Messages

16

PocketPenguin / Parts List

« on: March 16, 2007, 04:04:50 pm »

Here is a new chip(set) from Broadcom that integrates BT and 802.11a/b/g, and even FM radio!  Unfortunately, I think Broadcom is one of those Linux hostile manufacturers.

Broadcom Combo Chipset

And, here is the equivalent from TI..  TI's also supports 802.11n

TI Combo Chipset


Bill

17

PocketPenguin / Other Pda/phones To Get Ideas From

« on: January 08, 2007, 03:57:33 pm »

Here is another device...  Very M$ centric, but that's no surprise given who the principle of the company is...

FlipStart PC

18

PocketPenguin / Penguin Mobile Computers

« on: January 08, 2007, 03:41:11 pm »

If you look at the other posts, you will see that DB is trying to keep the cost below $800,  I think the number spoken of was $650 U.S.

19

PocketPenguin / Body Design

« on: December 04, 2006, 10:45:39 am »

One thing that has been bothering me about my Z, is the power button..  I shut it off, and put it in my pocket.  Later when I take it out, it has turned itself back on.  All I can think is that I must be bumping the power button somehow.  

So, if the power button could be designed in such a way that it is protected somehow that would be nice.

20

PocketPenguin / Alternative Design For The Ppz

« on: October 25, 2006, 02:21:38 pm »

I like the idea of having the keyboard be a bluetooth keyboard (wireless).
The major problem I see with that, is the need for it's own battery then.

We already have BT in the design, and you can still have stero speakers in the keyboard, the speakers would be another BT device.  

Maybe have the keyboard have a slot on the end, and the hinge of the display(slate) be long enough to act as a stand, which would also fit in the slot in the keyboard.  That last bit requires some additional thought....

I would also like to put in a vote for the 800x480 display..

Has anybody explored the display that is being developed for the OLPC?  According to their web page the developed one that is low cost, and very nice to the battery.  Maybe a smaller version could be sourced?  Maybe they would be interested in a companion One PDA Per Child :-) to go with the One Laptop Per Child..  That Wireless MESH stuff looks interesting.

Bill

21

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Howto Manage Multiple Network Environment?

« on: October 11, 2006, 10:26:49 am »

Hello, since nobody answered...  The kind of thing you are doing sounds like what the WPA_Supplicant is for.  That way things would happen automatically.

Bill

22

Open Embedded / Bitbake Do_package Question

« on: October 09, 2006, 03:10:34 pm »

Hello,
  Could you point me at your current BB's for this?

Bill

23

C1000/3x00 Hardware / Possible Source For Wi-fi/bluetooth Cf Card

« on: October 04, 2006, 07:18:06 pm »

Well, here is the reply, not really much help.

The EW-WMBGMR01 module is strictly a radio module with the CF and PCMCIA
interface available.  It is not a Compact Flash end-user card to plug into a
PDA.

It is normally used to embed the WiFi and BT capability into any widget or
box.  It does have available a Linux driver for a X86 processor so it was
developed for a specific processor and is not compatible with the Zaurus.

Under our licensing agreement with Marvell, we cannot give our their source
code.

Looks like you need two specific items:

1) Embedding the EW-WMBGMR01 into a CF card format
2) Porting the Linux driver to the PXA255 and PXA270 CPU.

We can help you with creating the CF card and also porting the drivers but
it would require NRE (approximately $10K-20K) for the development and also a
minimum purchase of he finished CF cards of around 1K units.

  So, people, how hard would it be to put a CF interface on this "radio" card?

  Regarding the OLPC drivers, it looks like they are working with Marvell, and possibly licensing the firmware code from them, since they are working with special "mesh" mode firmware.  
I have the source for the drivers, and haven't noticed any X86 asm code, so hopefully the drivers will work on the ARM without major modifications.  I would need to see if this is doable or not..

