OESF Portables Forum
Everything Else => Sharp Zaurus => Model Specific Forums => Distros, Development, and Model Specific Forums => Archived Forums => 6000 - Tosa => Topic started by: the_oak on January 27, 2008, 11:04:17 am
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My 6000 is a favorite device, except for one thing. Video playback of wmv files! They are slow motion, and choppy. I wonder if installing the fast kernel as described here (https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Fast_kernel_install_instructions) would help. I also have an NEC MobilePro 900C (with cmonex rom) that has the same processor and a screen that is ... how should I put it? AWFUL! Yet it will play these wmv files just fine. It has no video acceleration (that I know of). It kills me that my Z (with it's gorgeous screen) can't do this too!
Has anyone used the instructions linked to above? Are these instructions fairly dummy-proof? Will this kernel help with mplayer? And is this kernel 100% compatible with Sharp ROM and ipks I already have?
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My 6000 is a favorite device, except for one thing. Video playback of wmv files! They are slow motion, and choppy. I wonder if installing the fast kernel as described here (https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Fast_kernel_install_instructions) would help. I also have an NEC MobilePro 900C (with cmonex rom) that has the same processor and a screen that is ... how should I put it? AWFUL! Yet it will play these wmv files just fine. It has no video acceleration (that I know of). It kills me that my Z (with it's gorgeous screen) can't do this too!
Has anyone used the instructions linked to above? Are these instructions fairly dummy-proof? Will this kernel help with mplayer? And is this kernel 100% compatible with Sharp ROM and ipks I already have?
I haven't compared w/ wmv, but it will be no slower, and might well be faster. The overall difference makes the update worthwhile, anyway- imho.
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Well, I did it. I flashed the fast kernel using the above mentioned howto. One of the files it says to download is not there (keyboard.tar.gz). Another file (encsh) is there, but there is no instruction for what to do with it. But this does not seem to affect anything. The upgrade went fine. I think it feels zippier, but I have no way to measure this. I did have to drop in a couple modules (serial_cs.o, pelrun's >2GB sd module, and pegasus.o). So now it sees my 2 GB SD card.
The only thing I see as a possible problem is that usb_ohci_tc6393 module is missing. Can I get that from someone? I believe it is used to connect usb devices. I'll have to see if thumb drives (and such) work without it.
Also, is there an overclocking utility? (It seems to me that there was one back when I tried Guylhem's rom.) or is the cpu self throttling?
EDIT: One more thing: The on/off button no longer suspends. I have to suspend from the start button menu. Any way to fix that?
EDIT2: After re-reading some old posts, I have discovered that the >2GB SD driver was pelrun's, not adf's. (sorry to credit wrongly) Adf did contribute numerous other modules compiled for the 6000.
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After a good nights sleep, (was working on this til 1:30 AM) I tried various USB devices, and they all seem to work. A USB mouse, numeric keypad, thumb drive, ethernet, and even a cue cat all worked just fine. So I guess the missing module (usb_ohci_tc6393) is not needed. Built in WIFI, and PocketTop IR keyboard also work. Movies seem less prone to blockiness. (wmv movies are still slow and choppy though). No installed program required re-installation.
The one and only problem (if you want to call it that) is the on/off switch not working. I'm going to check that big long post about the fast kernel (again) in the Guylhem ROM section and see if that was ever figured out.
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Don't know if this applies to your .wmv files or not, but when i play .avi's at full screen on my z i have to bump the processor speed up to 624 mhz with the fastest bus too. otherwise the video is low frame rate.
Have you tried applying the processor speed hack that comes stock with cacko?
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Cacko is not available for our 6000s. Is that speed hack available as an ipk?
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Cacko is not available for our 6000s. Is that speed hack available as an ipk?
