Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 13 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 22.04.2023)
Videorecording can be found here: tbd
Category: Computer
Computer Stuff
balenaOS on the Advantech AIR-020X
Last week I posted the review of the Advantech AIR-020X with which I used to create the labSentinel 2 system.
I remarked that the hardware was great, however the software support and update capability of the system was severly lagging behind for an "industrial floor, always on" type of machine. Luckily, thats exactly what balena has been created for.
Even better, their environment already support Nvidia Jetson devices - also Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX modules. With the AIR-020X being a really nice carrierboard (and housing) for this module, I went to work.
Installing balenaOS on the AIR-020X
1.) I setup an Ubuntu 20.04 LTS machine, installed npm and setup jetson-flash
2.) I went to https://www.balena.io/os and downloaded the latest NVIDIA JETSON XAVIER NX DEVKIT EMMC image (2.107.10) in the development version.
3.) Unzip the file after setting up jetson-flash and getting your AIR-020X into recovery mode. This means opening the bottom of the case by unscrewing the 4 philipps head screws, connecting the Micro USB port of the AIR-020X with your Ubuntu host computer, applying power to the AIR-020X, but do not yet press the power switch.
4.) There is foil/recovery switch next to the Micro USB connector and LAN port. You need to press and hold this switch and at the same time press the power on button of the unit for about 4 seconds.
5.) On Ubuntu, run lsusb | grep Nvidia - this should return a similar line to this
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 0955:7023 NVIDIA Corp. APXImport is the ending "APX", which means it is in recovery mode.
6.) Now you can start the flash process
user@balenaTest:~/jetson-flash$ ./bin/cmd.js -f ./jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc-2.107.10-v14.4.4.img -m jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc
The .img value points to the unzipped image file, the -m tells the jetson-flash tool that we are running a Xavier NX system and want to install balenaOS on the internal eMMC module.
7.) This will now start the process which will take some minutes and also ask you for your sudo password. At the end you should see something like this:
[ 255.8670 ] Flashing completed
[ 255.8670 ] Coldbooting the device
[ 255.8696 ] tegrarcm_v2 --ismb2
[ 255.9454 ]
[ 255.9502 ] tegradevflash_v2 --reboot coldboot
[ 255.9530 ] Bootloader version 01.00.0000
[ 255.9984 ]
*** The target t186ref has been flashed successfully. ***
Reset the board to boot from internal eMMC.8.) As soon as you reboot the device, you will be greeted with the balenaOS logo and can use it as any other balenaOS device.
Adding the AIR-020X to a fleet
If you want to use it e.g. in a fleet, I would recommend creating a new one with the device type Nvidia Jetson Xavier. This is important to allow sample projects to correctly work, as its basically the same thing as the more specialized version "jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc" - but most demo projects just implement the former one :).
To now join the installed device onto your new fleet, download and install balenaCLI - login to your balena Cloud account and do a balena scan using balenaCLI to find your AIR-020X on the network.
-
host: 56e1ef3.local
address: 192.168.178.112
osVariant: development
dockerInfo:
Containers: 1
ContainersRunning: 1
ContainersPaused: 0
ContainersStopped: 0
Images: 1
Driver: overlay2
SystemTime: 2023-03-10T14:05:52.568438957Z
KernelVersion: 4.9.253-l4t-r32.7
OperatingSystem: balenaOS 2.107.10
Architecture: aarch64
dockerVersion:
Version: 20.10.17
ApiVersion: 1.41After that, you can easily join this device with
.\balena join 192.168.178.112
? Select fleet <yourFleetNameToSelect>
? Check for updates every X minutes 10
[Success] Device successfully joined balena-cloud.com!... and voila, its online!
What does work?
The AIR-020X has a lot of custom GPIO chips, 2x RS485/RS232 interface, 1x CANbus interface, a second network interface and even a NVMe. Luckily, everything just works out of the box.
