
• An omap2plus kernel RPM (I used kernel-omap2plus-3.4.6-2.10.1.armv7hl.rpm).
• A copy of u-boot.bin and MLO (I used the latest Gumstix stable factory images I could find)
• One MicroSD card.
• One functional laptop or desktop system on which to prepare the MicroSD card, and from which to access the console on the Gumstix board.

To prepare the MicroSD card (based on these docs):

1. Plug it into your laptop or desktop system somehow (my laptop has an SD card reader).
2. Figure out what device it is (in my case, it’s /dev/mmcblk0).
3. Figure out how big it is, then partition it into a 64MB bootable FAT partition, and an ext3 Linux partition.  Apparently this involves some slightly weird geometry. Frankly I’m a bit dubious about this, given a couple of warnings, but it’s what the Gumstix docs said to do…

# fdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 7958 MB, 7958691840 bytes
...
# echo 7958691840/255/63/512 | bc
967

Now we know how many cylinders to tell it to use (the -C parameter of sfdisk), so being careful not to break anything, we do this:

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1024 count=1024
...
# sfdisk --force -D -uS -H 255 -S 63 -C 967 /dev/mmcblk0
Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...
OK
...
No partitions found Input in the following format; absent fields get a default value.
<start> <size> <type [E,S,L,X,hex]> <bootable [-,*]> <c,h,s> <c,h,s>
...
/dev/mmcblk0p1 :128,130944,0x0C,*
/dev/mmcblk0p1   *       128    131071     130944   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk0p2 :131072,,,-
/dev/mmcblk0p2        131072  15544319   15413248  83  Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p3 :0,0
/dev/mmcblk0p3             0         -          0   0  Empty
/dev/mmcblk0p4 :0,0
/dev/mmcblk0p4             0         -          0   0  Empty
New situation:
Units = sectors of 512 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot    Start       End   #sectors  Id  System
/dev/mmcblk0p1   *       128    131071     130944   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk0p2        131072  15544319   15413248  83  Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p3             0         -          0   0  Empty
/dev/mmcblk0p4             0         -          0   0  Empty
Warning: partition 1 does not end at a cylinder boundary
Warning: partition 2 does not start at a cylinder boundary
Warning: partition 2 does not end at a cylinder boundary
end of partition 2 has impossible value for cylinders: 967 (should be in 0-966)
Do you want to write this to disk? [ynq] y
Successfully wrote the new partition table
...

4. Format and mount both partitions:

# mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/mmcblk0p1 -n boot
mkfs.vfat 3.0.10 (12 Sep 2010)
# mke2fs -j -L rootfs /dev/mmcblk0p2
mke2fs 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
...
# mkdir /media/{boot,rootfs}
# mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/boot
# mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 /media/rootfs

5. Extract the JeOS image and the kernel RPM into the rootfs partition (this may take a while):

# tar -xjvf openSUSE-12.2-ARM-JeOS.armv7l-1.12.1-Build1.15.3.tbz -C /media/rootfs
...
# cd /media/rootfs
# rpm2cpio kernel-omap2plus-3.4.6-2.10.1.armv7hl.rpm | cpio -idmv
...
# cd

6. Put MLO, u-boot.bin and the kernel uImage on the boot partition (MLO needs to go on first, and make sure you get the omap2plus uImage, not the default one, which won’t work):

# cp MLO /media/boot/
# cp u-boot.bin /media/boot/
# cp /media/rootfs/boot/uImage-3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus /media/boot/uImage

7. Sync, unmount both partitions and remove the card:

# sync ; umount /media/boot ; umount /media/rootfs

To boot the Gumstix board:

1. Insert the MicroSD card
2. Plug the USB console in to your desktop/laptop and use screen (or kermit, or whatever) to connect to it:

# screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

3. Apply power. You’ll almost certainly want to stop the autoboot and reset the envrionment:

Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.5.0 (Aug 29 2011 - 12:52:49)
OMAP3530-GP ES3.1
Board revision: 0
Reading boot sector
Loading u-boot.bin from mmc

U-Boot 2010.12 (Aug 22 2011 - 09:49:35)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max CPU Clock 720 mHz
Gumstix Overo board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  256 MiB
NAND:  256 MiB
MMC:   OMAP SD/MMC: 0
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Board revision: 0
Tranceiver detected on mmc2
No EEPROM on expansion board
Die ID #529e0004000000000403a1f303025013
Net:   smc911x-0
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 [ENTER]
Overo # nand erase 240000 20000
...
Overo # saveenv
...
Overo # reset

4. If all has gone well, the system will boot, a few services will fail to start, and you’ll be able to log in as root (password “linux”)

Welcome to openSUSE 12.2 "Mantis" - Kernel 3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus (ttyO2).

linux login: root
Password: *****
This is the Lime-JeOS 12.2 SuSE Linux System.
To upgrade your system call:

    zypper refresh
    zypper install -t product openSUSE-12.2

Have a lot of fun...
linux:~ # uname -a
Linux linux 3.4.6-2.10-omap2plus #2 SMP Sat Sep 8 06:38:16 UTC 2012 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux

Here’s some (remarkably poor quality) video proof:

Now I just need to figure out if the blinking red LED next to the ethernet port is blinking in merry happiness, or trying to warn me of impending doom.