1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
|
Readme file of TCOS build generation system
INDEX:
* Boot from PXE network card.
* Boot from Etherboot floppy.
* Debug terminal that don't start.
* Howto decrease RAM requirements.
---------------------------------------
Boot from PXE
---------------------------------------
1.- Configure /etc/tcos/tcos.conf and enable/disable
all what you want. All vars are comented.
2.- Exec:
# gentcos -tftp
( see gentcos -help or man gentcos for more options )
3.- Configure dhcp server like this:
host __PCNAME__ {
# PXE boot
hardware ethernet 00:04:75:ff:b6:aa; # mac address
fixed-address 192.168.0.10; # ip address
filename "/tcos/pxelinux.0";
}
4.- Restart dhcp server and boot terminal.
5.- You can add some cmdline options before boot, you can see
some of them presing F1 before boot starts.
Examples:
startx=N ( no startx)
startx=L ( start local session Xorg + xterm + twm )
startx=R ( start remote x default)
server=10.0.0.1 ( tftpboot and XMDCP server, default is dhcp server)
volume=80% ( volume of PCM and MASTER chanels of audio mixer )
value can be 1%-100% or integer from 1 to 31
zap ( allow to kill Xorg with Ctrl + Alt + Backspace, default disabled)
force-update ( delete usr.squashfs if found in local harddisk and download again )
noswap ( disable swap file generation, swap partittions will be used if found )
nounionfs ( disable unionfs mount on /usr, /usr will be read only )
---------------------------------------
Boot with Etherboot floppy
---------------------------------------
1.- First off all you need a Etherboot floppy
that works with your network card.
You can try with universal FLOPPY, download here:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/thinstation/BootDisk522b.zip?download
Or try to build your own in:
http://rom-o-matic.net/
2.- Run gentcos -nbi [-nbi-output=linux-1.nb]
This will create and put in tftp dir the nbi boot image.
You can change default name (linux.nbi) to another one => linux-1.nb
3.- Configure DHCP server to serve NBI image:
Example:
host pc3 {
# NBI Etherboot
hardware ethernet 00:04:75:ff:b8:31;
fixed-address 192.168.0.30;
# nbi generated file with: gentcos -nbi
filename "/tcos/linux.nbi";
}
4.- Restart dhcp server, boot terminal from floppy and enjoy.
---------------------------------------
Debug terminal that don't start
---------------------------------------
If terminal don't connect to XMDCP server and give a busybox shell
we can read some logs and examine what is the cause.
1.- Exec:
$ more /tmp/initramfs.debug
In this file are all output of many actions during boot.
2.- View "ps" output.
3.- View dmesg output.
We can connect with ssh to thin client ( if enabled ):
$ ssh root@__TERMINAL-IP__
If we copy any rsa key, password will not be asked, else
root password is defined (plaintext) in /etc/tcos/tcos.conf
Is possible to mount all thin client filesystem in server:
mkdir thin-client/
ltspfs __TERMINAL-IP__:/ thinc-client/
To umount
fusermount -u thin-client/
See help about LTSPFS and fuse.
####################################################
Thin client gives a kernel panic !!!!
####################################################
If terminal gives a kernel panic we can try to stop boot
process using break stament, you can append to cmdline
following vars:
(all var are sorted in same order that are exec)
TCOS-premount breaks:
break=network # stop before configure lo and eth0
break=fstab # stop before create /etc/fstab
break=uselocal # stop before scan local disks
break=swapon # stop before create/mount swap file
break=sqmount # stop before download usr.squashfs or allmodules.squashfs
break=ldconfig # stop before exec ldconfig
TCOS-bottom breaks
break=inittcos # stops before some daemons are started
break=initsound # stops before sound is loaded
break=ltspfs # stops before ltspfs daemon is started
break=startx # stops before startx is started
When thin clients stops you can do some things:
see dmesg output
see /tmp/initramfs.debug file
see loaded modules (lsmod or cat /proc/modules)
see mem usage (free or cat /proc/meminfo)
see inet info (ifconfig or dhcp.leases file)
view process running (ps)
---------------------------------------
Things to do, to decrease RAM requirements
---------------------------------------
* First of all disable what you don't need
in /etc/tcos/tcos.conf
reduce a lot of ram
TCOS_SOUND= ( disabled sound support )
TCOS_USB= ( disabled USB & SCSI support )
reduce a few ram
TCOS_SSH= ( disabled ssh support )
reduce a bit ram
TCOS_INETD= ( disabled inetd support )
TCOS_DISCOVER= ( disabled discover support )
You get more info during generation process of needed space
for each app.
* Edit /etc/tcos/initramfs.conf and set MODULES var to list
MODULES=list
MODULES can be one of this:
most ( include all of network modules and chipset)
dep ( include all modules loaded in server NOT RECOMENDED )
netboot ( include netboot modules, but not block devices )
list ( include all modules we need => tcos-modules.conf low RAM RECOMENDED )
more info => man initramfs.conf
with this setting initramfs have exactly all modules you want
* Edit /etc/tcos/modules
you can edit some var to exactly put needed modules
There are 2 methods of know what modules thin client need:
1.- Use discover:
set TCOS_DISCOVER=1 and boot with this params:
boot: tcos startx=N
when thin client finish to boot you will have a shell, exec this:
cat /tmp/initramfs.debug | grep Skipping
you could read something like this
Skipping XXXXX; assuming it is compiled into kernel
take note of all XXXXX modules and put them in
/etc/tcos/modules
2.- Second method is to start terminal
with cmdline:
tcos allmodules startx=N
( you need allmodules.squashfs in /var/lib/tcos/tftp generated with
gentcos -allmodules [other options] )
-allmodules requires at least 14-15 Mb of extra RAM.
next exec lsmod or cat /proc/modules and take note of all.
#######################################################################
WITH ALL OF THESE TCOS will start (without swap[*]) with 26 Mb of RAM
#######################################################################
[*] swap in limited thin clients (ex: 32 Mb) is very important, because
Xorg need free memory to run.
|
