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In summary I am quite new to Linux, but have the task of writing some software. The software has to run on a particular hardware board and the manufacturers of this board have provided a custom build of the kernel that I am guessing is non standard. I have managed to install Ubuntu 8.04 onto a compact flash card on this board, and applied their kernel modifications. Now when I go to install g++ using 

    sudo  apt-get install build-essential

I get an error

    E: Couldn't find package build-essential

I have seen this error in other questions, and I am not asking here why I get this problem but I do want to know if it would be safe for me to update my version of Ubuntu to a more recent version and then apply the vendor kernel modifications. The vendor kernel is labelled by them as 2.6.30 so would it be safe to apply this on a version that has a 3.2 kernel version? If I cannot install g++ it will not be safe for me to develop an application but I simply do not know enough about the inner workings of linux to know the effects of using a newer version and applying the vendor kernel modifications.

ish
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mathematician1975
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3 Answers3

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The minimal kernel required for Ubuntu 12.04 is 2.6.24

Ubuntu 12.04 should install and run successfully on any kernel that is newer than 2.6.24. The root cause of this requirement is the libc libraries shipped with 12.04 -- libc is the basis on which every single Ubuntu binary/library depends. This requirement can be bypassed too.

For 10.04 (or newer), your manufacturer requires you to use a special 2.6.34 kernel

You must use the special 2.6.34 kernel DMP supplies here, which is required to install Ubuntu 10.04 (or newer, if possible).

This fact is made perfectly clear on their support page:

enter image description here

Can you use the 2.6.34 kernel with Ubuntu 12.04?

I see no reason why you can't. DMP's FTP directory provides the kernel source as well as all patches. Of course, no one without a Vortex86DX/SX can confirm if it will work out of the box, or what you will need to make sure it works.

I very much doubt the manufacturer is going to hand you official 12.04 support on a platter since they seem to be having problems even with 10.10 and are stuck on 10.04. Unfortunately, that's how proprietary embedded hardware often is.

Community
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ish
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  • Thanks for your reply. I believe that the kernel mod is extra drivers for hardware. I dont think I will be able to get explicit details of their changes but I will try. The mod is in the form of a .deb package provided by the vendor which requires unpacking and dpkg -i xxx.deb , update-initramfs –k 2.6.30-vortex86mx -c, update-grub. – mathematician1975 Jun 22 '12 at 08:18
  • There is also a vga driver that is installed using a install.sh script. – mathematician1975 Jun 22 '12 at 08:19
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Unpack the *.deb file containing the modification to see in what form the module is distributed. Also have a look at the content of the other package and see what files are shipped there. If some files are precompiled modules for a specific kernel version (*.ko files), then those modules will almost certainly fail to cooperate with a more recent kernel, and updating Ubuntu without updating the kernel is asking for trouble as well.

If, on the other hand, the kernel modules are distributed in a source format (*.c), perhaps containing some binary blob, then the deb package will likely use dkms or similar to have modules compiled for the current kernel, and the shell script might do some compilation for the current kernel as well. In those cases, you should see whether the modules do compile against the sources of a current Ubuntu kernel. You should be able to compile them on a test system, not using the target hardware just yet.

If they do compile successfully, chances are good that they will run as intended, although there are of course no guarantees. If they fail to compile, you can see whether you can locate a kernel version recent enough to support an upgrade but still old enough to be compatible with those modules. Or you could adjust the module sources to take kernel API changes into account.

MvG
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  • OK I unpacked it and tried find . -name '*.c' which returned nothing but find . -name '*.ko' returned a huge list. What I dont understand is that the vendor .deb package says it is compatible with 8.04 and 9.04 and 10.04. I am only using 8.04 because this is the only .iso installation disc that would work installing onto a compact flash card. I think i might just give up and use DOS. – mathematician1975 Jun 22 '12 at 11:21
  • If the vendor claims compatibility with multiple versions of Ubuntu, then it will ship modules for multiple kernel versions. You should see files /lib/modules//*/.ko for multiple values of kver, so you can see which kernels are supported.

    If installation onto a cf card fails due to size limitations, you might want to have a look at debootstrap. That will allow you to use a normal ubuntu setup to create a stripped version for cf. squashfs might help to keep the fs size down.

    Anything hardware that works with DOS should not require exotic kernel changes imho. Can you give details?

