Looking for an *.iso for Ebox3300

[Stef]

I am trying to switch at home from a high-current-consumption
microsoft installation to a lowpower linux installation
with the Ebox3310.

During several days, I tried to install Linux on my Ebox3310, but as I
am fairly new to Linux, no success so far.

I added 32GByte CF, left the BIOS as is and attached a USB-CDROM
drive. I burned *.iso from DSL, Debian and Ubuntu
(each with several versions) and tried to do a harddrive install. All
of them stopped at the very beginning of the installation process,
except Debian 4.0, which froze while trying to do the CF partitioning.

After many more hours, I found this 3 links which did not help
either :

1.) http://www.compactpc.com.tw/drivers/eBox-3300/install_debian4.pdf
2.) www.lweb.se
3.) www.glomos.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=40&Itemid=97
(uses harddrive which I do not have on my Ebox3310)

I am wondering if anybody has an *.iso which can be directly installed
from an external USB-CDROM, with all the
needed drivers for the Ebox3310 ?

Thanks a lot for any help
Stef

[nicksoft]

I can't remember which was the 3300, but looking at specs - CF and
Micro SD cards - that's the 486DX compatible one. So the problem is
most likely in architecture, rather than drivers. Usually linux
distributions support i586 and i686.Pick one that supports i486. In
most distributions non-compatible with 486DX CPU are kernel, openssl
and glibc packages. When I install linux to 486 based cpu I first
install on the same hard disk/flash on i686 based PC and then I update
packages to i386 versions. You'll have to recompile the kernel by
yourself, because most distros don't offer i386 or i486 kernel.
if you are not linux guru you could try Slackware - I remember it had
i486 kernel and the rest should be handled by installer. If the latest
version doesn't work - try older versions.

On 24 дек, 15:13, Stef <naf...@usa.com> wrote:
> I am trying to switch at home from a high-current-consumption
> microsoft installation to a lowpower linux installation
> with the Ebox3310.
>
> During several days, I tried to install Linux on my Ebox3310, but as I
> am fairly new to Linux, no success so far.
>
> I added 32GByte CF, left the BIOS as is and attached a USB-CDROM
> drive. I burned *.iso from DSL, Debian and Ubuntu
> (each with several versions) and tried to do a harddrive install. All
> of them stopped at the very beginning of the installation process,
> except Debian 4.0, which froze while trying to do the CF partitioning.
>
> After many more hours, I found this 3 links which did not help
> either :
>
> 1.)http://www.compactpc.com.tw/drivers/eBox-3300/install_debian4.pdf
> 2.)www.lweb.se

> 3.)www.glomos.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=40&I...

[Stef]

Gentlemen,

thanks for the advice. I slowly realize that setting up my Ebox3310
with LINUX seems to require serios LINUX knowhow.

I have the box from (my christmas gift :-)
www.wdlsystems.com/modperl/view_services.cgi?r=detail&prod_num=1EBX331&aisle_id=1070
Unfortenuately, the do not sell a Compact Flash with pre-installed
LINUX.

So far, I have best results using this guidelines with 507-i386 Debian
Net Iso:
http://openwsn.berkeley.edu/wiki/OpenLbr

At the step to partition the Compact Flash card, DEBIAN is able to
detect it correctly :

IDE2 slave (hdd) 32GByte

and suggests resonable partions (30.7G EXT3 and 1.4G swap), but as the
partitioning starts,
the progress bar stops at 33% and the installation stops.

Any ideas ? Do I need another Compact Flash ? I use 32GByte TRANSCDENT
UDMA 400x
Do I need other BIOS settings ?

Thanks a lot in advance
Stef

[Lazac]

If Ebox-3310 is based on Vortex86DX chipset, then the IDE interface
requires either a patched Linux kernel or a kernel boot parameter
to disable IDE DMA usage (or both).

First, try booting using the "ide_core.nodma=1.0" kernel boot
parameter,
with both "Legacy" and "Native" BIOS settings for IDE port
(this kernel parameter disables DMA for /dev/hdc drive).

Other possibility is to give up the CF card, and use
a USB disk instead to store and run Linux.
However, USB disks are slower than IDE CF cards.
For booting from USB disk, "Full speed" should be set in
BIOS for USB port.

Laszlo

On dec. 29, 15:09, Stef <naf...@usa.com> wrote:
> Gentlemen,
>
> thanks for the advice. I slowly realize that setting up my Ebox3310
> with LINUX seems to require serios LINUX knowhow.
>

> I have the box from (my christmas gift :-)www.wdlsystems.com/modperl/view_services.cgi?r=detail&prod_num=1EBX33...

[Lazac]

Sorry, if your CF card is on IDE2-slave (hdd), then the right
kernel parameter to disable DMA is: "ide_core.nodma=1.1".

I experineced, that with CF cards, the DMA usage can
sometimes give disk erros and system halts,
not immediatley, but after several hours or days of operation.

Laszlo

[Fireboy Tech]

A few suggestions:

1. Make sure your USB CDROM is adequately powered. I found a good power USB hub was needed for use with my usb CDROM.
2. If you have trouble with any particular image, try switching the IDE mode from Native to Legacy or vice versa. Ultimately though, most recent OSs will use native.
3. I had the same problem you had with Debian and Ubuntu. In fact, I have tried over 20 different images and had little success with most of them. I had decent results with Fedora 10, Slackware 13.37, and I suspect CentOS 4.9 would work well. However, I recently installed crunchbang (link to relevant post) and have been extremely happy. If you are new to linux, Puppy linux and Slitaz were relatively easy to get going, but if you are interested in really harnessing the speed of a linux and are interested in becoming better versed in linux, crunchbang (a.k.a. #!) is a great choice which is very easy to get running.

Cheers,
Steve