TBSDTV Community Forum

PeterB wrote:I understood mllan to say that it was booting from SD.

I know. But even I newer tried that (focuses on different things). He should tell us exactly what he did. I think he just created 2 partitions and copied files on first one (kernel, system, u-boot, uenv).

PeterB wrote:MfgTool2/.bat file? So I have to find someone running Microsoft? ... or are those available for Linux?

This run only on Windows.

vpeter wrote:

PeterB wrote:I understood mllan to say that it was booting from SD.

I know. But even I newer tried that (focuses on different things).

Sure, I can understand that.

He should tell us exactly what he did. I think he just created 2 partitions and copied files on first one (kernel, system, u-boot, uenv).

So create_sdcard doesn't attempt to create a bootable system, even though it sets the system partition to be bootable? I guess that the problem is to get uboot to run in the first place. Anyway, I've pm'd him.

In the meantime I guess that I need to revisit what I did to create a bootable MatrixTV SD card ... but it was a long time ago and my memory isn't as good as it used to be!

PeterB wrote:MfgTool2/.bat file? So I have to find someone running Microsoft? ... or are those available for Linux?

This run only on Windows.

... which is what I suspected.

Write u-boot-matrix.imx to sd card boot partition (like /dev/mmcblk0boot0)

Create 2 partitions: first vfat and second ext4:
mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1 -L System
mkfs.ext4 -O ^has_journal -E stride=2,stripe-width=1024 -b 4096 /dev/mmcblk0p2 -L Storage

On first partition save files KERNEL, SYSTEM, imx6q-sabresd.dtb, uEnv.txt, oemsplash.png

And it should boot if you select booting from sd card. But for v1.3 matrix you need to fix u-boot to boot from sd card.

He should tell us exactly what he did. I think he just created 2 partitions and copied files on first one (kernel, system, u-boot, uenv).

yep, that is what I did. Plus you need the u-boot of Open-Elec in boot partition 0 of emmc. If you do not want/can use the MfgTool things tend to get hairy. It is not impossible, you can find a description here [1]. You have to tweak the process of course and you need a ttl to uart cable.

[1] https://github.com/l3iggs/tbs2910-from- ... he-tbs2910

Another option would be to update u-boot in MMC with my version from running matrixtv?

This should work then:
viewtopic.php?f=156&t=8786&start=40#p30930

Any volunteers ?

milan wrote:This should work then:
viewtopic.php?f=156&t=8786&start=40#p30930
Any volunteers ?

This is exactly how it's done with MfgTool2 so it's very safe.

vpeter wrote:Write u-boot-matrix.imx to sd card boot partition (like /dev/mmcblk0boot0)

Create 2 partitions: first vfat and second ext4:
mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1 -L System
mkfs.ext4 -O ^has_journal -E stride=2,stripe-width=1024 -b 4096 /dev/mmcblk0p2 -L Storage

On first partition save files KERNEL, SYSTEM, imx6q-sabresd.dtb, uEnv.txt, oemsplash.png

And it should boot if you select booting from sd card.

I've tried this, but without success, so far.

But for v1.3 matrix you need to fix u-boot to boot from sd card.

I don't understand what I need to do to u-boot. If I already can boot MatrixTV from SD, shouldn't it be possible to create a bootable OpenELEC on SD?

How do you boot matrixtv from SD card on matrix v1? Because using original u-boot will not work because it's incompatible with openelec. My suggestion should work on matrix v2 where you can set boot location with dip switches.

This is very important:

milan wrote:you need the u-boot of OpenElec in boot partition 0 of eMMC

because matrix v1 will always boot from emmc. And there must be openelec's u-boot in emmc. And this new u-boot will look "around" and boot if anything is found on SD or micro SD card. If not it will boot from eMMC itself.

vpeter wrote:How do you boot matrixtv from SD card on matrix v1? Because using original u-boot will not work because it's incompatible with openelec. My suggestion should work on matrix v2 where you can set boot location with dip switches.

I may have the only V1.3 board fitted with dip switches! It was specially modified for me by TBS. I set the switches for booting from SD and it loads the MatrixTV software from the SD card.

I hope that all I need to do is to load OpenELEC onto an SD card (with the correct structure), and boot from that instead of the MatrixTV SD.

I think that my problem lies in 'translating' the instructions for creating a MatrixTV boot card (which uses uImage), to creating an OpenELEC boot card (which uses KERNEL and SYSTEM).
Even better would be to use a network boot, like I do using PXE for my x86 OpenELEC boxes. Then I could easily reconfigure the booted system by altering files on the server.

This is very important:

milan wrote:you need the u-boot of OpenElec in boot partition 0 of eMMC because matrix v1 will always boot from emmc.

Actually, even the V1.3 board is layed out for a dip switch to be fitted. However, the standard board comes with zero ohm smc resistors fitted to hardwire the device to boot from the internal flash. If your eyes are younger than mine, you may feel confident about using a soldering iron/gun to move the smc components, and alter the configured boot device.

And there must be openelec's u-boot in emmc. And this new u-boot will look "around" and boot if anything is found on SD or micro SD card. If not it will boot from eMMC itself.

That sounds useful ... if only the standard offering from TBS had included that feature ...