gc-linux-devel

[Gc-linux-devel] Wii Kernel experiments

[Marcus O. <mar...@go...>]

Hello Mailinglist,

I'm trying to bring the recent Debian Squeeze on my new 2nd hand Wii.

The mikep5 kernel from 2009 loaded via the homebrew channel and does a 
wonderful job. I like to be more flexible with initramfs and 
theoretically have access to all squeeze features form their kernel 
(2.6.32+debianpatches).

I had some success in crosscompiling ppc kernels on my amd64 box in the 
following variants:

A) Debian kernel sources + Debian patches + mikep5 patch
B) Debian kernel sources + Debian patches + wii backports from 2.6.38

Now I tried to boot the two kernels via HBC, but it gives an error 
message, telling me, that this is not a Wii application.

The file-tool indeed gives different outputs [1].

The question is, how to create a bootable elf kernel for the wii?
Or a bit more precise, what (ELF-)format does the HBC expect?


Basically I followed the instructions in the wiki [2]. But I used the 
the Debian make-kpkg tool to create whole debs and extracted the kernel 
image afterwards from this deb. The options for make-kpkg [3] are nearly 
the same as those listed in wiki:
--initrd --cross-compile powerc-linux-gnu- --arch powerpc kernel_image 
--append-to-version [...]

One need to know, that I didn't use the devKitPPC-cross toolchain, but 
the on-board Emdebian crosstoolchain from squeeze (Debian 4.4.5-8).

Maybe someone on the list knows, what to do to create the appropriate 
ELF format or run into the same traps?

Many thanks for any hint and/or comment.

Best regards,
Marcus


[1a] original mikep5
ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/gc-linux-mikep5-v2.6.32+whiite-1.10/apps/mikep5.110$ 
file boot.elf
boot.elf: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500, version 1 
(SYSV), statically linked, stripped

[1b] cross compiled debian kernel with mikep5 patches
ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/boot$ file vmlinux-2.6.32+mikep5
vmlinux-2.6.32+mikep5: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500, 
version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, with unknown capability 0x41000000 
= 0x13676e75, with unknown capability 0x10000 = 0xb0402, not stripped
ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/boot$ file vmlinux-2.6.32+wiibackport
vmlinux-2.6.32+wiibackport: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 
4500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, with unknown capability 
0x41000000 = 0x13676e75, with unknown capability 0x10000 = 0xb0402, not 
stripped

[2] http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Building_a_GameCube_Linux_Kernel
[3] 
http://gitorious.org/dockstar/emdebian-multistrap/blobs/master/includes/make-kpkg.mk

Re: [Gc-linux-devel] Wii Kernel experiments

[Adam S. <ash...@gm...>]

Can HBC even boot Kernel ELFs? I thought that BootMii had to be used? (I had
to use BootMii when i had Whiite installed)

Also, Please post updates on your progress, I am interested in porting
Android to the Wii but dont know enough about the kernels to download and
patch them. I learn by observing mostly, :)

Adam

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 2:11 PM, Marcus Osdoba <mar...@go...
> wrote:

