Messages

1

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Keyboard layout

« on: February 09, 2019, 10:15:23 am »

If you use US keyboards anyways, it is possible to select the US keyboard instead of the Russian one.

You don't get the point. I need Russian keyboard layout based on US keyboard. Just like on my laptop I'm using right now.

I got an answer from Planet Computers. I was told that they tested keyboard with horizontal enter key and concluded that vertical key is easier to press.
Regarding Russian layout they will answer later.

I'm lucky to have an old Psion lying near me. I switched it on and tried to type some text until I accidentally pressed enter key with backspace key simultaneously. Looks like we have different anatomy after all.

2

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Keyboard layout

« on: February 09, 2019, 05:32:49 am »

Well. I looked at russian keyboard layout for Gemini PDA and was little shocked. It is based on UK keyboard layout. It makes Gemini quite difficult to use it in Russia because we all use US keyboards in Russia.
Anyway I tried to contact Planet Computers via email. Let's wait for their answer.

3

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Keyboard layout

« on: February 03, 2019, 11:46:28 pm »

Anyways, a  better optimized layout needs quite some more space, i.e. having some keys separated from the main keys, like we have it with most desktop keyboards. For a small device like the Cosmo or the Gemini this means smaller keys, which would result in a worse user experience than having one block of keys like we have it with the Gemini. So there might not be that many options.

Well, why not to make something like this? There is no extra space used and keys are the same size. The problem is that I can't find such layout on any photos of Gemini or Cosmo. Maybe it's not to late to convince them to produce Cosmo with this layout…

4

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Keyboard layout

« on: February 03, 2019, 09:42:12 am »

Hello.
I found Cosmo is very interesting… BUT I noticed that it has quite inconvenient keyboard layout.
Enter button is too tall and there is nothing between Enter key and Backspace key. This kind of design is VERY annoying sometimes. Because it's very easy to miss and hit Enter instead of Backspace.
All my keyboards and laptops have Backslash key between Enter and Backspace keys.
I wonder if there will be options with sane keyboard layouts…

5

Zaurus - Arch Linux ARM support / X And Window Managers

« on: June 16, 2018, 11:10:40 am »

what window-manager or desktop-environment did you install ?

xfce4, but I quickly realized that it was a mistake.

Alternatively, look into tmux, links and other console programs. Mutt for email etc.

This way you get full keyboard controllable applications that run smooth.

Is there a way to show battery level and network status in console? Maybe in some overlay or shell prompt?

6

Zaurus - Arch Linux ARM support / X And Window Managers

« on: June 10, 2018, 04:42:06 pm »

Ok started to mess with this and learned 2 things.

1)  You can get the screen to rotate by adding the following file and content as follows:

/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-rotate.conf

[div class=\'codetop\']CODE[/div][div class=\'codemain\' style=\'height:200px;white-space:pre;overflow:auto\']Section "Device"
        Identifier      "PXA FB"
        Driver          "fbdev"
        Option          "Rotate"  "CW"
EndSection[/div]
2)  It took 22 minutes for XFCE4 to load up, so don't try that

The screen refresh is dog slow as predicted, so work still to be done.  Oh, also the touch screen doesn't match up, you can't get to any edges.

It's not working on my SL-C3200 for some reason. X never starts, only black screen
An I have this in log file:

Code: [Select]

[   591.417] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[   591.476] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[   591.508] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   591.509]     compiled for 1.20.0, module version = 0.4.4
[   591.509]     Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[   591.509]     ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 24.0
[   591.510] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
[   591.512] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fbdev
[   591.513] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
[   591.513] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[   591.516] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[   591.535] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   591.535]     compiled for 1.20.0, module version = 0.0.2
[   591.536]     ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 24.0
[   591.537] (II) FBDEV(0): using default device
[   591.538] (WW) VGA arbiter: cannot open kernel arbiter, no multi-card support
[   591.539] (II) FBDEV(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section
    "Default Screen Section" for depth/fbbpp 16/16
[   591.540] (==) FBDEV(0): Depth 16, (==) framebuffer bpp 16
[   591.541] (==) FBDEV(0): RGB weight 565
[   591.542] (==) FBDEV(0): Default visual is TrueColor
[   591.542] (==) FBDEV(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
[   591.543] (II) FBDEV(0): hardware: PXA (video memory: 600kB)
[   591.544] (DB) xf86MergeOutputClassOptions unsupported bus type 0
[   591.544] (**) FBDEV(0): Option "Rotate" "CW"
[   591.545] (**) FBDEV(0): rotating screen clockwise
[   591.546] (II) FBDEV(0): checking modes against framebuffer device...
[   591.546] (II) FBDEV(0): checking modes against monitor...
[   591.547] (II) FBDEV(0): Virtual size is 480x640 (pitch 480)
[   591.548] (**) FBDEV(0):  Built-in mode "current": 52.0 MHz, 75.3 kHz, 116.9 Hz
[   591.548] (II) FBDEV(0): Modeline "current"x0.0   52.00  480 605 645 691  640 640 643 644 -hsync -vsync -csync (75.3 kHz b)
[   591.549] (==) FBDEV(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
[   591.550] (II) Loading sub module "fb"
[   591.551] (II) LoadModule: "fb"
[   591.553] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
[   591.573] (II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   591.573]     compiled for 1.20.0, module version = 1.0.0
[   591.576]     ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[   591.576] (**) FBDEV(0): using shadow framebuffer
[   591.576] (II) Loading sub module "shadow"
[   591.577] (II) LoadModule: "shadow"
[   591.581] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libshadow.so
[   591.618] (II) Module shadow: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   591.619]     compiled for 1.20.0, module version = 1.1.0
[   591.619]     ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[   591.627] (II) FBDEV(0): display rotated; disabling DGA
[   591.628] (II) FBDEV(0): using driver rotation; disabling XRandRAnd I can't kill X because there is no X processes running. This is odd.

