boot

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create a bootable microSD

Posted by Cirrus on October 24, 2011
Posted in: Hardware. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment


This tutorial illustrates how to create a bootable microSD card with Debian Linux “6.0″ Squeezy to use with the FOX Board G20.
MicroSD partitioning

The bootable microSD currently provided by Acme with Debian preinstalled is organized in 4 partitions:
Format type Label Size Mount point Description
1 FAT16 kernel 32MB /media/mmc_p1 Linux Kernel image and some optional file used by the bootloader at startup
2 EXT4 rootfs 800MB / Linux root filesystem
3 EXT4 data 800MB /media/data User data
4 SWAP swap 128MB Available for memory swap

Brand new microSD is typically are formatted with a unique big FAT partition so the operation to do are:

Delete the factory default big FAT partition
Create the four partition requested by the FOX Board G20
Copy the file inside the new partitions

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Linux lock-out row rumbles on

Posted by Cirrus on September 27, 2011
Posted in: Tech. Tagged: , , , , . 1 comment

A senior Red Hat engineer has lashed back at Microsoft’s attempt to downplay concerns that upcoming secure boot features will make it impossible to install Linux on Windows 8 certified systems.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) specifications are designed to offer faster boot times and improved security over current BIOS ROM systems. The secure boot feature of the specification is designed so that only digitally signed OS loaders will load, a security feature that would prevent the installation of generic copies of Linux or FreeBSD as well as preventing rootkits and other boot-time malware from running.

A digitally signed build of Linux would work, but that would mean persuading OEMs to include the keys. Disabling the feature would allow unsigned code to run. However, it is unclear how many OEMs and firmware vendors will follow this route, which isn’t required for Windows 8 certification.

The forthcoming secure boot feature has created a huge row with computer scientists, such as Ross Anderson of Cambridge University (here), and open-source developers who accuse Microsoft of pushing lock-in and decreasing consumer choice. Microsoft responded by saying consumers would continue to control their PC and cited the example of one OEM, Samsung, which is including a “disable secure boot” feature on prototype versions of its tablet PC.

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