Messages

1

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Any Cross Compilation Tutorials?

« on: May 17, 2017, 06:11:12 pm »

Thank you for your hard work, Varti! The Zaurus deserved to have this site back, and it is much appreciated.

Thanks for your kind words. I'm also happy to see OESF still ongoing, it's an essential source of info for anything Zaurus related.

Hey, I have a bunch of feeds that I backed up (I created bash scripts to automate the downloads and verify the integrity by running MD5 sums and comparing them with the values for the original files), and I was wondering if it would be useful to host these in this site or elsewhere. Not sure about the legal part of it, but I believe we should be OK. These should be mostly pdaXrom feeds, though I believe many packages should work in Cacko as well.

Any feed mirror will be greatly appreciated. I'm planning to host a mirror of all the (still available) feeds on this same server. I'm storing the files on my own hard drive, once I'll have an estimate of the total size of the repository, I'll ask ibiblio the permission to host the files. Soon I'll also make a new thread for this, with a list of all the feeds and webpages I'll be able to find and a status (still online/offline/mirrored/lost) for each feed. Apart for some commercial packages, I believe all the feeds contain open-source stuff only, I'll anyway check that no copyrighted material will be put online.

Varti

It is wonderful news that you are taking the initiative to do that, let me know if I can help you. These things should be preserved, even though the Zaurus is now a rather obscure device used by probably a handful of people worldwide

I don't know if I will have something you are missing, but if I do I would be happy to have it hosted for everyone else. I responded to your PM.

2

For Sale / Wanted / Zaurus Sl-c1000 On Sale On Craigslist, Sf Area

« on: May 17, 2017, 06:07:28 pm »

I'm glad that my post has been useful to you. Lately most of the Zaurus stuff can be only found on japanese auction sites, so it's nice to find stuff that can be picked up locally. I'll post more similar ads (outside Amazon/Ebay) from American or European sellers in the future as soon as I find them, especially those who allow for local pickups.

Regarding weeXpc, FluxBox is indeed more indicated for a low specced device like the Zaurus. The problem with the swap memory is that it is almost necessary for most recent applications (especially on Arch Linux ARM) to overcome the 64MB RAM limit, but on the other side it quickly kills any SD/CF card since they have not been designed to handle that many read/write operations. An ideal solution would be an SSD to CF adapter, to connect an SSD disk to it and use it for the swap partition. Looks like I'm not the only one with this idea:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5470.475

The USB port can be also used, of course, but AFAIR it is slower than the internal CF port.

Varti

Yes, I am very grateful for your tip. I will do the same thing, and post in the forum if I find any Zaurus for sale online which I think is a good deal. The funny thing is that just a few weeks ago I had sent an offer to an eBay user which is selling an SL-C1000 for $300 (which I believe is abusive), for much less (but still more than the $50 I ended up paying for this one).

I hear you about the RAM limit. Fluxbox is incredibly efficient though, which adds to its usefulness for the Zaurus. In my configuration, I create a swap file whenever I need it. What I don't like about the weeXpc setup is that it is like that by default, so in order to remove the SD card you need to halt the system (in the SL-C1000). I think I have all that mapped out to some keyboard shortcuts, but I don't remember for certain, as it has been at least 3 years since I used my system last.

Quick question: Does the Zaurus write a lot to the area where the OS resides, or is that for the most part static? I seem to remember that when I configured my system I made an effort to eliminate writing of logs, storage of configuration files, etc in internal memory, in an effort to minimize the wear of internal memory, since once that goes the Zaurus would be pretty much a brick.

I really wish they had equipped these machines with internal wifi and bluetooth, as it really would have freed that CF slot to be used as a semi-permanent expansion drive, and the SD as removable media.

3

For Sale / Wanted / Zaurus Sl-c1000 On Sale On Craigslist, Sf Area

« on: May 16, 2017, 05:09:18 pm »

Just found this interesting Zaurus on sale on Craigslist, btw I'm not affiliated in any way with the seller, just in case anyone from the San Francisco area is interested:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sys/6099684355.html

Varti

Thank you, Varti. I couldn't believe my luck when I contacted the seller last week, as this was still available.

I made the trip to SF, and picked it up. I've been running the weeXpc installation, but I think I'm going to install my customized pdaXii13 build, which I made a NAND backup of.

The problem with weeXpc in the SL-C1000 as I see it is that it uses a partition in the SD card as swap, and I've been getting issues (input/output errors and so forth) while I was playing music from it. Also, the WM (I believe it is LXDE) is too heavyweight compared to fluxbox, which is what I was running. The machine is in beautiful condition though. The seller was nice enough to add a bunch of extras as well.

Let me know about the possibility of hosting those feed backups I told you about in the other thread.

4

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Any Cross Compilation Tutorials?

