Resetting the RaQ 4 Administrator Password Cobalt RaQ 4 User Manual (Page 51) When the RaQ 4 Administrator password is cleared, the root account is not accessible until a new administrator password has been assigned. If you forget the RaQ 4 Administrator password, you can clear it by following these steps. 1. Push and hold the end of a paper clip in the recessed Reset Password button (located between the LCD screen and the LCD arrow buttons, on the front of the RaQ 4). Hold the button in for approximately 2 seconds. The LCD screen displays Resetting admin password... 2. Release the button. 3. In your Web browser, enter the URL http://<IP address>/admin/ or http://<host name>/admin/ to access the Server Management screen. 4. If a prompt appears asking for a username or password, enter admin as the username. DO NOT enter a password. Click OK. 5. Click Administrator on the left. The Administrator Settings table appears. 6. Enter the password twice to ensure that you have entered it as intended. The RaQ 4 supports long passwords through the UI. 7. Click Save Changes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: My Cobalt fails to find init and the root filesystem, what gives? A: One of two things is happening here. First, you may have forgotten to compile in support for your root filesystem type. Sounds stupid, but many people do it. Second, your kernel may not know where your root filesystem is; there are two possible solutions to this... The first solution is to go in to the ROM menu at boot time by pressing the spacebar from a serial console when prompted. You then enter "boot" and press enter. To set the root device, type the following followed by pressing enter, "set_root_dev hda4" (replacing hda4 with your root device of course). Then you need only reboot the Cobalt. In the case where the above fails to solve the problem you'll need to pull the disk out and put in a computer, mount the partition containing your kernel image, and uncompress the image. Then, run the following command: rdev vmlinux /dev/hda4 Be sure to replace hda4 with your own root partition. Recompress the kernel image and you should be good to go. Q: I installed (some distribution) on my Cobalt, but it hangs when starting 'init'! A: It could be that you've installed an i686 libc (or more) on a 3000 series Cobalt. The 3000 series systems need i386 binaries. Q: When my Cobalt boots I get spammed with syntax errors for `setfont`, what gives? A: Not sure, but /etc/init.d/consolefont does not need to be loaded. To disable it use the following command: rc-update del consolefont boot Q: During boot time when loading keymaps I see "Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console", ideas? A: Once again, a serial console based system has no need for keymaps, disable them by doing: rc-update del keymaps boot Q: Do I have to patch my kernel? A: Straight up? No*. If you do though, you get the LCD/front panel drivers, access to extra facilities offered by Cobalt hardware, including, but not limited to: - System sensors - Memory configuration - System serial number (useless, I know) - System type - ACPI support * - In kernel version 2.6.12, the eepro100 driver is broken. I've fallen back to its successor, the e100 driver. However, the e100 driver is extra strict regarding the controller ROM checksum. A kernel patch is required to remove this "behavior". Q: What happens if hunks fail? A: You can try to add some fuzz to "patch", help it find what it's looking for. This is done by adding "-f 5" after "-p1". If it still fails, send me an email with the exact kernel version you're try to compile, the version of my patch you're using, and a list of any other patches you previously applied to the kernel source. After Configuring the Kernel, to compile: # make vmlinux modules modules_install # strip vmlinux # bzip2 vmlinux # cp vmlinux.bz2 /boot/ Q: I'm compiling a kernel, but the build complains about "as86: Command not found"! A: Don't build a bzImage. Cobalt's boot from a gzipped or bzip2ed vmlinux. Q: I've built my kernel, how should I compress it? A: bzip2 tends to offer a slightly better compression when it comes to kernels. The following command works: bzip2 vmlinux Q: Is there any size restriction on my kernel? A: Yes, but it's workable. Your kernel can be no larger than 1800KB compressed. Q: How can I get my kernel down to size? A: Start by lopping out support for devices that are not in the system. You might want to choose a specific I/O scheduler (I prefer the deadline scheduler). Build modules where possible. Every little bit helps. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Relocate: http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/ http://linuxhacker.ru/uml/ Write script for the lcd-write command to parse input such as $(date) to both lines, parse based on nearest spaces or special characters... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To upload a ROM or Kernel to the Cobalt device using a serial connection, use TeraTerm with the "File, Send File" option, making sure to check the option labled "Binary". Attempts using Xmodem do not work at all, attempts using Ymodem fail on decompression of the kernel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cobalt Kernels http://hugues.lepesant.com/stuff/cobalt/ LCD Panel Boot Options? http://www.dincom.co.uk/bq/lcdboot.php Cobalt Raq LEDs support http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/9/13/171 Strongbolt OS is a Centos and BlueQuartz Operating System installer for Cobalt RaQ and Cobalt Qube servers. CentOS 4.4 with a 2.6 Linux Kernel and the BlueQuartz administration panel. Installs Centos + Bluequartz on Cobalt RaQ3's, RaQ4's and the RaQ550. Cobalt RaQ 4 Serial Console 115200 8N1 115200 baud 8 data bits no parity one stop bit Uses for Cobalt RaQ 4 Servers: NFS Server for /base (simple), create /base and /etc/exports! iSCSI Target (usb drives) FreeNAS Server (usb drives) Firewall, IDS (snort) Possible Cards for ISA slot: USB Adapter (massstorage,NICs) Intel dual-port NIC PCI to PCMCIA Adapter cobx1: eth0 00:10:E0:03:53:0E eth1 00:10:E0:03:4C:7C Kernel Paths: /boot/vmlinux.bz2 /boot/vmlinux.gz Primary Kernel after ROM update: /boot/vmlinux.bz2 During the install it asks about creating a symlink at /vmlinuz, if you let this happen and then create a symlink from /boot/vmlinux.gz to /vmlinuz and it will always pick up the latest installed kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-pre5-cobalt3 /vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-pre5-cobalt3 /boot/vmlinux.gz -> /vmlinuz Since this has most drivers compiled as modules you need to add some lines to /etc/modutils/aliases and run update-modutils and depmod again before rebooting: alias usb-controller usb-ohci alias eth0 eepro100 alias eth1 eepro100 alias scsi-hostadapter sym53c8xx