OESF Portables Forum

Model Specific Forums => Sharp Zaurus => Zaurus - pdaXrom => Topic started by: iczer1dragon on May 23, 2004, 09:11:11 am

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: iczer1dragon on May 23, 2004, 09:11:11 am

Dear Sir(s),

Is it possible to compile a new kernel (like 2.6.x series) and use
it withe the pdaxrom ?

BR,

Felix Leung.

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: jabbath on May 23, 2004, 09:34:43 am

Hi!
Yes, generally it is possible to compile a new kernel and use it with the pdaXrom.
You should take care of things, pdaXrom needs (such as graphicscard support, fbsupport etc.)
The bad thing is, the 2.6 kernel isn\'t ported to ARM, so you just can recompile a 2.4.x kernel (look at http://www.arm.linux.org.uk) (http://www.arm.linux.org.uk))

grusz, jabbath

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: ikm on May 23, 2004, 09:52:57 am

Quote

Is it possible to compile a new kernel (like 2.6.x series) and use
it withe the pdaxrom ?

Well, in reality there are tons of Zaurus-specific patches and hacks applied to the Zaurus kernel (the so called embedix patch), so you have to stick to 2.4.18-rmk7-pxa3-embedix, for C860 (newest version), with the pdaXrom patches. But you have a fine choice of modifying and recompiling it.

Switching to another 2.4 looks quite hard, switching to 2.6 looks totally unreal.

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: lardman on May 23, 2004, 11:23:57 am

Quote

Switching to another 2.4 looks quite hard, switching to 2.6 looks totally unreal.

You should start reading the openzaurus-devel mailing list. Progress has been made, more volunteers required as ever.


Si

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: amrein on May 23, 2004, 12:16:21 pm

Hi.

The main problem of switching to a new kernel is the SD driver I think.

We have no source available so every kernel need to be compatible and compiled with the available SD binary object (thanks to SD consortium and its closed source politics and thanks to all users who always ask for SD closed source driver support).

I heard about change in this area. Lardman, are there news about the SD drivers?

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: DrWowe on May 23, 2004, 12:37:33 pm

Quote

Hi.

The main problem of switching to a new kernel is the SD driver I think.

I\'m not really up on this, but..  couldn\'t it be possible to disassemble the module into an assembly language source (using IdaPro or some other such tool), include it in the kernel build, and at least make an effort to keep it up to date?

Yes, it\'s much worse than a true open source driver, but it could work...

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: ikm on May 23, 2004, 02:09:56 pm

Quote

Quote

Switching to another 2.4 looks quite hard, switching to 2.6 looks totally unreal.

You should start reading the openzaurus-devel mailing list. Progress has been made, more volunteers required as ever.


Si

I haven\'t said \'impossible\' after all

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: lardman on May 23, 2004, 04:37:22 pm

Ah, but unreal is close enough for me ;-)

Try a search (or even a browse) here: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.p...penzaurus-devel (http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=openzaurus-devel)


Si

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: amrein on May 23, 2004, 06:01:20 pm

jabbath, the 2.6 kernel have buildin support for ARM device. Certainly not all Zaurus hardware are included but most ARM processors are supported  (StrongARM and PXA too) and a a few ARM device will work out of the box.

decompress a standard kernel tar.gz source and type in the linux directory:

  make ARCH=arm xconfig

What is missing is driver like DRI for the Zaurus ATI video card, ...

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: ikm on May 24, 2004, 06:02:14 am

Quote

Ah, but unreal is close enough for me ;-)

Try a search (or even a browse) here: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.p...penzaurus-devel (http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=openzaurus-devel)


Si

Wow, that\'s great, I thought they were still playing with 2.4.x... Looks promising, thanks for information!

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: ikm on May 24, 2004, 06:18:43 am

Quote

Quote

The main problem of switching to a new kernel is the SD driver I think.

I\'m not really up on this, but..  couldn\'t it be possible to disassemble the module into an assembly language source (using IdaPro or some other such tool), include it in the kernel build, and at least make an effort to keep it up to date?

Yes, it\'s much worse than a true open source driver, but it could work...

It would be illegal anyway, at least in some countries like US. For instance, SD has a DRM support, and DRM is much about DMCA, and all that stuff. After all, Sharp had to sign an NDA to work on it. I guess the only option now is for Sharp to bless every major flavor of the kernel by adopting and compiling that driver by themselves.

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: Mickeyl on May 24, 2004, 08:15:50 am

Yes, there are two persons working on kernel 2.6 and submitting stuff upstream so that the embedix/mainstream divergence will be reduced.
There\'s still need for many more though, because as you probably can imagine, the embedix patch is 1.) huge, 2.) of pretty low quality and 3.) covers more different devices than the people have, so... if you want to see kernel 2.6 on your Zaurus, start making that happen

Mickey.

P.S. Not having kernel knowledge is not a valid excuse btw., you can always learn, if you really want to.  

Title: pdaxrom and kernels
Post by: iczer1dragon on May 25, 2004, 12:38:41 pm

Dear Sir(s),

Sorry for not replying earlier since I live in Hong Kong.
The reason I asked is because I am using  PXA-255 in a company
project and am compiling a linux2.6 kernel for it.
If the kernel is similar I hope I can patch enough from embedix\'s
video and keyboard to get a start. However, I am not sure if
what devices in kernel pdaXrom depend to start boot.

BR,

Felix Leung.