- HDMI works
- USB works- onboard network card (dmesg + dhcp test, gets ip / works)
[ 29.231807] eqos 2490000.ether_qos eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
- 2nd network card (dmesg + dhcp test, get ip / works)
[ 104.307175] igb 0004:05:00.0 enP4p5s0: igb: enP4p5s0 NIC Link is Up 1000 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow - NVMe is recognized (lsblk)
nvme0n1 259:0 0 119.2G 0 disk
|-nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 96G 0 part
|-nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 64M 0 part
|-nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 64M 0 part
|-nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 448K 0 part
|-nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 448K 0 part
|-nvme0n1p6 259:6 0 63M 0 part
|-nvme0n1p7 259:7 0 512K 0 part
|-nvme0n1p8 259:8 0 256K 0 part
|-nvme0n1p9 259:9 0 256K 0 part
|-nvme0n1p10 259:10 0 300M 0 part
`-nvme0n1p11 259:11 0 22.8G 0 part- can bus interface is auto loaded on boot (see ifconfig -a)
can0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
NOARP MTU:16 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:10
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:63- gpio/dio, works, but bit3 does sadly not work
( more info: http://ess-wiki.advantech.com.tw/view/File:AIR-020-nVidia_GPIO.docx )
Pin Number AIR-020X AIR-020T AIR-020N
GPIO bit1 393 269 38
GPIO bit2 421 425 149
GPIO bit3 265 411 65
GPIO bit4 424 264 168
GPIO bit5 418 476 202
GPIO bit6 436 396 246
GPIO bit7 417 337 169
GPIO bit8 268 338 194
# set bit 1 as GPIO pin
echo 393 > /sys/class/gpio/export
# get value 0=low, 1=high
cat /sys/class/gpio/gpio393/value
# set direction out or in
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio393/direction
# get direction
cat /sys/class/gpio/gpio393/direction
out
# set value on out pin
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio393/value
test:
# 265, bit3 did not work on export
echo 393 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo 421 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo 265 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo 424 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo 418 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo 436 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo 417 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo 268 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio393/direction
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio421/direction
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio265/direction
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio424/direction
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio418/direction
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio436/direction
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio417/direction
echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio268/direction
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio393/value
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio421/value
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio265/value
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio424/value
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio418/value
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio436/value
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio417/value
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio268/value- com ports, running as RS-232 or RS-485 (not tested, but recognized)
( more info: http://ess-wiki.advantech.com.tw/view/AIR-020-RS-485 )
root@56e8bf3:/# ls /dev/ | grep ttyTH
ttyTHS0 <- COM1
ttyTHS1 <- COM2
ttyTHS4More info to the hardware can be found in the Advantech Wiki.
GPU Demos
Last but not least I want to point you towards the nice balena Jetson tutorial which can be found here.
It will help you getting started with Jetson samples that are hosted here.
In the end I was able to also get CUDA acceleration to work and see this smoke demo:
With that I am closing this post. It was surprisingly easy to get this device to work - the only thing left would be to get it to boot and to work from its internal NVMe storage, but other than that its a nice tool for working with GPU workloads like Edge Impulse.
Advantech AIR-020X Review
Normally, I am not getting review units. This is due to the fact that I am only hosting this small weblog, along some conference talks - and most companies would probably be better off to send their units along someone with a reach of Linus Tech Tips, or similar.
On the other hand - when I get the possibility to do a review, it can be a bit worrisome for the companies as well, as I am a very honest person. I have been working in tech for some time now and had the honor to build stuff which went to space - and came back to tell the tale. I know what I want in a unit - and what could be a problem.
With this out of the way, I was one lucky winner of the Advantech Edge AI Challenge 2022 and got an AIR-020X-S9A1 unit at no charge to be able to realize my labSentinel 2 project. By doing this project I learned a bit about the box and thought it would not be a bad idea to share my ideas with the readers of my blog - and also Advantech, so that they can improve upon their product. This review is not paid for, reflects my own thoughts and I got the mentioned unit for my project - the review was not a part of that deal. With that out of the way, lets get started.
The hardware
The AIR-020X comes very well packaged - having its own foam jacket which will save it from all but the most horrible abuse from postal services. Not that it would matter: The roughly 14 cm x 12 cm x 4,5 cm compact unit weighs in at nearly 850 gr and is built sturdy and robust - like a tank:
The most obvious part of the unit is its heatsink, which it does put to good use - but more on that topic later. Along with the computer itself comes a chinese printed starting guide and a short USB A to Micro B cable, which will be needed to factory reset and reflash the unit.
