Messages

1

Debian / Debian On A Sl-5500

« on: December 25, 2007, 04:52:29 pm »

Angstrom has the 2.6 kernel working with SD on collie, together with probably all the software you want to run, and much faster too.

Would that include audio then? That is a big requirement for me. I've been checking http://linuxtogo.org/gowiki/ZaurusCollie semi-regularly and it says audio still needs work. Hopefully it is just out of date.

DId the SD driver make it to the mainline kernel yet? I pledged $25 for that to whoever made it happen. Or any of the rest of the code, it is all pretty exciting to see that stuff make it mainline. I've been hoping to see that for years.

And on the subject of kernels, is there an easy way for me to download just the angstrom kernel? I have a ton of respect for the angstrom people doing all of this collie work, but no interest in anything but the kernel. I hope I don't have to set up the entire angstrom build environment just for that.

I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking at, but it looks like some of the patches are local to the angstrom build environment when I look at this page - http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/repo/...&pnm=kernel

2

Debian / Debian On A Sl-5500

« on: December 25, 2007, 07:29:45 am »

I'm not using anybodies distribution of zdebian, I'm just running a debootstrap I set up myself. It ran great for years, but lately glibc refuses to update because of my 2.4.18 kernel. 2.6 on 5500 will probably never happen until the mythological GPL colle sd/mmc driver unmythologicals itself. Comments?

What would happen if I temporarily put a fake uname in my path to get glibc to upgrade? Would my system become unusable? Is there any hope of 2.6 on collie? This thing has become entirely unusable because of this glibc problem.

What are the odds I could fake debian into thinking it has a current libc6? I'm running out of options.

3

For Sale / Wanted / Large Battery Cover For Sl-5500 (success)

« on: September 07, 2007, 01:07:25 pm »

Well its official, you can get a true 2000mAh battery going in your sl-5500 without spending $70 or doing any hacking (other than grabbing a nail file and filing off a small plastic tab on an EA-BL08 clone), and it even looks nice.

Just get that battery cover linked to in an earlier post of mine, and a Cameron-Sino brand EA-BL08 clone.

The replacement cover didn't go on as easy as the original. It took a little gentle working to get it all sides of it down and level against the Z, but once it was, it slid to the left, and the power switch slid up locking it all into place.

I will probably try to get the battery discharged to about 10% today, fully recharge it, and then see how long it can play oggs with mplayer with the screen off. I normally got 7 hours on a regular size battery. From what little i've seen about these batteries in this forum, this battery is known to work great in the models EA-BL08 is for, so i'm not worried.

4

For Sale / Wanted / Large Battery Cover For Sl-5500 (success)

« on: September 03, 2007, 04:33:21 pm »

It isn't an official sharp part, thats for sure. The product I linked to above claims to fit on a sl-5500, I only ordered it today so I can't say for sure. If you file off the tab on a EA-BL08 it will fit in a 5500, then you need a larger cover to hold it in.

I have an EA-BL08 (Cameron Sino brand) in my 5500 right now and it charged it and ran off it, it just falls out easily. If/when the battery door I ordered gets here, I will let everyone know if it worked out for me.

5

For Sale / Wanted / Large Battery Cover For Sl-5500 (success)

« on: September 03, 2007, 03:43:20 pm »

Available at lionbattery.com

6

For Sale / Wanted / Large Battery Cover For Sl-5500 (success)

« on: September 01, 2007, 02:53:00 pm »

I bought one of those 2000 mAh batteries for my sl-5500 and was a little surprised when it didn't come with a larger cover to hold it in. Does anyone know where to get them, or have one they would sell me?

Sorry about crossposting if that is against the rules, I am posting this in 5x00 Hardware and For sale / Wanted. If it is against the rules, please delete the 5x00 Hardware post.

7

5x00 Hardware / Large Battery Cover For Sl-5500

« on: September 01, 2007, 02:52:47 pm »

See here

8

5x00 Hardware / High-capcity Battery For Sl-5500

« on: September 01, 2007, 02:40:22 pm »

I just came across an item today in ebay Germany that maybe you guys will find interesting (I did).  A 1800mAh batt!  I could not believe this would fit into the SL-5500, but the seller explicitly confirmed this.  Ebay Item number is 270037098941, seller name  akkumulator-manufaktur.  I have not ordered this battery and I do not know the seller.
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A little late to post, but anyway I bought a couple of these, modified them, and it turns out they are only 1800mAh on the sticker. The batteries only give the life you would expect from one of that size.

