Gizmo2 connecting peripherals: searching issues solution

Try NOAPIC on boot line since that may be the problem.

C

Hey Clem,

thank you How can I reach the boot line ? it seems there is no way, only F12 (when it work) on the SAGE boot screen to select the boot device.

Heya Lucie ! Happy to see you

The basics are that a bit of magic is needed to get sdcards to boot. If theyre flashed with a cd image then they act like a cd would and boot in the same way. If you want to use them as a system drive, you need to remove and rewrite a new partition table replicating the cylinder/sector layout of a bootable system disk (they werent ever meant to be used as flexibly as they are these days.. the partition structure is even different to usb drives.) once thats done, you need to make a small primary partition around 32MB usually and format it as fat 16 and set it's type to 'boot'. This can all be done in gparted.

Probably I have already done this. I followed the sparse and incomplete instructions on timesys.com . Mi intial assumption was that when the Gizmo2 arrived there was a 4 Gb only sd card with a very crap Linux on it. But the microSD was booting. So starting from this point I have done the following actions on Ubuntu 14.04LTS (in order):

1. Formatted the entire microSD as the usual FAT32 and installed the mbr.bin file on it.
2. Created the primary partition of 50 Mb for booting then installed the syslinux
3. Added the kernel image
4. formatted the remaining free space (used a 32 Gb microSD class 10) of type ext4
5. Added the other needed stuff for the linux booting

The first time I have not set manually the mbr.bin file and the card was saw at boot but nothing booting. Instead after I have added the mbr.bin it started. The linux kernel and image was from timesys that are the guys that seems supporting a good (???) Linux. They distribute for download the development kit and toolchain for their Linux as minimal Gizmo2 starting point (linked, but need to be registered for free to access to this area). Then - in theory - the game is simple (as the points above ) just if there was not a lot of incongruences in their Getting started guidehttps://linuxlink.timesys.com/docs/gsg/gizmo_2 (this link maybe accessible without login, just to have an idea).

Then after solving the issues the microSD finally started. And was a delusion! It is an absolutely reduced linux with the busybox and many extra commands in the /bin and /sbin folders but it is needed a depth SDK study to see what can be really done with this system. The point is that it is impossible to manage - almost - as it needs so much time to boot (totally about 2 minutes to be logged in.

Obviously there is not any track of web browser, web server or database and so on. So it is almost impossible to make a server for simple. I deserve this point to have a more clear view as I read the SDK documentation (included n the SDK itself, most text-only).

important: take in account that this way has been just to try what happens when booting with their Linux OS from their privileged boot medium. After boot the internal SSD can be saw correctly, later I will add external one and other test devices and see if the behaviour is the same as with the other installations I have mentioned.

Your other assumption that terminates with

you should have:

 

32MB  fat16 /BOOT primary boot

xxGB   ext2 /

1.5GB  swap

xxGB ext2 /DATA      (optional)

I have already tested but making some tries, sure without a clear partitioning in mind so I should try again. The problem - if I am not wrong, but I will confirm you as I try again with your spec - is that excluding this case the microSD is not recognised if I add the other SSD or SATA disk or whatever else. But these was the first test and maybe that I have done some mistakes. So I will try them again.

Just as last information, the strange that occur, the most strange, is that the same SSD that boots from the internal micro sata is not saw at all if a second SSD or HDD (with external power) is added to the SATA port. This is the very very strange fact. Consider that I have bought a power supply similar to the one provided with the Gizmo2 but with 4 Amp. And I have widely tested that with this power unit there are NOT power problems, as the hardware configuration that works runs without problems including the SATA Hard disk plus the WiFI big USB dongle plus mouse and keyboard plus an extra 15mm diameter cooler fan.

Thank you for now, hope we can solve this issue soon. Enrico

P.S. The actual server configuration that I figure, in the actual NON full-working condition is with two 2.5" 500 Mb HDD connected to the USB3 (the speed is almost the same of the SATA) and the interna SSD with the system and booting etc. all in a custom case connected to a 1Gb LAN. The two hard disk will be in raid 1 (full mirroring) and the OS will be Ubuntu 14.

Actually the option to connect the microPCIe to the bottom of the board is a mirage. So at least for one use it is impossible.

Again. E.

I'm just about to get finished for the night so I'm going to try and draw up a more intuitive block diagram than the one in the Gizmo2 schematic document. The Sata mSata, mPcie etc.. have been over simplified, I managed to get a clear picture by following the connection references forwards and backwards throughout the schematic document and think I've pretty much worked most of it out. Once it's drawn out, I think it might help with understanding the issues you have been having with the SATA drives and help find a solution.

The whole bootable SD card thing well!! what can you expect lol! Obviously they came out with recommended partition structures but when your camcorder company needs to get into the digital age to stay competetive then just replacing the old tape i/o controller with a relatively simple controller that can stream that same data onto an mmc/sdcard using the inbuilt low level write commands of the card then it's a winner!! plus it's much more realistic to do video processing on a pc that has the power to do that kind of work, obviously through the cameras own interface cos the card isn't gonna be recognizable by anything else!! they became so versatile that a partition system wasn't always needed at all!

