Google Android Installable Image Available!, Full distro for SL-C3x00+SL-C1000. Need testers for SL-C7x0/860 Options

[fpp]

Great ! Our turn now... :-)

[HoloVector]

Noone's tried the C1000 yet?

I'll give it a shot this weekend. Would I be able to just use the same files that the C3000 guys are using? There's no internal HD though..

I'm in if you can get this going on the C1000. My C3200 is set just the way I like it in pdaXii13 5.4.9 and I'm loathe to lose it.

[cortez]

I've uploaded all files for the SL-C1000 version and included the installation instructions. I hope the instructions are clear enough, I checked everything twice, and it worked for me. You can check this out at www.omegamoon.com. Good luck and have fun!

[zluver]

HI Cortez,

That's awesome. I have been having a lot of issues trying to get Angstrom to build correctly (toolchain).

This is a nice alternative. Now, my question is what do I have to do to get this working on older Zaurus with no
"microdrive". The install script looks for a microdrive and exits. I have an SL-C750 with a 256 MB SD card and a
2GB CF card.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Regards
Zluver.

Hi,

For the time being posted here in "General Discussion" since there is no dedicated Android subforum (yet). Tested on my SL-C3100, this is a small bootable Poky 2.6.23 kernel with a copy of the Android OS from the SDK (qemu) emulator.

Installation is done in the usual way:

1. Download zImage.bin, updater.sh, gnu-tar and android-root.tar.gz and copy the files to a SD card
2. Remove battery and power adapter cable
3. Wait for 5 seconds
4. Replace battery, close and lock battery cover
5. Attach power adapter cable
6. Keep OK button pressed while pressing on/off switch
7. From the Japanese menu, choose option 4 (Update), then 2 (SD) and finally Y

Flashing starts, and you are asked if you want to flash the kernel, if you want the microdrive to be formatted and if you want the root filesystem to be installed.
Accept all questions answering them with y

After flashing is complete, the machine is rebooted. Login with root and type /start to start Android.
This is the basic version, without any of the patches found across the Net.

Have fun, and share your results and findings here please!

Updated: There is a special version for the SL-C1000. Downloads and instructions can be found at www.omegamoon.com

Greetz,
cortez

[cal]

Cortez, thanks man. Awesome job.

[HoloVector]

I'm in if you can get this going on the C1000. My C3200 is set just the way I like it in pdaXii13 5.4.9 and I'm loathe to lose it.

Thanks Cortez. I'm starting your C1000 image for the first time as I type. Looks really interesting.... More later. Gotta play.

[cortez]

HI Cortez,

That's awesome. I have been having a lot of issues trying to get Angstrom to build correctly (toolchain).

This is a nice alternative. Now, my question is what do I have to do to get this working on older Zaurus with no
"microdrive". The install script looks for a microdrive and exits. I have an SL-C750 with a 256 MB SD card and a
2GB CF card.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Regards
Zluver.

I assume you use the SL-C3x00 install script. Don't use it, use the SL-C1000 script instead. The C1000 doesn't have a microdrive either. What's needed for the SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 series is a kernel and Altboot. Altboot makes it possible to boot from SD instead of the internal flash memory and we need that to make Android work.

[stuffman]

Alright, I'm just having no luck here. I flashed the console image of Angstrom on my 860 and extracted the /home/root/android-root directory from android-root.tar.gz to /home/root/android-root, copied the binder thing to /lib/mod.../drivers, and copied the doit and start files to /home/root. I ran doit and when running start I get:

=============
Starting Android
=============

'/home/root/android-root/dev/binder' exists
*Booting Android
mount: not found
mount: not found

After a few minutes, the screen went blank. I pressed enter and below the last mount it said "*** post-zygote"

Then it seems to freeze and I'm forced to hard reboot. Any pointers as to what I'm doing wrong? Am I just going to have to wait until there's a release for 7x0 devices?

