Messages

1

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Screenshots Of Rc10 Running Kde 3.4 Here

« on: June 16, 2005, 08:26:51 am »

Note that for the whole rom you have to build 2 toolchains: gcc 3.x for the applications and gcc 2.95 for the kernel

That's bad news. I would have liked to compile all with gcc-3.4.4 from my gentoo-toolchain, but the i would have to switch to kernel 2.6.11, where the cardreader functionality is probably not implemented, as far as i know.


Of course thanks for the link, it seems to be the prototype of the new pdaxrom-page.

2

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Screenshots Of Rc10 Running Kde 3.4 Here

« on: June 14, 2005, 01:09:56 pm »

I have installed KDE 3.4 into the rom, both libs and base. I had to remove some packages (xmms, abiword and others), and made a 90 MB root partition ( i have a c860).


Both are huge, but the size can be reduced, for future builds (kdelibs-3.4.1).

At first, when compiling, one might make use of DO_NOT_COMPILE, and omit compiling stuff like kdeprint and others, especially arts.

example:

DO_NOT_COMPILE="arts debian kdeprint"

For a complete list please take a look at the archive, every subdirectory is an option if i got the configure script right.

After building kdelibs and kdebase, one might remove changelogs, wallpapers, sounds, help-templates for languages other than "en",

I would like to compile kde myself, and while i am at it, the rom as a whole. Are there any special instructions i have to follow, or is it as easy as to download pdaxrom-builder, all the sources, the toolchain and then go?

3

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Screenshots Of Rc10 Running Kde 3.4 Here

« on: June 07, 2005, 07:43:48 am »

hmmm. I can see krusader v. konqueror as a file browser, but would there be any gain keeping it (konqueror--maybe faster than firefox when running kde?) as a web browser?

Now that you mention it, when thinking about it it would be better to include only konqueror, and use it as the main browser. So no need to include krusader, i also have seen konqueror on opie running with 2 windows.

Still, the kdebase-package with it's 26 MB is way too big for the little rom of the zaurii. Certain apps and/or infrastructure is not needed there.

Finally we may end up with pdaxrom either split up into one kde-edition, mb/xfce and others, or pdaxrom should in general provide only  base packages, leaving all internet/ office/Multimedia up to the user, which would get my vote here.

4

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Ok, Kde Works; What About Gnome?

« on: June 07, 2005, 07:33:22 am »

've changed this and uploaded some new .ipk's (changed the ones in the original posts above).

Well, I have downloaded them today, and the problem seems to be still the same. Those 3 data directories are created, and all the stuff is put in there.

It is not difficult to move it all to /, and running ldconfig enabled me to startx with the xfc4 .xinitrc.

Other errors:

No menu. (I have removed certain apps from the rom, so this could be the problem)
Only an aterm is started.

If you think about repackaging xfce4, please make packages that have a structure like this:

- Required libraries (in this case libxml2)

- Main libraries and files
- Additional Themes and languages
- Development files (includes, i hate them in a package not declared as devel)

This way everyone gets what he/she wants, and the downloads are still small, i hope.

5

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Screenshots Of Rc10 Running Kde 3.4 Here

« on: June 06, 2005, 09:13:03 am »

One way to tune kde is probably to use a similar approach as gentoo with it's split ebuilds for kdebase and other packages. kdelibs maybe can be downsized with disabling several components (DO_NOT_COMPILE).

While you are at it, leave konqueror out and include krusader. Drop xmms and include amarok(yes, i know, it's not christmas time, but anyway)

I, personally would very like to see kde 3.4(.1) on a zaurus, since it is the DE of my choice on my gentoo-box. Tuning it would be therefor appreciated. Right now i have oz/opie 3.5.3 on my c860, but since i cannot use it as a card reader is quite a bit annoying. So switching back to pdaXrom is on my mind right now.

6

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Openzaurus 3.5.3 Pre-release

« on: April 12, 2005, 05:30:19 am »

The connection via usb cable works now. I had to compile CDC-Ethernet support in, under USB-Network Multi-purpose (Sorry, I don't have my box here, so i have to use the information from my memory). I was able to ping and to ssh into my Zaurus.

