OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Armagon on December 03, 2005, 09:57:25 am
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Greetings!
Being a newbie (with tons of information to absorb), I'd like to learn from your mistakes and triumphs:- What do you wish you'd known as a newbie?
- What do you wish you'd done or hadn't done?
- What pitfalls lurk for the unwary, and what treasures await the keen?
- If you could go back in time and speak to your former self, what would you tell him/her (aside from the winning lottery number )?
Newbies like myself are dying to learn from you!
Armagon
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- Don't bother with the standard ROM, or PIM apps. As an extension of that, I wish I'd have been aware of just how shitty they were before I bought the Z.
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What i need to learn, And where to find it, Plus what order to learn it in so it makes sense
ie learning somthing like the flags for pppd before knowing what the command line is.
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Once you have got what you want and where all setup.........
BACK IT UP
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Greetings!
Being a newbie (with tons of information to absorb), I'd like to learn from your mistakes and triumphs:- What do you wish you'd known as a newbie?
- What do you wish you'd done or hadn't done?
- What pitfalls lurk for the unwary, and what treasures await the keen?
- If you could go back in time and speak to your former self, what would you tell him/her (aside from the winning lottery number )?
Newbies like myself are dying to learn from you!
Armagon
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105885\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
1. ...wish you'd known...
~ How to properly backup/restore user data when upgrading a ROM or switching between ROMs.
~ Better understanding of the Linux OS and how to navigate around, Linux commands, etc
~ VI editor
2. ...wish you'd done or hadn't...
~ Taken a week or so and try every ROM and then pick a favorite
3. ...pitfalls...treasures...
~ Be careful in the service menus, can easily brick a Z
~ Treasure - ability to easily create your own code
4. ...go back in time...
~ Be patient, especially if you are coming from the Palm OS world where you have little to no access to the OS level. The Z and Linux allow you a lot of opportunity to tweak and fine tune that other platforms do not. Take the time to learn what's going on behind the scenes and you'll have a more enjoyable user experience.
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When I first got my 5500, I wish I had known that sandisk SD cards were not compatible with the stock rom. Eventually there was a fix for this, but it was frustrating at that time. I myself now stay away from sandisk (except the ultras)
When buying new hardware for the Z, make sure it is compatible before hand. There are enough people here to give a concensus of what works and what doesn't.
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* When asking question about anything, state the device & 'ROM' version & program version if possible.
* If a program doesn't run, try it from the command line and post whatever it gives as output in addition to anything else you have.
Si
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* When asking question about anything, state the device & 'ROM' version & program version if possible.
* If a program doesn't run, try it from the command line and post whatever it gives as output in addition to anything else you have.
I believe this is the best advice here for a newbie... or 'anyone' that doesn't already do that.
Greg
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3. ...pitfalls...treasures...
~ Be careful in the service menus, can easily brick a Z
Actually, you can't brick a Z. You can only really brick StrongArm based zaurusses, all xscale models have a rescue image in a real ROM chip, which you can only break by either using a hammer or a large EMP (which would probably kill every device in your neighbourhood as well)
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3. ...pitfalls...treasures...
~ Be careful in the service menus, can easily brick a Z
Actually, you can't brick a Z. You can only really brick StrongArm based zaurusses, all xscale models have a rescue image in a real ROM chip, which you can only break by either using a hammer or a large EMP (which would probably kill every device in your neighbourhood as well)
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=106101\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Speaking of EMP..........
Dont leave your Z in your car hooked up to the speakers when its going to have some welding done........
:-(
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Speaking of EMP..........
Dont leave your Z in your car hooked up to the speakers when its going to have some welding done........
:-(
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=106103\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
What a vivid, horrific image -- say it didn't really happen. Oh, man.
Armagon
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run the program from commandline, debug dealie.
backup
Take Notes, lots of them
backup
no vim, pico(its easier)
did I say backup?
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I wish I had set up python as my preferred native development environment earlier. While there is a performance penalty on my SL-5500, I find python is the best fit for the device and works on both sharp-based and pdaxrom (I am not sure about OZ/OPIE). I wasted a lot of time trying to get java, C++, and other things to work well.
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OZ contain python
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I REALLY wished I had learnt earlier the marvels of Unison to backup my Z
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I am a Newbie, have been reading this site off and on for a few years now. Well, I finally have bought a SL-5500. (it will come in the mail on Thursday) I have been using and leaning about linux on my main box for a couple of years now, So i think I will be ok using the Z. Any advise will be useful. Thanks.
