Messages

1

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: May 13, 2023, 09:11:04 pm »

Lets try that again....

Interesting topic here:

https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=36793.0

Obsolescence policy exists everywhere it seems.....

Not to worry, there's always NetBSD. 

To work.....brb

illbay

2

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Hard Drive Initialization help

« on: May 13, 2023, 07:05:26 pm »

Hi orbz,

It has been a long time since I installed cacko on my SL-C3100 so I can't help off the top of my head but I can suggest this wonderful website which got me started and helped me immensely:

http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/

I am sure you will find your answer here plus a whole lot more.

Cheers
Bill

3

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: May 07, 2022, 08:09:44 pm »

Still here!!

Moving house, losing hair rapidly.

If I ever find all my stuff again I will continue where I left off.

Cheers

illbay

4

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: April 15, 2022, 08:02:11 pm »

I am happy to report that my little Zaurus SL-C3100 just finished compiling gcc-6.2.0 - Static, including mpfr-3.1.4, gmp-6.1.1 and mpc-1.0.3 with the following settings:

gcc-6.2.0/configure \
  --prefix=${CLFS}/cross-tools \
  --build=${CLFS_HOST} \
  --host=${CLFS_HOST} \
  --target=${CLFS_TARGET} \
  --with-sysroot=${CLFS}/cross-tools/${CLFS_TARGET} \
  --disable-nls \
  --disable-shared \
  --without-headers \
  --with-newlib \
  --disable-decimal-float \
  --disable-libgomp \
  --disable-libmudflap \
  --disable-libssp \
  --disable-libatomic \
  --disable-libquadmath \
  --disable-threads \
  --enable-languages=c \
  --disable-multilib \
  --with-mpfr-include=$(pwd)/../gcc-6.2.0/mpfr/src \
  --with-mpfr-lib=$(pwd)/mpfr/src/.libs \
  --with-arch=${CLFS_ARM_ARCH} \
  --with-float=${CLFS_FLOAT} \
  --with-fpu=${CLFS_FPU}

Total times:

1st run (compile error in ubsan.c - line 1472 changed to xloc.file == (const char*)'\0')

real    9121m54.611s
user    1436m24.087s
sys     287m7.737s

2nd run

real    2009m22.416s
user    666m5.417s
sys     75m4.632s

TOTAL

real   185.52 hours (7 days, 17.52 hours)
user   35.03 hours
sys   6.03 hours


Not bad at all really!! 

illbay

EDIT 6/6/22 - Oopsy on the total calculations for user and sys. Corrected above. Added the raw data for reference and confirmation.

5

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: April 14, 2022, 06:10:14 pm »

Thanks again greguu.

I stumbled upon this website https://vminko.org/gentoo_manuals/zaurus_c1000when looking for something. I had a quick look but noticed the dates and assumed it was a long forgotten thing. But no, as you say ARMv5tel is alive and well here https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/ which is great!!

I don't know anything about ccache or distcc but will do soon. Anything to speed things up a bit would be great. As I said I am (still) compiling gcc-6.2.0 on my poor SL-C3100. It did break with an error and the time then was:

real    9121m54.611s
user    1436m24.087s
sys     287m7.737s

I fixed the error and set it going again. That was 2 days ago I think.

I understood that this would be a problem but things are getting a bit ridiculous.  gcc is a tough ask by any means so I shouldn't complain.

It is looking like armv5 is slowly disappearing from many projects support. Understandable I guess seeing it's age and what is available today. I still like the zaurus and its form factor though and intend to get some more life out of it if I can.

Hello again John. Yes X on the zaurus is ok with me. I have been taking a look at what is useable with the frame buffer directly. Early days. So much to learn. Any luck with the files on the website I mentioned above (same as other post)? If you scroll down you will find mirrors of some sites that the site owner has stored.

Cheers

illbay

6

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Re: I realize that it is 2022, but I am hoping to setup PDA X ROM or a facsimile! :)

« on: April 10, 2022, 06:49:41 pm »

Hi John,

This website may be of use:

https://vminko.org/gentoo_manuals/zaurus_c1000

More specifically:

https://vminko.org/storage/zaurus/mirrors/nand-backups/

It sounds like you have a great deal of experience in this very interesting area.

