Opie/gpe, Some questions Options

[Bundabrg]

Hi All,

(C860, 1Gb SD, Symbol24 Wifi CF)

OK, I'm doing a 'rom' tryout, and have now setup OZ Opie and GPE to run at the same time on VT2 and VT3. Also edited the relevant files so pressing <ctrl><alt>#num on any VT will change VT's fine. Oh, and switched / and ,.
The only thing I needed to do to really get this to work different from the wiki is to chmod u+s /usr/bin/chvt as chvt needs to run with root privs.
Oh, I also did it from the GPE image and then installing the Opie packages. The other way just seemed not to work well for me and indeed its interesting the number of differences the two ways gives (ie, /etc/ipkg/* versus /etc/ipkg.conf is one example).

Now I realise Opie/GPE is not a supported option, fair enough so I'm looking for what people who HAVE got it running did. Maybe some tricks and tips etc. I almost think that bar running qt4 under X instead, having a dual image would be useful, though installing it was fairly easy anyway.

My questions: -
- I've had to disabled ALL idle suspends etc under both GPE and Opie. Is there anyway that the idle checker can determine if there is activity on another VT? Currently if they are enabled, then if say I'm in GPE, and Opie suddenly realises there is no activty on it for 5 minutes, it suspends.

- Feeds. ipkg is really really REALLY slow. I think because of the base feed. However I can live with this. My issue is knowing if a package is opie or GPE when installing. Currently I comment out the opie feed, update then install when wanting to install a GPE app, and vice versa for opie. (IE, kopi is a good example). My question I guess is, are there any collisions of names between the feeds (the official OZ ones, not 3rd party).

- I have set my sd to be default install (after installing most OPIE and GPE apps to root first). However I have one of those annoying SD cards that comes up with Input/Output error frequently if under usage (even mounted sync). I solved this by forcing a sync every 1 second when installing packages and hopefully will get another card one day. When I restart, the SD card is never automatically checked, and I can't unmount it as its always in use now (applets running etc...). Any proper way of getting round this? I've updated the insert scripts so when an SD/CF is inserted, it runs a filesystem check on it, then plays a 'sound' when its done.



Oh and finally, why gpe-bootsplash? I always just remove this because I like to see whats happening. Why cover up nice the really nice main splash screen with the whiteout splash of GPE (though I now see that the boot messages come up through it, which is an improvement).

EDIT: Excuse typos. I've just had a daughter and am very sleep deprived (and hence why I have the time to reflash ;-)

- Bundabrg

[Bundabrg]

Hmmm, I'm not sure what you mean 'whilst running pdaX', since pdaX is running from the moment the kernel starts.

Under X under pdaXrom or under the console I was able to copy the debian tar file, extract it, and then execute stuff under it. If I execute an apt-get update though under the debian chroot, it churns the SD too hard and the Z loses connection to it. I could never work out if it was the poor SD driver sharp supplies or I had a crap SD card. My money is on the card though it works fine under windows.

Under OZ I can't even finish the first step before all hell breaks loose. However I think OZ uses a different SD driver which just exasperates the crappiness of my SD card.

On your 2Gb, are you able to download pocket workstation debian tgz (the 20Mb or so one) to it, then extract that tar to a directory on that card (IE, so its effectively reading AND writing to the card at the same time). If that works, I'm getting a new card

Waaaay off topic. Sorry ;-)

- Bundabrg

[koen]

Under X under pdaXrom or under the console I was able to copy the debian tar file, extract it, and then execute stuff under it. If I execute an apt-get update though under the debian chroot, it churns the SD too hard and the Z loses connection to it.

People seem to never answer this question when it gets asked: what does the debian tar provide that you think OZ doesn't have?

[poushag]

I also was interested in trying GPE and Opie together but my feeling was that I didn't want to run them simultaneously. I use a Collie and even if I didn't I would probably still feel this way. I use hentges Opie ROM with his Opie cardfs (on SD), which I recommend because if I have to reflash, I can easily restore the non-UI files I customized, such as fstab and ipkg.conf, using mhbackup. (mhbackup is a utility written by hentges) I don't suppose you have mhbackup on your ROM do you, Bundabrg?

The most basic customization I used was to partition the SD card FAT/ext2/ext2. The first partition is for the mhbackup and opie-backup archives (so I can transfer them to a workstation in case the Z gets stolen or bricked and I have to buy another one). The second and third partitions were meant to be Opie and GPE respectively. (But I think that I may end up going with only one ext2 partition.)

I wonder when using the two GUIs how easy it is to update to a newer version of Opie or GPE. Does anybody have insight into that? And I have had to reflash a few times already due to some corruption. If I upgrade a bunch of ipks, then I don't want to have to reinstall them all after a reflash (but running ipkg-link on the 2nd partition of the SD would be my preferred alternative). Bundabrg, can you please update the wiki on installing both GUIs and add a section on the implications of reflashing? (especially how to restore things that aren't part of the flash)

As for your problems with the inactive GUI suspending the Z, it seems like you need a way to pause the GUI process that has become inactive (and its child processes). Does anyone know if this is possible?

The power management features are too valuable to me to go without. So I would rather exit one GUI and start the other. Bundabrg, do you think you can update the wiki to explain how this would be done as an alternative to running both simultaneously?

Thanks.

[Bundabrg]

I also was interested in trying GPE and Opie together but my feeling was that I didn't want to run them simultaneously.  I use a Collie and even if I didn't I would probably still feel this way.  I use hentges Opie ROM with his Opie cardfs (on SD), which I recommend because if I have to reflash, I can easily restore the non-UI files I customized, such as fstab and ipkg.conf, using mhbackup.  (mhbackup is a utility written by hentges)  I don't suppose you have mhbackup on your ROM do you, Bundabrg?

Nope, I'm using vanilla OZ. Can't comment on mhbackup or equiv.

I wonder when using the two GUIs how easy it is to update to a newer version of Opie or GPE.  Does anybody have insight into that?  And I have had to reflash a few times already due to some corruption.  If I upgrade a bunch of ipks, then I don't want to have to reinstall them all after a reflash (but running ipkg-link on the 2nd partition of the SD would be my preferred alternative).  Bundabrg, can you please update the wiki on installing both GUIs and add a section on the implications of reflashing? (especially how to restore things that aren't part of the flash)

I would think it depends on how much you have to hack a file from default install . I've removed a couple startup files that would be installed back each time I updated (just me being fussy . However in general I've found the install to work as is no changes.

As for your problems with the inactive GUI suspending the Z, it seems like you need a way to pause the GUI process that has become inactive (and its child processes).  Does anyone know if this is possible?

Interesting idea. It would be trivial in the script to determine what vt is active. Maybe as simple as putting it into /etc/apm somewhere such that if a call is made on another vt it doesn't suspend. Something similar for dimming as well.