Installing Debian on MV78100 Devices

Unlike the Orion/Kirkwood/Armada based ARM devices, Debian does not provide a pre-packaged kernel which supports the MV78100 SoCs. Although the device can easily run Debian's "armel" packages it requires a customized kernel to boot. Modern kernels also have issues with where in memory the device loads initrd images by default.

I've created a custom kernel package and some scripts to handle creating suitable initrd images. I've also created a custome Debian Installer image that sets them up as part of a normal Debian Install over SSH.

The process is still fairly new and will likely change somewhat as it is developed further, the installer files can found in the github repository along with the scripts and config files used to create them:

https://github.com/1000001101000/Terastation-III-research

Note: these devices have strict requirements for how the /boot partition is formatted. Currently, they must be formatted before starting the installation (either manually or by re-using the stock firmware's /boot). The "No, keep existing data" must be selected during the install or the device will fail to boot. The exact requirements for a /boot partition can be found under:

https://buffalonas.miraheze.org/wiki/Terastation_TS-XL#boot_partition_requirements

Otherwise, the install process is the same as the one described in:

https://github.com/1000001101000/Debian_on_Buffalo