« on: May 16, 2017, 05:02:59 pm »

Hi and welcome back!

Yes, the forum is back and it's here to stay

Varti

Thank you for your hard work, Varti! The Zaurus deserved to have this site back, and it is much appreciated.

Hey, I have a bunch of feeds that I backed up (I created bash scripts to automate the downloads and verify the integrity by running MD5 sums and comparing them with the values for the original files), and I was wondering if it would be useful to host these in this site or elsewhere. Not sure about the legal part of it, but I believe we should be OK. These should be mostly pdaXrom feeds, though I believe many packages should work in Cacko as well.

BTW, I also have to thank you for your tip about that SL-C1000 in the SF area. I'll post in that other thread...

5

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Any Cross Compilation Tutorials?

« on: May 16, 2017, 04:07:15 pm »

I'm still using the following for cross compiling.

https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=15570  

a good zaurus emulator would be nicer... anyone?

I know plenty of people in the boards cross compile for pdaXrom. But I have yet to come across a cross compilation tutorial. Chero posted a very helpful native compilation tutorial which is what I have used to build my packages, but I really need a cross compilation howto in order to start producing better things. Compiling on board the Zaurus is just not too practical.

Thanks in advance,

TB

Thank you. I just realized the OESF forums were back. WOW.

6

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Any Cross Compilation Tutorials?

« on: May 16, 2017, 04:06:08 pm »

You can find a very home-made and basic how-to here:

http://tomotko.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/...amp;view=markup

I hope it helps.

I know this comes late, but thank you.

7

Zaurus - pdaXrom / 1.1.0beta2 For Cxxxx

« on: March 23, 2014, 12:57:35 am »

OK, I found that simply copying the orinoco modules from Chris Bryden fixes the problem.

Simply

Code: [Select]

# cd /
# tar xzvf /location-of-file/orinoco-modules.tar.gzThen pop in your card and away you go.

To get the card to go into monitor mode for kismet, you'll need to

Code: [Select]

# iwconfig eth0 mode monitor
Cheers,
Jerry

Hi all,

Long, Long, Long time, since the post quoted....

Just got a 3100 after several years of no Zaurus...having fun with it so far....but it came with Symbol Spectrum24 card....so, does not work now...from reading various threads, I found orinoco-modules files referred to above.

Have put the files in place, but still no go with Symbol wifi card....

Have used cardctl, ifup, ifconfig, iwconfig commands, etc, but nothing so far has gotten card to wake up and be recognized.

Also, when doing commands, I see only 'lo' and 'irda' interfaces listed, no wlan0.....

So, I assume that this is part of problem too....

Can anyone help with getting wifi card working?

FWIW, I am able to use my Socket ethernet card, it works without doing anything....so, I know that CF card slot is OK....

Thanks for any and all help!

Mark

I'm sorry I can't really help you. I just wanted to say Hi because I was amazed to see some activity here.

I still use my SL-C1000 with a heavily customized pdaXii13 build (including Fluxbox 1.0 which I compiled myself) and I still love the system.

I have used the Ambicom as well as a LinkSys Wireless CF card with no issue though. Maybe pick one of these cheap, if you can't make your card work.

Good luck, and nice talking with you.

8

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Announcing Zgrom 0.1

« on: January 28, 2013, 08:16:52 am »

I wrote the launchers manually.

I'm not sure if all MAME4ALL scaling options will work. I suspect some of them expect a real GP2X hardware scaler.
I will gladly include Caprice and Stella if someone would properly test them.  Then again, i might take a completely
different approach and turn all the emulators into proper .ipk packages. Zgrom does come with full packaging support.
That way users can easily install/remove emulator and apps. Of course, this also implies a repository...

Thank you, Dromede.

I haven't had time this past week to look at this, but should be able to next weekend. I would be very happy to test Caprice and Stella, please let me know when I can do that.

It's always good to have packaging support. As for repositories, if the package manager works with local repositories, we are good. Unfortunately history has taught me to not trust remote repositories (pdaXrom, and now even the Nokia N900).

Cheers,

TB

9

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Announcing Zgrom 0.1

« on: January 21, 2013, 06:57:53 pm »

Gmenu2x sections are in /usr/share/gmenu2x/sections. So your caprice launcher should probably be in /usr/share/gmenu2x/sections/emulators.

As for how to access the launcher menu for "add link in", please read this:

http://code.google.com/p/zgrom/wiki/Gmenu2X

In a nutshell, you can enter/exit the launcher menu with the "Menu" key on your Zaurus.
Please note that new launchers created with the "add link in" feature will not be placed in  /usr/share/gmenu2x/sections/. They will be placed somewhere under $HOME/.gmenu2x/sections.

Yes, i'm aware of the DrPocketSnes typo, it will be fixed in v0.2. Thanks anyway!

