Messages

1

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Gentoo For Zaurus With Pdaxrom

« on: January 16, 2006, 08:12:31 am »

I worked on this for a while.

Long story short.  You need to dedicate about 1-2G of your Z's internal storage to hold all the files for portage.

Emerge sync took 5 hours the first time.  Compiling anything is painfully slow.

Eventually I ran into the situation where after struggling for weeks to properly update portage and the OS, portage just flat out broke.  I was unable to reinstall portage because there is no arm based distribution.  Also, there is no arm profile in portage, so whe you do update it gets removed.

This is why I'm using pdaxrom now.  

--Chris

Yeap, I think use pdaXrom is Better too!
Gentoo only for tests because compile a entire system in a PDA is .... no cense
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2

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Agere/hermes 2 Driver Almost There....

« on: November 10, 2005, 06:57:04 pm »

Is it necessary to use gcc 2.95 to compile kernel modules?

I'm compiling natively on a 3100 running RC12.  I have gcc 3.4.4 in /opt/native from the image that was provided.  I have the pdaxrom pcmcia sources and I've applied the 7.18 agere driver to those sources.   I have the tetsu 2.4.20 kernel with all his patches in.

Everything seems to build OK.  I've copied the two new modules to the proper place with the rest of th wifi modules.  I have an agere.conf file with the correct manuf id and module setting in /etc/pcmcia.

When I insert my card (Socket Low Power Rev  the module loads (show up in lsmod) but I get a big error and a backtrace in dmesg.

So I'm thinking that I should probably be using the same version of GCC to compile the modules as was used to compile the kernel.  Was 2.95 the version used to compile the kernel for pdaxrom RC12?  Can someone point me to an apropriate version of gcc that runs native to the Z?

Thanks for any help.  I really want to see this card work again.  It nearly doubles my battery life when using wifi.

Alternatively, would anyone be willing to post these two modules from the cacko 1.23 ROM?

wlags49_h1_cs.o
wlags49_h2_cs.o

Maybe I can just use his modules....

Thanks,

--Chris

3

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Visualboy Advance

« on: October 18, 2005, 01:05:34 pm »

There is a known issue in VisualBoyAdvance that will cause a memory leak when you get to GBA.c.  To fix this go into the SDL directory and edit the Makefile.  After you have run configure, find the lines containing CCFLAGS and CXXFLAGS and remove any refrence to -O2 or -O anything.  You can leave the other Makefiles alone.  This will get you past that problem.

That being said I still haven't managed to compile an IWMMX enabled VBA... yet.

--Chris

4

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pdaxrom, Visualboyadvance & Fpu Errors

« on: October 14, 2005, 01:17:28 pm »

Code: [Select]

g++ -fno-exceptions -I/usr/include/SDL -D_REENTRANT -mcpu=xscale -mtune=xscale -WA,-mfpu=softvfp -funroll-loops -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -DC_CORE -DPROFILING   -o VisualBoyAdvance  SDL.o debugger.o 2xSaI.o Cheats.o EEprom.o Flash.o GBA.o Gfx.o Globals.o Mode0.o Mode1.o Mode2.o Mode3.o Mode4.o Mode5.o RTC.o Sound.o Sram.o Text.o Util.o admame.o agbprint.o armdis.o bilinear.o bios.o elf.o expr-lex.o expr.o exprNode.o getopt.o getopt1.o hq2x.o interframe.o memgzio.o motionblur.o pixel.o remote.o scanline.o simple2x.o unzip.o ../gb/libgb.a ../prof/libprof.a -L/usr/lib -Wl,-rpath,/usr/lib -lSDL -lpthread -lpng -lz
/zgcc/bin/../lib/gcc/armv5tel-cacko-linux/3.4.4/../../../../armv5tel-cacko-linux/bin/ld: ERROR: /usr/lib/libSDL.so uses FPA instructions, whereas VisualBoyAdvance does not
/zgcc/bin/../lib/gcc/armv5tel-cacko-linux/3.4.4/../../../../armv5tel-cacko-linux/bin/ld: ERROR: /usr/lib/libSDL.so uses hardware FP, whereas VisualBoyAdvance uses software FP
/zgcc/bin/../lib/gcc/armv5tel-cacko-linux/3.4.4/../../../../armv5tel-cacko-linux/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file /usr/lib/libSDL.so
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

I get the above errors when I try to compile VisualBoyAdvance on pdaxrom rc12 on 3100.  Ultimately I'm trying to produce an iwmmx enabled VBA but for now I would be happy to see it compile successfully once with normal compiler options.  I've tried variations of -Wa,fpu=fpa fpa11 and softvfp.  I've tried -msoft-float and -mhard-float.  

Either I can't make it past the ./configure step where it tries to produce a C executable or I get all the way through the process and fail at the linking step at the end.  Either way I get messages about FPA instructions and hard vs software FPU.

I see that VisualBoyAdvance is in the feeds and I've installed it.  Can you guys tell me what options you used to get it to compile in the first place?

I'm using the zgcc you posted a little while back (3.4.4) on the cramfs image.  I am not using a cross compiler.  I'm compiling on the Z directly.