Cheers

illbay

7

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: April 10, 2022, 06:39:04 pm »

Thanks greguu

I have been able to get around the busybox thing and then hit another problem with a bug in the armv5 version of perl that was installed on voidz so had to recompile a newer version of that.

Many cycles later and lots of hacking I decided to give the full version of LFS a miss as it clearly does not take into account the arm architecture.

I haven't given up though, found another version of LFS called CLFS (https://clfs.org/view/clfs-embedded/arm/) which looks like it might work on the zaurus. In the process of compiling GCC. I think this is day 3, hahaha....

In my travels I came across something interesting called the Yocto Project. Has anyone had any experience with this specifically for the Zaurus?

I see a contribution from a Richard Purdie for the zaurus called zaurusd (https://git.yoctoproject.org/zaurusd/) which looks promising.

From what I understand, if the Yocto Project can handle armv5te then you should be able to cross compile a complete custom linux distribution at will. In the process of getting my head around how it all works.

Cheers

illbay

8

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: March 28, 2022, 06:16:15 pm »

I have decided to stick with build 7 of voidz because it looks like everything I need is available and the repo is up and running.

The only problem I am having is busybox. While busybox is great for this type of machine due to its low resource requirements, it appears that some of the commands it supplies are no good for building an OS. Missing switches, etc.

I am now in the process of removing busybox and replacing it with the full gnu packages. I did do this already and ended up with an unbootable machine. Something  to do with symlinks, init and runit I think. Being more careful and methodical this time around.

Hopefully I will be able to start the LFS process soon.

illbay

9

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: March 25, 2022, 03:05:17 am »

Thanks Varti and greguu

What you say makes sense and also gives me some clues as to how to proceed.

This is not an important or urgent project, just something I fell into and would like to give a try. Peoples time is precious expecially in these strange days.

No fear, I will persevere and see how I go.

On a side note, I am not active at all on social media let alone forums but a big thank you to Varti who, from what I have seen, always makes people welcome and is super active and positive.

A pleasure to be here really.

Cheers

illbay

10

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: March 23, 2022, 03:21:53 am »

So far I have started with a fresh clone of void-packages from the official git repo.

I then copied greguu's zaurus packages across into the new srcpkgs tree including linux4.19-zaurus and followed the instructions detailed by greguu to build a new rootfs.

Some of the patches did not work out of the box so I had to patch files manually, no biggy.

For the most part the build worked up until gettext-0.21_4 when building pkg zaurus-base.

Getting an error like:

configure.ac:25: error: AC_INIT should be called with package and version arguments

This appears to be a problem with M4, autom4te, aclocal and autoreconf. I have done a search and the problem appears to be very common but still haven't worked out a way to get past it yet.

As far as becoming a rootfs maintainer, this is probably out of my league at present. As I said I wanted to go through the LFS book to learn more about this stuff but haven't quite got there yet. I wouldn't like to let people down.

I am happy to continue with trying to build a new rootfs and document my learnings and help out any way I can.

I am not familiar with github or git but I will create a github account and document my findings there if that is of any help to greguu or anyone else interested.

I am very surprised how far the rootfs build process actually got without too much baby sitting. I wonder if it will just work once I get it to build. I would not have been able to get this far without greguu's patches and instructions so big thanks to him.

Cheers

illbay

11

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: March 21, 2022, 06:15:42 am »

Hi Varti

Would you like to try to make a new voidz release yourself?

That sounds like a great idea. I am currently having strange issues with setting up voidz build7 so it has all the required tools to start the LFS process.

Maybe a new build will help that and also maybe help others who would like to revive their Z's.

I am no expert but I have been taking a look at greguu's git repo including his commits to the original void-packages, etc. It will be a learning experience in itself going through those updates to understand what they are doing and why and see if they work for a new build.

Once I have something that works I will post under Zaurus Void Linux Support (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?board=205.0)?

illbay

12

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: March 20, 2022, 07:27:26 am »

Thanks again Varti.