Then i tried to use MidnightCommander on my box to make a shell link, in order to copy stuff onto my CF-card. It started fine, but i wasn't able to finish, the connection was lost. Most probably this is a problem with my Zaurus, on the hardware side, or the cable.

BTW, is there an option (and where is it) to use the Zaurus as a cardreader, i mean, to expose the CF-Card as a share vie the USB-Cable (like in pdaxrom)?

7

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Linux 2.6

« on: April 11, 2005, 08:15:03 am »

SD card working?

Not yet with the SD card i have. The card is recognized, the partition is recognized, too, so i will just have to find the correct device under /dev, and mount it then.

The in-kernel-support is there (modules). SD cards are handled by the mmc subsystem, i guess.

8

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Openzaurus 3.5.3 Pre-release

« on: April 08, 2005, 08:45:47 am »

The default is small - you can change this by editing the profile and changing the font size.

Yes, found that out the normal way, looking at the session profiles.

Really? What was wrong with the OZ updater.sh? Perhaps you misnamed your kernel (I installed both the kernel and image using the updater.sh from OZ 3.5.2).

I did not check it several times, i just tried it one time. The name was right probably.
If no one else reports this, i guess it was my fault then, the name was wrong.

Maybe it has something to do with the partitioning of the NAND, i customized it when installing pdaxrom.

hje PID:VID of the usb device have changed with the 2.6 kernel, therefore you'll need to make the same alterations as you made before, but changing the numbers (actually, I'm suprised it doesn't work 'out of the box', I'll do some testing.

I only compiled usbnet with support for stock Zaurus ROMS, i will test some other support settings.

I may report back on that Monday. Before that i will get me some docs, and study them.

9

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Linux 2.6

« on: April 08, 2005, 08:37:19 am »

SD card working?

I don't know. Since i do not own a sd card, this has not been an issue for me. But this question implies that this is a major concern for pdaxrom. Maybe i find a way to check it, and report back.

10

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Linux 2.6

« on: April 07, 2005, 09:14:33 am »

Hello again,

I recently installed oz-3.5.3-pre, and they seem to have a working 2.6-kernel. Maybe using that kernel is a way to bring 2.6 to pdaxrom. It uses udev.

11

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Openzaurus 3.5.3 Pre-release

« on: April 07, 2005, 09:10:22 am »

Hello,

Very nice pre-release. I switched from pdaxrom to 3.5.3-pre, the c7x0-image, yesterday, and it looks very good. I have a c860, btw.

No issues yet. Suspend works(via menu). My microdrive wakes up again (it didn't under pdaxrom). No error messages yet, all the apps i have tested worked just fine.

The fonts are quite small on the console, maybe using one with a better readability at that size is something to think about

The connection to my gentoo-box does not work right now. The zaurus is not recognized correctly. No network connection, no ping.

I noticed that the 2.6-kernel used in this release contains all the io-schedulers. Maybe one is enough in the case of a pda, so taking out the as-scheduler is an option.

Unless i am not mistaken, there seems to be missing an updater.sh, i had to work aorund to install the image(used an updater.sh from oz 3.5.2), but for the kernel i had to use an updater.sh from pdaxrom, after starting oz with the pdaxrom kernel(a no go, device management was impossible, no devices, no input).

12

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Minor Suggestions

« on: March 03, 2005, 04:23:45 am »

apm -s

Thanks. Where did you find it?

I have to say that with my x86 box i use acpi and no apm, so i did not even consider this.

I don't disagree in principle with anything HardenCoonor said, but want to make a plug that any such major changes (e.g. kernel-major/gcc/binutils/X versions) wait for pdaXrom 1.2

Well, yes, good point.  Just another year(s) to wait . Probably i will have to try this myself, setting up a cross-build-chroot and so on. We will see.

13

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Minor Suggestions

« on: March 02, 2005, 12:24:18 pm »

As the topic says, i would like to make some suggestions concerning features of pdaXrom. Some might already be obsolete, because already included, but who knows.