Thanks,

--Chris

5

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Genesis Neogeo Snes Turbografx Nes Gameboy Emu

« on: October 06, 2005, 10:49:45 am »

Where did you get the information about 30fps with VBA?  I've been running the bvdd SDL library for a month and at most I get about 7fps.  This is up from about 1FPS with the zports libSDL.

I'm really curious if there is a way to make it even faster.  Right now I'm trying to learn to compile an iwmmx enabled VisualBoyAdvance in the hope that it will help.

Please send me a link to where you read that 30fps was possible with VBA.

--Chris

Have you used the GBA emulator VisualBoyAdvance? I got it to work using the instructions (in Japanese) here, but it will only run in QVGA mode vertically. Do you think it would be possible to rotate the display?
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I'll have a looksee.  yes its easy.  Im just going to try the instructions and modify them to work for us with our current setup.



small update
well....i got it to work.---it displayes correctly horizontall.  I did some further reading and i am finding out that there is another sdl more compatable than the zports.  Because the library is more compatable to our graphics chips, the c1000 and the c3100, it is possible to run emulation on the snes9x, znester, and visualboy advance at a faster framerate.  as it is, zports sdl provides us with 100% speed from nes games, and 80-100percent framerate without noticable slowdowns in snes, the visualboy gives us a 7fps but it can be changed.  From what i seen in our current setup, the sdl zports (not sure if it supports our graphics chip bvdd) is not as compatable as the current sdl bvdd.  From what i read, even modifying the kernal will give us more speed.  Our current framerate with the visualboy is at 7fps.  I read with using the sdl bvdd can give us easy 30fps and more with modifying the kernel.  Man i hate school.  ohh well.  This project is gona stay under until the weekend.  Just more information.  The sdl bvbb crashed my system.  So ill do some further reading.


thanks for the link man!  It is simply amazing


enjoy!

 

[img]http://www.zaurusthemes.org/oddpics/sdemo.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]
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6

Software / Bvdd Versions Of Libsdl

« on: August 25, 2005, 06:41:12 pm »

I've been playing with the libsdl .ipks from this site:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...n-US:unofficial

These are compiled to take advantage of the bvdd driver for better performance.  Unfortunately the whole site is in Japanese and I can't make much sense from the translation.

The problem I'm having is that when I try to use them the pointer is always off by about 1cm down.  i.e. where you tap is not where the screen reads the tap.  This happens in barrage and crimson fields.  

Just wondering if anyone else has run into or solved this problem.  

--Chris

7

C1000/3x00 General discussions / /hdd3 As Ext2?

« on: August 20, 2005, 08:15:44 pm »

Yes you can but you will need to edit the ro.filesys script (I think that's it) to change the mount commands to be ext3 instead of vfat.  If you do that it will work just fine, with the exception that a windows box won't be able to mount it as usual.

--Chris

Hello,

due to file system problems (filesystem panic, FAT error, drive was always remounted read only automatically) I had to reformat my /hdd3 (SL-C3000) and restore a backup. fsck.vfat didn't help anymore.

I unmounted it and did a mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/hda3

Well, now I'm afraid that I'll have file system problems again, and I really don't want to go through this procedure once more.

So I wondered if I can easily instead format it with ext2 or even ext3 without having problems. Anyone knows?

I don't see any point in making this drive vfat. I think this is only important if the drive is read by a Windows machine, which is never the case in the SL-C3000.
Even if the contents are provided by Samba through the network, the file system doesn't matter. Only (maybe?) if the usbstorage PC link setting is used, but I avoid that anyway.

Thanks a lot

daniel
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8

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pdaxrom And Slc3100

« on: August 12, 2005, 04:26:49 pm »

How did you get it to flash teh pdaxrom?  I thought our Nand parition sizes were off.  What did you do to make it work?

Did you use a kernel specific to the 3100?  If not try flashing the tetsu kernel for the 3100 available on his site.  If you used the wrong kernel that could prevent your Z from booting.  Please let us know how it goes.

--Chris

Again little progress
i've successfully flashed the pdaxrom on the 3100 but...
no boot, no charge anymore, so NAND restore
can it come from the kernel? where to find a kernel for a 3100?
or maybe it come from the package and the manner to do it.
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9

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Alternative Rom's For 3100 ?

« on: July 21, 2005, 04:15:39 pm »

We need to see how that works out in practice. The Borzoi is pretty similar to either the Spitz or the Akita and I'd rather not add a dedicated machine type for it if the difference is just the amount of flash (see c7x0).
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If I understand tetsu's site as it translates into english.  The kernel he has for the 3100 is the C1000 kernel with the only addition being changing a constant in the source.

They are 2005/7/8 SL-C3100 private v18b-pre3. V18a suitable ones of the SL-C1000/C3000 were built from the source of the C1000. (Note) because the source cord/code for the SL-3100 is not open from the SHARP, to reset to the origin, it is necessary to restore NAND backup. Please do not use the person who cannot understand this meaning.

Here is the key line from the patch that makes the C1000 source into C3100 source.

