Buffalo OpenTera Updates



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OpenTera firmware

I have created what I am calling the OpenTera firmware upgrades for the PPC based TeraStation models. This is intended to be the TeraStation equivalent of the OpenLink firmware that is available for the Buffalo Linkstation at the linkstationwiki site. I plan eventually to incorporate updated and new binaries and libraries except for any that are LinkStation specific as well as providing useful packages that are not included as standard on TeraStations.

Note that these packages are all intended to install to use the standard 2.4 Linux kernel provided by Buffalo. I do not intend to do the work to get Linux 2.6 kernels running on PPC based TeraStations, although I would be happy if someone else undertook such work.

Examples of key new features that the OpenTera will bring are:

The implementation is done as a script plus associated files that can be run on any of my telnet enabled releases. This means that one of the telnet enabled releases will already installed will be a pre-requisite to be able to install the openTera update.

At a later date I may consider producing a firmware release with these additional changes already included, but in the meantime the script approach is easier as it can work for any firmware release.

The updates are divided up into the following sections:

  • Updates to existing software
  • Updates for developers
  • Other useful software

    • Donations

    A number of people have asked me if they could make a donation in recognition of the value to them of having telnet support added to their firmware and the OpenTera updates. This is not necessary as I work on this for enjoyment, but if you really would like to do so you can do so via PayPal by clicking on the PayPal Donate icon below and any such donations will be gratefully received. You never know - enough might arrive to fund me getting another TeraStation!

    Useful Packages

    As part of working on the OpenTera upgrade I have compiled a number of standard packages to use on my TeraStations (they also work quite happily on my LS1 LinkStation). These are available for any others who would like to try them out. They are hosted on the www.nas-central.org site, but can be downloaded directly via the links below.

    The first thing to do in each case is to unzip the download into a temporary folder on one of the shares on the TeraStation on which you are going to install the software.

    You will then need to telnet into the TeraStation using a user that has root privileges (typically 'myroot' if using one of m,y telnet enabled firmware variants) and change to the folder where you have unzipped the downloaded software using a command of the form:

        cd /mnt/array1/sharename/foldername

    where sharename and foldername correspond to the share and folder where the unzipped software has been placed.

    In many cases an automated install script has been provided (which will have a name of the form Update_xxxx.sh).  if this is present then you should use this script to install the software by issuing the command

          ./Update_xxxx.sh
    (where xxxx will vary according to the package downloaded) to install the package. The script will display information messages as it goes, and also guide you to any additional steps (if any) that need to be done manually after the install has completed. Note that the install script is written so that it can safely be run on a machine that already has the package (or an earlier version of the package) already installed.

    If no install script has been provided then you need to manually install these components.  Check first if there is a README file giving further information and if so follow those instructions.

    For other packages I recommend that these packages are installed under the /usr/local/bin hierarchy. This will mean that the original packages are left intact, but the full versions will be used in preference as /usr/local/bin is earlier on the search path. This can be done by using commands like the following to install these files:

          tar -xzvf download_location/downloaded_package.tgz  --directory=target_directory
    The target_directory is the location relative to which the package is to be installed. This will normally be / for the root directory. or /usr/local if not relative to the root.

    The updated libraries have mainly been extracted from the Linux Debian PPC based Sarge build (downloaded from www.debian.org) to avoid the need to rebuild them all on the TeraStation. They have simply been repackaged as compressed tar archives to make them easier to install on the TeraStationm and the install is changed to be relative to /usr/local. If you want to see exactly what libraries have been updated then look insidethe download and you will see a file for each library with the Debian name (including version) as part of the filename 

     

    Packages that are part of OpenTera

    Runtime binaries and libraries
    Package Binaries Comment
    OpenTera Update v1 OpenTera_v1.zip This is a single download and associated install script for the latest versions of the following packages that are part of the OpenTera update:
    • Libraries Update
    • Busybox
    • ffmpeg Multimedia Libraries
    • UPNP Libraries
    • DLNA library
    • GNU Coreutils
    • GNU grep
    • GNU groff
    • GNU gzip
    • GNU findutils
    • GNU less
    • OpenSSH
    • PCasr
    • man
    • rsync
    • unrar
    The following packages are not currently part of this download and will need to be downloaded and installed separately if you want to use them::
    • Samba
    • User Mode NFS
    • NetaTalk

    This package will install and/or upgrade your system to the versions of the software that are included.

          Last Updated: 28 September

    Libraries Update Libraries_ppc_v1.zip

    Note that all the remaining items listed below will assume that this package has been applied. Only additional pre-requisites are listed with each package

    		This includes new and updated libraries for use on PPC based TeraStations.

    Last Updated: 31 March 2007

    Busybox Busybox-1.15.2-ppc.zip This is a build of the latest release of the busybox utility that includes a large number of standard linux commands in a single binary to reduce space.

