Messages

31

Android / Android Sl-c3x00 Image Updated

« on: January 19, 2008, 05:43:28 am »

Guys who already Android up on you Zaurus, you might want to check this.

Do you have tmpfs already mounted on somewhere in your file system? It's easy to check. On the text console, type;
[blockquote]# df -h[/blockquote]
If you see a word of tmpfs, you have one.

My Angstrom has;
[blockquote]tmpfs     30.3M      0  30.3M   0% /media/ram[/blockquote]
If you have tmpfs larger than 15MB or so, try to modify a little your android-root/a.sh;
[blockquote]Before
mount -t proc proc /proc
mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys

After
mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /tmp
mount -t proc proc /proc
mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys[/blockquote]
Yes. Just add a line to mount your tmpfs as /tmp. Then try boot Android up.

How is it? You'll notice a lot less HDD LED brinking than before. And a little bit faster.

The reason is Android generates shared memory as temporary files in /tmp. By mounting /tmp as tmpfs, we move the shared memory out to RAM.

I come up with this tip in the course of trying to bring Android up without chroot.

Android Zaurus: Boot Android up on Zaurus without chroot
http://androidzaurus.seesaa.net/article/79313160.html

Cheers,

32

Android / Android Sl-c3x00 Image Updated

« on: January 18, 2008, 08:06:42 pm »

I've uploaded a new version of the Android image for the Zaurus SL-C3x00 models. I've added additional packages, and the key settings as well as the RotateView applet from Android Zaurus are installed on default. More info can be found  here.

Have fun!

Thanks for using RotateView.apk.

Currently, it is packaged as com.google.android.rotateview. I will conflict in a Java way if (and only if) Google makes their own applet with the same name.

I'd better repackage it, like net.seesaa.androidzaurus.rotateview.

33

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 15, 2008, 07:11:32 pm »

Creating a loop-file is also possible with the aid of Altboot. Choosing Advanced from the bootmenu you have the option to create a loop file from a root.tar.gz archive file. Disadvantage is that a loop-file always has a fixed size which is determined during creation of that file (unless you resize the file of course). A nice Altboot FAQ can be found here.

The blog author gave me a detail instruction how he did.
http://yamashita.dyndns.org/blog/android-on-zaurus/

[div class=\'codetop\']CODE[/div][div class=\'codemain\' style=\'height:200px;white-space:pre;overflow:auto\']$dd if=/dev/null of=/media/card/android.img bs=512 count=131072
$ mkfs.ext2 /media/card/android.img
$ mount -o loop /media/card/android.img /android[/div]
Then copy all the contents of ramdisk.img, system.tar.gz and data.tar.gz to /android and chroot to it.

He says Android runs very slow. Maybe half the speed than what C-3x00 gets. But it could be good enough for easy-goer.

Thanks for the tip about Altboot. Android as Altboot sounds interresting.

Cheers,

34

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 15, 2008, 05:41:17 am »

I've uploaded a kernel and minimal console image for the SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 models. Since I don't have one of these devices myself I need testers to see if it works. Please give me feedback on your results. Files and installation instructions can be found on www.omegamoon.com. Good luck!

Great work you are doing, cortez!

I'll spread the word, well in Japanese again.  

By the way, another report of C-860, which is the same hardware with C-760 and loaded with a lot of software.
http://yamashita.dyndns.org/blog/android-on-zaurus/

He has done it by mouting android-root image on SD card as a loop device. It is a new technique to get around jffs2-mmap issue. I asked him for detail and I'll post once I get answered.

Cheers,

35

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 14, 2008, 08:19:38 am »

Help Wanted!

I tried an applet called MusicDroid which can be downloaded from here.
http://www.helloandroid.com/node/166

It is an MP3 player which can play MP3 files on SD card.
http://www.helloandroid.com/node/134

It's an interresting applet to have, isn't it?

But it didn't work on my Android Zaurus.

If you have your Androided Zaurus ready, please let me know how it works on your Z.

Quick instruction for test.
1) Download MusicDroid.zip
2) Unzip it and copy bin/MusicDroid.apk to you android-root/data/app.
3) Load your favorite MP3 files on to an SD card.
4) Boot Android up and click MusicDroid in app folder.
5) See what happens.

o Are MP3 files enumelated correctly?
o Can you hear MP3 file played back?

My case, MP3 files are not listed. Neither I can listen to any sound. I posted an article to my blog on this issue.

