Console doesn't work on 11.09 iMX53 build 1

[Zach Pfeffer]

The console doesn't work on: https://android-build.linaro.org/builds/~linaro-android/staging-imx53-11.09-release/

[Zach Pfeffer (pfefferz)]

<paulliu> It seems to me that initrd is not running...
<paulliu> FAT: IO charset iso8859-1 not found.. that means NLS something is built as module..
<pfefferz> you mean init.rc
<pfefferz> remember we're not Ubuntu
<paulliu> I know.. But that NLS stuff should be built as either module or native..
<paulliu> Needed by FAT mount...
<pfefferz> okay, so that should just be a CONFIG option
<paulliu> Yes..
<pfefferz> can you point out the CONFIG option?
<paulliu> Exactly.. Sure..wait
<pfefferz> k
<paulliu> CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1
<paulliu> It is needed by FAT fs...
<paulliu> I'm still not very good to the android stuff. But if android doesn't use initramfs.. I believe this config have to be built as native in kernel.
<pfefferz> is this error benign?
<pfefferz> ANdroid runs okay
<pfefferz> is it related to Ethernet?
<paulliu> No.. it is related to you cannot get the console..
<pfefferz> or is it a separate thing
<pfefferz> okay
<pfefferz> let me file a bug

[Zach Pfeffer (pfefferz)]

After enabling the option I don't see the "FAT: IO charset iso8859-1 not found" error, but the console still doesn't work.

[Zach Pfeffer (pfefferz)]

And when the build power collapses, the screen goes blank and it dies.

[Zach Pfeffer (pfefferz)]

Here's what I see when I run a kernel with the config option, still no console through the UART.

[Ying-Chun Liu (paulliu)]

Hi,

I cannot reproduce this bug.
I just downloaded the following files:
86f88a392f710477fa2abf43fcdeb495c66817e0 boot.tar.bz2
9a214f7f238935d3d20215d870ad76d3af88da07 system.tar.bz2
0f9937decc402f20a7783829535b01647d69bc93 userdata.tar.bz2

And use linaro-android-media-create to create an SD card.
And I have the console.
The log is as attachment.

[Bernhard Rosenkraenzer (berolinux)]

I cannot reproduce this bug either. This is likely caused by what we've seen at the last Connect event:

Connecting an iMX53 QSB to my notebook results in a working console, but sometimes output freezes until I press a key on the notebook.
Connecting that same board with the same USB-serial adapter to pfefferz's notebook results displays the output perfectly without freezes, but doesn't accept any input
Connecting the same board with the same USB-serial adapter to my desktop machine works perfectly

I think something slightly non-standard is going on either in the hardware itself or in the driver (slightly off timings? slightly off voltage?) that causes different machines on the other end to (mis)behave slightly differently.

[Zach Pfeffer (pfefferz)]

Sorted this out. You must ensure that Hardware Flow Control has been turned off in order to interact with the console. In minicom do:

cOnfigre Minicom > Serial port setup > F - Hardware Flow Control