(The new) the patch which makes Yamada's SL-C1000 source compulsorily C3100 correspondence  (2005/7/8)

#define CONFIG_ARCH_PXA_AKITA

This is the kernel I'm currently running on my 3100 with no problems.  I think it is fair to say the hardware is so similar it just doesn't matter.  (mplayer iwmmx/bvvd runs great on the 3100 with this BTW.)  I don't see why we really need to wait for sharp to release the code.

The big problem is that the flash is partitioned differently from the 1000/3000/3100.

Does cacko provide the patched kernel source tarball for his 1.23 3000 beta or C1000 beta?  I'd be thrilled to help setup a rom for the 3100 and I should be able to handle the kernel compile.  It should be quite possible to have one 1000/3000/3100 code base and just apply a simple patch to switch between them.

--Chris

10

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Alternative Rom's For 3100 ?

« on: July 19, 2005, 10:21:00 pm »

Tetsu(sp?) has a kernel out for the 3100.  It's a beta and recovering from it would require a nand restore... but it works fine for me.

I'm toying with the idea of trying to repack a cacko image to fit onto my Z.  It seems like if you could redistribute the allocation of space with links or something it would work.

--Chris

Until Sharp releases the source code and the updater.sh script, it's probably a bit risky to try porting one of the alternative images to the C3100.

Then again, if you're adventurous you could cook a C3000-kernel with the modified C3100-CMDLINE and try if it boots. If so, then you probably can use the complete C3000 distribution for your C3100 as well.
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11

General Discussion / Chroot Gentoo Environment On 3100

« on: July 16, 2005, 03:15:11 pm »

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-13124...ght-zaurus.html

This thread has the download locations, howto, etc for the NFS chroot environment.  You just install it to the internal microdrive rather than over nfs.

I've already removed this from my z.  It takes up 1G of space and the performance is numbingly slow.  3hrs to emerge sync!  The IO rate to that microdrive is not great.  I think I'm going to try to get the nfs environment upgraded to gcc 3.4 and see what happens when we start turning on xscale optimizations.  

--Chris

I'm not sure if this is news but I just got gentoo working on my 3100.  I'm brand new to the zaurus (my last pda was an apple newton!)  but not new to gentoo or linux.

Like to try same - where did you get the Gentoo for the Z ? How recent (portage) is it, can one "emerge sync" too?
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12

General Discussion / Chroot Gentoo Environment On 3100

« on: July 11, 2005, 05:16:03 pm »

First I connected the Z to a linux desktop and tarred up the whole /hdd3 over the USB link so I would have a backup.  This procedure will wipe out everything in /hdd3.

After that just unmount /hdd1 /hdd2 and /hdd3

fdisk /dev/hdc

Don't delete partitions 1 or 2!  I think they hold the data for a full reset.  Again, I'm a zaurus newb and have lots to learn.  In any case they are small and I wanted to retain as much original function as possible.

delete partition 3
new partition, primary, 3
make the size anything you like as long as you leave enough for the linux part.
type fat32
new partition, primary, 4
For gentoo this has to be >1G  I went with 2G.
type linux
write, quit

mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/hdc3
mkfs.ext2 -j /dev/hdc4

either remount /hdd1 /hdd2 and /hdd3 or reboot.

mkdir /home/gentoo (or whatever)
mount -t ext3 /dev/hdc4 /home/gentoo

--Chris

13

General Discussion / Chroot Gentoo Environment On 3100

« on: July 11, 2005, 01:58:49 pm »

I'm not sure if this is news but I just got gentoo working on my 3100.  I'm brand new to the zaurus (my last pda was an apple newton!)  but not new to gentoo or linux.

All I had to do was put the gentoo-arm distribution on the internal microdrive

I repartitioned the internal hdd to have a 2G vfat on /hdd3
made a 2G ext3 FS mounted to /home/gentoo
unpacked the gentoo-arm dist into /home/gentoo
mounted proc
chroot into /home/gentoo/gentoo-dist

emerged joe as my first test and succeeded.  (had to edit the ebuild to add the arm keyword)

The neat part is that it doesn't change the default sharp rom.  The OS looks for a /dev/hdc3 to mount as vfat to /hdd3.  /hdd3 can be empty, the OS doen't need anything from it to boot.  As long as you make some kind of vfat FS on /dev/hdc3 you're fine and you can give the rest of the space to /dev/hdc4 for ext3 and gentoo.

I'm not sure where I'm going on this I'm just desperate to do something interesting with my Z since there are no roms out for the 3100 yet.

--Chris

14

General Discussion / Thinking About Selling Some Zs?

« on: July 05, 2005, 03:47:32 pm »

Well I just bought my 3100 from pricejapan for $738.  I understand they only mark it up 5%.  They offer warrenty service and will act as middleman if repairs are needed... at my expense of course.

If you could compete on price and had the other goodies (overlay brilliant, case, pentopia, etc) then you would definitly have something.

15

General Discussion / Source For Overlay Brillant Screen Protectors?

« on: June 28, 2005, 10:30:39 am »

I found one:

itn_retail@miyavix.co.jp

Helpful guy.  He has an ebay store that sells them.  If you need one of these I'm sure he would be glad to hear from you.

--Chris