Thank you for your reply. I didn't read the Gmenu2X section carefully enough.

Did you create the launchers manually, since if created via Gmenu2X they are stored in a different location?

I never used Gmenu2X with my GP2X, so I'll have to play a little with it. I'll also experiment with MAME4All scaling options (don't know if there are any), as some games are slightly cropped.

If you accept any requests, it would be awesome if version 0.2 included Caprice2X and Stella (Atari 2600 emulator). That is, if time and rom space allow.

Thanks!  

10

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Announcing Zgrom 0.1

« on: January 20, 2013, 10:50:23 pm »

The kernel that comes with ZGrom will by default fix unaligned accesses and warn the user through dmesg that such an access happened. So no, the alignment fixup has to be manually turned off each time you reboot.
I suggest you write a gmenu2x launcher for caprice. You can also wrap caprice invocation in a shell script, that way you can disable alignment fixup just for caprice. Certain emulators that come with
ZGrom do just that, take a look at DrPocketSnes for example.

I have also started a native zaurus port of MAME but i have abandoned it due to a lack of motivation. There are very few people who use Zaurus machines these days and even fewer people who use ZGrom. But you should be fine with GP2X MAME that comes with ZGrom. Games that you mentioned should work fullspeed with sound.

I tested Zgrom today and it's awesome! MAME4All works great for the older roms, something that before I couldn't do with my Zaurus.

I had some problem installing CapriceGP2X. I think I'm getting confused with the instructions at http://mtorromeo.github.com/gmenu2x/documentation/

There, it says that the links for games must be made under sections/ but I see no sections/ directory in the filesystem. I saw /home/root/emulators/ for example, but I see no link files there.

Also, the instructions above mention links can be created from GMenu2X directly by pressing SELECT and then "Add Link In..." but I don't seem to be able to do this.

One thing I did notice is that the shell startup file for DrPocketNes seems to have a typo in the second echo command (it looks it should be "3" instead of "3).

11

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Announcing Zgrom 0.1

« on: January 16, 2013, 06:49:58 pm »

I never tried running CapriceGP2X before.  I tried it just now and it seems to work. There's just one important thing you have to do before you run it:

echo 0 > /proc/cpu/alignment

Certain GP2X binaries will cause a lot of alignment faults that can slow your system to a crawl if they are not ignored. On the GP2X, alignment faults are ignored by default. The above line will do the same on your Z.

MAME4ALL would be a lot faster if it were a native Zaurus port. Probably close to full speed.

Thank you, that is great news! The alignment fix conflicts with anything else? And, does it hold until the next system reboot? If so, maybe adding that line in one of the initialization scripts might be a good idea, and I might just do that.

I remember a lot of discussions about MAME. There were a lot attempts to port MAME to the Zaurus and nobody was successful. Which is strange, since the architecture is nothing esoteric.

I personally am happy if your rom can run MAME games like anything up to circa 1986 with near full speed. I'm talking stuff like Galaxian, Pacman, X-Rally, etc.

12

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Announcing Zgrom 0.1

« on: January 15, 2013, 12:46:41 pm »

Yes, you can run GP2X binaries with GINGE. However, not all of them will work. Unfortunately, MAME4ALL runs a bit slow. It works quite well if you disable sound.

I'll install Zgrom this weekend. Can't wait for it. The fact that Mame is useable at all is great, as, so far, there wasn't a useable Mame for the Akita.

Is there any chance to run Amstrad games in Zgrom through the CapriceGP2X emulator? That was my first computer.

13

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Announcing Zgrom 0.1

« on: January 13, 2013, 12:45:58 pm »

What a pleasant surprise. I just found this post, promptly went to your site, and I couldn't believe it. We can run GP2X binaries now? So how is the MAME4All emulator running? I'll be installing this soon. Thank you for your efforts!

14

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Ko/pi - No Sound

« on: December 05, 2010, 11:33:59 am »

I tried many thinks but I have no luck to get sound of kopi. The only thing what I haven't tried is to do a scratch load of pdaXii13 of Meanie.

So I'm not sure whether kopi will work with sound after this!?  

Who of you have also pdaXii13 loadet and kopi with sound works?


Thanks
climber

Hi,

I worked on KOPI a while back and fixed the issue with suspend and alarms. Everything works perfect (including sound.)

Take a look here:
https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=26913

Regards,

TB

15

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Any Cross Compilation Tutorials?

« on: February 02, 2010, 03:46:14 pm »

I know plenty of people in the boards cross compile for pdaXrom. But I have yet to come across a cross compilation tutorial. Chero posted a very helpful native compilation tutorial which is what I have used to build my packages, but I really need a cross compilation howto in order to start producing better things. Compiling on board the Zaurus is just not too practical.

Thanks in advance,

TB