With tetsu's kernel, you can use the battery app (from cacko,I think)
If you have trouble finding it, I can send
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I found battery-changeCCCRapplet_1.1.0_arm.ipk here:
http://www.katastrophos.net/zaurus/mirrors/piro.hopto.org/ (http://www.katastrophos.net/zaurus/mirrors/piro.hopto.org/)
Is that the one? It appears to be written for the 700 series (I only say that because some of the files have "c700" in their names). It installs, but I don't know if it is the best app for the 6000.
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I don't think Toshiba *ever* released the full programming manual* for the tc-6393 "companion chip", which would cover video acceleration. Many of us have tried to use their contacts to get a copy. Sharp never released source code to their kernel module. One guy managed to make a few inroads into getting some of the acceleration going but for some reason he stopped, I think he did it purely by hard work and random poking!
There are various theories why, the only one that vaguely makes sense is that the 6393 is also the SD controller and since that was proprietary, Toshiba probably didn't feel able to release any information.
The same chip was also used in another PDA, an ipaq or something, and the guys working on that also floundered.
So, if you know anyone really really technical at Toshiba, do ask them if they can provide the programmers manual and then we'll get video acceleration!
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speculatrix,
I hope someone can find that reference. Especially someone who knows how to use it.
I am not holding my breath.
In the mean time, this fast kernel seems to help some. My only regret is not being able to use my power button. I checked the really long fast kernel thread from about 2 years ago, and the power button was an issue that seems to require a patch to the kernel, and kernel recompile. Anyone know of an easier solution?
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the power button was an issue that seems to require a patch to the kernel, and kernel recompile. Anyone know of an easier solution?
I assume it's because the keyboard, which is implemented as an array of I/O (not even sure if it's a cross-bar) driver doesn't generate the scan code for the power button?
Therefore, I'd guess you could write a module which set up the I/O port and sent a signal to userspace to trigger suspend & resume?
this is all my guesswork as I know very little about such things, never having written a linux device driver (I haven't done embedded programming in 15 years, back then it was all 8051's and 80188's!)
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what do you mean "can't use the power button?" Did you also install the modules for that kernel from tetsu's site? I think my power button is ok- it turns the thing on and suspends/unsupends the Z. Was there something else it was supposed to do?
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When I press the power button (the on/off physical switch on the left edge of the Z) it does not turn the Z off, no matter how quickly I push and release, OR how long I hold it. I can use the "Suspend" from the start menu to suspend, then the power button WILL let me turn the Z back on.
I downloaded the modules.tar.gz from externe.net (here) (http://externe.net/zaurus/flash/kernel/binaries/), and followed the instructions here. (https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Fast_kernel_install_instructions)
adf, Does your power button work as normal for off and for on? (I probably did something wrong )
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Just out of curiosity, what ROM have I installed if I used this (https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Fast_kernel_install_instructions) link?
I presumed it was the latest Tetsuized ROM by Guylhem, with help from adf on modules and such.
Is that what I have installed? uname -r just reports, "2.4.18-rmk-pxa3-embedix".
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I've been checking around and now believe my power button not working is a result of one of the .tbl files I copied into /opt/Qtopia/etc. I followed the directions in the howto I've linked to at the start of this thread. I now wish that I had backed up the .tbl files before deleting them.
Can anyone (who is still using the default Sharp ROM) post any files ending with .tbl from their /opt/Qtopia/etc folder?
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I've been checking around and now believe my power button not working is a result of one of the .tbl files I copied into /opt/Qtopia/etc. I followed the directions in the howto I've linked to at the start of this thread. I now wish that I had backed up the .tbl files before deleting them.
Can anyone (who is still using the default Sharp ROM) post any files ending with .tbl from their /opt/Qtopia/etc folder?
You installedsome of guylhems old unfinisehed work if you installed from externe. The tetsu stuff is at something like tetsu.homelinux.org
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Apologies if it seems as though I'm going off-thread, but this seems the most active relevant thread. Has Guylhem's externe.net site got a temporary problem, or have we lost his ROM? It's all 404ing at me! I am a new 6000 owner, haing had a 3100 on Cacko for a while, and wanted to try G-ROM. Or should I stick to Tetsu-ising Sharp? And I can't seem to get to Tetsu's kernel either. Can anyone help, or do I just try again in a few days?
