State Of Os Options For C3000, is cacko/sharp only stable option? Options

[danboid]

I've enjoyed testing pdaXii13 on the c3000 but Meanie won't be updating it for a while now and I'm looking for something more stable. I'm prepared to sacrifice the bvdd video playback for a more stable OS. The biggest problem with pdaXii13 is that the keyboard mapping is broken- it only works properly for so long after booting X before you end up having to restart X to get the keyboard working again.

The most important tasks it will be performing are

Playing music (OGGS and MP3s) so I'd need a working graphical music player and a screen blanking app

gnumeric

abiword (preferably Ted instead)

Fully working keymap for c3000 inluding sterling sign a CAPS LOCK

USB storage link up

Good picture viewer/ slideshow app

gpe-calendar and alarm

BUT

Does gpe-calendar actually work? Is it reliable and can I back up my calendar and expect to safely restore it? Does anybody on these forums actually use gpe-calendar? Hopefully gpe-calendar works better under OZ/Hentges or Angstrom than under pdaXii13 as I always end up with a

database disk image is malformed

error and a corrupt calendar under pdaXii13

Might Hentges, Angstrom (can you currently install Angstrom on the c3000?) or Open/NetBSD offer me a more stable X(FCE) or GPE based OS than pdaXii13 on the c3000 or is Cacko/Sharp my only choice for a stable OS?

[radiochickenwax]

Might Hentges, Angstrom (can you currently install Angstrom on the c3000?) or Open/NetBSD offer me a more stable X(FCE) or GPE based OS than pdaXii13 on the c3000 or is Cacko/Sharp my only choice for a stable OS?

Haven't tried angstrom yet. Open/NetBSD is somewhat difficult to setup. I find debian pocketworkstation to be about the most stable thing for me so far, and it's fairly easy to setup. Also very easy to move setups from one machine to another.

Abiword works perfectly with full imports and exports. (much more stable than I've ever gotten in pdaxrom natively, but somewhat slower). The same can be said for Gnumeric.

I use xzgv for a fast image-viewer, although there's no noticeable difference between the debian version and pdaxrom's versions.

The gpe-stuff should all work too, although I don't use these. ...just about everything available in pdaxrom works in pocketworkstation with a different (more stable) set of libraries. I also use pocketworkstation with pdaxii13 on the 3200.

Instructions for the pdaxrom chroot are here:

http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showt...chrooted+debian

There are a lot of additional instructions, but I find the link above to be the most elegant.

You can also boot into X with this, off the internal microdrive and bypassing pdaxrom (or sharp or whatever) but I haven't gotten this to work yet. A rudimentary example (using VNC) is located at:

http://www.eleves.ens.fr/home/leurent/zaurus.html

A Dual Boot Example is Here

My main reason for using native pdaxrom applications is primarily speed, although some things do work faster in the chroot. Also, I get annoyed with the lack of built-in documentation for most things in pdaxrom, and pocketworkstation resolves this. I realize the need for stripping packages of their documentation to save space, but I have far too much to keep in my head all at once, and I like to have manuals available on short request.

Since you're using pdaxii13 (beta3), and you're after stability the pocketworkstation/pdaxrom beta3 combo might work for you. The only thing I'm uncertain about is the gpe-alarms.

Another alternative is "familiar linux" which claims to support all of the zaurii. Still haven't found any instructions for this either.

http://handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/SupportedHandheldSummary

Edit: Familiar supports all of the zaurii *except* the 3x00 and 1000!

Sorry if you knew all of this already, and don't like any of these methods, I'm just trying to help. Please keep us posted with what you try next.

[Drake01]

Does gpe-calendar actually work? Is it reliable and can I back up my calendar and expect to safely restore it? Does anybody on these forums actually use gpe-calendar?

I user gpe-calendar and I haven't experienced any corruption yet.

I also run gpe-calendar on my desktop and have written scripts to open either the "local" datafile or the file on the Zaurus, which I use as my proper source. The local copy is updated from the Zaurus anytime I connect the Z and open its files from the desktop, which allows me to have a relatively up-to-date copy in case I need to check something quickly from my desktop without connecting the Z. The scripts also create a backup copy of the Zaurus files.

Since you've mentioned issues with corruption, I think I will modify my scripts to maintain a sequence of backup files.

