http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/static.php?page=ZaurusUbuntu



Can someone decipher this and give a step by step guide? Exact terminal commands with example /dev/sdc2 etc would be help.

1. Extract filesystem to CF, SD
Say SDHC card is used and detected as /dev/sdc. Partition 1 contains zubuntu and is at /dev/sdc1 while partition 2 is going to contain cacko at /dev/sdc2, mounted at /media/disk1.

Extracts cackoimage.tar.gz to present directory, /media/disk1
/media/disk1$ sudo tar xvzf /pathtocacko/cackoimage.tar.gz

2. Create a boot directory in the root of the filesystem. Which filesystem? /media/disk1?

$ mkdir /media/disk1/boot

3. Copy cacko kernel to /boot directory in the above filesystem

$ cp /mypath/zImage /media/disk1/boot/

4. Create a file named kernel-cmdline containing the kernel startup command line
How do we do that? In the boot directory as well? Ambiguous.

Create a new file kernel-cmdline at the boot directory
$ gedit /media/disk1/boot/kernel-cmdline

Insert the kernel startup command line. Erm ... how?? Sample?

5. Optionally add a file named image.nfo containing a description of the distro, all in the /boot directory

Create a new file image.nfo at the boot directory
$ gedit /media/disk1/boot/image.nfo

Insert a description of the distro.
Is this a unformatted plain text description or is there a format here? Sample?

Anyone with info on the above? Please help! Many thanks!

Check this topic to see what I did to have Cacko 1.23 and Zubuntu dual booting.

How does one come by a cacko image?

Thanks y'all for the replies. Will check it out.

Cacko image ... think 1.23 is floating around ...

So I guess the file to be extraced is the .bin file in the cacko package? How does one extract this bin file to a partition on a flash device? Obviously this is what flashing the z does, but I'm not sure how to go about it manually and find myself with a working cacko image on my internal drive. Atm dual booting from the Z's internal flash has proved utterly hopeless- zubuntu works great, cacko finds new and interesting ways not to boot despite my various attempts.Booting from a card partion seems like a better way to go, anyway

Sadly to say adf, I've been drawn away from my Z to my netbook of late.

Not sure when I can or will try some of these distro. Only got my z to boot up zubuntu once just to try it out ...

/rant ... actually, I really miss my Jornada 720 ... of all the devices I've used, J720 would come in a first with the akita a close 2nd. I guess the Asus 900HA is the closest the netbooks will ever get to the Jornada 720. The Sony Vaio P is everything one can ask for, but it is too exp. Oh well ...
/rant off/

I don't know much about Cacko, but I eventually worked out how to get the kexec-boot thingy working, and I'm glad I did it is bloody ace! Forgetting Cacko or NAND for the moment, I will explain what I have learned about kexec-boot.

Once you have flashed the Z it has a special kernel which when it boots, will look at all the partitions it can find (including those on attached media) and if it finds any with a /boot containing a zImage it will present them in a menu.

So, on my Z right now I have that special kernel. I have made two partitions on the microdrive.
In the first I extracted a recent Angstrom root filesystem, and then in the /boot I placed the Angstrom zImage file, and made the kernel-cmdline file containing:

"console=ttyS0,115200n8 console=tty1 noinitrd rootfstype=ext3 fbcon=rotate:1 dyntick=enable debug"

The image.nfo file doesnt work for me. I have no idea - I think it just prints some pretty labels (which would be handy) but things work without it!

Then on my other partition I extracted the zubuntu root filesystem and the omegamoon kernel, and an identical kernel-cmdline file (It may not work for other kernels - Im thinking of the Cacko kernel here specifically - its 2.4 isnt it?).

So basically, when I boot my Z I get a nice menu with those two.

Now the cool thing is, you can install Debian / Angstrom / Zubuntu or whatever to a CF or SD card, and boot from that to install stuff on the microdrive (Cortez alludes to this in his "how to" to get Zubuntu installed on the flash).

Anyway, having covered all of that, I will now speculate wildly about things would work with Cacko.

I am guessing that the process goes something like: Flash Cacko normally. Either then boot into Cacko and somehow get a copy of its kernel, and place it in /boot with an appropriate kernel-cmdline on the NAND where Cacko is installed, or flash kexec-boot, and then boot from a distro installed on SD or CF fixing up /boot as described, either way flash kexec-boot after you have flashed Cacko. You can then boot it because it should show up in the kexec-boot menu. You would then be able to put whatever you want on a microdrive (or indeed on a SD or CF card should you have a Zaurus without one).

Hopefully that will help!

(And hopefully someone can fill in any gaps on my knowledge - I am kind of tempted to try getting an English translation of the Sharp ROM on my NAND).

I have cacko working from Nand, but a card installable cacko image, that worked from media more or less like zubuntu or angstrom would be really interesting, too.

I would imagine it wouldnt be any different. Just partition your SD card, extract the Cacko root fs to said partition, place a Cacko kernel in and appropriate kernel-cmdline in /boot on said partition and kexec-boot should be able to see it.

Is your Cacko installed in a kexec-boot system? Were my assumptions about the installation process correct (i.e. is it easy enough to find the kernel amongst the Cacko install "media", and will the kernel-cmdline work?

I have two C3200s and I have never made use of the NAND partition on either of them. What I have seen of the Sharp rom disgusts me, and I am not in the slightest bit interested in Cacko from what I know of it (no offense to the developer) but that funky cut down version of pdaxrom could be fun to have in NAND.

I would really love Poky in NAND too but I have no idea how you would do that.

To be honest NAND scares me just don't know much about how it is all laid out or if there is important stuff there...

My cacko is installed in a kexec system. The easiest way to make the kernel-cmdline work from the nand install is to do cat /proc/cmdline > (partition)/boot/kernel-cmdline. works like a charm. I'd probably just copy the kernel-cmdline from the zubuntu default setup to the sd or cf partition and see how that went. The part I'm not sure about is how to extract the cacko root fs from nand to a partition...

Incidentally, while I kind of agree that the sharprom is ugly, cacko does make for a handy zpod/pda option. I moved to zubuntu form a really solid pdaXrom setup because pdaXrom is decent as a media player, but it isn't very pdaish, and other than the bvdd acceleration in the 2.4 kernel is just completely outclassed as an X based linux desktop by the newer software in zubuntu. This is of course assuming one is looking for functions, and not simply wanting to play with systems. I think my next system to play with will probably be bsd...