All in all, the AIR-020X is an impressive unit, including an Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX module with 8 GB RAM, 16 GB onboard eMMC, 128 GB M.2 Flash, 2x RS232/422/485, 1x CANbus, 1xDIO ("GPIO"), 2x 1 Gbit ethernet, 1x Fullsize mPCIe with nano SIM holder, 1x 4k HDMI Output, 2x USB 3.0 Type A, 1x USB Type C. The unit is powered by a 12-24 V DC power supply, which is an optional accessory.
Being an industrial unit, it uses an industrial type connector for power, which is an HT5.08 2 pole type:
As this connector is also not part of the base package and the USB C connector does not accept power delivery (and neither works in Display Port Mode) - it becomes a bit harder to power up the unit after receiving it. Finding a usable power supply within the sizable voltage range of 12 - 24 V (e.g. from an old Laptop) is fairly easy, but without the connector - it becomes a dead end until the next delivery is there. It would be useful to at least include one connector with the base unit. The usb cable is a nice addition, but could be left out (even though its very high quality) - along with the chinese manual. This could be replaced with a small card with direct links to the english and chinese PDF versions of the manual.
Opening up the unit reveals the internals - but not without a fight:
The used screws are perfectly fixed to the structure by using blue loctite - a touch I cannot recommend enough for the vibration resistance of the overall unit - but the screws themselves are made from extremely soft metal, so that - using the correct screwdriver - I stripped nearly all screws and had really issues removing all of them. Somehow this problem seems to exist for all the external black screws, the internal silver ones were of a lot higher quality. In my case I fixed the issue by replacing the screws with new ones and never had an issue anymore with them.
The internal structure is very well laid out, raising the M.2 drive onto a pole to keep it a bit further from the heat source / Xavier NX module which is just sitting on the other side of the PCB and directly sandwiches with the big heatsink.
Very welcome are also the addition of the two Raspberry Pi Style Camera connectors, although they are a bit hidden by the serial console cables. I understand that the unit should be as closed as possible for the use in factories, but I would have loved to see two small slits (possibly even with some IP/EMC gaskets to allow for protective shielding of those entry points) so that cameras on the outside of the case can be easily attached.
The mPCIe slot gives the system an additional expansion slot for e.G. UMTS or LoRaWAN modules and also the internal CR2032 cell for the RTC is a small but valuable detail.
The AIR-020X has some mounting points available on both system sides for additional wall mounting rails. Looking at the mounting points and the obvious use of the AIR-020 series in lab and factory settings, the inclusion of a DIN rail mount as available accessory could prove very useful to directly mount this small computer into an electrical cabinet.
The software
Booting up the system greats one with a very familiar picture: Ubuntu 18.04 is running on the machine in form of a tailored version of Nvidia Jetpack. This version by Advantech is only using the eMMC of the Xavier NX module to start the bootloader, but the actual data is kept on the M.2. This is a great idea for the longevity of the eMMC on the (currently hard to find) Xavier NX module - but comes with the drawback of additional needed customization other than "only" the PCB, included hardware, drivers and other changes made by Advantech in comparision to an Nvidia Developerboard for the same module.
This is a problem I also learned the hard way: I realized that the board was delivered with L4T 32.5.2 - not the current 32.7.x (JetPack 4.6.1) - so I updated this by hand. Just to have the board bootloop. This was the moment I took a closer look to the online presence of Advantech and the manual - just to learn that the recovery process was neither described, nor was the download of the image available. I got the needed recovery file as well as the documentation (which also included vital information on how to use the DIO (GPIO), RS422 and CANbus interface) and as able to restore the board to working order. Obviously there were multiple problems with this: First, the online available manual should contain all needed information regardings settings, ports, recovery, etc - secondly, the current (and maybe even last) images also need to be available online on their website - with checksums to be able to deploy these images safetly.
I also voiced my concerns regarding the high impact security issues / CVEs found in 32.5.2 - which would make the use of AIR-020 series an absolute liability in a production environment. I am glad to report that Advantech reacted to these concerns with providing a beta version of a new JetPack 4.6.1 Image. A short time afterwards, Advantech did add some information to their wiki:
- Main Page (the Release Note leads to Downloads)
- Build instructions for the BSPs
- Downloads
On the download page you can find the AIR020A2AIM20UIV00004 entry for the Jetson NX JetPack 4.6.1 from 2022-07-20. This links to a Dropbox folder containing a the latest image (AIR020A2AIM20UIV00004_194.tar.gz / 2022-09-16).
