OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Lord Thag on May 12, 2006, 11:56:44 am
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After putting together a frankenbox battery system and finding a replacement battery online, I'm dragging my old but much loved Z out of the old PDA's home (sl-5500 with default rom). I forgot how much of a pain setting the bloody thing up was. It's no wonder these things never caught on with the general public. I've done a few searches of the net and this forum but I haven't yet come up with answers to a few questions. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance:
1) How do you get many of the ipkg files to install to CF/SD with the default sharp rom? I've seen a lot of people talking about workarounds for this, but not any explanations. Several of them mentioned a 'configure' command, but I have no idea how to implement this (i.e syntax, target file, directory etc). I'm not that experienced with linux yet.
2) SDL libraries. Ugh, I've installed about 300,000 different versions of these *^%!*^& things in a vain effort to try and get all of my SDL based games to run at the same time. Does anyone have a link to the correct set? I'm *really* trying to get lgeneral to run, but have had absolutely no success. I also have not been able to find installable copies of libfree or ncurses. The ones on elsi don't install. Any help would be welcome!
3) Sharp ROM 3.13. I've been able to download the file, but I haven't been able to find any info on it. Is this worth uprgaring to? I know there are several other popular ROM distros, but I mainly just want to run games. Just curious.
4) Wi-fi. I've seen a to of conflicting reports on which CF wi-fi card to buy. Can anyone point me to one that's fairly easy to get up and going (and doesn't require three hours of fiddling with config files)?
Thanks everyone, these questions have been driving me crazy.
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you definitely want to upgrade your rom to 3.13 or equiv cacko or tkc rom. It is a vast improvement. The cacko rom and partly the tkc rom will be patched.
just don't buy the netgear wifi card. It is extremely easy to get going, but they all seem to break prematurely.
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actually, I think switching to OZ/Opie might be a good idea for you.
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actually, I think switching to OZ/Opie might be a good idea for you.
I just flashed the 3.13 sharp ROM, and things went sour. Halfway through the installation I get a 'superblock read error' and a bunch of other junk. Several different roms all did the same thing. However, the unit seems to work just fine. I'm thinking it was a CF problem.
I still can't get lgeneral to run with yet another set of SDL files I cam across.
What is the advantage of using the OZ rom, by the way?
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actually, I think switching to OZ/Opie might be a good idea for you.
I just flashed the 3.13 sharp ROM, and things went sour. Halfway through the installation I get a 'superblock read error' and a bunch of other junk. Several different roms all did the same thing. However, the unit seems to work just fine. I'm thinking it was a CF problem.
I still can't get lgeneral to run with yet another set of SDL files I cam across.
What is the advantage of using the OZ rom, by the way?
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opie has good screen optimization for the 5500, a good up-to-date kernel, softlfloat everything, libsdl stuff in the feed, made specifically for that distro, a good pim suite, a sweet filemanager. It also has installation options to better handle your limited memory and file installation locations. It has lively forum support and sees regular updates. If you don't like it, flashing back is easy enough.
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opie has good screen optimization for the 5500, a good up-to-date kernel, softlfloat everything, libsdl stuff in the feed, made specifically for that distro, a good pim suite, a sweet filemanager. It also has installation options to better handle your limited memory and file installation locations. It has lively forum support and sees regular updates. If you don't like it, flashing back is easy enough.
Very true, if I could get it to work. I've flashed it twice now, and it works fine for awhile, but then (after a shutdown/restart) rotates the screen to landscape mode, and refuses to move it back. This is regardless of the fact that I do not have the autorotation software installed. Editing the .conf files I could find seems to have no effect.
I swear, the Zaurus is a neat PDA (when it works), but it is, without a doubt, the most bug-ridden and frustrating thing I've ever messed with. I've searched the forums here several time, and while I've seen others posting on the same issue, I've yet to find a solution. *sigh*
Back to the Sharp rom I guess....
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opie has good screen optimization for the 5500, a good up-to-date kernel, softlfloat everything, libsdl stuff in the feed, made specifically for that distro, a good pim suite, a sweet filemanager. It also has installation options to better handle your limited memory and file installation locations. It has lively forum support and sees regular updates. If you don't like it, flashing back is easy enough.
Very true, if I could get it to work. I've flashed it twice now, and it works fine for awhile, but then (after a shutdown/restart) rotates the screen to landscape mode, and refuses to move it back. This is regardless of the fact that I do not have the autorotation software installed. Editing the .conf files I could find seems to have no effect.
I swear, the Zaurus is a neat PDA (when it works), but it is, without a doubt, the most bug-ridden and frustrating thing I've ever messed with. I've searched the forums here several time, and while I've seen others posting on the same issue, I've yet to find a solution. *sigh*
Back to the Sharp rom I guess....
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Ask around in the OZ opie threads. There are people there much more knowledgeable about this than I am. I bet it can be easily solved.
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This is regardless of the fact that I do not have the autorotation software installed.
The rotation stuff is built-in, no need for extra software.
Do you have the rotate icons on the bottom of the 'start menu'? Do they not do anything?
Si
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The rotation stuff is built-in, no need for extra software.
Do you have the rotate icons on the bottom of the 'start menu'? Do they not do anything?
Yes I do, and no, they don't do anything. Even editing the config files doesn't work. I finally said the hell with it and re-flashed the sharp 3.13 rom. I used the SDL 2.5 cvs files from the 'how to run doom' section of the wiki, and everything seems to be working now.
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|glares|
Well my 5600 works just FINE!
Just have to reset it every now and then,
Format the partitions whenever Opera cacks up,
Reinstall my modem driver every time I reboot,
Flash the operating system every few months to keep up to date,
Modify the operating system files at least once a month to preserve stability,
Solder a component back on every now and then,
Respray the casing whenever the paint comes off,
Superglue bits of the frame back together if I breathe on it too hard,
Ok, you ALL know I'm kidding.
Damn thing just takes a bit of getting to know when you get your first zaurus.
Almost as much of a geektoy as an Abacus watch!
They always yell at me for bringing my Zaurus onto the shop floor at work, same for my clie. I wonder if they'll even notice the Abacus? I guess the fact that I'm wearing two watches might give me away, but you never know.