In case anyone should be wondering why I didn’t continue my project to install Gentoo: Well… Unfortunately that slug is broken.
USB seems to be damaged in some way as it reports nothing but rubbish to the kernel and something causes bad noises to come from the beeper. Some forum threads pointed out that might be caused by a bad power supply. However, after changing the AC adapter it doesn’t run any better in my case. Since I wasn’t able to flash the original firmware correctly (it was just too obvious that I manipulated that box) I decided to open it up and take a look at its PCB.
Unfortunately I can’t see any physical damages on that board so I must assume there’s some hidden defect somewhere. I doubt I can fix it, so I must consider that box to be broken after just 4 months. After all I read I must advice everyone NOT to buy a NSLU2 – except you are out for some soldering on the board. The hardware fails much too often from what I could find, be it for overheating, manufacturing or just design errors (like the fancy “feature” that you can power the box solely by an external USB hub). Sadly, if I cannot find the error or a workaround for it, I may not continue on this project since I am not willing to buy another box for full price that’s broken by design.
Either I buy one very very cheap at eBay or I will just let it die. Maybe someday I might be able to fix it – could be my studies might be of some help at some later point.
Anyway; this project was no complete loss of time. Much of the knowledge I gained can be helpful in getting Gentoo onto the Pandora when it finally arrives (which unfortunately may take another 3-4 months depending on LCD production since I assume I’m somewhere in the last third of the preorder queue).