With this latest image I was able to upgrade the AIR-020X to JetPack 4.6.1 and even do and apt upgrade to upgrade to L4T 32.7.2, at the time the latest L4T. However, this did not go as planed: After doing the upgrade and rebooting the device, it got caught in a bootloop. This bootloop kept on repeating for about 10 minutes until the device mysteriously started then working and came back on without issues. Obviously this would not be a graceful upgrade and did instill some concerns why this was a reproducible issue.
I am glad to report that Advantech has provided the latest image - which will eliminate several security issues. However, the changes needed in the manual as well as the provision of the recovery images (now via Dropbox?) and the secure provision of security updates to the unit remain. Maybe Advantech would think about starting to use balena.io to handle these issues?
Verdict
The Advantech AIR-020X is an extremely capable unit in a small form factor, sturdy built and highly reliable. Even with the latest JetPack 4.6.1 and abuse of the formerly not available 20 Watt mode I could not get this unit to heat up too much in my testing with labSentinel 2. There is still enough headroom available to use it in any kind of environment, which makes it a perfect choice for labs and factories - if Advantech can tackle the presented issues. Especially the ones regarding timely and secure availability of security patches and software updates. This also means availability of these images, fast adaption after release of official Nvidia updates and all needed documentation in one manual for public download. With these exceptions and some small kinks, Advantech is so close to building the perfect unit for their envisioned use case. I really hope they can close that last (security/software/manual) gap to an otherwise nearly perfect hardware - and with that create an recommendable product.
Edit: balenaOS
I got balenaOS working on the device - see here.
100 Euro External 13,5'' / 2256x1504 Display with 2x Mini HDMI Input
Working with telemetry, scientific data, programming, writing papers or just casually hacking the Gibson requires one thing: A lot of screen real estate. To allow for that "bit of extra space", I built myself an external 13,5'' / 2256x1504 display. It comes with 2x Mini HDMI Inputs and is powered over USB.
The front is protected by perspex, while the back is just scrap material from a PCB stencil transport. The black straps hold down the eDP cable runing to the display.
The whole project comes in just a shy more expensive than 100 Euros and with that is probably one of the most affordable, external high resolution displays you can get for your moneys worth.
The used display is a NE135FBM-N41 (here on Aliexpress for 70,12 Euro).
After talking with one of the sellers on Aliexpress I got them to re-program their dual Mini HDMI controllers for this display - which can be had together with the requires eDP cable (here on Aliexpress for 30,07 Euro). It just nicely plugs together and then works just out of the box. You will just need to get yourself some Mini HDMI to HDMI Adapters and build a case. All in a all a very worthwhile project. Have fun!
Add icons to Jetpack Social Menu
I have been looking around the net quite a lot to find a solution on how to add icons to the "social menu" in wordpress:
At first I thought this menu was a feature of the theme I am using, Independent Publisher 2. I only found a Github repo for the version 1 theme - tried all the hacks there - and finally found out that version 2 was bought by WordPress.com and customized. So all the hacks available for version 1 did not even work. Bummer.
I really wanted to finally have icons for Mastodon, Hackster, Keybase or the RSS feed - so I looked into the file system - and look and behold, I found the path which actually does all the "heavy lifting":
wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/theme-tools/social-menuWarning: Thanks to dear Stacy for the update: "As of Jetpack 13.7, these files are now in:"
wp-content/plugins/jetpack/jetpack_vendor/automattic/jetpack-classic-theme-helper/src/social-menuTurns out, this menu is actually generated as part of the WordPress Jetpack and its Social Menu part.