My complaints with gpe-calendar are that:
- The alarms have some problems and I'd love to see that fixed.
CORRECTION: The alarms appear to be working in pdaxii13
- I would really like to have a calendar app that also supports non-scheduled tasks, because I like to keep a list of low priority tasks that I'll do when I get around to them.
- Rescheduling items is awkward, but this more of an issue for me due to the previous item.

[Antikx]

gpe-calendar use and SQLLite to store the data.
With help from others I had gpe-calendar tweaked and working 100% uner Beta 3. Now that I'm using pdaXii13, it looks like I will have to tweak it again to get things working 100%.

[Drake01]

gpe-calendar use and SQLLite to store the data.
With help from others I had gpe-calendar tweaked and working 100% uner Beta 3. Now that I'm using pdaXii13, it looks like I will have to tweak it again to get things working 100%.

What isn't working for you?

I just realized that I haven't used the alarms since I moved to pdaxii13 and re-installed gpe-calendar. I just checked and the alarms seem to be working now!

[danboid]

Drake01:

Its good to hear gpe-calendar is usable but what model Z and OS do you use? Please add that info to your sig as its pretty important for this forum. If gpe-calendar is still working under pdaXii13 (i.e you've not used it yet) then you should be able to get the alarm going but it doesn't work if you're using dsp for playing music, for example. It would be good if the alarm could have priority over /dev/dsp and interrupt whatever else is using it but I don't know if this is possible?

radiochickenwax:

No, I've not tried pocketworkstation yet actually but I should because Debian is my fave PC OS. However, it sounds like a hacky setup. Like why does it use fbvnc for X instead of using the framebuffer directly? I thought vnc was for connecting to remote displays? That brings me onto my first question:

How does the speed of running X apps natively under pws compare to pdaX and X/Qt?

Does suspend and resume work under X on pws on c3000 or have I got to quit X and halt my Z when I'm not using it? This would rule it out as an option if I can't suspend and resume reliably.

What about PDA specific controls/utils under pws? Most importantly I need a battery monitoring app, a screen blanking app and a light and power app to set the screen brightness. Can I use the matchbox apps for this?

From what I've read I can install pws under either Cacko or pdaXii13 (base) on my c3000 right? Which one would be the best option? Every time I've installed Cacko I've always used the standard partitioning setup- can you use custom partition maps to install Cacko on as I'm thinking I'll need a bigger root partition if I run pws under cacko.

I'd like to hear from anyone who is running the latest pws (Sarge) on a c3000, what your experience has been like and any tips or pitfalls you may have discovered.

Thanks!

[Antikx]

gpe-calendar use and SQLLite to store the data.
With help from others I had gpe-calendar tweaked and working 100% uner Beta 3. Now that I'm using pdaXii13, it looks like I will have to tweak it again to get things working 100%.

What isn't working for you?

I just realized that I haven't used the alarms since I moved to pdaxii13 and re-installed gpe-calendar. I just checked and the alarms seem to be working now!

I have to have the Calendar application running in order for the alarm to go off.
Do you not have this problem?

[speculatrix]

Might Hentges, Angstrom (can you currently install Angstrom on the c3000?) or Open/NetBSD offer me a more stable X(FCE) or GPE based OS than pdaXii13 on the c3000 or is Cacko/Sharp my only choice for a stable OS?

is there a specific reason why you don't want to use cacko/sharp?

[Meanie]

oh man, been there, done that...

angstrom is bleeding edge, literally...
pocketworkstation, apps all work fine... however, pws doesn't come with a kernel so you end up with the same issues as using the host system's kernel, anything hardware/kernel related will be the same or worst, eg. keymapping, suspend, audio, video accel..

openbsd is nice but last time i checked the sd driver was still not working...

the most stable ROM for C3000 is Sharp ROM!

[Drake01]

Drake01:

Its good to hear gpe-calendar is usable but what model Z and OS do you use? Please add that info to your sig as its pretty important for this forum. If gpe-calendar is still working under pdaXii13 (i.e you've not used it yet) then you should be able to get the alarm going but it doesn't work if you're using dsp for playing music, for example. It would be good if the alarm could have priority over /dev/dsp and interrupt whatever else is using it but I don't know if this is possible?

Thanks for the reminder... I had meant to do that recently. Little things slip my mind. Ask my wife... she'll eagerly confirm this.

