Computing & hacking

Mele: Ubuntu 12.10 armhf img – kernel upd – xbmc

Ubuntu 12.10 armhf image for the Mele A2000 with kernel 3.0.42++, latest Mali driver, SATA and XBMC; NAND install via PmM.

By ·· 2 min read· updated

#allwinner a10#arm#ubuntu#xbmc

Fully running version of ubuntu 12.10 armhf, kernel 3.0.42++ (latest mali from sunxi), sata and XBMC.

PmM included to process nand install.

To proceed:

  1. Download the file: ubuntu_12.10_armhf_v2_mele_xbmc.img.gz (MD5: 04eded50e8fee6e760863e8381acf20b)
  2. Unzip the file.
    Linux: gunzip ubuntu_12.10_armhf_v2_mele_xbmc.img.gz
  3. DD it to your MMC. You will need a mmc >= 2Go (xbmc is big).
    • From linux (put your SDCard and type ‘dmesg’, you will see something about mmcblk0 or sdX appear at the end of dmesg print. Use the device you see to replace <MMC_DEVICE>)
      dd if=<path_to_ubuntu_12.10_armhf_v2_mele_xbmc.img> of=/dev/<MMC_DEVICE> bs=1M
    • From windows, you can use any “dd” for windows or choose one of these:
  4. If you want to use SSH, plug an RJ45 ethernet cable in the Mele (connected to a network with DHCP)
  5. Put the MMC in the slot… cross fingers and power the mele
  6. After 15 seconds, you should see a fast led flash Red/Blue. It means the mele has boot properly. If you have no VGA but RJ45 cable, you will see the mele on your network (ping scan via nmap or watch on your router/dhcp server for the mele). The default mac is 000A.2000.1010
  7. You can use a VGA screen or SSH to it. User: root, Password: root

Video and Other
By default, it’s booting in HDMI mode.
If you want VGA, just ‘ssh root@’, Password: root, and launch PIMP_MY_MELE to configure the video output.

Pimp my Mele (screenshot and details).
Log as root and type PIMP_MY_MELE

Xorg
As root, add some programs for X:
apt-get install xterm ...

You can launch Xorg with ‘startx’ or add ‘gdm’ or ‘slim’ or anything.

Highly recommanded:
# ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key # ssh-keygen -t dsa -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key

# passwd

# passwd user
OR
# deluser user

# echo “<MY_HOSTNAME>” > /etc/hostname

And more:

  • edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    Change: UsePAM no
    Change: PasswordAuthentication no (and use authorized_keys to connect)
    Change: PermitRootLogin no (and create your own user with password or authorized_keys)
  • Firewall the mele with iptables.
  • etc…

For wifi:
To scan AP around:
ifconfig wlan0 up iwlist wlan0 scan

For sata:
modprobe sw_ahci_platform
Run this for permanent sata:
echo "sw_ahci_platform" >> /etc/modules

XBMC

Run xbmc in standalone mode (seems better to me) but works also under xorg.

In console mode – log as root:
# /allwinner/xbmc-pvr-binhf/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin

The first launch is quite slow on MMC. Be patient.