Messages

1

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pdaxii13v2 With 2.6 Kernel!?

« on: February 28, 2008, 11:15:15 am »

Be warned, Debian is insanely slow on the Z.

Also, Debian is on 4.0r5 IIRC, no sense getting r3.

Is both eabi and abi slow on the Z? Why do we need a new kernel? Let's just stick with 2.4 and try to optimize pdaXrom.

Where can I get the source code? I would like to get involved and contribute.

Have a look at tyrannozaurus.com--the stuff should be there.

Thanks for the reply. Why would we need kernel 2.6? Why not try to optimize what we currently have?

pdaxii13v2 is already pretty well optimized-
perhaps not for speed, but for functionality and stability.

Without a drastic overhaul, the speed is not going to improve much.
If you're drastically overhauling, might as well move to 2.6 kernel (for extra fun).

Debian and pdaXrom cvs are using newer kernels, and are (generally) faster
if they're running native and not in chroot or from SD card.

I would imagine some small improvement on pdaxii13v2 is probably possible, if someone were
to spend a of time on it.  There's more room for much more improvement on the other systems-
since stability and functionality and (some other stuff) is lacking.

What all these projects need is active developers and testers.

2

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pdaxii13v2 With 2.6 Kernel!?

« on: February 26, 2008, 12:55:28 pm »

With that being said, what is the next evolutionary step for pdaXrom?

Next step is for you to join pdaXrom project, fix bugs and add missing features.
Alternately, wait for someone else to do this.

I'm a little afraid, that the most likely "next evolutionary step" is extinction...
though at the current rate of progress/decay, we may not see it in our lifetimes.

3

General Discussion / Forget The Zaurus - Itś Fujitsu Time!

« on: February 22, 2008, 02:22:22 pm »

There are some sellers on ebay.

Can you recommend any ?

New version with more connectivity options to be released in March.

Can you be more specific for that? What options? What date?

Thnaks a lot!

There are some pictures available.
(From CES 2008)
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/fujitsu...d-u810-tablets/

me do not like
Looks like they've taken the old u810 and added big honkin' ears.
molded to the case, so not very "optional" imo.
Some kind of WWAN apparently.

No refresh on the CPU/ram/etc that I can see.

4

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Zpsx: High Performance Psx Emulator For The Zaurus

« on: January 22, 2008, 05:55:33 pm »

I've wondered the same thing myself.
I wish zod would port it over to pdaXrom R198.

I remember how gp2x users were complaining, after zodttd got himself a Zaurus,
that he no longer had any interest in further work on the gp2x.... (despite his claims otherwise)
basically... yep. he abandoned them, when he got his new toy

and now.... he has an iphone. He won't even *answer* questions about gp2x or Zaurus ports anymore.

So it goes with proprietary (aka Closed Source) projects....

5

General Discussion / Flipstart - New Toy For Geeks?

« on: January 18, 2008, 12:26:32 pm »

I'm definitely interested, if I didn't have an ultraportable already I'd be considering it strongly.

What's the keyboard like compared to the FUjitsu u810/u1010/u8240??

I've only ogled and poked at one very briefly at the local Frys;
I would say, Fujitsu's kb is probably better than the FS.
The keys seem sculpted, and larger even if there's very little travel.

FS keyboard is.... larger than the Zaurus, but all-in-all about equally annoying
Not really a step up or a step down, imo.
Sony/OQO in comparison, are both smaller and less usable.

What bugs me about the Fujitsu is... its total volume.  e.g. "just a little too big".

Did you end up with one of them?
I might have a dubious proposal if you do...

6

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Zpsx: High Performance Psx Emulator For The Zaurus

« on: January 18, 2008, 12:21:33 am »

Does anybody actually have the last version? I've got a couple of playstation games all ready to go, but no emulator.

As far as I can tell, nobody does.

zodttd seems to have lost his copy, and isn't interested in developing for any platform but the iphone now.
and I think you have to send him money to join the "beta test" group before he'll respond to any messages
you post on his forums.  

He seemed really confused by the way we Zaurers kept asking for a source code release-
gave various excuses, but it now appears that the main reason he couldn't ever release any source
was because he planned to make $$$ off it.