[cortez]

Alright, I'm just having no luck here. I flashed the console image of Angstrom on my 860 and extracted the /home/root/android-root directory from android-root.tar.gz to /home/root/android-root, copied the binder thing to /lib/mod.../drivers, and copied the doit and start files to /home/root. I ran doit and when running start I get:

=============
Starting Android
=============

'/home/root/android-root/dev/binder' exists
*Booting Android
mount: not found
mount: not found

After a few minutes, the screen went blank. I pressed enter and below the last mount it said "*** post-zygote"

Then it seems to freeze and I'm forced to hard reboot. Any pointers as to what I'm doing wrong? Am I just going to have to wait until there's a release for 7x0 devices?

My guess is you're running this from internal flash memory. In that case you're having the same problems as described here. You can try to run strace to see if this is the case. The Altboot solution is a workaround for this problem. I'll upload a kernel + console image for the SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 models shortly if you promise to test and give feedback

[cortez]

I've uploaded a kernel and minimal console image for the SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 models. Since I don't have one of these devices myself I need testers to see if it works. Please give me feedback on your results. Files and installation instructions can be found on www.omegamoon.com. Good luck!

[Android Zaurus]

I've uploaded a kernel and minimal console image for the SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 models. Since I don't have one of these devices myself I need testers to see if it works. Please give me feedback on your results. Files and installation instructions can be found on www.omegamoon.com. Good luck!

Great work you are doing, cortez!

I'll spread the word, well in Japanese again.

By the way, another report of C-860, which is the same hardware with C-760 and loaded with a lot of software.
http://yamashita.dyndns.org/blog/android-on-zaurus/

He has done it by mouting android-root image on SD card as a loop device. It is a new technique to get around jffs2-mmap issue. I asked him for detail and I'll post once I get answered.

Cheers,

[cortez]

I've uploaded a kernel and minimal console image for the SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 models. Since I don't have one of these devices myself I need testers to see if it works. Please give me feedback on your results. Files and installation instructions can be found on www.omegamoon.com. Good luck!

Great work you are doing, cortez!

I'll spread the word, well in Japanese again.

By the way, another report of C-860, which is the same hardware with C-760 and loaded with a lot of software.
http://yamashita.dyndns.org/blog/android-on-zaurus/

He has done it by mouting android-root image on SD card as a loop device. It is a new technique to get around jffs2-mmap issue. I asked him for detail and I'll post once I get answered.

Cheers,

Creating a loop-file is also possible with the aid of Altboot. Choosing Advanced from the bootmenu you have the option to create a loop file from a root.tar.gz archive file. Disadvantage is that a loop-file always has a fixed size which is determined during creation of that file (unless you resize the file of course). A nice Altboot FAQ can be found here.

[speculatrix]

For the time being posted here in "General Discussion" since there is no dedicated Android subforum (yet). Tested on my SL-C3100,

there is now

[studio]

I've uploaded all files for the SL-C1000 version and included the installation instructions. I hope the instructions are clear enough, I checked everything twice, and it worked for me. You can check this out at www.omegamoon.com. Good luck and have fun!

Cortez

Thanks for your great work and steps for C1000!!! Im afraid i need to ask a question which is probably obvious to everyone but me as a Linux newbie. Why is this asking for a Cortex login and password and what is it?

Cheers
Studio

[cortez]

I've uploaded all files for the SL-C1000 version and included the installation instructions. I hope the instructions are clear enough, I checked everything twice, and it worked for me. You can check this out at www.omegamoon.com. Good luck and have fun!

Cortez

Thanks for your great work and steps for C1000!!! Im afraid i need to ask a question which is probably obvious to everyone but me as a Linux newbie. Why is this asking for a Cortex login and password and what is it?

Cheers
Studio

Glad you like it. Since this is a non-graphical console image, it asks you to enter a valid username and password on the command line. Cortez is just the machine-name I gave it (you can change it if you like), that's why it shows Cortez login:. Just enter root after the Cortez login: prompt. For this pre-defined (administrator) account no password is required (although it's saver to add a password of course).