    Last Updated: 09 October 2009

    ffmpeg Multimedia package
    		 ffmpeg-05_ppc_tgz This is the ffmpeg v0.5 package.
    It includes Multimedia libraries.for use on PPC based TeraStation/LinkStations.
    Required for many media servers such as uShare.

    Last Updated: 09 September 2009

    UPNP libraries
    		 libupnp-1.6.6_ppc_tgz This is the UPNP library package.
    It includes libraries for use on PPC based TeraStation/LinkStations.
    Required for many media servers such as uShare.

    Last Updated: 09 September 2009

    DLNA library
    		 libdlna-0.2.3_ppc.tgz

    Pre-Requisites:
    The following packages from those listed in this section need to have been already installed for this package to install and work correctly

    • ffmpeg Libraries
    		This is the DLNA library for use on PPC based TeraStation/LinkStations.
    Required for many media servers such as uShare.

    Last Updated: 09 September 2009

    Samba 3

    (No AD support)

    		Samba_3.0.24_ppc_v3.zip This is a build of Samba 3.0.24. It provides a significant increase in functionality and performance over Samba 2 which is what is included as standard with TeraStations.

    It does not yet include Active Directory (AD) support so if that matters to you do not try and use this build.

    The install script will also tell you how to revert to the Buffalo Samba if so required.

    This update shuld work on all models of PPC based TeraStation. It has been tested against the following firmware releases:

    • TeraStation (original): 2.18
    • TeraStation Home Server: 2.14
    • TeraStation Pro v1: 1.12
    It will probably also work on other earlier firmware versions for each model, and if anyone tries it I would like feedback on their success/failure.

    10 August 2009: A version of the 3.3.7 release of Samba 3 (without AD support) is currently being prepared and should appear here shortly

    Last Updated: 5 April 2007

    Samba 3
    (with AD support)     		Samba_3.0.25_AD_ppc_v3.zip

    This version seems to work well with NT4 compatible domains. Not sure about Active Directory Domains as my test server is playing up.

    		This is a build of Samba 3.0.25 for the TeraStation. It provides a significant increase in functionality and performance over Samba 2 which is what is included as standard with TeraStations. This update shuld work on all models of PPC based TeraStation. It has been tested against the following firmware releases:
    • TeraStation (original) 2.13 and 2.14
    • TeraStation Home Server 2.11
    • TeraStation Pro 1.01 and 1.04 (with AD support) and 1.07 and 1.09 (without AD support)
    It will probably also work on other earlier firmware versions for each model, and if anyone tries it I would like feedback on their success/failure.

    Features are:

    • AD support (although you do not have to use it)
    • Integration with Buffalo Web GUI (updates pages for AD support if required). I expect most people will use this method for configuring Samba as it is easy to use.
    • SWAT configuration tool. This is an alternative to the Buffalo GUI for those who want more control but you have to use one or the other - you cannot use both. However even if you are not using SWAT for configuring, you will still probably want to use it for accessing the extensive Samba documentation or for simply viewing the configuration files.
    • The Archive,attribute on files is now mapped, and the option also map the Syste and Hidden attributes. The Archive bit in particular is often needed for Windows based backup utilities to work correctly. I will be interested to see if this causes problems for anyone and should be made optional during the install. In the meantime anyone who wants to turn it off should edit the /etc/samba/smb2smb3.pl script.
    • A full set of additional Samba utilities. For example smbclient which make it easy to access shares on other machines; smbtar to back up Windows shares and many more.
    • Act as domain controller (someone was asking about this). I did only cursory testing of this but it seemed to work although all configuring had to be via SWAT rather than the Buffalo GUI.

    I would strongly recommend that anyone test this in there own environment before committing any critical systems to it. I have no reason to suspect problems will arise, but I do not have the testing resources to test all possible permutations. If anyone encounters problems, I will be particularily interested in the /etc/samba/smb.conf and the /etc/samba/smb3.conf files. The first is the one generated by the Buffalo GUI, and the second is the one that is used after I have processed the Buffalo one (using the /etc/samba/smb2smb3.pl script for those who are interested) to create a Samba 3 compatible variant. It is always possible that I have not allowed for all possible permutations of options and some option makes it into the smb3.conf file that Samba 3 does not like. For those who might want to play around with rebuilding Samba 3 themselves I have also included the file configure_ts.sh that was used to configure and build this Samaba release.

    Unfortunately I have not found an easy way to uninstall this software to revert to the original Buffalo Samba. If you want to do that you will have to reflash your TeraStation which loses all other packages/changes installed since you last reflashed. In most cases this will not be an issue, but it might be if you have made a lot and not kept track of them. If you have used any of my other updates they will need re-applying after a reflash.