I *might* have had an older version of the runtime of the emulator, but seem to remember licensing terms that
he did not want anyone other than himself to distribute it under any circumstance,
even though it was "open source" and "free software" or something.

zodttd: if you're still around, if you think I'm misinterpreting, please feel free to clarify. thanx

7

General Discussion / Flipstart - New Toy For Geeks?

« on: January 17, 2008, 02:09:27 pm »

For 1999 that is too expensive for its specs.  I have the Sony UX 390 and although it isnt a clamshell I still love it.  Woot.com had a deal about 3 days ago for a 390N for 1299 and that was a really great deal for what you are getting.

Is $699 still too much for the FS' specs?

[!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=snappy)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(snappy)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]If they don't dump their stock now, they will become very exp door stops in no time. Esp when Asus is so aggressive with its sales and marketing of the eeepc!

Anyway, at $699, I would probably not get it as well. It's too fat and bulky. tongue.gif[/quote]

While I'd agree:  FS is too fat and bulky, it's hella lot less fat and bulky than the eepc
eepc is probably a much better "general purpose small notebook", and cheaper only helps-
but if it can't be stowed in a pants or jacket pocket, to me that makes it a different class of device-

from those (like Zaurus,  UX, OQO, FS, (Fujitsu??)) which can.

8

General Discussion / Flipstart - New Toy For Geeks?

« on: January 17, 2008, 12:29:35 pm »

flipstart close-out sale?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/16/flipsta...little-worried/

I've been thinking for awhile about posting, but hadn't gotten around to it, but,

I'm a "semi-early adopter", having bought one at the last price reduction ($1500)-

would anyone be interested in a mini-review?  or a full-indepth review?
From a Linux/ha[c|k|q|x]/Zaurer/geek perspective???

I will give you a one-line, 16-char review-

($700? great  )

_______________

slightly extended:

It's an evolutionary update to the Z design.
It's pocketable(*).
It has a functional keyboard.
It's faster than a Z and more capable.
Nearly all hardware (except for camera) is supported(*)
It's probably not the Z-killer you dreamed of.

If pocketability + keyboard + linux are your main criteria, its probably worth the $700


(*) some caveats.  will post more if any one wants.

9

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Ea-72 Ac Adapter Problems

« on: December 19, 2007, 12:34:15 pm »

Anyone have any? I have searched the forum up and down since I got my new SL-C1000, and I'm perhaps being a little bit paranoid over this. I know the adapter is not rated for U.S. voltage, but that there is evidence that it can handle it. Also, it seems nobody has ever been able to provide hard evidence (or at least plausible anecdotal evidence) that the EA-72 adapter killed their Zaurus.

Still...should I get a PSP adapter for it instead? Have any of you used the EA-72 for a long time and without problems?  

Thanks!

There were several reports of broken C760s and C700s with EA-72 adaptors;
some reported in the forums,  some to Trisoft and other vendors.

People who reported bricked Zaurii ultimately found that a SMD resistor had failed in the charging
circuitry on their Zaurus mainboard.  They reporting "everything was fine, and then suddenly one day, KAPUT!"

I don't think anyone conclusively figured out what the problem was, but there have been very few
reports of bricked/destroyed Zaurii since.

I'll repost my last, best guess, updated for December 2007:

EA-72 was designed for Japanese power, with slightly lower voltage, and so Sharp got away with using
components with lower tolerances for voltage variation.

In unusual circumstances,  (or possibly simply using it for a long long time) something either failed
or momentarily glitched in the EA-72 under US power-  frying the Zaurus'  resistor.

Since then.... one of two things may have occurred:
either Sharp began using different components in their EA-72s (with higher rating, higher tolerances)
or they changed the charging circuitry within Zaurii to be less sensitive to spikes or glitches from the adaptor.

____________________

I guess I'd still recommend using something other than an EA-72 if you can,
but if your EA-72 is new(ish), or your Zaurus is new(ish)  you're more likely to be safe.

If the only recent forum posts you're finding, are ones like mine-
even more likely you're safe.