Thanks,
Mark
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I think that Guylhem was essentially taking the tetsu kernel, as much of cacko as could be imported, and rolling a ROM without all the symlinks in it that made Cacko a nuisance (i.e. /usr/bin.rom held all the binaries in cramfs loopback mount, and so /usr/bin/ls was a softlink).
using aufs (a unionfs variant) would make life much easier as you could use squashfs (which cannot be rewritten unlike cramfs) for the base distribution, and then you can mount an overlay from another flash partition and/or SD and/or CD card. You can then experiment with the system and even break it, then fix it by removing the overlay!
--edit--fixed typo
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Apologies if it seems as though I'm going off-thread, but this seems the most active relevant thread. Has Guylhem's externe.net site got a temporary problem, or have we lost his ROM? It's all 404ing at me! I am a new 6000 owner, haing had a 3100 on Cacko for a while, and wanted to try G-ROM. Or should I stick to Tetsu-ising Sharp? And I can't seem to get to Tetsu's kernel either. Can anyone help, or do I just try again in a few days?
Thanks,
Mark
G-rom never got finished. At my last look it seemed kinda broken. I stuck to tetsuizing sharp. When I get a chance in the next few days I'll see what I can upload to you for tetsuizing if you like.
Speculatrix is quite right, of course--but if you can do what he is suggesting, then you can probably make Angstrom do your bidding as well. I'd love to see a really working angstrom qtopia 4 on a 6k (though you'd be trading vid acceleration for a faster kernel performance wise)
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Speculatrix is quite right, of course--but if you can do what he is suggesting, then you can probably make Angstrom do your bidding as well. I'd love to see a really working angstrom qtopia 4 on a 6k (though you'd be trading vid acceleration for a faster kernel performance wise)
yes, any serious effort on the 6000 would be better spent getting angstrom or debian up and running on it - search the angstrom mailing lists as there's been quite a bit of effort to make the 6000 work well.
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Speculatrix is quite right, of course--but if you can do what he is suggesting, then you can probably make Angstrom do your bidding as well. I'd love to see a really working angstrom qtopia 4 on a 6k (though you'd be trading vid acceleration for a faster kernel performance wise)
yes, any serious effort on the 6000 would be better spent getting angstrom or debian up and running on it - search the angstrom mailing lists as there's been quite a bit of effort to make the 6000 work well.
Thanks very much adf and speculatrix - yes, I'm afraid what speculatrix is suggesting is wholly beyond me - I'm just an "ordinary intelligent person" with an OIP's computer ability, not a programmer/hacker/whatever. I would be very happy with a Cacko-type ROM, just a bit more flexible and overclockable than SharpROM, and G-ROM release 4 looked OK. But it's gone. So, yes please, anything you can let me have to make my task easier and more idiot-proof would be very welcome! Incidentally, I don't know even where to get a SharpROM image now that interne.net is down - can anyone point me in the right direction for that in case I give up and have to go back to that? Mine as loaded is a bit buggy (battery applet disappeared, etc.). Thanks.
Regards,
Mark
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It appears that Guylhem has recently taken down his 6000 related files. I was one of the people who tested his ROM a couple years ago. It had some really nice features including the faster kernel, and builtin bluetooth support. But a couple of show stoppers were the circular simlinks, no right-hand rotated fonts, the on-off switch was set to control something different, and no gui for WIFI setup. (Well the last two are not really show stoppers, but inconveniences.)
Regarding the Tetsuized kernel, NOT Guylhem's ROM, just the kernel he had on his site, as reported earlier in this thread, the only thing I found not working was the physical power switch.
