Robotino OS / CF-Card

[verbeek]

Warning: It's a good idea, not to use the original CF card shipped with Robotino to experiment with.


Robotino's operating system is available as dd-image, i.e. on Linux we use
dd if=/dev/sdc of=/tmp/robotinoos.dd




Newest CF-Image for Robotino

• V2.0_Final_Ubuntu.dd.gz (348MB ZIP ->1GB) V2.0dd image 12/2009 (Changes_V2_0.pdf)
• V1.8 20090525dd.gz (271MB ZIP ->1GB) V1.8dd image 05/2009 (Changes_V1_7.pdf)
• Version 695a.zip (76MB ZIP ->256MB) V695a dd image 07/2007

How to restore from dd-images using linux:
If your CF card is found under /dev/hde do a
dd if=robotino-*.dd of=/dev/hde

buffer is helpful to watch the bytes filling up the CF card.
(you can use the BS parameter : eg BS=4M to improve the writing speed up to 8MB/s)
dd if=robotino-*.dd | buffer -S 1M | dd of=/dev/hde

Caution! This DD command could overwrite your local harddrive if you use wrong parameters!

[MBellenberg]

How to restore from dd-images using dos/windows:

1. download "dd for windows" from http://www.chrysocome.net/dd
2. rename dd.exe to dd-removable.exe . This will ensure that you will not hurt your harddrive. dd-removable.exe will only write to USB devices (so unplug your usb-harddrive and only plugin your USB-cardreader!)
3. start a DOS window / dos prompt (START / run)
4. dd-removable.exe --list will show all connected usb-cardreaders
5. get the newest robotino CF-Image (dd-file) your drives will show as
   \\?\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0 (or similar)
6. if you want to write robotino-695a.dd to this device use
   dd-removable.exe if=robotino-695a.dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0 --progress
7. improve writing speed using parameter "bs=4M" (will fill your memory)
   dd-removable.exe if=robotino-695a.dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0 bs=4M --progress

Caution! This DD command could overwrite your local harddrive ( C: ) if you use wrong parameters!

A dos batchfile is included in this ZIP file:

[MBellenberg]

please visit
http://www.festo-didactic.com at SERVICE / Robotino / CF-Card
(http://www.festo-didactic.com/int-en...no-cf-card.htm)


to get a ZIP file incl. the image and "dd for Windows" incl. instructions


you may also order a new 1GB memory-card at this site

[Marszalek M.]

Hello

I tried to use a Sandisk Ultra II with 8 GB and finally it worked out.

The configurations steps:

1. Check if your CF is a "removable drive" or "fixed drive". In the beginning I tried
to set the bit with atcfwchg.com but the application closed with an error.
Anyway I assumed the CF is a fixed drive and thus I copied the OS to the CF.

2. Clean up the CF, for example with dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdxx
hdxx is your target CF.
Check the correct device with fdisk -l. Otherwise you could destroy your
hard drive

3. Installation with dd if=robotino-*.dd | buffer -S 1M | dd of=/dev/hdxx (target)
Don't install the OS to a prior constructed partition of your CF. It will lead to
an error during booting!!
I recommend the use of the V1.7_20080903.gz image, if you have a 8 GB CF.
Most important application like cmake are already included.
The other image is also possible but it needs some adjustments.

Thats all

[Tobias]

Hello Mr. Bellenberg

I was very happy to see you released a new robotino image. Unfortunately i noticed it still uses Linux Kernel 2.6.17.
Because i would like to program in C# i have to use Mono for Linux (which is, by the way, a fantastic easy way to program for both Windows und Linux with normal Windows Visual Studio). To install Mono i need glibc6, which needs Kernel 2.6.18. Trying to compile a realtime kernel on my own is far beyond my capabilities. So i would be happy if festo could provide such an image.

thanks for you help,

kind regards Tobias

[verbeek]

Here it is:

Ubuntu 9.04
Kernel 2.6.28.7
RTAI 3.7

Please note that I just put it together. It has not been tested yet. You can connect to Robotino, wheels are spinning and camera works. I did not even test if you can build a working CF card from this image (I am quite sure it works, but I did not do it myself).

It is an almost unmodified Ubuntu installation. The kernel had to be replaced, because of the RTAI patch needed for serial line communication. gdm does not start automatically. It comsumes to much memory. You need to install a different window manager if you need one.

Size is 747MB. You need a 4GB CF-card (or try a notebook harddisk).
http://doc.openrobotino.org/download/flashcard/ubuntu_20090616.dd.gz

Size is 241MB - for a 1GB CF-Card
V2.0_Final_Ubuntu.dd.gz (348MB ZIP ->1GB) V2.0dd image 12/2009

Update-Packages please find at
http://doc.openrobotino.org/download/packages/
(Note the readme.txt !)

[tigereye]

Thanks for the information guys.

I changed the card with a Sandisk Ultra II 2GB and it wasn't necessary to modify it's fixed bit. It works.

I used the image above for 1GB card (20090807_2.0_Beta_Ubuntu_RobView2_interpreter.dd. gz) and resized the partition ( with parted ) to extend the filesystem to ~2GB.
I was able to update the system and install additional packages.

Thanks again.

[trrwxsj]

Thanks for the information guys.

I changed the card with a Sandisk Ultra II 2GB and it wasn't necessary to modify it's fixed bit. It works.

I used the image above for 1GB card (20090807_2.0_Beta_Ubuntu_RobView2_interpreter.dd. gz) and resized the partition ( with parted ) to extend the filesystem to ~2GB.
I was able to update the system and install additional packages.

Thanks again.

I also tried to resize the partition, actually, before I write the image onto CF card, I already divide three partitions and build the partition table. Unfortunately, the dd image file overwrite the partition table and have a new partition table. That is, only occupy 1 GB with one partition. I also tried to resize the partition to extend the filesystem to be bigger but within the CF card's capacity. The command to do so is 'parted' under Linux, but I got an error:
Error: File system has an incompatible feature enabled. Compatible features are
has_journal, dir_index, filetype, sparse_super and large_file. Use tune2fs or
debugfs to remove features.

Then I checked the filesystem's features, they are:
Filesystem features: has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype sparse_super large_file

Compare the features above, only the 'ext_attr' is different. What's this feature? Does any one know this? Or I guess it only a Linux file feature for some purpose like index etc. I will try to delete this feature so as to make it compatible. Are there other purposes behind this?

[hbecker]

I am testing the Ubuntu Image (20090807) and have a problem. I copied the image using dd to a 2GB CF Card. Mounting the CF card works and I see als the files. If I try to boot it, I will get an grub error:

Grub loading stage 1.5Read Error

Did you test this image on an unmodified robotino? As I understand the problem it looks for the grub files on a non existing device. I believe when you created this image it was not you first devive (which it is now).

Do you have a solution or idea, as I assume other should have the same problem when using the provided image.

Regards
Hannes Becker

[tigereye]

I remember having some problems related to data corruption. I had to write the image on the card several times. The card reader i used has some problems. But finally it worked; i tried to boot the same image several times.