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with the 5500, backup is crucial as power loss means loss of data.
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List out what you plan to do.
Share your findings and post your problems.
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For you firmware flashers out thier
its not a matter of "if" when talking about making your device a brick its a "when", make sure you have the recovery infomation in hand, printed out, on your hard drive, flashdisk and every other piece of hardware you can find, and learn + understand the recovery process before you do it
I say this as i once did a firmware flash with no accsess to a computer for a couple of days and stuffed it up, a very bad learning experince
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One more thing on peripherals -
The zaurus is much more useful with wireless networking. Go ahead and plan on getting a wi-fi card and getting a wireless router at home if you don't have one.
Also, sooner or later I think we all end up with a high-capacity SD card. It is more convenient than CF because you don't have to give up your wireless for it.
Keep an eye out on good deals (prices are very good right now) and scoop one up. SanDisk users have reported some problems but others seem to work fine. Nothing greater than 1 GB will work. Don't worry about high-speed products because they won't really be any faster on the Zaurus.
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... Nothing greater than 1 GB will work. Don't worry about high-speed products because they won't really be any faster on the Zaurus.
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Thats good Information to know about SD Card Size. My Palm T5 is the only device I own I *think* (have not tried my self) that will recognise a SD card over 1 GB.
I am thinking I want to use the Crow/Cacko Rom on my 5500 because of the 64MB / 0 memory it frees and I like the idea of having the Home directory on SD for easy unison backup. Tell Me if I am thinking wrong! Or if you have much better, experienced opinion.
Also... Thanks for the good tips, cant wait till my 5500 gets here, have set up and Maintained many linux servers and worked with linux at home for the past two years, but i consider my self a newbie because there is soooo much to learn, I hope to learn more with the 5500. If I really like the 5500, I will probably sell my T5 and get a Clamshell Zaurus. I will post to the forum on what I do to the 5500, I guess the first thing I will learn to do is backup the device. Oh and I love Unison, I use it to backup the Palm T5, and the servers at work. Thanks. Later!
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Speaking of EMP..........
Dont leave your Z in your car hooked up to the speakers when its going to have some welding done........
:-(
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=106103\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
What a vivid, horrific image -- say it didn't really happen. Oh, man.
Armagon
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=106187\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Yup Z's dead...........
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... Nothing greater than 1 GB will work. Don't worry about high-speed products because they won't really be any faster on the Zaurus.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=106357\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Thats good Information to know about SD Card Size. My Palm T5 is the only device I own I *think* (have not tried my self) that will recognise a SD card over 1 GB.
I am thinking I want to use the Crow/Cacko Rom on my 5500 because of the 64MB / 0 memory it frees and I like the idea of having the Home directory on SD for easy unison backup. Tell Me if I am thinking wrong! Or if you have much better, experienced opinion.
Also... Thanks for the good tips, cant wait till my 5500 gets here, have set up and Maintained many linux servers and worked with linux at home for the past two years, but i consider my self a newbie because there is soooo much to learn, I hope to learn more with the 5500. If I really like the 5500, I will probably sell my T5 and get a Clamshell Zaurus. I will post to the forum on what I do to the 5500, I guess the first thing I will learn to do is backup the device. Oh and I love Unison, I use it to backup the Palm T5, and the servers at work. Thanks. Later!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=106409\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Another benefit to using the 64/0 Crow/Cacko ROM is that if you don't recharge your SL-5500 and the battery loses it's complete charge the only setting you will have to fix will be the time/date. Everything else is stored on the sdcard and therefore dry battery invulnerable.
....something I wish I knew when I was a SL-5500 user....
There's REALLY good retail software out there, much of which will run on just about any Zaurus platform. The emphasis is almost always on "free" software around here because we're a bunch of Linux/OpenSource bugs but you shouldn't blind yourself to the retail apps available. They can REALLY help you get started and get your feet wet without the fear of drowning in the attempt. thekompany.com has a great line of fairly inexpensive apps, but most importantly they have SUPER replacements for the lousy PIM apps that come on the SL-5500. IMPORTANT!!--->Something you need to know ahead of time about those PIM replacements is that if you use any ROM based on the Sharp 3.1 "upgrade" thekompany.com's PIM apps will NOT be syncable with your desktop any longer!
.....something else I wish I knew....