So slow @@@#@!!!???

The whole bootable SD card thing well!! what can you expect lol! Obviously they came out with recommended partition structures but when your camcorder company needs to get into the digital age to stay competetive then just replacing the old tape i/o controller with a relatively simple controller that can stream that same data onto an mmc/sdcard using the inbuilt low level write commands of the card then it's a winner!! plus it's much more realistic to do video processing on a pc that has the power to do that kind of work, obviously through the cameras own interface cos the card isn't gonna be recognizable by anything else!! they became so versatile that a partition system wasn't always needed at all!

Ok, got the message. haha. Waiting your schematic then like to discuss it. Damn SBC !

Cheers. Enrico

hi, i am on with this but keep getting sidetracked.. ive worked my way through the amd datasheet for the processor too.

A quick bit to help along until i get back home on sunday..

The sata ports on the amd soc dont have a ssd interface only a standard sata one. gizmo2 has its own signal converter to manage this which is only capable of supporting ssd drives up to 64GB.

There are only 2 ssd interfaces to the soc, each is capable of supporting 2 sata drives provided an external signal muxer is used, there arent any devices that i can find on gizmo 2 that do this directly for the sata buses so you can only use either the msata/mpcie or the sata header that you soldered on.. not both at once. there is a device on there with this potential but its been used in a reverse configuration to select between whether data from the msata port goes to the pci bus or to the sata bus.

This also means that the sata port on the side doesnt work with ssd drives and unless an external ic is used, only 1 drive can go into there.

I wont have chance to post more until sunday but i might make a blog video talking through some of it...

as a point of interest, the soc is capable of supporting up to 8GB ddr3.

Hi Lucie,

always great, so I don't spend time in comlpiments

The sata ports on the amd soc dont have a ssd interface only a standard sata one. gizmo2 has its own signal converter to manage this which is only capable of supporting ssd drives up to 64GB.

As usual maybe that the guys that write the documentation rarely speak with the guys that design hardware I have put a 120Gb SSD on the board mSATA/mPCIe connector and this is one of the configuration that works fine. I have tried installing Windows 8 embedded and Ubuntu 12 and 14LT and all worked fine using the entire disk. But this is a marginal detail. Anyway I have read nowhere about these limitations and this is a big lack of information I think.

you can only use either the msata/mpcie or the sata header that you soldered on.. not both at once.

Instead unfortunately this is sadly true Also in this case there is nothing explicitly mentioning this aspect. But I suspect that the reason that the second SATA connector is not populated is just because should be saw as an alternative to the first one. Ok, so the more comfortable and working server solution will be with the OS on the SSD on the bottom of the board and two RAID HDD connected SATA -to-USB3 that has almost the same data transfer speed.

This also means that the sata port on the side doesnt work with ssd drives and unless an external ic is used, only 1 drive can go into there.

This is another useful information. As a matter of fact this is the reason that the connector should be SATA and not mSATA. Not a big problem; I have tried using 1TB sata HDD connected there and a SSD inside a mSATA to SATA connector and only the HDD was working. So not only it does not support SSD but also does not support the SATA SSD. No SSD At all.

as a point of interest, the soc is capable of supporting up to 8GB ddr3.

This is a good news and bad news. I don't know why but AFAIK the Gizmosphere documentation says that the max supported is 2GB (or 4 in some cases). This maybe a limit imposed by the board design so can't be changed. Anyway I have not the needed tools to try to replace the soldered memory to other chip. And Linux works well with 1 Gb. Especially with a system that is headless. In the case of the desktop version I think that there are not problems too because the application is essentially 90% browser based.

Thank you for this update, you have got me a series of stable points that make clear the confusion arisen by the tests.

Cheers. Enrico

where i said 2 ssd interfaces to the soc, i meant sata

It was anyway clear

much of the issues are the configuration of the board, other configurations are possible but they had to make a choice between which features are  est for their target market.

I have found an alternative to the gizmo that has the same soc but is largely unpopulated, everything comes out to connectors so you can add your own supporting hardware, im interested in trying it out since comes with an so-dimm socket for adding your own memory.. in contrast the gizmo2 is a ready to go off the shelf part.

Very interesting ! Do you have a link or a name ?

Thanks.

I downloaded the product guide but its at home and i wont back back until sunday, its effectively just the soc broken out into connectors, they offer the same as the gizmo 2 which is one of the power range devices up to a quadcore device with a few extra features

I downloaded the product guide but its at home and i wont back back until sunday, its effectively just the soc broken out into connectors, they offer the same as the gizmo 2 which is one of the power range devices up to a quadcore device with a few extra features

Great! Thank you for your support. Wait until you can send some more info.

Cheers. Enrico