Updating Ben NanoNote software

The NanoNote in its initial state is "empty" and needs to be flashed first. Luckily, this can be done relatively easily via USB (no JTAG or serial required).

Downloads

First, download and install usbboot from the xburst-tools package: go here to download the package you need.

deb package:

$ dpkg -i xburst-tools_0.0+201002-1_i386.deb

bin tarball:

$ sudo tar jxvf xburst-tools_0.0+201002-1_i386.bin.tar.bz2 -C /

uninstall the bin tarball:

$  sudo rm -f  /usr/local/bin/usbboot
$  sudo rm -f  /usr/local/man/man1/usbboot.1.gz
$  sudo rm -rf /usr/local/etc/xburst-tools/
$  sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/xburst-tools/

Then, get the reflash_ben.sh script via and make it executable (you only need to do this once per system you want to reflash from, unless the reflash script changes):

$ wget http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/software/images/Ben_NanoNote_2GB_NAND/reflash_ben.sh
$ chmod +x reflash_ben.sh

How to reflash

DO NOT USE A USB HUB. Make sure your NanoNote is directly connected to a Linux PC

Boot your NanoNote into USB BOOT mode. As soon as lsusb (on your Linux PC) lists a new device, run reflash_ben.sh. This will download some pre-built images and (re)flash the NanoNote.

$ sudo  ./reflash_ben.sh

Afterwards, reboot your NanoNote. First, you will see

- preinit -                                                                     
Press CTRL-C for failsafe

After a while, you will see Please press Enter to activate this console. on the console of your NanoNote.

Notes

• After reflashing the device, the first boot will take about 3-5 minutes (a script erases the NAND flash that is not used by the rootfs). Subsequent boots will be faster.
• The usual boot time is around 10 seconds.
• erase the rootfs partition by

sudo usbboot -c "boot;nerase 16 1008 0 0"