That more is often less, especially with the older Zaurii such as the 5500. Rather than going with the newest ROM distributions such as the 'newer' Cacko/Crow ROM, you should consider going with the Original Crow ROM. You won't have the sync probs listed above and just about EVERY program written for the SL-5500 will work with it cleanly and without much frustration or worry. The only thing that the newer ROM's will truly enable are things that you can easily do without while your new- such as Prettier Menus fonts and backgrounds, a super detailed battery meter, and the such. For a new user using this older ROM to begin with will allow you to go bonzai crazy finding out what goes where and what apps are actually beneficial or worthless etc. without the constant worry of compatibility or breaking everything in sight because you just installed something evil. (BTW I think the original Crow ROM is in the download section at zaurususergroup.org but if not and anyone needs it just email me and I'll email it to you or post it temporarily so you can download it.)
...and what I'd tell myself when I was just starting....
Don't sweat over trying to decide when to dive into your first major reflash, or whether you should try your first recompile etc! You'll know you're ready when you pick up your Z one day and say....I'm bored. THEN... you're ready- go jump in.
One final thing I must echo from others that stands out above all else:
*cover your ears please*
DO NOT BUY ANY HARWARE THAT IS RELATED TO YOUR ZAURUS EVER....NOT EVER....UNTIL YOU SEARCH THESE FORUMS AND THE RELATED ZAURUS SITES TO SEE IF IT IS COMPATIBLE AND WHAT ROMS/SOFTWARE IT'S COMPATIBLE WITH!!!!!
It just can't be stressed enough. I've spent so much on accessories over the years that never got used I could start a museum with them and call it "NeuroShock's Hall of Shame." And without fail each and every device was already known to work/not work.
The only other thing I can think of is to have sent an email to myself on the day that Sharp released the first press release on the SL-5500 and told myself to pre-order one immediately.
Cheers!,
NeuroShock
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thanks neuroshock (good info)
I am running the Cacko/crow rom 64-0 now, works great,
Also one other thing that is really hooking my on the 5500 over my T5 is the True multitasking.
I was copying over some CDs (mp3) from my CF Card to the bid SD card, Takes like about an hour for 200 MB or so (SLOW!) but, the really cool thing is that my wife was playing yatze and the jezzball clone practically the whole time it was copying the files! My battery is allways dead because of her game playing.
One this is that I never sync. I never sync on my Palm PDAs either for about a year now, Got tired of sync problems, and with WIFI, i really have no reason to sync. (i still backup my contacts, via bluetooth to the home computer, and leave all important files on SD.)
I am planning on getting a wifi card soon, and hopefully a new battery.
One thing I found out as a newbie, is when copying files around on the Z. DO NOT USE THE DOCUMENTS/Files TAB ON THE SHARP ROM! I waited double time for the copy on the crow rom because i didnt realize that in copying from the CF to the SD, that the ROM would copy from the CF to the internal ram(which is the SD card on this setup, only to then copy the files from the SD card temp location to the SD card again in the final file location. Found that the cp command or the advanced file manager program will just do a simple copy from cf to SD cutting the time in half, and takes little system ram while doing it.
Also, I am having a hard time finding Python for the Zaurus. broken links every where.
Also, this: http://smallbasic.sourceforge.net/index.php#download (http://smallbasic.sourceforge.net/index.php#download) could be recompiled easly for ARM? (only command line, not the GUI) or maybe not.
thanks.
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Once you have got what you want and where all setup.........
BACK IT UP
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=106073\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Amen! AND document in detail the steps you took in GETTING there. Because at some point in the future you will not be able to remember exactly which packages you installed, in which order & what ones you later uninstalled at each of the backup points. Make good notes to yourself a habit.
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Greetings!
Being a newbie (with tons of information to absorb), I'd like to learn from your mistakes and triumphs:- What do you wish you'd known as a newbie?
- What do you wish you'd done or hadn't done?
- What pitfalls lurk for the unwary, and what treasures await the keen?
- If you could go back in time and speak to your former self, what would you tell him/her (aside from the winning lottery number )?
Newbies like myself are dying to learn from you!
Armagon
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105885\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
my answer... shouldve known more to be more patient lol. problems can always be solved. always.
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- Don't bother with the standard ROM, or PIM apps. As an extension of that, I wish I'd have been aware of just how shitty they were before I bought the Z.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105897\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Strange. I think the calendar is OK. Not as good as on a Psion, and sometimes too many clicks to get something done - but not bad.