> Hello Mailinglist,
>
> I'm trying to bring the recent Debian Squeeze on my new 2nd hand Wii.
>
> The mikep5 kernel from 2009 loaded via the homebrew channel and does a
> wonderful job. I like to be more flexible with initramfs and
> theoretically have access to all squeeze features form their kernel
> (2.6.32+debianpatches).
>
> I had some success in crosscompiling ppc kernels on my amd64 box in the
> following variants:
>
> A) Debian kernel sources + Debian patches + mikep5 patch
> B) Debian kernel sources + Debian patches + wii backports from 2.6.38
>
> Now I tried to boot the two kernels via HBC, but it gives an error
> message, telling me, that this is not a Wii application.
>
> The file-tool indeed gives different outputs [1].
>
> The question is, how to create a bootable elf kernel for the wii?
> Or a bit more precise, what (ELF-)format does the HBC expect?
>
>
> Basically I followed the instructions in the wiki [2]. But I used the
> the Debian make-kpkg tool to create whole debs and extracted the kernel
> image afterwards from this deb. The options for make-kpkg [3] are nearly
> the same as those listed in wiki:
> --initrd --cross-compile powerc-linux-gnu- --arch powerpc kernel_image
> --append-to-version [...]
>
> One need to know, that I didn't use the devKitPPC-cross toolchain, but
> the on-board Emdebian crosstoolchain from squeeze (Debian 4.4.5-8).
>
> Maybe someone on the list knows, what to do to create the appropriate
> ELF format or run into the same traps?
>
> Many thanks for any hint and/or comment.
>
> Best regards,
> Marcus
>
>
> [1a] original mikep5
> ossy@debian-virtual
> :~/embedded/tmp/gc-linux-mikep5-v2.6.32+whiite-1.10/apps/mikep5.110$
> file boot.elf
> boot.elf: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500, version 1
> (SYSV), statically linked, stripped
>
> [1b] cross compiled debian kernel with mikep5 patches
> ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/boot$ file vmlinux-2.6.32+mikep5
> vmlinux-2.6.32+mikep5: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500,
> version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, with unknown capability 0x41000000
> = 0x13676e75, with unknown capability 0x10000 = 0xb0402, not stripped
> ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/boot$ file vmlinux-2.6.32+wiibackport
> vmlinux-2.6.32+wiibackport: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco
> 4500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, with unknown capability
> 0x41000000 = 0x13676e75, with unknown capability 0x10000 = 0xb0402, not
> stripped
>
> [2] http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Building_a_GameCube_Linux_Kernel
> [3]
>
> http://gitorious.org/dockstar/emdebian-multistrap/blobs/master/includes/make-kpkg.mk
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> All of the data generated in your IT infrastructure is seriously valuable.
> Why? It contains a definitive record of application performance, security
> threats, fraudulent activity, and more. Splunk takes this data and makes
> sense of it. IT sense. And common sense.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-d2d-c2
> _______________________________________________
> gc-linux-devel mailing list
> gc-...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gc-linux-devel
>

Re: [Gc-linux-devel] Wii Kernel experiments

[Marcus O. <mar...@go...>]

Am 29.06.2011 21:11, schrieb Marcus Osdoba:
> I'm trying to bring the recent Debian Squeeze on my new 2nd hand Wii.
>
> A) Debian kernel sources + Debian patches + mikep5 patch
>
> Basically I followed the instructions in the wiki [2]. But I used the
> the Debian make-kpkg tool to create whole debs and extracted the kernel
> image afterwards from this deb. The options for make-kpkg [3] are nearly
> the same as those listed in wiki.
>
> Maybe someone on the list knows, what to do to create the appropriate
> ELF format or run into the same traps?
>

Just to let you know, the problem was the make-kpkg. It produced an 
image with an non-working load adress. With plain make commands it was 
possible to compile a powerpc kernel for the wii with 
Emdebian-Cross-Toolchain on an amd64 host. Now I can start configuring 
the kernel and it's ramdisk....

>
> [1a] original mikep5
> ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/gc-linux-mikep5-v2.6.32+whiite-1.10/apps/mikep5.110$
> file boot.elf
> boot.elf: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500, version 1
> (SYSV), statically linked, stripped
>
> [1b] cross compiled debian kernel with mikep5 patches
> ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/boot$ file vmlinux-2.6.32+mikep5
> vmlinux-2.6.32+mikep5: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500,
> version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, with unknown capability 0x41000000
> = 0x13676e75, with unknown capability 0x10000 = 0xb0402, not stripped
> ossy@debian-virtual:~/embedded/tmp/boot$ file vmlinux-2.6.32+wiibackport
> vmlinux-2.6.32+wiibackport: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco
> 4500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, with unknown capability
> 0x41000000 = 0x13676e75, with unknown capability 0x10000 = 0xb0402, not
> stripped
>
> [2] http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Building_a_GameCube_Linux_Kernel
> [3]
> http://gitorious.org/dockstar/emdebian-multistrap/blobs/master/includes/make-kpkg.mk
>