C1000 running pdaxii13 (don't have the full build version listed, but downloaded Feb 9 and the most recent files in tools.tar are dated Jan 16).

gpe-calendar v0.72-1
gpe-announce v0.13.050606

[Meanie]

Drake01:

Its good to hear gpe-calendar is usable but what model Z and OS do you use? Please add that info to your sig as its pretty important for this forum. If gpe-calendar is still working under pdaXii13 (i.e you've not used it yet) then you should be able to get the alarm going but it doesn't work if you're using dsp for playing music, for example. It would be good if the alarm could have priority over /dev/dsp and interrupt whatever else is using it but I don't know if this is possible?

Thanks for the reminder... I had meant to do that recently. Little things slip my mind. Ask my wife... she'll eagerly confirm this.

C1000 running pdaxii13 (don't have the full build version listed, but downloaded Feb 9 and the most recent files in tools.tar are dated Jan 16).

gpe-calendar v0.72-1
gpe-announce v0.13.050606

libschedule is what calls gpe-announce for alarms so make sure you got the updated version of that from my feed.

[Drake01]

I have to have the Calendar application running in order for the alarm to go off.
Do you not have this problem?

I set an alarm for about 20 minutes in the future, closed the calendar app, and suspended the Z. When the time came, the alarm sounded and the Zaurus was awake with the alarm window open.

I was very surprised because I had so many problems with the beta 3 and the calendar version I had been using. Big smiles now!

[Drake01]

libschedule is what calls gpe-announce for alarms so make sure you got the updated version of that from my feed.

I'm running libschedule v0.16-1. It seems to be working for me, although I'm not sure exactly which feed it came from.

[radiochickenwax]

From what I've read I can install pws under either Cacko or pdaXii13 (base) on my c3000 right? Which one would be the best option? Every time I've installed Cacko I've always used the standard partitioning setup- can you use custom partition maps to install Cacko on as I'm thinking I'll need a bigger root partition if I run pws under cacko.

You can install pws on any pdax distro. There are many options. The simplest way is to just run PWS in conjunction with pdax. In this manner, pdaxrom does all of the windowing control, and pws works behind the scenes, only popping up when you issue the "Crd" command. Very much like recent cygwin builds on ms-windows if you've tried that.

an example
You boot into pdaxrom, and say you want to run a debian terminal. Why? Because the busybox terminals that come with pdaxrom don't quite have everything. Just run "startdebian.sh" from a terminal (if you haven't already), then "Crd aterm&". If you have "aterm" installed in PWS, a new window pops up with the root filesystem inside of debian.

Like why does it use fbvnc for X instead of using the framebuffer directly? I thought vnc was for connecting to remote displays? That brings me onto my first question:

How does the speed of running X apps natively under pws compare to pdaX and X/Qt?

Don't use X/QT if you want speed. PdaXrom is perfectly capable of doing everything that X/QT does. This method (by pgas) does not use VNC. Earlier methods used VNC with or without X/QT, but this is only because there is no native X-server in roms like sharp and cacko.

OZ (GPE) and pdaxrom run an xserver that PWS can use.

Does suspend and resume work under X on pws on c3000 or have I got to quit X and halt my Z when I'm not using it? This would rule it out as an option if I can't suspend and resume reliably.

Suspend and resume works the same as they do without PWS. If they were broken without PWS, they will be broken with PWS. It doesn't change anything on the 3200, or the 6000. I don't see why it would be any different on a 3000.

What about PDA specific controls/utils under pws? Most importantly I need a battery monitoring app, a screen blanking app and a light and power app to set the screen brightness. Can I use the matchbox apps for this?

In the 1st method (by pgas) that I linked to above, pdaxrom acts as the main operating system that debian interfaces to. *Everything* is controlled by pdaxrom. You are just controlling an additional (more complete) operating system that is hosted inside of your "main" operating system.

[danboid]

I obviously got the wrong idea about this setup then as I thought that pws would've included the debian xorg packages. As I've already stated, the main reason I'm was considering jumping pdaXii13 is that the X11 keymapping is broke- it only works for a limited time before you need to restart X. I was quite happy with the thought of using pdaXii13 base and installing pws on top of that because the keyboard seems to work fine all the time under the pdaXii13 text console, it's something to do with XFree thats causing problems I think so I thought I might be able to get round this major bug with pws.

I'm sure I'm remember seeing somebody compile xorg for b3, did I not? Has anybody tried installing xorg on pdaXii13? Does the keymapping work reliably? Does CAPS LOCK work? Will all the pdaxii13/b3 X apps work under xorg? Upgrading to xorg should also mean we get the possibility of having transparent windows too right?