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Whenever you install an ipk, keep a copy of it on your desktop/laptop.
Some of the ones I installed ages ago can't be found any more, so I can't change to another ROM without losing some apps I really want...
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Keep a setup log of everything that you do.. sooner or later you will want to rebuild and you may want to avoid searching out all those answers to problems that you had in your initial setup.
If something produces a quirk that confuses you, make a note of it, make a note of how you fixed it even if it doesn't make any sense to you and update your notes later when you understand the issue better.
I recommend running a Wiki to do this.. I use moinmoin desktop edition that just requires Python. The desktop edition stores its pages in plain text files so you can synchronise it with your desktop using UNISON.
-Andy
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You could always set up a repository for those ipkg's on your PC and when you backup get ipkg to list the installed packages, then when you rebuild the system you can add your repository and strip the package names using "cut'" piped to xargs or a temp file that you then pass to ipkg
and bingo all your apps are installed again
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with the 5500, backup is crucial as power loss means loss of data.
too true !!
advice:
-get VNC running asap, otherwise you end up the hunch back of notredam from using terminal too much while your 5500 is in the cradle
-addon extra's are what its all about, so start researching for when you got the $$$ so you dont rush out and buy something potentially incompatible...
Linux Lives
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that this is what was going on and it wasnt a fault with my 5500 i just bought...
My Zaurus keeps locking up when I reboot
Suspend or install SafeBoot
If you are rebooting twice in a row without suspending in between, this is the infamous 'Double Reboot' bug. The workaround is to always suspend between reboots or install SafeBoot to do this automatically so you can't forget:
http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/showdetail.php?app=861 (http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/showdetail.php?app=861)
oh, and where to find the safeboot package as all links i find are broken...
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Found it here:
http://zaurus.spy.org/feeds/elkins/old/ (http://zaurus.spy.org/feeds/elkins/old/)
Page with descriptions:
http://www.cpinkney.org.uk/zaurus.html#susp-resume (http://www.cpinkney.org.uk/zaurus.html#susp-resume)
I zipped it up because adding attachments sometimes causes problems.
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found out as well from this thread:
Both green and amber lights went on at reboot - what to do?:
https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showt...982&hl=safeboot (https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=982&hl=safeboot)
the links for the ipk's you need are broken though but i found alt-feeds:
#1 - http://zaurus.spy.org/feeds/elkins/old/sus...ume_0.9-3.1.ipk (http://zaurus.spy.org/feeds/elkins/old/susp-resume_0.9-3.1.ipk)
#2 - http://zaurus.spy.org/feeds/elkins/old/sus...afeboot_0.9.ipk (http://zaurus.spy.org/feeds/elkins/old/susp-resume-safeboot_0.9.ipk)
you need both and are updates on the orig safeboot:
"This is a modified version of SafeBoot for the Suspend/Resume Script Architecture.
It must be installed to RAM with the Suspend/Resume Script Architecture installed first."
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- I'm with Meanie ... I wish I'd have known just how mind-numbingly pathetic the "PIM" apps are on the Z, and that it has no real database capability. These are solvable with third-party tools, but the base unit has nothing useable. I came from a Psion 5mx, and the Z simply does not even pay lip service to standing up to what the 5mx has. Period. Still doesn't.
- I wish I'd have known about KDE/PIM before I wasted my money on that piss-ant "tkc" crap. Sure, it's better than the stock "PIM" suite, but that's like saying a Chevette is better than walking. It's still not hardly a car. I cannot address their other software, but based upon my experience with tkcAddress and tkcCalendar, I don't buy anything from them any longer, and I never will.
- I wish I'd have found OESF years ago!! It would have saved me lots of frustration. Actually, my membership says I've been here a long time ... I just don't remember joining! (vaccuous drool)
- I knew Linux pretty well when I started with the Z so I can't say what I'd wish I'd known from a Linux newbie standpoint. I've been doing computers for decades, so I can't say what I'd need to know from that standpoint, either. The Z is just a tiny computer ... I back up my laptop once a week, why wouldn't I back up the Z?
- I knew I'd have a Linux computer (not a "pda", a real computer) in my pocket, with all that implies. That was the real treasure, it still is the real treasure, and I don't see that going away any time soon. Zaurus simply rocks.
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Always make a note of what you did at the end of the day. (mistakes and lessons learnt)
And read it.
and try not to repeat your mistakes.