10

Debian / Sound On Titchylinux

« on: October 14, 2007, 04:09:22 am »

I'm not really sure what you guys are trying to do....
but pdaXrom with 2.6 era kernels had full sound equalizer support
quite a long while before pdaXii13 did - so it must be possible with newer kernels
(if configured properly)

/dev/sequencer is a little more tricky,  since Zaurii don't have any FM sound hardware
or anything directly supporting MIDI.

I don't think any stock kernels (for OE/angstrom/pdaXrom) have this enabled and working,
but you CAN build an ALSA kernel with timidity softsynth sequencer support.
I've done so, and it works    [sufficiently long ago that I can't remember all that I did to get it going]
Also.... quite slow, and it *will* impact overall responsiveness.

Programs that send waveform samples to the sound chip should work fine, with standard ALSA support
(or if they use OSS /dev/audio,  ALSA with OSS compatibility enabled)

Programs that send FM instructions, or MIDI frames to the sound chip
will require some more effort-  this is nothing new with Titchy, or 2.6 kernels,  just facts of life.

11

Debian / Recompiling Kernel

« on: October 12, 2007, 11:40:09 am »

I want that it functions in all programms but now I've no time to try because work.If I can I will try to recompile the kernel

Please tell us which best describes what you are experiencing NOW:

A) Sound works with some programs, but not with other programs
B) Sound does not work at all, with any programs
C) Sound works but has a problem (too loud, too quiet, wrong output device, etc)

12

Debian / Recompiling Kernel

« on: October 07, 2007, 09:06:21 pm »

first hostap driver already patched for injection ( because I bought c3200 to use with wireless card when I'm outdoor )
2° sound that doesn't function with all programs

https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=24761

as for the second-

are you saying that the Debian sound support works in some programs but not all (and that you want it to work in all programs)

or are you saying that Debian sound support currently works with no programs, and you want it to work in some/all?

13

Debian / Recompiling Kernel

« on: October 06, 2007, 10:06:04 pm »

I know what I will do.but I'm not sure if the first time that I recompile kernel it works and ,because it takes many time.i would like to do it quickly.If i don't recompile kernel this debian rom is not usefully  because many thinks doesn't function for me.I would like to use debian and so I've to recompile the kernel.thanks raduga for your support

What things are not functioning for you with the stock Debian kernel- that you hope to fix by recompiling?

Try to be as specific as possible.
The more feedback you give us, the more help we will be able to offer.

14

Debian / Recompiling Kernel

« on: October 06, 2007, 01:36:58 am »

i can use a virtual machine if is necessary to install debian arm and to recompile the kernel

you are way out of your depth here. what you want to do is way too difficult for you to do. first learn the basics before you try to tackle the more difficult things, ie you need to learn how to crawl before attempting to run.

I suspect zeroc87 wouldn't be attempting this if s/he didn't feel they had already learned the "basics".
However...  building kernels for Zaurus (as for any exotic-flavored hardware) requires quite a firm and stable
understanding of how the device works, since mainline kernels and even the most heavily customized zaurus-specific
kernels require non-trivial amounts of attention and patience to navigate.

zeroc87:  if you think the Zaurus cpu is "too slow" to build its own kernel, please recognise that it will take quite considerably
more of your time to craft a working Zaurus kernel on your PC, than it would take a Zaurus to build a kernel.

Meditate on this brick if you would :
If you're not sure what it means, please feel free to ask.

15

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pdaxii13v2: First Collection Of Experiences

« on: October 05, 2007, 01:35:19 pm »

Hm.

Its a little of a pain to have to wipe, then install 5.4.9. then update to v2.

there is no full installer for pdaXii13v2 yet since it is still in an experimental stage, ie alpha.

you do not have to wipe your existing pdaXii13 to upgrade to 5.4.9. there are several ways to upgrade to 5.4.9 from earlier versions without needing to wipe existing system...

LOL...

the most popular threads so far on v2, involve conflicts between apps, libraries, and files
of differing versions.  None of this is a showstopper,  but the hope would be that
by starting from a clean slate one could be assured that one has all the proper versions
and these sorts of conflicts would be minimized.

Wiping, then installing a fresh 5.4.9 seems to be the best way to be sure one has a known good 5.4.9.
From a clean 5.4.9, immediately updating to v2 seems (again) the best strategy to avoid
having unclear things break at uncertain points.  

Do you have any better ideas?