Updating Ben NanoNote software

xburst-tools

install

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

deb package:

$  sudo aptitude remove xburst-tools 

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/

How to reflash

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

DO NOT USE LINUX VIRTUAL MACHINE running in your Windows or MacOS pc

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

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

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

• The usual boot time is around 10 seconds.
• You can erase the whole nand with the command:

$ sudo usbboot -c "boot;nerase 0 4096 0 0"

• You can only flash the u-boot:

$ sudo usbboot -c "boot;nprog 0 openwrt-xburst-u-boot.bin 0 0 -n"

• You can reflash just the rootfs partition with

$ sudo usbboot -c "boot;nprog 2048 openwrt-xburst-qi_lb60.ubi 0 0 -n"

• Remember, the block size in the flash is 4 KiB (4096 bytes).

Alternative to using the reflash_ben.sh script

Situation

I had tried to use the reflash script a number of times without a lot of success. I found myself having to run "reflash_ben.sh -b" to install the boot, then "reflash_ben.sh -k" to install the kernel, separately. One day even that didn't work.

Solution

Before beginning the following steps, ensure that you've downloaded the latest files into a working directory and that you execute the commands from that directory

1. take the battery out, unplug the USB cable, keep your NanoNote totally disconnected for a minute or so