Kaliko Systems Limited

Make a Low-Power Media Server

Install Unslung on Pen Drive

The instructions here are for a first install of unslung (if you wish to replace unslung, then the more complex instructions required are in the readme file that you will shortly be downloading).
  1. Download unslung.
    1. Download latest unslung stable version zip file to your PC (Downloads page at http://www.nslu2-linux.org).
    2. Unzip the download on your PC into a folder (this gives a license, a readme and a .bin file). Unzip is now built into most PC's operating systems, but if it is not built into yours, then download a separate free unzip tool. Unzipping is required, as the .bin file must be accessible from your web browser.
    Do not worry if the .bin file has "beta" in the name, for this project it is not important.

  2. Flash the NSLU2 firmware with unslung.
    The following instructions are only for an initial install of unslung. Although the instructions in the readme file can also be used for initial install, I consider them too cautious, technical and confusing.
    1. Unplug the pen drive from the NSLU2 USB port.
    2. Web browse to NSLU2 Administration/Advanced/Upgrade page.
    3. Do not "Check for Update", but "Browse" and select your downloaded unslung bin file.
    4. Select "Start Upgrade", confirm and then wait for the flash to finish. Do NOT turn either the NSLU2 or PC off, and do not do anything else on the PC before flashing finishes.
    5. After the NSLU2 restarts, browse to its home page and check that the page bottom has the "uNSLUng status: Running from Internal Flash".

  3. Telnet to the NSLU2 and login as root.
    1. On the home page select Manage Telnet (a newly created option on the right of the home page).
    2. Select the "Enable Telnet" button, and note how the red text above changes to Enabled and the button text changes to "Disable Telnet". This is pointed out, as otherwise at a quick glance the telnet enabled state can be confusing.
    3. Bring up a Command Prompt Window using the Windows Start menu (under Programs/Accessories).
    4. At the command prompt type "telnet " (e.g. telnet 192.168.0.2).
    5. At the login: prompt type "root" then at the Password: prompt type in "uNSLUng". You should now have the "#"prompt, i.e. a working telnet root user session. If you have problems check that you are not typing in the double quotes and that you have not got your keyboard Caps Lock on and try again.

  4. Mount the pen drive and reformat for Linux.
    1. Plug the pen drive into USB2 and wait a minute.
    2. In the telnet session type "mount" and check the last line to see if the pen drive /dev/sda1 is mounted on /share/flash/data/HDD_2_1_1. If it has not mounted then try and reformat it using your PC as for the Getting the Components section. Once formatted,  plug the pen drive back in, wait a minute and then check again if it has mounted.
    3. In the telnet session type "df -h" and check that the pen drive's first partition /dev/sda1 is a reasonable size for the pen drive (e.g. 7.5G for an 8GByte pen drive). An unexpectedly small drive size indicates that the drive was initially partitioned; see earlier instructions for removing initial partitions in "Getting the Components".
    4. Browse to the Administration Disk page and select "Format Disk 2". After formatting this should show "Formatted (EXT3)". Note, this has in fact created 1 large and 2 small partitions on your pen drive and formatted them to the standard Linux EXT3 format.

  5. Unsling unslung onto your pen drive
    1. In the telnet session, type "unsling disk2" to put a complete bootable unslung on the pen drive. From now on, this will be the default version of unslung that you will boot.

      If a countdown runs for more than a few seconds, then the pen drive has not been recognised and the pen drive must be reformatted (as described above).

      During unslinging, you will be asked to enter a new root password. If you already have a personal password that you use for such occasions, then use that. Otherwise choose a new reasonably secure password, but record it somewhere safe immediately (like on a piece of paper in a sealed envelope in your desk drawer).
    2. Restart the NSLU2 by typing "DO_Reboot".
    3. Browse to the NSLU2 Home page and check the page bottom for "uNSLUng status: Unslung to disk2, /dev/sda1".

  6. Set the admin password to a secure password.
    Change to the NSLU2 User password page and enter admin as the user name. Enter admin as the existing password and set the new password to a secure personal password (I suggest that you the same password as you set for "root" earlier). Now select Save.

  7. Set unslung for working from a pen drive (rather than a hard drive).
    Pen drives have a much lower tolerance to frequently updating the same data than hard drives. So to cut the frequency of data updates, unslung supports a special boot mode for when using pen drives. To enable this special boot mode it is only necessary to add a specifically named file to the root directory  (i.e. "/") of the pen drive. Note, the specifically named file is only checked for existence, so it can be an empty file.
    1. Select the NSLU2 Home page and enable telnet (remembering to use your new admin password).
    2. In your command window, start a telnet session and login as root (with your new root password).
    3. In the telnet session type "touch /.ext3flash" to create the required empty file.
    4. Restart the NSLU2 by typing "DO_Reboot".
    5. Browse to NSLU2 Home page and enable telnet.
    6. In your command window, start a telnet session and login as root.
    7. Type in the telnet session "mount" and check that both /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 have the word "noatime" in the round brackets, e.g. /dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,noatime)
      If "noatime" is not in the round brackets check the spelling of the file you created by typing "ls -a /", and particularly check the starting full stop. Create a new empty file if necessary.
You are now ready to install and configure Transmission.
Copyright (c)2009 Kaliko Systems Limited