I see that the repos still exist but maybe just have an SSL Certificate issue.

Being able to get binaries from the repo will be great.

In the meantime I was able to work out how to cross compile binaries on an x86_64 install of void linux installed on a virtual machine.

It turns out that the instructions at https://github.com/greguu/voidz-packages under Build a RootFS! was what worked. I must have suffered from a temporary brain fart when I tried before. 

For any one interested, what I am going to do is probably mad but I am trying to set up voidz linux on my SL-C3100 so I can follow the instructions at Linux From Scratch here https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/

This is more of a learning experience for me as well as an investigation in to why software these days requires so much resources to do basic things.

I love the design and utility of the Zaurus and hate to see it sitting idle.

My reason for even trying to build an entire OS on the Zaurus is this https://www.openbsd.org/zaurus.html

After the OpenBSD/cats was completed in order to benefit from a good ARM development platform, work on the Zaurus hardware started in 2004. Since the Zaurus was a fully capable machine, we didn't cross compile. All builds of Zaurus were done on the Zaurus directly.

I am obviously not the first to do this but like I said this is really a learning and investigation experience for myself.

I will post updates here if you are interested in following along and laughing. 

Cheers

illbay

13

Zaurus - Void Linux support / Re: Void Install Guide

« on: March 20, 2022, 06:37:12 am »

No problem. Thanks for getting back as quickly as you did.

When I do a xbps-install -Su I get this:

Code: [Select]

[*] Updating `https://www.oesf.org/repository/feeds/voidlinux/testing/build8/armv5tel-musl-repodata' ...
Certificate verification failed for /O=Digital Signature Trust Co./CN=DST Root CA X3
Certificate verification failed for /O=Digital Signature Trust Co./CN=DST Root CA X3
Certificate verification failed for /O=Digital Signature Trust Co./CN=DST Root CA X3
SSL_connect returned 1
ERROR: [reposync] failed to fetch file `https://www.oesf.org/repository/feeds/voidlinux/testing/build8/armv5tel-musl-repodata': Operation not permitted

I assumed that the server was down but now I look more closely it looks more like an SSL Certificate error.

My voidz linux install is unmodified.

Any ideas?

Thank you for your help.

illbay

PS: I have since worked out how to cross compile packages on an x86_64 install of void linux on a virtual machine. I am happy to post my steps here if that is something you think may be useful?

14

Zaurus - Other distros support / Re: Linux From Scratch on the Zaurus

« on: March 19, 2022, 11:05:43 pm »

Have installed voidz build-8 from https://github.com/greguu/voidz-packages/releases on SL-C3100 without issue.

GREAT!!

I have posted over here https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=34937.msg298456#msg298456 regarding the missing repo which is mentioned in the install instructions.

I understand that voidz on the old Z is probably considered a long forgotten thing so this is not a surprise.

I was hoping I could just start building the packages that I need and this is where I am now. Stuck.

Voidz build-8 does not have some essential software like git or gcc for example.

I cloned the voidz-packages on another machine and then transferred to the zaurus hoping that would allow me to either binary-bootstrap or if need be bootstrap. No go, no git.

I have also installed void linux proper x86_64 in a vm and then tried doing the Build a RootFS instructions. I have a chroot problem or I am doing this completely wrong.

All I am trying to achieve is the ability to build some basic software on the zaurus under voidz. I think if the repo was active I would probably not be having these issues because the binaries that I need are probably available in there.

If someone could point me to the correct way to build binaries either on the zaurus itself under voidz without access to any repo or cross compile using the voidz-packages.git repo that would be much appreciated.

Am I having fun yet? Sort of.

I guess this is what it is all about.

Off to try something else.

Cheers

illbay

15

Zaurus - Void Linux support / Re: Void Install Guide

« on: March 18, 2022, 03:14:40 pm »

Hello again.

I know this is an old topic but the oesf repository (https://www.oesf.org/repository/feeds/voidlinux/testing/build8) appears to be down.

Is it possible to turn it back on please?

Thank you.

illbay