WRT54GL Hacking

Driver for SD card downloaded from here
mmc-v1.3.4-gpio2.tgz file

tar xzvf mmc-v1.3.4-gpio2.tgz
cp mmc-v1.3.4-gpio2/mmc-v1.3.4-gpio2/mmc /lib/modules/2.4.37.4
insmod mmc (comment: at this point check with dmesg if every thing is ok)
mkfs.ext3 dev/mmc/disc0/part1



opkg update update the package list
opkg install kmod-fs-ext3 install package ext3 filesystem
insmod ext3 activate the module ext3
lsmod List installed modules
mkdir /mmc create the directory /mmc
echo "0x9c" > /proc/diag/gpiomask Mask the gpio for the SD card and Wifi
insmod mmc Activate the module mmc (sd card driver)
mount /dev/mmc/disc0/part1 /mmc Mount the SD card to /mmc
grep /mnt /proc/mounts List the mounts to check SD card is mounted

Mounting to External Media
Mount root to SD Card

#!/bin/sh
. /etc/functions.sh
mount proc /proc -t
insmod diag
echo 0x9c > /proc/diag/gpiomask
insmod mmc
insmod ext2
mount -o rw /dev/mmc/disc0/disc /mnt
[ -x /mnt/sbin/init ] && {
. /bin/firstboot
pivot /mnt /mnt
}
exec /bin/busybox init


We have to format the thing:
opkg install e2fsprogs kmod-fs-ext2
mkfs.ext2 /dev/mmc/disc0/disc # See above for the correct partition path
mount -t ext2 /dev/mmc/disc0/disc /mnt/


Now we are going to copy over the root stuff
mkdir -p /tmp/root
mount -o bind /rom /tmp/root
cp /tmp/root/* /mnt -a
sync
umount /tmp/root
umount /mnt

Another way of mounting root to SD Card

rm /sbin/init Remove this file

File /sbin/init Create this file script is below

#!/bin/sh
echo "0x9c" > /proc/diag/gpiomask
insmod mmc
insmod ext2
boot_dev="/dev/mmc/disc0/part1"

sleep 15s
mount "$boot_dev" /mmc
[ -x /mmc/sbin/init ] && {
mount -o move /proc /mmc/proc && \
pivot_root /mmc /mmc/mmc && {
mount -o move /mmc/dev /dev
mount -o move /mmc/tmp /tmp
mount -o move /mmc/jffs2 /jffs2 2>&-
mount -o move /mmc/sys /sys 2>&-
}
}
exec /bin/busybox init

chmod a+x /sbin/init Make the file executable

reboot


df -h You should see that /dev/mmc/disc0/part1 is mounted to /

OpenWRT Website

OpenWRT Downloads

openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx file This is a 2.4 Kernel



Flashing Firmware (This is a 2.4 Kernel)

Script to clean nvram settings


./nvram-clean.sh
nvram commit



sysupgrade /tmp/openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx
or
mtd write /tmp/openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx


The commands below allows the use of a tftp server to flash firmware by allowing a delay in the startup to access tftp

nvram set boot_wait=on
nvram set boot_time=10
nvram commit && reboot

Failing SG31V2 Shuttle

After about three years of use the Shuttle I use at work was starting to fail. First I noticed that the Audio would become scratchy, clicky and noisy then the machine would freeze or reboot.
I found 3 swollen 1800uF 6.3V electrolytic capacitors on the Motherboard.

These I replaced with 1800uF 10V capacitors from Farnell or CPC (same company) and this seemed to fix some of the problems. I encountered reboot problems etc and loaded the Xsensors program and this showed the 5V supply was varying wildly. I replaced the PSU and this fixed all the problems yeehaa.

Vboxmanage Command

The Vboxmanage Command
I had difficulty trying to increase the size of a virtual hard drive on one of my Virtual machines, but it turned out that the command below was all that was needed to turn a 15GB HD into a 20GB HD easy :).

vboxmanage modifyhd ~/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows\ XP.vdi --resize 20000

Footnote: I forgot to use a partitioning program to resize the partition and use the whole disk. I booted a Gparted Live CD in the VM and used it to grow the partition to its full size.

PPC iMac Network Fault

A PPC iMac was brought in and it was found that dhcp was not working (it wasn't receiving an IP address from the server).

It did work if the IP address was set manually. On further investigation it was found from the system logs that all dhcp requests were being denied. So the firewall was modified to allow dhcp requests and this fixed the problem.

Setup Gamepad in Ubuntu

The USB Gamepad was plugged in and the command dmesg
shows the following.

[74836.932026] usb 5-1: new low speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd
[74837.348311] input: GreenAsia Inc. USB Joystick as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0/input/input7
[74837.348529] pantherlord 0003:0E8F:0003.0004: input,hidraw3: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [GreenAsia Inc. USB Joystick ] on usb-0000:00:1d.3-1/input0
[74837.348540] pantherlord 0003:0E8F:0003.0004: Force feedback for PantherLord/GreenAsia devices by Anssi Hannula
[335187.792075] usb 5-1: USB disconnect, device number 3
[335190.016042] usb 5-1: new low speed USB device number 4 using uhci_hcd
[335190.219466] input: GreenAsia Inc. USB Joystick as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0/input/input8
[335190.219646] pantherlord 0003:0E8F:0003.0005: input,hidraw3: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [GreenAsia Inc. USB Joystick ] on usb-0000:00:1d.3-1/input0
[335190.219657] pantherlord 0003:0E8F:0003.0005: Force feedback for PantherLord/GreenAsia devices by Anssi Hannula

The USB Devices were listed using lsusb giving the output

Bus 005 Device 004: ID 0e8f:0003 GreenAsia Inc. MaxFire Blaze2
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 045e:009d Microsoft Corp. Wireless Optical Desktop 3.0
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 045e:0023 Microsoft Corp. Trackball Optical
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:0840 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Express
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:0161 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Mass Storage Device
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 4971:ce17 SimpleTech 1TB SimpleDrive II USB External Hard Drive
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


A soft-link has to set using sudo ln -s /dev/input/js1 /dev/js1

The gamepad is calibrated using sudo jscal -c /dev/js1

It is now ready for use.

Using Rsync

Some quick rsync examples

rsync -av /memstick/ /mymaindisk/
This will rsync the memstick directory to mymaindisk directory preserving all aspects of the files with the archive switch and the verbose switch will show whats happening.

rsync -avz /memdisk/ me@myserver:/backupdir/
This will do rsync over ssh rather than scp, using -a archive switch -z switch this signifies use compression over the link.

Ubuntu Server Screen Blank

Problem when rebooting Ubuntu 11.04 Server X86 after fresh install.
It caused the screen to be blank and a monitor message of overrange settings. This was traced to the setting of gfxmode=auto in the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file.

Note: you have to boot Ubuntu into rescue mode using the media CD/DVD/Memory Stick you used to install the system with.
From the command prompt make the /boot/grub/grub.cfg writable using chmod +w /boot/grub/grub.cfg command.
Now edit the file using vim /boot/grub/grub.cfg command.

The settings that worked for me were as follows gfxmode=1024x768 and with an entry gfxplayload=keep added directly after the gfxmode line.
After editing hit esc key then type wq and then hit enter this will write the file and quit vim.

Now reboot your system and hope it works.

What a mucking around to fix this stupid fault.

Information Source I used