To add to its library is very simple (even though not documented...):
- Look up SVG icons, maybe from a free website like https://simpleicons.org/
- Download the svg file and open in notepad or other editor, it will look like this:
<svg role="img" viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title>Mastodon</title><path d="M23.268 5.313c-.35-2.578-2.617-4.61-5.304-[...]2.96-1.498 1.13 0 2.043.395 2.74 1.164.675.77 1.012 1.81 1.012 3.12z"/></svg>- You will need to change the "svg" element to symbol", set an name/id, remove role item and xmlns as well as the title. It will then look like this:
<symbol id="icon-mastodon" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M23.268 5.313c-.35-2.578-2.617-4.61-5.304-5.004C17.51.242 15.792 0 11.813 0h-.03c-3.98 0-[...]2 1.81 1.012 3.12z"/></symbol>- Add this new object into the social-menu.svg before the closing </defs></svg> tag and save the file
- Open the icon-functions.php and add some entries to the $social_links_icons array. The binding is basically URL Path/Matching => Icon ID in the social-menu.svg. so to add e.g. the Keybase.io, Mastodon (on chaos.social) and Hackster.io icons I added:
'keybase.io' => 'keybase',
'chaos.social' => 'mastodon',
'hackster.io' => 'hackster',
);- Save and close the file, if you now add a new custom element/external link to your social bar e.g. containing keybase.io in the URL, it will show up as the newly added keybase icon.
USB C power for the Nvidia Jetson Nano 4 GB dev board
The best way to power a Jetson Nano 4 GB dev board is by using a center positive, 5 V and at least 4 A barrel connector type power adapter. However, these are often bulky and not the best travel companion - while USB C power bricks are becoming more common and the relevant USB C sockets are getting build into nearly every device (maybe yours too, Apple?).
So I set out to build a USB C power adapter for the Jetson board.
By using an inexpensive USB C "trigger" combined with two 5V@3A step-down converters this did actually work.
The trick is setting the USB C trigger to request 20 V and using the 5 V converters in parallel to step-down the 20 V to 5 V - and then feeding the resulting voltage again in parallel to the barrel plug, like so.
For the curios among you now asking why I did not just set the trigger to 5 V and used it all alone: I tried this first, but it did not work. It was not able to provide enough current to support the operation of the Jetson at "MAXN mode" - it was constantly coming up with Overcurrent protection messages if pushed too hard.
I am happy with the result and shortend the wires after testing, putting everything into a neat small form factor.
With this change I can finally replace my old Jetson Nano power supply with something smaller than this chunky unit which I was gifted back in the day by the awesome Morlac :).
An active GNSS antenna for the CAM-M8Q breakout
I have been using multiple CAM-M8Q breakouts by Watterott and really am loving these units. They are small, reasonable priced and have the advantage of an integrated chip antenna. However, this also their small shortcoming: While the antenna is good enough for most outdoor jobs, you can run into sensitivity issues when deploying it indoors - if not setup next to a window. Luckily, the module has two additional u.fl connectors for RFin and RFout, meaning you can use an external antenna.
To accomplish this, you just need to remove the resistor R3 to position R1 - as outlined by the schematics:
With this, you could attach an passive antenna, but an active one will not work, as no power is supplied from the module. But you can add this power insert with an inductor and an capacitor.
I did this with some SMD components, but did not add the insert "behind" the u.fl connector, but between both jumper points R1 should be using. So I can make this a part of the module.
This worked perfectly and the reception is great
As an antenna I am using the Navilock NL-202AA - I have not received any Galileo signal (even though it should be possible), but other than that I am very happy with the solution.
Thanks again to Mr. Watterott to pointing me to this StackExchange post which contained the solution for the power insert.
labSentinel 2
About nearly a year ago, I wrote the labSentinel project for my Nvidia Jetson AI Specialist certification. The basic idea of the project is to be able to supervise old Lab Equipment which does not poses any kind of log output or interface other than a graphical user interface, running on an Windows 3.11 / 95 / NT - maybe even XP system. I solved this issue by using a video grabber attached to a Jetson Nano and "out-of-band" grabbing the screen output of the experiment computer. I then learned good and bad system states via Nvidias Inference tools and finally got the system to report via MQTT as soon as something did go wrong. (As a "test system" I designed a flashy GUI application to try to mimic the old interfaces - specifically thinking about a lab power supply with multiple outputs - and the ability to simulate errors.)(https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/community/jetson-projects#labsentinel / https://github.com/nmaas87/labsentinel)
While the project did work, there was still a lot left to be desired:
- The system did capture the complete screen in full size. Running inference on a 1024x768 or even higher resolution picture is not efficient and has a high failure rate.