Two more issues: sdcard and sound
http://androidzaurus.seesaa.net/article/78452267.html

Thanks,

36

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 13, 2008, 10:20:32 pm »

I just installed Angstrom (x11-image-glibc-ipk-2007.12) and tried to see if it works. Same applies here, connection errors on property_service. According to the article here the init executable needs to be patched.

* if you have jffs2 for / patch /init
* modify with hexedit : "/system_property" -> "/tmp/sy_property"
* NOTE: jffs2 does not support memory mapped file

I patched the init-exec but that didn't help. This isn't the way I expecting this to work. Any help is much appreciated.

Perhaps they got it to work because their /tmp is assigned to ramfs and not to the jffs2 part.

We want the source code of init!

I was lucky to have C-3000, which is equipped with versatile ATA HDD. For the NAND model, yaffs2 might need to be ported.

Cortez, what happens if you go back to run Xzygote, dbus-daemon, runtime instead of init?

37

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 12, 2008, 07:39:06 pm »

hmm, very interesting. I concur with the conclusion - google are unlikely to release sufficient source to android's OS to allow it to be recompiled for any processor.

I'm looking forward to hte source codes of /init and qwerty.kcm.bin.

The /init source will explain where setprop/getprop saves runtime parameter. The qwerty.kcm may be only a filter module but without source code we don't know how to customise for Zaurus.



By the way, regarding Anil's ARM6 porting, I guess EABI support is required.

38

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 11, 2008, 06:22:56 pm »

We're being watched  The news spreads itself further... see articles in techworld and pcadvisor

and aki news!
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news-15328...+Zaurus%21.html

and...
Engadget - Android hacked to run on real hardware
Slashdot - Hackers Get Android Running on Real Hardware

Hope more guys interrested in Android on Zaurus. Let's mash it up!

Cheers,

39

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 10, 2008, 08:21:38 pm »

I got it running on my C1000 last night. I used an Angstrom 2.6.23 kernel that I applied the patch at http://androidzaurus.seesaa.net/ to. Then I grabbed the android.tgz.part?.rar from http://yonggun.tistory.com/ and followed the instructions for running it. The first time I started it I got nothing but the "Cylon eye" but after rebooting it started no problem the next time. The touchscreen seems to work inconsistently and when android is oriented "portrait" style the touchscreen still acts like landscape.

Great work!

Touchscreen is a issue. The orientation problem might caused by MOUSE_X=640, MOUSE_Y=480 in .config file eventhough frame buffer is 480x640. Could be fixed by modifying .config but not tried yet.

Workaround could be my RotateView.apk.    

Cheers,

40

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 10, 2008, 08:09:56 pm »

Sorry to hijack this thread... I'd like to try this on my old C760... is there a Howto somewhere to get me started ?

TIA,
fp

heh, i'd like to know too. got a C760 here.

With a kernel capable of running Android you should be up and running in no-time. Let me know if you need help doing that.

The original Eu.Edge guys have done on thier C-760.
eu.edge » Blog Archive » Google Android runs on Sharp Zaurus SL-C760

And I found Android can be booted up on ready-made Angstrom kernel as long as we have binderdev.ko module.
Android Zaurus: Android Zaurus on a ready-made Angstrom image

So, Angstrom or Poky for C7x0 could be a host of Android. Question is how to get the binderdev.ko binary.

Do you guys think the driver module built for C3x00 runs on C7x0? My guess is possible because the binder driver seems not to rely on hardware much. If so, cortez's image or my binary can be used.

Cheers,

41

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 09, 2008, 07:50:23 pm »

Hi, I have followed the instructions in the first post and have Android running! Thanks!
So, poor noob would like some help  

- How do I get my Wifi CF turned on? I am not in a chrooted environment; having followed the instructions straight from the 1rst post. Or is that chrooted too?

- What's the way back to sharp rom if needed?

Thanks!

Edit wlan0 section in your /etc/network/interface. There are a couple of samples how to configure in the interfaces file. And don't forget to delete the gateway line in usb0 section.

By the way, I found this news very interrested this morning.

Penguinistas hack Android onto real hardware
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4262102607.html

Cheers,

42

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 07, 2008, 07:20:44 pm »

after playing a little with android, it happens that my hdd went full !!! apparently the tmp directory is growing fast as you use android... i notice it is erased on android launch but is it safe to erase it as android is running

Good point, jpmatrix.