  On another note, I got one of those TrendNet Bluetooth/WiFI USB Combo devices to work, the major problem there is power needs, since I need a powered hub.  The device is around $30 after rebate, and the CyberPower battery powered USB Hub is $20 so it's still cheaper than this thing, I don't really like all the wires though...  And, I haven't been able to get WPA-Supplicant to work yet.  Haven't cracked the USB device open yet to see how big the card really is...  

  I did crack open the Zaurus, and look at the free USB solder pads, and they are WAY to small for me to touch :-(  My hand isn't steady enough for that.  So I quickly put it all back together.

Bill

24

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Testing Linksys Wcf54g Wireless-g Cf

« on: September 29, 2006, 09:39:58 am »

Look at this thread for some possibilities.

Bill

25

C1000/3x00 Hardware / Possible Source For Wi-fi/bluetooth Cf Card

« on: September 28, 2006, 10:54:26 am »

I just noticed that the "One Laptop per Child" design is using the Marvell chipset..  And they seem to have it working for them.   Their driver name is "libertas" not "mrv8k".  I see it being commited to the Redhat linux source tree, but I don't see it in my checkout of 2.6.18.

  In looking at the README and sources, it looks very complete.  It also looks like the source originated from Marvell, and is GNU licensed.

Bill

26

C1000/3x00 Hardware / Possible Source For Wi-fi/bluetooth Cf Card

« on: September 28, 2006, 10:00:42 am »

but if you scroll down a bit they offer a fully packeged solution without bluetooth for $99 which would be ideal for those looking for 802.11G (you know who you are)
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=142520\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Thanks for the reply,  That card also doesn't use the Marvell chipset, instead it uses a Broadcom chipset.  This also would answer some peoples questions about being able to plug in an antenna.

Bill

27

C1000/3x00 Hardware / Possible Source For Wi-fi/bluetooth Cf Card

« on: September 27, 2006, 10:54:34 pm »

Hello,
  Here is a link Embedded Systems to a manufacturer that has a combined 802.11g and Bluetooth module that they say is ready to be packaged as a CF card.  The one really big problem with it is, that it uses the Marvell chip, there is the start of a native driver for it at Marvell 8k Driver that was added to the Linux kernel in version 2.6.15 and removed in version 2.6.18 because as the maintainer said, it doesn't work...  There really hasn't been any work done since last year on the driver.  But, there has been reports of it working...  Embedded systems indicates that there is linux support for the card, but, I haven't had a response yet to my inquiries.

  I have asked them if they can package it in a CF card, since they have done that for their 802.11g card already, and pricing for that solution.  Presently the module is priced at $99 qty 1.

  Any thoughts about this, could any of the hardware knowledgeable folks tell me how hard it would be to package this with the CF interface if they come back with some outrageous figure for doing that..  I mean $99 is close to being reasonable for this right now, too much more would make this unreasonable.  They do discount some for quantity purchases, and they start at qty 10.

Bill Suetholz

28

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / 3.5.4.1 On Borzoi Using Akita Packages

« on: August 16, 2006, 06:22:46 pm »

I've tried taking the nvram partitioning from either Cacko or pdaXrom and installing OZ on top, but OZ resets the partitioning back to the 32/89 split.

I presently don't have the facilities to compile a new kernel,  How do I get an OZ install with one big 121 meg partition?  The Cacko updater.sh has a tar file that it uses that contains utilities, and seems to be a fairly nice installation script, however, you can't use the zImage.bin and initrd.bin from OZ with it, I've tried.

Bill

29

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Beta4 Hostap Packages.

« on: August 16, 2006, 06:15:15 pm »

The question has been answered in this post

Bill

30

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Help Wanted Please

« on: August 16, 2006, 06:13:07 pm »

Beta4 no longer uses pcmcia-cs from Davi Hinds but uses the new stuff ... try pccardctl.

when you have the card inserted what do you get if you run
"iwconfig" and do you see any errors when you look at "dmesg" ?

If the gui wizzard fails but the modules get loaded correctly you could try using iwconfig to set up wireless networking.
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Good, this answers [a href=\"https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=20969]my question[/url] from from the other day.

Bill