- Training, testing and improving the model was time consuming and did not yield the precision and results I was hoping for.
- The system could differentiate between "good" and "error" states - however if an error occurred, I would have loved to get more information - "reading the GUI" and its output. For example in the lab power supply use case, getting the specific voltages of the different lines to see which line failed or what is wrong - maybe even with the possibility to cross check if the detected error is an error in the first place
- While the Nvidia Jetson Nano Development Board is an awesome tool for development, it is not hardend enough / suited for a lab or even factory floor environment.
These were all points I wanted to address, but as time was lacking - I did not take up the project again - until the start of this year Advantech and Edge Impulse started their Advantech Edge AI Challenge 2022. They wanted to know about specific use cases and how to solve them with factory hardend Jetson products (e.g. Advantechs AIR-020 series) and Edge Impulse Studio.
Well, that reminded me of the first labSentinel - and I thought I'd give it a try. As luck would have it, I actually was one of the two lucky guys who were picked to be able to realize their project. Advantech sent me one of their AIR-020X boards (review is here :)) and I was good to go:
Let me introduce you to labSentinel 2:
Build from the ground up, it does solve the above mentioned issues:
- The actually GUI window is found and extracted from the "full size Desktop screenshots" via OpenCV 2 - and resized to 320x320 pixels to neatly fit the inference model
- All model training, testing and optimization is done with Edge Impulse, which makes handling a breeze
- If an error is detected and included OCR module using tesseract can extract text from predesignated / labeled areas on the non-resized GUI and sent this information along with the MQTT alert
- The AIR-020X board is more than robust enough for all normal lab and factory floors
All source code is freely available with a demo project and documentation on Github ( https://github.com/nmaas87/labSentinel2 ) and also a video instruction on how to use it ( https://youtu.be/KEN_HT20exs )
Thanks again to Gary Lin (Advantech) as well as Louis Moreau and David Tischler (Edge Impulse) for their support :)!
Update: I added a Review to the Advantech AIR-020X and got balenaOS working on it.
WD My Cloud Mirror Gen2 with Debian 11 and Linux Kernel 5.15 LTS
Intro
Since 2017 I have been using an Western Digital My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 which I bought at Amazons Black Friday (or similar) - because the included 2x 8 TB WD Red were even cheaper with the NAS than standalone. Using the NAS had been quite ok, especially the included Docker Engine and Plex Support were a nice to have, the included Backdoor in older Versions - not so much. Recently WD had their new "My Cloud OS 5" replace the old My Cloud OS 3 - and made things worse for a lot of people. As I don't want any more surprises - and more control over my hardware - I decided to finally go down the road and get Debian 11 with an LTS (5.15) Kernel running on the hardware. This is how it went.
Warning
Warning, these are just my notes on how to convert a My Cloud OS 3 / My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 device to a "real" Debian system. You will need to take your device fully apart, solder wires and lose the warranty. Additionally you will lose all your data and even brick the hardware if something goes wrong, I am taking in no way responsibility, neither can I give support. You're on your own now.
Step 0: Get Serial Console Access
Without a serial console, you will not be able to do anything here. You will need to completely disassembly the NAS and will lose all warranty. The plain motherboard will look like this. On the most right side you will see the pins for the UART interface you will need to solder to.
When you're done with that, connect your 3v3 TTL UART USB device like this:
... and connect to it via 115200 BAUD with Putty, TeraTerm Pro or any other software (Do not connect the 3v3 pin :)). It would be wise starting without the hard drives installed.
Step 1: Flashing U-Boot
The current U-Boot on the NAS is flawed, you need to replace it. I will be CyberPK here which did an awesome job explaining everything:
We have to prepare an usb drive formatted in Fat32, and extract the uboot at link into it and connect to usb port#2.