I tried ls  on android-root/tmp.
[div class=\'codetop\']CODE[/div][div class=\'codemain\' style=\'height:200px;white-space:pre;overflow:auto\']
-rw------- root     root        11429 2008-01-07 23:37 eventlog
srwxrwxrwx root     root              2008-01-07 23:36 system_bus_socket
-rw-r--r-- root     root            5 2008-01-07 23:36 messagebus.pid
prw--w--w- root     root              2008-01-07 23:43 android-SurfaceFlingerSynchro
-rw-r--r-- root     root         4096 2008-01-07 23:37 android-shared_heap.1864.0x157f80
-rw-r--r-- app_0    app_0       23552 2008-01-07 23:37 media.db
-rw-rw-rw- root     root      9838592 2008-01-07 23:37 android-shared_heap.1864.0x189b90
-rw-rw-rw- app_4    app_4     1048576 2008-01-07 23:37 android-shared_heap.1897.0x15df98
-rw-r--r-- app_0    app_0       12288 2008-01-07 23:37 im_transient.db
-rw-rw-rw- phone    phone     1048576 2008-01-07 23:38 android-shared_heap.1899.0x18f678
-rw-r--r-- app_0    app_0        2048 2008-01-07 23:37 contacts_presence.db
-rw-rw-rw- root     root      9838592 2008-01-07 23:37 android-shared_heap.1864.0x1b1c80
-rw-rw-rw- phone    phone     1048576 2008-01-07 23:38 android-shared_heap.1899.0x186ba0
-rw-rw-rw- root     root      9838592 2008-01-07 23:38 android-shared_heap.1864.0x1a4088
-rw-rw-rw- phone    phone     1048576 2008-01-07 23:38 android-shared_heap.1899.0x1947b8
[/div]

Each Android applet eats 1M to 9M bytes shared memory and they are put in /tmp. I guess Dalvik VM does this trick. Obviously you can't delete them on runtime.

For a real target device, /tmp is usually assigned to ramfs. Our Android Zaurus case, it's on internal hdd/flash filesystem. I've been wondering why Android runs on poor 64M, but shared memory on /tmp explains a little.

On the other hand, if android-root/tmp goes to ramfs, Android Zaurus may run much faster. There's always bright side.

By the way, start-android script erases android-root/tmp each time at startup. The reason is binderdev.o reports warning if messagebus.pid[/] exists in android-root/tmp at boot up. So I decided clean them up all in start script. Well, it's supposed to be volatile anyway.

Cheers,

43

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 05, 2008, 08:07:43 am »

Dear cortez,

Thank you very much for your welcoming message. There are two more guys successfully booted Android on Zaurus based on your install image.

Android on Zaurus
http://ceo.gclue.jp/2008/01/04/android-on-zaurus/

His comment is "it is encouraging to develop some Android applets."

Android Zaurus: the movie
http://blog.so-net.ne.jp/vhehas/2008-01-05

He uploaded a movie Android is working on Zaurus.

44

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 04, 2008, 11:54:33 pm »

DNS issue might be resolved by running android-root/init instead of runtime in start script.

gotcha! it works!!!!!

(sometimes i wonder why people simply doesn't write EXACTLY what is written in blogs/wiki......   )

i could launch the browser, and try some google searches with success!!!! terrrrrible

i also noticed that the hdd light was blinking a lot, i don't really know what is was looking/loading....

edited:i forgot to say that the touchscreeen was somewhat working : it seems rotated...but the screen respond!

Glad to know you've successfully done.

My case, the touch screen sometimes woks, sometimes doesn't. It's unstable.

The coordinate of touchscreen is in landscape view, even though frame buffer is in portlait view. It really confusing. I think touchscreen driver needs a little hack to incooperate with "service call window 18 i32 1" command.

Cheers,

45

Android / Google Android Installable Image Available!

« on: January 04, 2008, 01:05:48 am »

Dear jpmatrix,

DNS issue might be resolved by running android-root/init instead of runtime in start script.

Network is up.
http://androidzaurus.seesaa.net/article/74649330.html

A better way to bring network up.
http://androidzaurus.seesaa.net/article/74701717.html

Android console could be bring up by /system/bin/sh in start script and/or changing the system console to tty2 because android-init always grabs /dev/tty1.

setconsole and tty1
http://androidzaurus.seesaa.net/article/75560174.html

Cheers,