9

Hardware Mods / Sl-5500 Gpl Mmc Hardware Hack

« on: June 02, 2006, 12:37:49 am »

Yes. The 5500 has a proprietary (made by sharp) SD controller chip with a binary only module. They refuse to release any info about it to the OE developers,

10

Hardware Mods / Sl-5500 Gpl Mmc Hardware Hack

« on: June 01, 2006, 07:58:37 pm »

Just to make it GPL on pure ideological grounds would seem pretty pointless. but the GPL is also practical.

A GPL driver would allow the use of the 2.6 kernel, which would have a lot of benefits, the biggest probably being battery life. Most people won't want to use 2.6 if it means giving up the SD slot.

It would also allow using MMC cards bigger than 1GB, they are getting pretty cheap these days and I would like to upgrade mine. It is a shame to have to stick with 1GB because of shortsighted programming in a binary only module, especially in linux.

11

Hardware Mods / Sl-5500 Gpl Mmc Hardware Hack

« on: May 14, 2006, 01:12:46 am »

Another (more zaurus-like) device with sd/mmc hacked in. Aeronix Zip-It wireless instant messenger.

Instructions - http://www.elinux.org/wiki/ZipItMMC
More ZipIt hacks - http://www.elinux.org/wiki/ZipitHardwareMods
Pretty pictures - http://va3uxb.dynip.com/zip_mmc.html
More pretty pictures - http://va3uxb.dynip.com/mmc_2.html

The last two links are served from a Zip-It, presumably from the mmc card (only 2MB flash built in).

12

Hardware Mods / Sl-5500 Gpl Mmc Hardware Hack

« on: May 08, 2006, 04:56:58 am »

WRT SD/MMC hack is very speed limited - 200-300KB/s is all you can get.
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The 5500 SD/MMC port is very speed limited, All I get is about 450kb, so making it a little bit slower isn't a big deal to me. I put the main programs that tend to not be so big on mmc, and then larger files like mp3 or video on CF.

13

Hardware Mods / Sl-5500 Gpl Mmc Hardware Hack

« on: May 08, 2006, 01:10:11 am »

It makes sense technically, but I don't know if it is practical.

So the 5500 SD control chip is closed and useless, well do we even need it in the first place?

The Linksys WRT54g router has mmc support hacked in, and it has no special chip for that, just gpios http://kiel.kool.dk/

So what if the normal SL-5500 slot was used for this hack, and gpios were stolen from the SD chip? Maybe the power to that POS could even be cut off at the same time.

14

Hardware Mods / Cuecat On Sl-5500

« on: April 13, 2006, 01:22:35 pm »

Yup I have a multimeter and already tested the voltage, looks good. I just got the desoldering braid I needed yesterday, so today I will probably only have one soldering project - replacing my corroded power jack (see the 5x00 hardware forums in the off chance that you are interested).

I will be doing some more research tonight probably and then trying to do the cuecat thing tomorrow.

I figured the grounds would all be connected together. It seems odd that there would be more than one, but then again it also seems odd that the PS/2 port has 6 pins and only uses 4.

15

Hardware Mods / Cuecat On Sl-5500

« on: April 12, 2006, 06:37:35 pm »

Ok. Well I have my max232 and zaurus i/o connector. I guess I will have to seal the hole in the i/o connector with hot glue because it is bigger than the cable. I will probably stick with the white cable because it has that plug thing that is lacking from the zaurus i/o connector. The on/off button (smallest radio shack had) should fit on the cat's back, without being all of the way on the big red C, leaving room for the max232.

I have the pinout for the i/o connector here, http://www.elsix.org/downloads/sio-specifi...030121_v100.pdf

The 74hc04 here, http://www.ee.washington.edu/stores/DataSh...4000/74hc04.pdf

And the max232, here http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/max232.pdf

Serial, here http://www.lammertbies.nl/comm/cable/RS-232.html

PS/2, here http://www.bbdsoft.com/keyboard.html

So hopefully I can convert the original instructions to the zaurus and max232.

One question I have, other than is it safe to use the power input pins as power output with an external power source plugged in to the main jack, is about ground.

I am quite a hardware newbie, and had to look up what that arrow-ish symbol was and found that it meant ground. I see signal ground, power ground, and frame ground in the sharp i/o pinout. I am assuming that "frame ground" is what I should connect pin15 (GND) of the max232 to, and the wire that would have gone to pin3 of the ps/2 connector, had I not hacked it off with a knife and replaced it with the zaurus i/o connector. Is this correct?

Ground makes so little sense to me in a portable device like this. Yes, I know I should take a class on this stuff, and I probably will soon now that my interest for it is growing, but I want to build this now!