Connect the device to the serial adapter, poweron the device and start pressing '1' (one) during the boot until you can see the 'Marvell>>' Command Prompt
press ctrl+c
then
We will start here to change stuff and break stuff. But if I could give you one tip before you start: Please execute printenv once. Copy and paste all env variables and everything Uboots spits out. It could save your hardware one day. Thanks, Nico out!
usb start
bubt u-boot-a38x-GrandTeton_2014T3_PQ-nand.bin nand usb
resetThis will reboot the device. Access again the Command prompt and add the following envs, a modified version of the ones provided by bodhi at this post:
setenv set_bootargs_stock 'setenv bootargs root=/dev/ram console=ttyS0,115200'
setenv bootcmd_stock 'echo Booting from stock ... ; run set_bootargs_stock; printenv bootargs; nand read.e 0xa00000 0x500000 0x500000;nand read.e 0xf00000 0xa00000 0x500000;bootm 0xa00000 0xf00000'
setenv bootdev 'usb'
setenv device '0:1'
setenv load_image_addr '0x02000020'
setenv load_initrd_addr '0x2900000'
setenv load_image 'echo loading Image ...; fatload $bootdev $device $load_image_addr /boot/uImage'
setenv load_initrd 'echo loading uInitrd ...; fatload $bootdev $device $load_initrd_addr /boot/uInitrd'
setenv usb_set_bootargs 'setenv bootargs "console=ttyS0,115200 root=LABEL=rootfs rootdelay=10 $mtdparts earlyprintk=serial init=/bin/systemd"'
setenv bootcmd_usb 'echo Booting from USB ...; usb start; run usb_set_bootargs; if run load_image; then if run load_initrd; then bootm $load_image_addr $load_initrd_addr; else bootm $load_image_addr; fi; fi; usb stop'
setenv bootcmd 'setenv fdt_skip_update yes; setenv usbActive 0; run bootcmd_usb; setenv usbActive 1; run bootcmd_usb; setenv fdt_skip_update no; run bootcmd_stock; reset'
saveenv
reset(This code was also modified by me to use the fatload instead of the ext2load)
With this, our NAS is ready.
Step 2: Build a kernel and rootfs
- On your current linux machine, get yourself a copy / git clone of Heisaths wdmc2-kernel Repo
- Get all dependencies installed according to this repo, I installed it on a Debian 11 machine
- Replace the file content of wdmc2-kernel/dts/armada-375-wdmc-gen2.dts with the content of the real and improved dts for the WDMCMG2 (original from this link, copy available here) - but keep the file name still armada-375-wdmc-gen2.dts
- Replace the file content of wdmc2-kernel/config/linux-5.15.y.config with the file from here (please know this config ain't perfect, but it will get you running. You can always file a PR and help me out ;))
- Start the build process in wdmc2-kernel with ./build.sh
- Mark: Linux Kernel, Clean Kernel sources, Debian Rootfs, Enable ZRAM on rootfs
- Kernel -> Kernel 5.15 LTS
- Build initramfs -> Yes
- Debian -> Bullseye
- Fstab -> usb
- Rootpw -> whateverYouWant
- Hostname -> whateverYouWant
- Locales -> no changes, accept (or whatever you want)
- Default locale for system -> en_US.UTF-8 (or whatever you want)
- Tzdata -> Your region
- Now your kernel and rootfs will be build
While this is on-going, get yourself a nice USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 stick prepared with
- partition table: msdos
- 1st partition: 192 MB, FAT32, label set to boot, boot flag enabled
- 2nd partition: rest, ext4, label set to rootfs
When the kernel is done compiling and your usb stick is done, copy all the files (sda is the name of my usb stick
- mkdir /mnt/boot /mnt/root
- mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
- mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/root
- mkdir /mnt/boot/boot
- cp wdmc2-kernel/output/boot/uImage-5.15.* /mnt/boot/boot/uImage
- cp wdmc2-kernel/output/boot/uRamdisk /mnt/boot/boot/uInitrd
- tar -xvzf wdmc2-kernel/output/bullseye-rootfs.tar.gz --directory=/mnt/root/
- rm -rf /mnt/root/etc/fstab
- cp /mnt/root/etc/fstab.usb /mnt/root/etc/fstab
// within /mnt/root/etc/fstab:
// change all /dev/sdb to /dev/sdc if all two drive slots on the NAS are used <- this!
// change all /dev/sdb to /dev/sda if no drive slots on the NAS are used - umount /mnt/boot /mnt/root
Step 3: First boot and getting things running
Insert the USB stick into the 2 slot of the NAS. Leave the drives still out and boot it up for the first time, watch it via terminal. Login at the end with root and your chosen password.
If it boots, you can shut it down again with shutdown -P now, unplug power, insert the drives and reboot.
