ALIX 2c3 and pfsense (LEDs)

serialdie

I compiled a 7.0 kernel with the geode.c from CURRENT on a test box- used
options cpu_geode
options cpu_soekris
Copied the kernel to my Alix running a minimal 7.0 install on CF. Rebooted.
Now I have /dev/led/led1-3 on my Alix!
The old Wrap tricks with echo work fine. I dug up RSW's blinkled- the binary didn't work under FreeBSD 7, but luckily he provided the source and it compiled on 7. Something like blinkled -i vr0 -l /dev/led/led2 works as expected.

That is awesome!!!
I am using pfSense 1.2 FreeBSD 6.3 Any chance this can go in?
It would be very useful.

dotdash

OpenWRT is Linux, so not very helpful there.
I wouldn't hold my breath on the changes getting backported to the 6 branch, but 1.2.1 is going to be 7 anyway.
Note that I don't have anything very useful at this point. My kernel is pretty stock and not suited for pfSense. You would need to get the module compiled into a proper kernel. That's only going to happen when

pfSense is based on a FreeBSD version with the changes (7.1?)
A developer with an Alix wants flashing LEDs enough to put the new version in.
Someone wants cool lights on their Alix enough to put a bounty up to get it done.
I'll drop in a feature request to see if anyone is interested.
edit for ticket number: http://cvstrac.pfsense.com/tktview?tn=1784

serialdie

It makes lots of sense!
And thanks for your fast response.

jimp

I know this thread is very old, but I just thought I'd mention that I just committed a patch that should bring rev 1.11 of geode.c to the 1.2.3-RC snapshots.

At least it's a step in the right direction for ALIX users, the LEDs should at least have hardware support now.

As of right now (11:56PM EDT June 18th, 2009) a new snapshot hasn't happened yet, so if you want to test, wait for the next snapshot after that date/time.

jimp

@dotdash:

A developer with an Alix wants flashing LEDs enough to put the new version in.

That did it.

Must. Have. Blinkenlights. :o

dotdash

Yea!
Doh!
https://rcs.pfsense.org/projects/pfsense-tools/repos/mainline/commits/001241e4e49f6c8bb408628f073642dd5377f826

jimp

@dotdash:

Yea!
Doh!
https://rcs.pfsense.org/projects/pfsense-tools/repos/mainline/commits/001241e4e49f6c8bb408628f073642dd5377f826

Yeah the patch didn't apply cleanly, I'm working on it still :)

jimp

Ok, I fixed the patch and committed again. Not sure when the next snapshot will be due.

I've got one building on my own builder, too, so if mine finishes first (unlikely) I'll test it on my ALIX and report what I found.

serialdie

jimp,

Thank you very much!

Do you know how I can get them tide up one for networking and one for HDD led….

Must see blinking leds :o

jimp

@serialdie:

jimp,

Thank you very much!

Do you know how I can get them tide up one for networking and one for HDD led….

Must see blinking leds :o

Not sure about that part yet. I have a new image built, but I haven't tried it yet, I'm chasing a different problem down at the moment.

jimp

Well I'm still not sure how to assign the LEDs various tasks, but I can tell you the patch worked

My middle light is blinking, not sure what that is indicating, but it's blinking… which is better than off :-)

jimp

Various cool things to do:

On

echo 1 > /dev/led/led3

Off

echo 0 > /dev/led/led3

Fast blink

echo f > /dev/led/led3

Slow blink

echo f9 > /dev/led/led3

(Works with any number from 1-9 or blank)

Morse code

echo "m…---..." > /dev/led/led3

I use led3 in this example but it works with 1-3.

Still not sure how I'll tie them to things or make them generally useful, but I'm open to ideas. (I don't know if they can be tied to network activity or not, doesn't look like it, but we'll see)

jimp

Looks like a new embedded snapshot just happened, it should have this.

http://snapshots.pfsense.org/FreeBSD_RELENG_7_2/pfSense_RELENG_1_2/embedded/pfSense-1.2.3-20090620-0341.img.gz

serialdie

Jimp,

Maybe you can add what dotdash did which was add RSW's blinkled-…

That would work! :)

jimp

@serialdie:

Jimp,

Maybe you can add what dotdash did which was add RSW's blinkled-…

That would work! :)

If I can get a link to the source, perhaps. I couldn't find it with a quick Google search.

serialdie

jimp,

I PM dotdash to see if he shares the source code…
Lets see how it goes.

TIA!

jimp

I found it here on the forum:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,3454.msg21194.html#msg21194

I'll keep experimenting.

jimp

It still compiles and runs for me, I've got LED2 showing my WAN activity and LED3 showing my ath0 activity.

It would still need some kind of a user interface to configure, I'll have to see if I can whip something up.

serialdie

jimp,

Thats great!!!!

Lets see how it works out!

Thanks!

dotdash

Just grabbed a new image and loaded it on an Alix. The /dev/led devices are there and working- thank you Jim. I couldn't find blinkled, but that may not be in the build yet. Anyway, here are my two cents as to some handy options for the LEDs.

Use an LED as a 'ready' or 'armed' light. Helpful when you are working with a remote end user. I did something like this by putting a script to light LED2 in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ and appending a command to turn it off in /etc/rc.shutdown (kind of a hack).
Activity for an interface. RSW's blinkled works well for this eg- blinkled -i ath0 -l /dev/led/led3
VPN linkup. I'd like to be able to do this with IPSec (like on a PIX or something), but I'm not sure how to go about it. Just putting it out there.
Blink an LED on active alert. I believe this was done with WRAPs at some point, but I never had a WRAP to test with.
A simple gui would be cool, enumerate the led devices and provide a menu with some stock options or a custom script.
These are only suggestions, I'm happy just to have the led devices now. I can do more testing on this if you need it.