Hi folks,

Just a quick mention that Linux KVM (free virtualization stack) now supports both serial and USB pass through. Consequently, one is able to use the Rio tools within a Windows 98/2K/whatever guest. In order to do this you will either need a *very* recent libvirt and virt-manager that supports setting these options, or you can just edit the following file (example with serial):

/etc/libvirt/qemu/<yourvirtualmachine>.xml

Add the following:

<serial type='dev'>
<source path='/dev/ttyS0'/>
<target port='1'/>
</serial>

This will pass through "COM1" to Linux native first serial port (/dev/ttyS0) from which you can then talk to the empeg via Hyperterminal (to confirm settings) and then Rio tools.

Just in case anyone else wants to try it.

Jon.

Cool.

I've been using VMware for years with a Win98 install + empeg tools, but it's nice to see a slightly more free solution emerging!

Cheers

Out of interest - what do you need Windows for?

VMware have had free products for three years now, but it is always good to have choice and competition.

I don't think Mark was talking about the financial cost

Need? Nothing.

Want? Emplode. (Jemplode is unreliable here, and I haven't updated my own empsync scripts for ages now..).

Cheers

Must.

Fix.

Jemplode.

(well, get a linux build environment up so I can at least *start* to look at it again). It works fine for syncing for me but it is fragile and at some point it's going to stop building.

I'm using a temporary Windows VM for testing upgrade image files, since I'm not aware of a Linux tool for e.g. applying builder images. I know how to simply reflash the kernel, but AFAIK builder images require the Windows tools - I'd love to hear otherwise!

KVM differs from VMWare in that it's stock Linux without needing to installing any third party software - VMWare isn't free either. The Player is free, but not the tools needed to make an image.

Jon.

Mark already made one that works over ethernet.


VMware Server and ESXi are both free. VMware Server has been free for a very long time.

It's called upgrader.c, and is available somewhere on this BBS (use the Search function).

Cheers

Ah, but VMWare server and ESXi are both thin virtualization layers. They're not the same as the "desktop" version, or "workstation" or whatever the heck. And they require kernel shims. Without getting ideological, KVM is a very nice alternative. I use it exclusively now in place of VMWare - though I'll be honest, it's not quite as good at emulating platform bugs as VMWare.

The ethernet upgrade option is lovely, once you have working ethernet on the device. But if you've got a brand new disk, you've essentially got to go for the Windows option. But now Mark has posted his instructions, what I can do is:

*). Make sure this 250GB disk works ok this time.
*). Find some time to recycle the old 10GB disk.
*). Write a shell script to add to the manual "partition" and "format" instructions someone else wrote up. Then you can load the ramdisk and kernel into flash with download and run a shell script and not need the Windows tools at all.

Jon.

ESXi is. VMware Server isn't. You install VMware Server the same way you'd install VMware Workstation. The main difference is that Server is designed to run everything in the background as a daemon/service.


There is already an official tool to use. Use upgclient from emptool. The advantage of Mark's utility is that it is significantly quicker.