UFSinstaller

[Audioniek]

Those of you who regularly make use of my buildsystem may have noticed a new directory in it: ufsinstaller. And yes: it serves the same purpose as the tfinstaller, but now for the Kathrein UFS922. Both receivers share a few features that makes them somewhat similar:

• Flash memory is too small to run either Enigma2 or Neutrino it;
• Dual tuner;
• STx7109 Soc;
• Built-in hard disk.

So my thought was: why not automate the installation and running of Enigma2 or Neutrino using a combination of flash memory for the kernel and a hard disk partition for the rootfs in the same manner as on the tf7700? The result is the ufsinstaller. It has been realized in the following way. Just as on the tf7700, two kernels are built: one is the kernel which is used to run Enigma2 or Neutrino and that is flashed into flash memory. The tf7700 runs the other kernel off the USB stick used for installation, but on the ufs922 it is flashed into flash memory too. The second kernel represents a mini installation environment that handles the partitioning of the hard disk, changing the bootargs and flashing and checking the final result before running the image for the first time.

The whole thing has been set up in such a way that the original unmodified bootloader is still used, albeit with different bootargs, and the recovery kernel is left intact, providing a workable way back to the original Kathrein software, should one wish to.
The behaviour of the install process is controlled by the text file Image_Installer.ini and offers the same possibilities as with the tfinstaller. The version in the git is optimized for a re-installation.

Building and installing Enigma2 or Neutrino is done in the following way:

1. Build the desired image using the buildsystem. Select flash as the destination.
2. Run 'fakeroot ./flash.sh' in the flash subdirectory.
3. Copy the entire contents of the subdirectory flash/out to an empty FAT32 formatted USB stick.
4. For the first installation, change the following entries in the file Image_Installer.ini:
   
   • partition=0 to partition=1
   • keepsettings=1 to keepsettings=0
   • keepbootargs=1 to keepbootargs=0
   • format=0 to format=1
     
     • The entry createmini controls how the hard disk is partitioned. When 0, the disk gets 3 partitions: sda1 (2 Gbyte) is for the rootfs, sda2 becomes the swap area (256 Mbyte) and the remainder of the capacity becomes the record partition sda3. Its format is normally ext3, but can be changed to jfs or ext2 if so desired. For details, see the file Image_Installer.ini.
     • If createmini is set to 1, four rootfs partitions are created as sda1, sda2, sda3 and sda4. sda5 becomes the swap area of 256 Mbyte, and again the remainder is the record partition. The enables up to four different images on the hard disk.
     
     
   • A word of caution: the first installation completely wipes out the existing hard disk info, including the Kathrein channel list and recordings.
   
   
5. For a first installation, the receiver should be running the original Kathrein software (see the next post on how to do this).
6. To install the image, switch off the receiver using the mains switch on the back and insert the prepared USB disk in the front USB port. Press and hold the front panel key RECORD and switch the receiver on. Keep pressing the key until the display shows "[ ]/UP2TE2/OPT". Then release the key and briefly press the front panel key STOP. The installation will now begin. If the parameters format and partition are set to 1 the formatting and partitioning of the hard disk can take several minutes depending on its size. Progress can be observed in the serial log.
7. Halfway the installation, you are asked to press and hold the RECORD key on the front panel again, so keep observing the front panel display. After the restart release the key when the aforementioned text "[ ]/UP2TE2/OPT" appears in the display and briefly press STOP on the front panel.
8. The installation is complete after the third restart, when the image is run for the first time.

That's it for the moment. In a following post I will tell how to go back to the Kathrein original, as this is not trivial.

Regards,

Audioniek.