7

Zaurus - Hardware discussion / SL-C3200 not booting

« on: June 02, 2018, 02:30:54 am »

BTW, what are you planning to run under Arch?

I want to install X and use it as a PDA

8

Zaurus - Hardware discussion / SL-C3200 not booting

« on: May 30, 2018, 01:40:38 pm »

Thank you greguu.
I booted to Arch Linux (I reformatted SD card without checksums) but there is no /dev/hda  kexecboot also doesn't detect it.
I can't find any HDD test in Diagnostic Menu but there is "HDD 00 Clear" that cleared HDD (I assume) without errors.

UPDATE: It appeared that HDD is /dev/sda not /dev/hda! Now I can tell everyone that I'm using Arch :-P

9

Zaurus - Hardware discussion / SL-C3200 not booting

« on: May 30, 2018, 04:50:48 am »

Thank you very much!
I managed to flash kexecboot kernel from here: https://github.com/greguu/linux-3.10.y-c3x0...xec-r0/releases It detects my ext4 formatted SDHC card but can't mount: Invalid argument.
There is also kernel https://github.com/greguu/linux-4.2.3-c3x00/releases but there is no updater.sh script. And it's not even a script but some binary data. How come?

10

Zaurus - Hardware discussion / SL-C3200 not booting

« on: May 29, 2018, 05:22:36 pm »

OK, I created relatively small FAT16 partition. Also I found 3rd page of Diagnostic Menu with restore options and restored NAND. I checked NAND then and it showed 1 bad block.
But OK+Power combinations still doesn't work. At least charging LED works now.

11

Zaurus - Hardware discussion / SL-C3200 not booting

« on: May 29, 2018, 04:28:52 pm »

Thank you!
Fn+D+M combination worked but it prints "Error!!!" when I choose "NAND Update".
What media should I use? I have 2GB MicroSD card with MBR table. One partition formatted to FAT32. I tried SD card adapter and SD to CF adapter.

12

Zaurus - Hardware discussion / SL-C3200 not booting

« on: May 26, 2018, 03:52:26 am »

Hello.
I found my old Zaurus and tried to switch it on but it was not powering on. Power and charging led were inactive. OK+Power key combo doesn't work.
Then I tried D+M combination it switched on but screen displayed only white.
I have debug cable and tried to use serial console. It printed:

Code: [Select]

NAND LOADER ... in NOR
built on Feb 02 2006 at 20:51:00
func= 00000003
(3) BOOT: Service Diag
CF card check...
ParamCheckDiagImage() - Error? no diag version entryThen I inserted CF card:

Code: [Select]

NAND LOADER ... in NOR
built on Feb 02 2006 at 20:51:00
func= 00000003
(3) BOOT: Service Diag
CF card check...
CF card is inserted!
 initDevice is ok !!.
CF card check is OK.
 into GetFile();
Error! find_entry()
ParamCheckDiagImage() - Error? no diag version entryWhen I press D+B keys it looks like a bootloop:

Code: [Select]

NAND LOADER ... in NOR
built on Feb 02 2006 at 20:51:00
func= 00000008
(8) Jump to NAND!
**** LoadAndJump ****
store_adr = 00000000
load_adr  = 00210000
size      = 00040000
func      = ffffffff
**** JUMP ! ****


NAND LOADER ... in NOR
built on Feb 02 2006 at 20:51:00
func= 00000008
(8) Jump to NAND!
**** LoadAndJump ****
store_adr = 00000000
load_adr  = 00210000
size      = 00040000
func      = ffffffff
**** JUMP ! ****It stops printing it when I release keys.
Anything I tried also didn't work.
Is it bricked? I hope there is a way to revive it.