    README Last Updated: 20 May 2007

    User Mode NFS Nfs_usermode_ppc_v1.zip This is a build of user mode NFS. It is extracted from the debian PPC 2.2beta47-23 PowerPC build. It is the user mode implementation that does not need any specific kernel support.

    After running the install script you will need to edit the sample /etc/exports file to match your requirements.

    Last Updated: 31 March 2007

    NetaTalk netatalk-2.0.4_ppc.tgz
    		This is a build of the latest Netatalk package that is used to implement Apple networking protocols on the TeraStation.

    Note that it has only had limited testing as I do not have an Apple Mac of my own so can only test it against a copy of the Mac OS hosted under VMWare. While I have no reason to suspect that this is not a valid test environment I would welcome feedback from anyone with a real Mac who can confirm/deny whether this build works of them. .

    Last Updated: 25 August 2009

    rsync rsync-3.0.6_ppc.zip
    		This is a build of the latest rsync package that is used to implement backup facilities on the TeraStation.

    Last Updated: 25 August 2009

    GNU coreutils coreutils-7.6_ppc.tgz
    coreutils.7.2.pdf     		This is a build of the latest GNU core utilities package.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    TeraStations and Linkstations tend to use the cut-down version of these utilities that is supported by the busybox package as these contain the core functionality of these utilities and are vastly smaller in size. There are times, however, when one wants some of the additional functionality provided by the full GNU versions.

    For those not familiar with these utilities, downloadable documentation is also provided.

    Do not install this package relative to / (the root directory).
    This is because of the way that busybox uses soft links for the commands that it supports - and the net result is you overwrite the busybox binary. I would recommend that you install the coreutils package relative to /usr/local as this location is to the front of the path in /etc/profile so that the full versions of commands are found in preference to the busybox variant whenever an absolute path to them is not specified.

    Last Updated: 25 September 2009

    GNU grep grep-2.5.4_ppc.tgz This is a build of the latest GNU grep package. The TeraStation includes grep as standard, but not the related utilites egrep and fgrep.

    Last Updated: 04 August 2009

    GNU gzip gzip-1.3.12_ppc.tgz This is a build of the latest GNU gzip package.

    Last Updated: 28 September 2009

    GNU findutils findutils-4.4.2_ppc.tgz This is a build of the latest GNU findutils package.

    Last Updated: 26 September 2009

    GNU less
    		less-4.18_ppc.tgz GNU less utility.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    Last Updated: 26 September 2009

    OpenSSH Openssh_ppc_tera_v1.zip This upgrade will install all the OpenSSH files, generate any keys if required and start the ssh daemons ready for you to connect using your favorite ssh client. The upgrade script will tell you how to disable standard telnet once you are heppy that your ssh connection is working correctly.

    Last Updated: 12 April 2007

    PCast PCast_ppc_tera_v3.zip This is the PCast media server files. The uShare Media server is available as an alternative which is an open sourced media server that also provides DLNA compliance.

    The PCast upgrade is likely to be of most interest to TeraStation Pro users who do not have the PCast server installed as standard. For others it patches the annoying bug where the date/time display does not appear correctly at the top of PCast menus on the LinkTheater, and also provides an alternative theme for those whomight be interested in looking at how themes can be customised.

    NOTE. It is not clear if installing PCast on the TeraStation Pro is is allowed under the Buffalo licensing conditions. However as Buffalo had specifically indicated that the mediabolic server could not be made available due to licensing conditions. but no specific statement was made about PCast itself there is a level of implicit permission. My personal feeling is that as the PPC based TeraStation models are no longer sold then Buffalo will turn a blind eye as long as this availability is kept low key.

    README       Last Updated: 30 June 2008

    Groff
    		groff-1.20.1_ppc.tgz This is the GNU roff document formatting system.

    The primary use of this package is expected to be as a formatting sub-system for use with the man commands.

    Contributed by Nader Eloshaiker     README       Last Updated: 30 June 2009

    Man man-1.6b_ppc.tgz

    Pre-Requisites:
    The following packages from those listed in this section need to have been already installed for this package to install and work correctly:

    • groff
    		This is the man utilities used to display documentation in the standard Unix man format.

    Once it has been installed you can type a command of the form: 

    	man topic
    and any manual pages relating to topic will be displayed

    Contributed by Nader Eloshaiker     README       Last Updated: 8 May 2007

    Unrar unrar-3.7.8-ppc.tgz This is the unrar utility used to unpack rar archives.

    Once it has been installed you can type a command of the form: 

    	unrar --help
    and the list of options will be displayed. For further information refer to the home site at http://www.rarlab.com

          Last Updated: 8 Dec 2007


    Development Packages

    Tools that are required for Development Purposes
    Package Binaries Comment
    OpenTera Developers Update v1
    		OpenTeraDev_v1.zip This is a single download and associated install script for the latest versions of the following packages that are part of the OpenTera update:
    • Development Tools
    • Libraries Update for Developers
    • ffmpeg Multimedia Libraries for Developers
    • UPNP Libraries for Developers
    • DLNA library for Developers
    • GNU Patch

    This package will install and/or upgrade your system to the versions of the software that are included.