I would like to start with certain packages(to give this posting some structure).

glibc : compile with

Code: [Select]

--enable-omitfp This reduces the size of some .a by compiling them once with and once without framepointer, strip those debugging libraries out(ie delete them).
I already use this feature on my x86-gentoo box, and it makes really a difference.

gcc : Use gcc-3.4.3 (as a gentoo-user, i have to say that, i don't even know if it can generate valid code for arm)

binutils : Use newer binutils (2.15.92/94.*), The changelogs are quite long, so some bugfixing and/or new features might be applicable for the arm-architecture as well. Optimizing such as LDFLAGS=-Wl,-O1 and so on might add some performance.

kernel : 2.6 of course, +udev, more modules, less builtin stuff (i don't need wireless, infrared and so on), so the user should be enabled to turn on kernel-features as he/she needs. Maybe some file like kernel-2.6, like in Gentoo, where one can include the names of all modules to be loaded. Use udev+dbus+hal.
Yes, i have read some threads concerning 2.6 support here in the OE-forums)

X11 : Mhm, again i should say something like XOrg 6.8.2, but this is probably more difficult than the others. Still, performance of X11 is said to be increasable when compiled with newer gcc (>3.4).

prelink : Might be done for the standard rom package, though i don't know whether pdaxrom was/is compiled with -fpic.

********************************************************************

Now some general suggestions:

Strip the packages even more before they are put into the ROM. I often end up deleting stuff right after flashing. This takes up valuable space and is at least to me of no use at all.

-deletion of more X11-stuff (unnecessary xkb/* etc). There is just one keyboard for each zaurus, and extra files for external keyboards may be available as ipkgs. There is a lot stuff that is not necessary, geometries, symbols, keycodes.


-more fhs-compliance (so i don't have to switch between my box and the zaurus)
 /media as the directory where all the mountpoints are located, not /mnt
 /usr/apps into /usr/share/apps

- a command to put the zaurus into suspend mode via a pure console, with no x11

- maybe some install-options (in/exclude certain packages or locales)

- don't include xmms by default, i don't think there are a lot of people who use the zaurus as an mp3-player (me already putting on the nitro-cooled fire resistant full body suit)

- some security stuff (standard user not root)

******************************************************************

To Santa Claus:
- KDE  + krusader OR Gnome OR XFCE (Well, maybe I should try this myself at home)
- OpenOffice.org-2.0
- Fluxbox (to me much nicer than matchbox)

******************************************************************

That for now, please turn on your flamethrowers if you feel so. Still I hope some things in this post are useful.

Now i have to click some banners, since this is the only way for me to support the developers.

Thanks to all the pdaXrom-developers, they make the zaurus really a nice geek toy, ah, i mean a usefull tool.

14

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Linux 2.6

« on: March 02, 2005, 11:30:52 am »

* Kernel 2.6 works _very_ good on C7x0 thanks to the OpenZaurus kernel hackers, including the (unaccelerated yet) W100fb and SD/MMC.

That sounds good. Although there does not seem to be one single patch to apply that allows to compile a working linux-2.6-kernel. Maybe the new 2.6.11 has more support for ARM in general and for the zaurus.

2.6 might also mean the use of udev instead of devfs.

15

Deals and Great Z Buys / C860 from PriceJapan.com

« on: August 11, 2004, 04:32:54 am »

@danr: I used the citibank-account in London for payment. I live in germany, and this account was the nearest for me, also it should accept wires in €. I cannot say how long it took my bank to transfer the money from germany to GB, but the guy form www.pricejapan.com (I gues his name is Kaneda) seems to check it rather often. I had some problems, although i thought i filled in the wire form correctly(in €), the money showed up in GBP.

It also seems to me that one has to order by E-Mail if he/she wants to use the london-account, since the account is (or was) not mentioned in the list in the order form. But since Mr. Kaneda is answering mails really fast, one should have no problem.

BTW. my C860 from pricejapan.com is soon to arrive, so i might add another positive remark about pricejapan soon, too.