     – MvG Jun 25 '12 at 10:30
  • I have actually received a copy of the .iso image that the vendor uses for ubuntu 10.04. If I were able to install this my problem would essentially be solved. Unfortunately this install also fails so I think that what I am going to have to do is lean on the vendor some more - if they want my company's custom they will have to help some more. I will take a look at debootstrap. Your final sentence is unclear to me? What specifically would you like me to give details of? – mathematician1975 Jun 26 '12 at 06:33
  • Details on what this special module is, who is distributing the driver for it, can the iso image you mention be found on the web, could it be that drivers for the device in question are included in recent mainline kernels, where would you obtain a DOS driver for it. Stuff like that, so those who want to come up with answers know what we are dealing with. You might also want to be more specific on the “install also fails” point, or turn that into a separate question. – MvG Jun 26 '12 at 06:46
  • OK. The hardware in question is found here http://www.dmp.com.tw/tech/vortex86dx/ This is where I get the vendor *.deb kernel modification package from also.This vendor also supplies DOS drivers which is where I would be getting them from. As for the failed installation of 10.04, all I get is "A unrecoverable error has occurred" right about the 78% completed updater progress bar. – mathematician1975 Jun 26 '12 at 08:17
  • ftp://ftp.dmp.com.tw/Linux_DEMO/Vortex86_Linux_Support_List_revised.htm also lists a source package, which might be a good starting point if you want to adapt things to more recent kernels. Given the size of that file (still downloading, server is very slow), that might still be a lot of work. Given the fact that they provide kernel packages for 10.04, an update to 10.04 should in theory work if you install that package before rebooting. But a fresh install should work as wall, and if that doesn't, the upgrade might fail for the same (unknown) reason. – MvG Jun 26 '12 at 10:12
  • Thanks for this I will take a look. How on earth did you come by that link? I thought I had exhausted every shred of information on the vendor web page. And google for that matter. – mathematician1975 Jun 26 '12 at 10:19
  • Opened your link, followed the “Debian& Ubuntu Linux Installation Guide”, copied the file location from page 2 step 2 number 1 of that pdf, and removed everything after the trailing / to obtain a directory listing. – MvG Jun 26 '12 at 13:26
  • Well I think it will be many weeks before I solve this. I think I need to lean on the vendors a little more for some extra assistance. Thanks for all your help though - I have actually improved my knowledge of Linux quite a bit from this question (although I have only touched the tip of the iceberg). – mathematician1975 Jun 27 '12 at 20:35
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I do not know of official sources, but from 3.2 to 2.6 kernel versions there is a huge leap. If you install an Ubuntu 12.04 on that board and then apply a 2.6 kernel on top of that you will surely run into incompatibility issues (hardware and software wise, libraries, etc). Essentially you might end up with a barely usable system. Newer versions of ubuntu rely heavily on the latest kernel developments.

Looks to me that you have a problem with your DNS server configuration in your 8.04 version. If you fix that you should be able to install build-essential without any issues.

Run

sudo apt-get update

and check what the output tells you.

If you do have internet connection, then you can go here: and download the .deb package of build-essential for ubuntu 8.04.

leousa
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  • I did what you suggested - I basically get a multitude of errors all along the lines of "Failed to fetch "htt_p://XYZ" ". A common error is "Could not connect to gb.archive.ubuntu.com:80 - connect (113 No route to host)". Presumably this is because this version is no longer supported. Thanks for the suggestion anyway. – mathematician1975 Jun 21 '12 at 16:14
  • Do you have internet connection at all? Can you google 'ubuntu' for instance? Looks to me that is a problem with DNS address in your router. – leousa Jun 21 '12 at 17:05
  • You can also try this: Open a terminal (CTRL+ALT+t) and type: ping http://www.ubuntu.com – leousa Jun 21 '12 at 17:11
  • Yes definitely have internet connection. – mathematician1975 Jun 21 '12 at 18:25
  • you did not reply to any of my comments. Can you open firefox and google for ubuntu? Sorry to insist, but it looks to me that you have some internet issues from your apt-get update output. – leousa Jun 21 '12 at 18:30
  • If you do have internet connection, then you can go here: http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/devel/build-essential and download the .deb package of build-essential for ubuntu 8.04. – leousa Jun 21 '12 at 18:32
  • Yes I can access the internet. I am able to use my gmail from this board so I know that there is nothing wrong with the internet connection. I think it is something to do with this similar question i found http://superuser.com/questions/301432/installing-software-on-an-old-ubuntu-version-thats-no-longer-supported-2009-ja – mathematician1975 Jun 21 '12 at 18:33
  • any luck downloading the package manually from the link I posted? – leousa Jun 21 '12 at 18:46
  • No - I wont be able to do that until I get to work tomrrow. I will try it first thing and let you know. – mathematician1975 Jun 21 '12 at 18:49