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[mary]

Hi - I've been "lurking" around for the past month or so (just started with my XO). These forums have been a great help, and I'm learning a lot about Linux. Thanks to all of you!

I haven't used olpc-update. I went from 650 to 656 by using the USB "secure upgrade" method. So, I have a USB drive with 656 on it.

Can I copy the 703 files (fs.zip and os703.img) to another USB drive and upgrade like that - without using the olpc-update? (I'm assuming I can only have one OS image per USB drive - correct?)

And, if I do, can I re-flash back to 656 if I want to?

I guess I'm concerned and/or confused about the firmware part of the upgrade, and whether or not you can "downgrade" the OS.

Thanks,

Mary

[Brian Basgen]

Mary,

 I haven't done the 703 upgrade yet, but from what I've been reading, it is a fairly involved process at this point, that seems to result in some bugs. I'm not yet clear on what features have been added to make a compelling case for the upgrade...

[mary]

Thanks Brian -

I was also kind of getting the sense that upgrading might not be the best idea - but I wanted to try it - as long as I could get back to 656 if I needed to!

I'm just not sure if the firmware upgrade with 703 will then prevent me from re-flashing to 656.

Anyone know?

[sracer]

Thanks Brian -

I was also kind of getting the sense that upgrading might not be the best idea - but I wanted to try it - as long as I could get back to 656 if I needed to!

I'm just not sure if the firmware upgrade with 703 will then prevent me from re-flashing to 656.

Anyone know?

I've upgraded/downgraded numerous times between Q14 and Q07 firmware levels without any problems.

[mary]

Thanks sracer!

I was concerned because I thought I'd read at some point (probably on wiki.laptop.org) about precautions you needed to take with a downgrade, or some special thing you had to do to force a downgrade - but I cannot find that information again! It's been driving me crazy.

I've been keeping a 'tiddlywiki' of information I find about my XO (how to flash, how to get full Abiword, turn off frames, etc - steps I take to restore) - but I must not have saved that info.

I might even get brave enough to try a "joyride"!

[sracer]

I've rebuilt my XO so many times that I'm getting tired of it and just want a configuration that works.  I have written scripts to automate all of the tweaks that I do, so it isn't as painful as it used to be.

My concern has to do with the numerous re-re-re-flashing of the NAND on the XO.  I know that there is a limited number of times that you can do that before the memory degrades. 

There is very little substantive differences between the joyride builds.  Try one and you've basically tried them all.

[Les]

Thanks Brian -

I was also kind of getting the sense that upgrading might not be the best idea - but I wanted to try it - as long as I could get back to 656 if I needed to!

I'm just not sure if the firmware upgrade with 703 will then prevent me from re-flashing to 656.

Anyone know?

[Les]

Regarding upgrade to 703.....I did it from 656 and it appeared to be missing some stuff so I went back to 656 via the "0" button on the screen side of the laptop.  It connected to the internet much better than before the detour but now the browser doesn't work. I found that when I tried to go back to 703 that the "su -l" thingy in the terminal would not respond. Digging through PAGES of wiki olpc it seems that upgrading to 703 makes the su nonfunctional and that it has happened several times to other xoers.  I found it listed as as a bug......someone said to try #_ instead of su.....nada.  Does anyone know of a way around olpcatch-22? I still have faith but these are trying times!!!!!!!!!!
Luck-Les

[davewa]

NOTE: I've yet to try this, but it was posted on the OLPC forum today.

Boot 656 by holding down the O game-key during power-up.
Access the login prompt with Ctrl-Alt-Neighborhood.
Login as root. (no password)
Fix the permissions and owner on /bin/su, using these commands:
   chmod 4550 /bin/su
   chown root:wheel /bin/su
exit the login session and return to Sugar with Ctrl-Alt-Home

[metal.lunchbox]

i did a secure upgrade to 703 for the long awaited power management tools (suspend and resume). It took  about 20 minutes to complete and I have had no problems. It seems to work a little better in general than 656 and i also really apreciate the ability to put the laptop to sleep when i close it. I run xfce4 and have had fewer problems than before. I followed the directions on the wiki and am happy that I upgraded.

The only problem is that i have had difficulties resuming from a suspend to ram mode. is there a secret. I open the laptop and it is still suspended so i press the space bar which appears to wake it momentarily but before the screen comes up its back to suspend. I press the power button and that usually works but often takes several tries.

james

[davewa]

Okay, I tried it out.  The actual commands I used (when I got it working) were:

  chmod 4555 /bin/su
  chown 0:0 /bin/su

Enjoy

[Grampa]

davewa,

I tried these commands, and they worked (sort of). That is, I no longer got a "permission denied" message. However, since I had previously set a password for root, it asked me for the password, but then wouldn't accept it (su had accepted this password in the past). Although I can still log in and access root permissions using the password in the console, Terminal seems to require a different password. I tried removing the password in the console, but Terminal still wanted one. There must be some disconnect between the permissions in console and those within Sugar. Any ideas?

[Grampa]

Answering my own question, I did a little research and found the solution is to use:

chmod 4755 /bin/su

I think this is necessary if you have set a root password.