First thing after the first boot with drives, your own initramfs / Ramdisk from your current setup:
- cd /root/
- ./build_initramfs.sh
- cp initramfs/uRamdisk /boot/boot/uInitrd
Second, install MDADM for the RAID:
- apt update
- apt install mdadm
- mkdir /mnt/HD
- edit your /etc/fstab and add a mount point for your md/raid. I used the old drives with my old data on it like this (depending on the fact as which mdX it launches...)
/dev/md0 /mnt/HD ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=600,errors=remount-ro 0 1
A lot of good knowledge about Ramdrives can be found here.
I would advise to do steps: 1. Folder2RAM, 2. Kernel Options, 4. Logrotate - option 3 did not work out for me.
To get the drive to sleep at some point, we need to reconfigure MDADM
dpkg-reconfigure mdadm
// monthly check ok
// daily degration check ok
// monitoring disable... and get hdparm working
apt install hdparm hd-idle
# hdparm config
, add in /etc/hdparm.conf
/dev/sda {
# apm = 127
# acoustic_management = 127
spindown_time = 120
# spindown_time = 4
write_cache = on
}
/dev/sdb {
# apm = 127
# acoustic_management = 127
spindown_time = 120
# spindown_time = 4
write_cache = on
}
# Spindown Time means: 120 * 5 sec = 600 sec / 60 sec = 10 min
# apply it after saving the file with:
/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm resumeWe can check the status of the drives with smartctl
smartctl -i -n standby /dev/sda
smartctl -i -n standby /dev/sdbTo get fan control working
apt install wget
wget -O mcm-fancontrol-master.tar.gz https://github.com/nmaas87/mcm-fancontrol/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz
tar -xvzf mcm-fancontrol-master.tar.gz
cd mcm-fancontrol-master/
cp fan-daemon.py /usr/sbin/
chmod +x /usr/sbin/fan-daemon.py
cp fan-daemon.service /etc/systemd/system/
systemctl enable fan-daemon
systemctl start fan-daemon(You can change low temp and high temp in the /usr/sbin/fan-daemon.py to get the Fan to kick in later and also set DEBUG = True if you want to see some details in the systemctl status fan-daemon)
MDT Utils can be useful, just mentioning it here
apt install -y mtd-utils
cat /proc/cmdline
cat /proc/mtdSamba ...
apt install samba --no-install-recommends
# change /etc/samba/smb.conf to your liking and setup your SMBPlex ...
# Plex
apt update
apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg2
curl https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-keys/PlexSign.key | apt-key add -
echo deb https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/deb public main | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plexmediaserver.list
apt update
apt install plexmediaserver
systemctl status plexmediaserver
Well, that's it.
Thanks a lot to all awesome contributors in the net:
- https://github.com/Heisath/wdmc2-kernel
- https://github.com/gisab/WDMC-Ex2
- https://github.com/vzhilov/WDMC-Ex2-Ultra
- https://github.com/Johns-Q/wdmc-gen2
- https://github.com/Zeik0s/wdmc-gen2
Companion repo with files: https://github.com/nmaas87/WDMCMG2
[Win10] Long Path / Filenames
Having the need to discuss this topic in 2022 is something I would not have dreamed of - but still, we're here to address the elephant in the room: Yes, Windows 10 does support long path names - no, it does not support it by default.
You need to enable it using the AD config or the registry.
* launch regedit with admin rights
* navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
* Add a new DWORD (32-bit) named LongPathsEnabled with value 1
* rebootAlternatively, you can also have the same result by enabling this value in the Group Policy (Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem > Enable NTFS long path).
However, this will only help with your explorer and "new" applications, some old apps can still suffer from issues (and we're not going to talk about potential WSL/WSLv2/Docker issues here by mounting paths...)
Another interesting thing is to find files / paths which are "a little abundant". There is a nice tool called TLPD for this, HOWEVER (warning), I need to highlight that only the version 4.6 is considered ok ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/tlpd/files/v4.6/ ). The latest version 4.6.0.1 is infected by some kind of Trojan - and about half of all scanners on Virus Total are also confirming this issue. So if you want to use this tool - please only download the 4.6 version - and for good measure scan it before use. Just to be sure that in the future not someone plays around with the files...