Hacking the Pogoplug v3/Oxnas (Pro/Classic) with Debian

This is quick publish tutorial on installing Debian on the Pogoplug V3(Oxnas)

All credit to @bodhi on Jeff Doozan's Forum for the uBoot, Debian rootfs, instructions and support. Note that I re-hosted some of @bodhi's files for an easier install.


References:

• Bodhi's latest Oxnas kernel builds and rootfs
• Bodhi's latest u-boot-oxnas builds

WARNING: You can potentially brick your Pogoplug following this tutorial. Your warranty will be voided. These instructions are for the Pogoplug V3/Oxnas. Flashing the uBoot below on any other model of the Pogoplug will result in a brick. There is no going back to the Pogoplug OS. You will not be able to use the my.pogoplug.com service. Proceed at your own risk.

Requirements:

1) Pogoplug V3 - Dual 700Mhz ARM, 128MB RAM, SATA (internal), Gigabit Ethernet, 4 USB 2.0 Ports, Wireless*

*Only Pogoplug Pro comes with built in Wi-Fi (AzureWave AW-NE762H 802.11 b/g/n PCI Express RT3090)

Model numbers located on bottom of foot. Please ignore the label on the box. You can potential receive a Pogoplug V2 (POGO-E02 Kirkwood) when buying a P21/P22.

• POGO-P01 - Pro (Wi-Fi)
• POGO-P02 - Pro (Wi-Fi)
• POGO-P21 - V3
• POGO-P22 - V3
• POGO-P24 - V3
• POGO-P25 - V3
• POGO-B01 - Classic
• POGO-B02 - Classic
• POGO-B03 - Classic
• POGO-B04 - Classic

Check the bottom of the Pogoplug's foot for correct model


2) USB Flash Drive (2GB+) or USB Hard Drive

Recommendations/Tested:

• SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive
• SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB Flash Drive
• Seagate Backup Plus 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0
• Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive (USM Slot)
• WD My Passport Ultra 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0

Outline of Steps:

• Enable SSH access to Pogoplug

• uBoot Installation via SSH Console

• Setup Netconsole

• Debian Installation on USB Hard/Flash Drive

• Initial Debian Setup

• Upgrade Debian to 3.18.5 kernel

• Pogoplug Pro Wireless Configuration

Enable SSH Access to Pogoplug

There are two methods to enable SSH on your Pogoplug.

1) Official Method - Activate on my.pogoplug.com and then enable SSH

• Power on the Pogoplug and connect it to you network.
• Log into http://my.pogoplug.com and activate your Pogoplug @ https://pogoplug.com/activate/
• Enable SSH access by going to my.pogoplug.com and then go to General Settings-> Security.
• Note that if you don't see the "Enable SSH Access" option, try power cycling the Pogoplug.

2) Backdoor Method (credit to GTVHacker.com)

Make sure your Pogoplug is connected to your network and has internet access.

Check your router or use a network scanning tool (iNet Network Scanner on iPhone) to determine the IP Address of the Pogoplug.

From a Linux computer (e.g. another Pogoplug running Debian/Alarm) run the below curl command.

curl -k "https://root:ceadmin@[PogoplugIPAddress]/sqdiag/HBPlug?action=command&command=dropbear%20start";

Note that the backdoor method is not persistent (SSH access will not be available after a reboot).

uBoot Installation via SSH Console

Use Putty or your favorite SSH client to connect to your Pogoplug.

If you used the "Official Method" for activating and enabling SSH on your Pogoplug, then the username will be "root" and the password will be whatever you set (note that it's not the same password used to log into my.pogoplug.com).
For the "Backdoor Method", the username and password is root/ceadmin.

From here, everything is done via the SSH console.


#Verify Pogoplug is expected version (Oxnas)
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep Hardware

#Stop here if not expected output.
#Expected output
#Hardware : Oxsemi NAS

#stop my.pogoplug.com service
killall hbwd


#download firmware utilities
cd /tmp
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/v4/nanddump
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/v4/nandwrite
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/v4/flash_erase
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/v4/fw_printenv
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/v4/fw_setenv

#make executable
chmod +x flash_erase fw_printenv fw_setenv nanddump nandwrite

#remount '/' as read/write
#by default the Pogoplug OS (internal flash) is read only
mount -o remount,rw /

#setup fw_env.config for oxnas
echo "/dev/mtd0 0x00100000 0x20000 0x20000">/etc/fw_env.config

#save original envs
/usr/local/cloudengines/bin/blparam > /blparam.txt

#Download and flash new uBoot
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/oxnas/uboot.2013.10-tld-4.ox820.bodhi.tar
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/oxnas/uboot.2013.10-tld-4.ox820.bodhi.tar.md5

#check md5sum
md5sum -c uboot.2013.10-tld-4.ox820.bodhi.tar.md5

#extract uBoot files
tar -xf uboot.2013.10-tld-4.ox820.bodhi.tar

#BE EXTRA CAREFUL WITH THE THESE COMMANDS.
#NO TYPOS! CUT AND PASTE.
#Erase and flash uboot on mtd0
#Flash encoded spl stage1 to 0x0
/tmp/flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0x0 6
/tmp/nandwrite /dev/mtd0 uboot.spl.2013.10.ox820.850mhz.mtd0.img

