PlugPBX on a Seagate DockStar

[twinclouds]

Thanks.
For DockStar, will what described in http://happytux.blogspot.com/2010/07/seagate-dockstar-notes.html work?  Or you have better approach/reference?

[mattmc97]

I am going to try and follow this guide:  http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/install.html

Which is what I followed for trying to help start a current revision on PlugPBX.

I have not researched into it enough to see where the differences are in the boot loaders etc.

I did read through that guide and it appears he is installing everything into the on-board memory. What I don't like about that approach is you can more easily brick the plug with an error. When your installing on an external media, you can just replace the media or re-zero it and start over.

Don't really know for a fact that it is better, just what I have learned from this project is, most people don't like messing with the on-board stuff other than boot loaders.

[PlugPBX Admin]

Exactly. I'd rather burn out an SD card then the NAND banks if I screw up badly. And I bet people would complain to me endlessly if we broke their actual SheevaPlug hardware. Complain complain, where is the love *sigh*

[klingon]

I am going to try and follow this guide:  http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/install.html

Just bought 2 Dockstars and have been following the various threads to install Asterisk on this box. Found the following post to install Debian and boot from USB - http://jeff.doozan.com/debian/ Have not tried it since I have not received my Dockstars yet but looks like it may work.

[mattmc97]

Thanks for the heads up. Jeff Doozan 's guide is the one pointed to by the plugapps forum as well.

I noticed you modified your post since yesterday. Where did you find that previous script and is there issues with it?

I did notice there were a few differences between it and Jeff's.

[twinclouds]

There is also this link http://pastebin.com/V65n5aZN.  Is it the same thing in script form?
Everybody talked about John Tocher' original work with Debian on the dockstar.  Anybody have any idea where it is?
I am awaiting my Dockstar from Buy.com.  Will start getting on it once I receive it.

[mattmc97]

I got it installed but I don't know how to boot into it.

I have a post on it on plugapps forum, but no response yet.

My dockstar took a week to ship from Dallas to Houston!

I will post my steps once I figure it out.

[twinclouds]

Interesting.  Please keep us informed about your progress.  My Dockstar should arrive next week.  I would like to work on it once I have it in my hands.
Have you tried to contact Jeff Doozan (@jeff.doozan.com) directly?

[mattmc97]

Just sent him an email.  I figured it would be something simple, but no one on plugapps has commented yet. Lots of people have looked.

[klingon]

Thanks for the heads up. Jeff Doozan 's guide is the one pointed to by the plugapps forum as well.

I noticed you modified your post since yesterday. Where did you find that previous script and is there issues with it?

I did notice there were a few differences between it and Jeff's.

I'm game to try both once my Dockstar arrives on Tue. I removed previous script because Jeff's script was listed in plugapps wiki while the other script says "it should work"!  Here it is again for anyone with a unit to try - http://pastebin.com/snusFgXz.  I'm also waiting for jrandomcoder at plugapps forum to post his instructions as he seemed to have got lenny to work.  Pls post your findings once you get yours working. I'm in research mode now while waiting for my Dockstar

[twinclouds]

Actually, my unit is already at the door.  I just didn't realize that. 
If I start using it, do you suggest to first install Plugbox Linux or go to Debian directly?  I guess I will start with Plugbox Linux because it is more mature.
As for active it on line, is there any pitfall if I don't active it at all?

[mattmc97]

Just got it working...  Not sure if it is voodoo or what???

I did not install plugbox linux as it is arch and I wanted to use debian.

Steps taken mostly from Jeff  http://jeff.doozan.com/debian/ with a few commands from http://ahsoftware.de/dockstar/

Step 1. Unplug your routers WAN (internet) port. This prevents the dockstar from updating but it still allows it to get a dhcp address.
View routers DHCP table to find IP address when you plug it in the first time.

Step 2. Partition your SD card or USB drive in linux. I tried to do it over SSH while plugged into the unit and fdisk would not write the partition table.

Here is mine on 4 gig SD card plugged in with USB adapter.

Disk /dev/sda: 3957 MB, 3957325824 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1               1         433     3478041  83 Linux
/dev/sda2             434         481      385560  82 Linux swap


Step 3. Plug in your sdcard adapter or USB drive to dockstar and your dockstar into router (lan side) and power.


Step 4. Config

login: root
pwd: stxadmin

#kill pogoplug
killall hbwd

#check your partition table to make sure it is being read
-bash-3.2# /sbin/fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 3957 MB, 3957325824 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1               1         433     3478041  83 Linux
/dev/sda2             434         481      385560  82 Linux swap


mount -o remount,rw /

vi /etc/init.d/rcS

# Find and comment out the line that starts hbmgr, this prevents pogo program to start on boot
#/etc/init.d/hbmgr.sh start


// Reconnect WAN (internet), since we disabled the startup it will no longer lock us out.

/sbin/reboot

#check to make sure you have ip address and date is being updated
ip addr

date

#These steps taken from Jeff Doozan guide above
cd /tmp
wget http://jeff.doozan.com/debian/dockstar.debian-lenny.sh
chmod +x dockstar.debian-lenny.sh



//Apparently Jeff forgot to copy a file to his mirror as the file that URL_POGO_UBOOT does not exist

vi dockstar.debian-lenny.sh

Under # Original package sources

URL_POGO_UBOOT  //Take out #

Under # Download from package mirror

#URL_POGO_UBOOT  //Add #


#Run setup
./dockstar.debian-lenny.sh

#Watch all the first steps as wget is getting files and make sure none of them crap out. I was getting a 404 error until I fixed the file above. Install takes about 15-20 mins on 3 Mbps DSL.

#Reboot

/sbin/reboot

Now mine did not come up into debian immediately. I actually rebooted about 3 times and it never would go to debian I finally issued /sbin/poweroff, then after two minutes, unplugged and replugged. I let it reboot, then issue /sbin/reboot, Waited about 5 minutes this time and it came up into debian!

So I am not sure what the issue was, but I have not tried to boot it again yet.

**Update** I am now updating to squeeze, so far no issues.

[twinclouds]

Great!  Will give it a try.

[klingon]

Just got it working...  Not sure if it is voodoo or what???

Can you pls do a "free" and post how much memory is used/avail while running Debian?  Thanks.

[mattmc97]

Dockstar  - Base install = No extra packages yet.
debian:~# free
                  total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        123652      98796      24856          0       4688      81340
-/+ buffers/cache:      12768     110884
Swap:       385552          0     385552

For comparison...

PlugPBX my New Build

root@plugpbx:~# free
               total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        515540     281476     234064          0       6408     157680
-/+ buffers/cache:     117388     398152
Swap:       265064          0     265064

PHPsysinfo on new PlugPBX
Physical Memory             55%     224.76 MB   278.70 MB   503.46 MB
Kernel + applications     23%    115.84 MB   
Buffers                       1%    6.32 MB   
Cached                      31%   156.54 MB

So with my new build of plugpbx on sheeva, it is only actually using 115 Meg ram the rest is in
cache memory.