          Last Updated: 28 September

    Development Tools ppc-tools-2_1.tgz

    Dependancies:
    Depending on what you are trying to build, you may need the following packages from those listed to also be installed

    • Busybox
    • GNU Coreutils
    • GNU grep
    		This is not really new. It is just to point out that this development tools package orginally intended for use on PowerPC based LinkStations works quite happily on the PPC based TeraStations as well.









    Last Updated: 31st March 2007

    Libraries Update for Developers LibrariesDev_ppc_v1.zip

    This package should always be installed if you intend to build from source on the TeraStation. All the developer packages assume that this package has been installed. Only additional dependenciesare listed

    		This package is a complementary package to the Libraries Update package listed above for inclusion in OpenTera. It includes all the header files, etc that are required if a developer wants to build any packages that use any of these libraries.

    Last Updated: 31st March 2007

    ffmpeg Multimedia Libraries for Developers

    		 ffmpegDev-0.5_ppc.tgz

    Pre-Requisites:
    The following packages from those listed in the OpenTera section need to have been already installed for this package to install and work correctly:

    • ffmepg Multimedia Libraries
    		ffmepg Multimedia development libraries.for use on PPC based TeraStation/LinkStations.
    Required for many media servers such as uShare.

    This package is a complementary package to the ffmepg Multimedia Libraries package listed above for inclusion in OpenTera. It includes all the header files, etc that are required if a developer wants to build any packages that use any of these libraries.

    Last Updated: 9th Septemberr 2009

    UPNP Libraries for Developers

    		 libupnpDev-1.6.6_ppc.tgz

    Pre-Requisites:
    The following packages from those listed in the OpenTera section need to have been already installed for this package to install and work correctly:

    • UPNP Libraries
    		UPNP development libraries.for use on PPC based TeraStation/LinkStations.
    Required for many media servers such as uShare.

    This package is a complementary package to the UPNP Libraries package listed above for inclusion in OpenTera. It includes all the header files, etc that are required if a developer wants to build any packages that use any of these libraries.

    Last Updated: 28th September 2009

    DLNA Libraries for Developers

    		 libdlnaDev-0.2.3_ppc.tgz

    Pre-Requisites:
    The following packages from those listed in the OpenTera section need to have been already installed for this package to install and work correctly:

    • UPNP Libraries
    		UPNP development libraries.for use on PPC based TeraStation/LinkStations.
    Required for many media servers such as uShare.

    This package is a complementary package to the UPNP Libraries package listed above for inclusion in OpenTera. It includes all the header files, etc that are required if a developer wants to build any packages that use any of these libraries.

    Last Updated: 28th September 2009

    GNU patch
    		patch-2.5.9_ppc.tgz GNU patch.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    Last Updated: 26 September 2009


    Other Packages

    Optional items that can be installed if required
    Package Binaries Comment
    GNU gettext
    		gettext-0.17_ppc.tgz GNU gettext tools and libraries that are used to help developers produced internationlized versions of their applications.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    Last Updated: 03 July 2009

    GNU iperf
    		iperf-2.0.4_ppc.tgz Iperf performance monitoring tool that can be used to measure TCP and UDP bandwidth performance.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    Last Updated: 03 July 2009

    Joe
    		joe-3.7_ppc.tgz Linux joe editor.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    Last Updated: 03 July 2009

    GNU nano
    		nano-2.1.9_ppc.tgz GNU nano editor.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    Last Updated: 03 July 2009

    GNU texinfo
    		texinfo-4.13_ppc.tgz Linux Texinfo document formatting package.
    It is a PPC build suitable for use on PPC based TeraStations and LinkStations.

    Last Updated: 03 July 2009

    Ushare Media Server
    		ushare-1.1a_ppc.tgz

    Pre-Requisites:
    The following packages from those listed in the OpenTera section need to have been already installed for this package to install and work correctly:

    • ffmpeg Multimedia Libraries
    • UPNP libraries
    • DLNA library
    		uShare is a free UPnP A/V & DLNA Media Server for Linux
    This version works on PPC based TeraStations and also PPC based LinkStations running OpenLink. It may also run OK on some of the other variants of Linux available for the LinkStation, but this has not been verified

    Two versions of the binaries are included and you are asked at install time which you want to use:

    • Basic UPnP compatible version without DLNA support
    • Enhanced DLNA compliant version for media players which need DLNA compatibility.

    If you have uShare installed you can disable the Buffalo supplied Media servers (PCast and Mediabolic).

    Last Updated: 10 November 2008

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