[CUWiN-Dev] USB key with CUWiN?

[Bill Comisky]

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006, David Young wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 19, 2006 at 11:26:13PM -0600, Bill Comisky wrote:
>> If you want to be able use the upgrade script later you'll want to
>> uncomment this line in the kernel config:
>>
>> options       INSECURE        # disable kernel security levels - X needs
>> this
>>
>> Otherwise installboot fails.
>
> That could be a bug in upgrade.  The filesystem installboot is running
> on isn't mounted, is it?

It shouldn't have been, I was running the upgrade script after booting.  I 
got a permission denied message if I remember correctly, and saw something 
about the security level when I googled for the error message.  That, and 
the cuw_45x1 kernel has it uncommented (though maybe for some other 
reason?).

>> Pass '-c pc' to mkstaboot to change the boot
>> console, which defaults to 'com0,speed=19200' for flash builds.  BTW,
>> should this be changed in steps.d/mediaenv to 'com0kbd,speed=19200'?
>
> We need to test such a change on both Soekris and WRAP boxen.

The upgrade script uses it (below), so it must work for Soekris, right?

echo "Updating primary bootstrap"
if ! installboot -o console=com0kbd,speed=19200 $rdev /mnt/usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
then
     echo "$(basename $0): failed to install primary bootloader"
     exit 1
fi

>> I just went through a similar process to install on a hard disk.. actually
>> a virtual hard disk.  Rob Simmons (working in Lawndale) had the idea to
>> install on a VMWare virtual disk.  With the free VMWare player, CUWiN can
>> be run in a window on a laptop with the ethernet (wired) bridged.  So
>> (theoretically) you could run a stand alone CUWiN node and dhcp client
>> from the same laptop, a useful tool to have a the field.  However, I think
>> it would need CUWiN to use a USB wireless NIC, which might be a deal
>> breaker.. or at least another hoop to jump through.
>
> Cool.  I use qemu sometimes to test CD-ROMs.  Its BIOS is actually more
> picky/standards-compliant than a laptop I used to test on.  Does VMware
> expose USB devices to its virtual system?  Is any particular USB WNIC
> necessary?

Yes, USB devices are exposed.  When I have to run Windows I do it in a 
vmware session, and have used USB printers, cameras, etc with success. 
Sometimes I have to unload a linux USB kernel module first (at VMWare's 
prompting) before the virtual machine can access it, so similar things 
may be necessary to prevent other host OSs from hogging the USB device.

Bill

--
Bill Comisky
bcomisky at pobox.com