#Flash uboot to 0x40000
/tmp/nandwrite -s 262144 /dev/mtd0 uboot.2013.10-tld-4.ox820.mtd0.img
#Flash uboot environment
#Erase 1 block starting 0x00100000
/tmp/flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0x00100000 1
/tmp/nandwrite -s 1048576 /dev/mtd0 pogopro_uboot_env.img

#Set MAC Address
/tmp/fw_setenv ethaddr "$(cat /sys/class/net/eth0/address)"

#default to pogoplug classic dtb
/tmp/fw_setenv fdt_file '/boot/dts/ox820-pogoplug-classic.dtb'
/tmp/fw_setenv dt_load_dtb 'ext2load usb 0:1 $dtb_addr $fdt_file'

#double check the MAC Address matches with
#what is on the bottom of your Pogoplug
/tmp/fw_printenv ethaddr

#print out all uboot environment parameters
#make sure there are no errors
/tmp/fw_printenv > /fw_printenv.txt
/tmp/fw_printenv

Setup Netconsole

More info here - http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,14,14


#Update IP Addresses as appropriate
#ipaddr = Pogoplug IP
/tmp/fw_setenv preboot 'run preboot_nc'
/tmp/fw_setenv ipaddr '192.168.1.10'
/tmp/fw_setenv serverip '192.168.1.100'

Debian Installation on USB Hard/Flash Drive

Plug in your USB flash drive

#Partition your USB flash/hard drive
/sbin/fdisk /dev/sda

# Type in the following commands to erase
# and re-partition USB flash/hard drive
#(WARNING - FLASH/HARD DRIVE WILL BE COMPLETELY WIPED):
#
# p # list current partitions
# o # to delete all partitions
# n # new partition
# p # primary partition
# 1 (one) # first partition
# <enter> # default start block
# <enter> # default end block (to use the whole drive)
# If you're using a hard drive, create a small
# 4GB partition instead of using the whole drive,
# leaving the rest for a data partition
# +4G # to create a 4GB partition
# w # write new partition to disk


#Format USB Flash Drive
cd /tmp
wget http://archlinuxarm.org/os/pogoplug/mke2fs
chmod 755 mke2fs

#format as ext3 and label partition as 'rootfs'
./mke2fs -L rootfs -j /dev/sda1

#mount
mkdir /tmp/usb
mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/usb
cd /tmp/usb

#Download Debian rootfs
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/oxnas/Debian-3.17.0-oxnas-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/oxnas/Debian-3.17.0-oxnas-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2.md5

#check md5sum
md5sum -c Debian-3.17.0-oxnas-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2.md5

#extract
tar -xvjf Debian-3.17.0-oxnas-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2

#cleanup
rm Debian-3.17.0-oxnas-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2*

#Sync and reboot, cross your fingers
sync
cd ..
umount /tmp/usb
reboot


At this point, your Pogoplug should boot back up into Debian. Note that the IP Address of your Pogoplug may have changed. Double check your router for the IP Address assigned to your Pogoplug or use a network scanning tool (iNet Network Scanner on iPhone) to determine the IP Address of the Pogoplug.

For Debian, the default username and password is root/root.

Initial Debian Setup

#Change password
passwd

#Generate New OpenSSH Keys
rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host*
ssh-keygen -A

#Initial update
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

#Set hostname to DebianPlug or whatever you like
echo DebianPlug>/etc/hostname

#Set Time Zone
tzselect
reboot

Upgrade Debian to 3.18.5 kernel

Latest kernel and instructions here - http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,16044


#backup original kernel files
cd /boot
mkdir backup
mv *3.17* backup
mv uImage backup/uImage3.17
mv uInitrd backup/uInitrd3.17

#download from bodhi's dropbox
wget --no-check-certificate https://www.dropbox.com/s/o9fp0xg8b6aajg6/linux-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1.bodhi.tar.bz2

#check md5
echo "df386f09cf7323472d40432d3da382d5 linux-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1.bodhi.tar.bz2" |md5sum -c

#extract
tar -xvjf linux-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1.bodhi.tar.bz2

#install kernel and headers
dpkg -i linux-image-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1_1_armel.deb
dpkg -i linux-headers-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1_1_armel.deb

#Create uImage and uInitrd manually
mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x60008000 -e 0x60008000 -n Linux-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1 -d /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1 /boot/uImage

mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C gzip -a 0x60000000 -e 0x60000000 -n initramfs-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1 -d /boot/initrd.img-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1 /boot/uInitrd


#clean up
rm linux-3.18.5-oxnas-tld-1.bodhi.tar.bz2
rm *.dtb

#reboot and verify
reboot
uname -a

Pogoplug Pro Wireless Configuration

#update fdt file to pogoplug pro and reboot
#Warning: if you don't truly have a pro, your pogoplug
#will not boot properly.
fw_setenv fdt_file '/boot/dts/ox820-pogoplug-pro.dtb'
reboot

Follow Debian on Pogoplug Tutorial - Wireless Configuration

Pogoplug Pro - AzureWave AW-NE762H 802.11 b/g/n PCI Express RT3090

Pogoplug V3 - Dual 700Mhz ARM, 128MB RAM, SATA (internal),

Gigabit Ethernet, 4 USB 2.0 Ports, Wireless (Pro only)