OESF Portables Forum
Model Specific Forums => Sharp Zaurus => Zaurus - pdaXrom => Topic started by: lardman on December 10, 2003, 12:01:43 pm
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Do you (sashz & team) plan to support the 5x00 models?
If not, do you have a little more info available about what sources you\'ve built from, what you\'ve used as the base for your filesystem, kernel, etc.?
Cheers,
Simon
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Even I would love to have an X11 type ROM for the 5xxx, though I realise without the high defination screens of the C7xxx series, the X11 rom may not be really so screen friendly. Also the memory requirements may be more than what the 5500 or 5600 can handle....
I hope lardman, you are talking about the sashx teams X11 rom, or are you talking about the normal Sharp compatible ROMS\'s here ?
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As it is the X11 ROM requires a very accurate \"aim\" when it comes to pressing on screen objects.
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I was talking about the sashz X11 rom. I\'ve had GPE running on my Z, the screen is a little small but still useable, but it was painful to get it working and I was hoping for an easier way to run X natively.
the memory requirements may be more than what the 5500 or 5600 can handle....
I presume you\'re talking about ROM space, yes this is a bit of an issue, unfortunately there\'s not much to be done other than trying to cut out as much junk as possible from the ROM install.
Si
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I can\'t imagine they would. X on the 5x00 series REALY sucks. The screan is just too tiny.
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I can\'t imagine they would. X on the 5x00 series REALY sucks. The screan is just too tiny.
I presume you\'re right as no-one has said yeah or nay.
Admittedly the screen is small, but that just means you need to pick and choose your apps, or come up with a method for zooming (out) the view (like using a VNC client).
In any case, could someone who\'s running the X11 rom tell me what it\'s based on? The original Sharp ROM would be my guess, though it could be debian, or even OZ....
Simon
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I would love an X11 rom! So many tasty apps to run native under X11 that it would be worth trying with the smaller screen and rom size on the 5x00 series.
I all ready run some X11 stuff with the X11 port under the Sharp ROM but I have long thought an X11 ROM would be very cool to use!
Pentad
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It is possible to install X11 on an SD or CF card for the 5x00, and there\'s special versions with debian available based on the OZ kernel, and it\'s all been done. I have personaly installed X11 on the original TKC and on OZ, but to be quite plain, it sucked.
There simply aren\'t enough pixels. You can\'t zoom in enough to make it good.
Even this current cacko X11 rom, which kicks butt by comparison, has some major drawbacks and room for improvement. A number of critical and every day functions (like right clicking) are far from intuitive from what i hear, but it\'s a giant leap in the right direction, and I would imagine that most if not all of those issues will be resolved in the next release or two.
The other problem is the native apps you mentioned. Most native X11 apps will run fine in VGA resolution like on the 760, but to have most of them rom on a QVGA screan requires a partial rewrite of the program before cross compiling. ANd of course, reguardless of which device you have, X11 is a complete and total waste of time without a large memory card.
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It is possible to install X11 on an SD or CF card for the 5x00, and there\'s special versions with debian available based on the OZ kernel, and it\'s all been done.
I know, but I was hoping for something a little less painful and time consuming to set up.
The other problem is the native apps you mentioned. Most native X11 apps will run fine in VGA resolution like on the 760, but to have most of them rom on a QVGA screan requires a partial rewrite of the program before cross compiling. ANd of course, reguardless of which device you have, X11 is a complete and total waste of time without a large memory card.
I agree with the memory card bit, once you\'ve installed the GTK+ libs etc. it certainly fills up memory. I don\'t see any issue (in technical terms) with running an X11 app on the small screen. The majority of apps allow you to resize their screens to fit. That\'s not to say that it will be very useable after you done this, but it\'s certainly possible.
Simon
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Well, as you said your self, they maynot be usable that way. Of course they can be cross compiled, but so what? If the interface is so cumbersome on QVGA that the program isn\'t navigable, it doesn\'t matter if it technicaly runs. Now, some programs will cross compile and run fine, but in my experience, more programs required serious rewriting than didn\'t.
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I think the real issue here is that people ought to have the option to do it, and try for themselves.
I regularly use gnuplot on my 5500 (using an X VNC server); It\'s not as nice as having a nice big PC screen but it works. I\'ve also run XCas, but for this the screen is a bit too small. Is it possible to make the XVnc server run in landscape mode I wonder, that would make life slightly easier.
Si