So I guess when I have time, I will try the Tetsuized kernel from:
http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v...e-v16a-6000.bin (http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v18b/zImage-v16a-6000.bin)
consolescroll, and updater.sh from here:
http://developer.ezaurus.com/sl_j/source/6...update_6000.htm (http://developer.ezaurus.com/sl_j/source/6000/kernel_update_6000.htm)
It appears that the kernel gets renamed zImage, and ONLY consolescroll, updater.sh, and zImage should be on the memory card when doing this update.
And do I need the modules from:
http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v...es_v16a_arm.ipk (http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v18b/kernel-modules_v16a_arm.ipk) ?
Also I would need to add the big SD card module I guess.
I believe this next link is to the original sharp rom: (at least it is labeled "normal kernel")
http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v...zImage-6000.bin (http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v18b/zImage-6000.bin) ???
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I'd do a new sharprom, followed by tetsus stuff and his modules. Check sd-- I'm not sure if the big sd module is there. You'll also have to install the combo battery applet for speed scaling.
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I do have some of Guylhem's stuff downloaded, I can upload if useful?
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I do have some of Guylhem's stuff downloaded, I can upload if useful?
OK, check my website downloads area in 6000 dir.. am just uploading his ROM image now.
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Well, I've updated to the v16 Tetsu kernel!!
So far, so good. I already had the Big SD driver in place, and the upgrade retained it!
When I reboot, there is a lot of scarey looking stuff that scrolls by saying such things as "cramfs: wrong magic", "FAT: bogus logical sector size 480", and about a dozen somethings about "Inode # (5 digits) was a directory with children - removing those too".
In spite of these objections, the kernel boots, and everything (including the power button) works fine.
The only thing I would like to change is that it boots with the 530 Mhz clock speed as the default (called a "163" by qclockchange). Can I change that to default to the 241 setting (200 Mhz for run mode and 400 Mhz for Turbo mode)? If so, where do I change that?
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Ignore those particular "scary errors", nothing is actually wrong. If you search the forum I'm pretty sure I've explained why about ten times already
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Any thoughts on changing the default clocking on reboot?
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I believe this next link is to the original sharp rom: (at least it is labeled "normal kernel")
http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v...zImage-6000.bin (http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel/v18b/zImage-6000.bin) ???
Thanks very much. Sadly, this link points to something only 1.1Mb in size, so not the SharpROM. If I try the kernel, is anything likely to go wrong? I.e. is it "safe" to do without access to a full SharpROM backup in case?
Thanks,
Mark
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I do have some of Guylhem's stuff downloaded, I can upload if useful?
OK, check my website downloads area in 6000 dir.. am just uploading his ROM image now.
Thanks very much. But (and apologies for duplication, see my response to the_oak's post, if I try this and screw up, is there a SharpROM image around, now that it's gone from externe.net?
Cheers,
Mark
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I do have some of Guylhem's stuff downloaded, I can upload if useful?
OK, check my website downloads area in 6000 dir.. am just uploading his ROM image now.
Thanks very much. But (and apologies for duplication, see my response to the_oak's post, if I try this and screw up, is there a SharpROM image around, now that it's gone from externe.net?
Cheers,
Mark
Conics to the rescue
http://downloads.conics.net/pda/zaurus-sl-...iginal-backups/ (http://downloads.conics.net/pda/zaurus-sl-c700/service-menus/original-backups/)
There is an original 6000W english NAND backup in there. Thanks Brett for hosting these.
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I do have some of Guylhem's stuff downloaded, I can upload if useful?
OK, check my website downloads area in 6000 dir.. am just uploading his ROM image now.
Thanks very much. But (and apologies for duplication, see my response to the_oak's post, if I try this and screw up, is there a SharpROM image around, now that it's gone from externe.net?
Cheers,
Mark
Conics to the rescue
http://downloads.conics.net/pda/zaurus-sl-...iginal-backups/ (http://downloads.conics.net/pda/zaurus-sl-c700/service-menus/original-backups/)
There is an original 6000W english NAND backup in there. Thanks Brett for hosting these.
Thanks - and apologies for discourtesy of such a late response - but I don't think it'll work for a 6000L, will it?
Mark