Messages

46

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Ratoc Usb Host

« on: December 21, 2004, 09:11:22 am »

 Well, I certainly feel like an idiot.

I greatly look forward to playing with that! If I can get USB working again, I will be one happy camper! Thanks!

47

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Ratoc Usb Host

« on: December 20, 2004, 05:07:43 pm »

Well, I guess I can't ask for any more than that!

The USB host is essential for several applications of my Zaurus, so I sure hope it can be worked out. I'll continue to poke around online on the offchance that I can find some helpful info or some such.

48

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Ratoc Usb Host

« on: December 20, 2004, 10:32:56 am »

Here's one additional data point: this website has a link to   a different ipk-packaged driver for the CFU1, this one for iPaq Linux. Is this a different binary, or just a different package? I don't know yet...

49

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Ratoc Usb Host

« on: December 20, 2004, 10:12:18 am »

I have the vague understanding that the virtual floating point stuff in the latest pdaXrom kernel prevents the driver from working. The hoopy frood who provides the binary driver here doesn't make the source code available. I've e-mailed him to ask if there's any possibility of his providing an updated version we can use or, failing that, of his sharing the source code so we can try and recompile it. So far, I've received no response from him.

So far, all of the references I've been able to find about using the CFU1 with Linux refer to the above website / driver. I've not found any source code at all.

The Ratoc website refers to this fellow's website, as well.

Is the binary driver really the only possible way to use the Ratoc card (short of trying to hack together a new driver ourselves)?

Is there any way we can get modern pdaXrom distros to work with the binary driver?

How many people have the Ratoc card?

50

General Discussion / Ipod As Infrared Hard Disk?

« on: December 19, 2004, 10:09:36 pm »

When the Ratoc CFU1 USB host card was working with pdaXrom, a friend of mine hooked his 40GB iPod up via USB and was using it as generic storage within minutes. It was all filesystem level stuff (ie, no adding songs to the iPod music database), but it worked great for mass storage. I'm really really wanting to get the CFU1 working with the new pdaXrom...

51

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Status Update..

« on: December 19, 2004, 09:44:04 pm »

> Is there anyone like me who (not being bright enough to develop stuff) is left with a PDA that is almost there, but not quite, so it doesn't get used like perhaps it should?

Yeah, that's pretty much where I am. pdaXrom is really, really neat... but there are certain things that (at least in RC5) are missing, broken, or unreliable enough that I don't actually use my Zaurus nearly as much as I imagined I would when I bought it.

I lack the time - and in many cases, the knowledge - to fix stuff or figure stuff out myself. That leads to desperation and disappointment... all I can do at this point is donate money and hope things get better.

52

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Status Update..

« on: December 16, 2004, 11:24:30 am »

I've seen several people ask / request, but I've seen no answer:

Does the upcoming RC support the Ratoc USB host (CFU-1)?

Will USB mice / keyboards / etc work?

I sure hope so.

53

Zaurus - pdaXrom / pdf viewer for pdaxrom?

« on: December 13, 2004, 01:10:52 pm »

> a "bounty" will cause a lot of people writing bad software, filling the forum with useless packages.

I respectfully disagree.

The bounty idea would require that we (the donating community) define the parameters of an acceptable app. Those parameters can be as specific and detailed as need be to ensure that the resulting packages are acceptable and useful.

(Personally, I think we'd all be better off with simpler, more direct requests - for example, by simply saying the bounty goes to whomever first ports qpdf for pdaXrom. This would be a more straightforward task and I think it would increase the likelihood that someone would actually take us up on it.)

Also, if the result of the bounty was that several new apps become available, I don't see the downside. Use the one you like. Chances are some of us will prefer one, others another. Choices are good and will broaden the appeal of pdaXrom. I don't see this as "useless."

> If pdaXrom team would accept to organize such a group, ...
> ... pdaxrom team could make a pdf-viewer donations fund, and then organize and pay a team for the development.

I don't mean to speak for them, but my thought is that the pdaXrom team have plenty to do as it is. They may choose to take on some of the work - and obviously that would be great - but I'm wary of asking them for more and more. They have a limited amount of time and energy, and I'd rather see that go into the pdaXrom distro itself - specifically into broader hardware support and more easy-to-use configuration utilities and applets.   I think software development / porting should be up to us, the community.

I'll continue to donate to the pdaXrom team, and I'm offering to donate to porters / cross-compilers / software developers as well.

54

Zaurus - pdaXrom / pdf viewer for pdaxrom?

« on: December 13, 2004, 09:02:23 am »

Like many of you, I agree that the PDF reader is a killer app for a handheld like the Zaurus. I have a suggestion as to how we might be able to get one:

Why not establish a bounty for the app? We could agree on the requisite features - like the ability to access embedded plaintext - and donate money towards the port / cross-compile. The first frood to submit a working IPK that does all we request gets the bounty, and we all get the app.

In fact, I think this might be the way to go for any number of apps for the Zaurus under pdaXrom. I'd quickly donate to the PDF bounty, as well as to a bounty for a good audio recorder and/or editor.

55

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Usb Mouse And Pdaxrom

« on: December 08, 2004, 03:08:18 pm »

I just bought a tiny optical mouse to use with my C860. I'm hoping that if I can ever get my Ratoc USB host working, I'll be able to use it with pdaXrom.

(Sorry I'm not actually offering any useful information; just wanted to register my mutual interest.)

56

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Status Update..

« on: December 06, 2004, 10:57:21 am »

With all the people interested in the new release, sweatin' Laze about it, it's pretty lame to look at the Donate-o-meter on the pdaXrom site and see that they've only received $69 so far this month. The work they're doing is tough and requires skills that most of us don't have. I just made a donation and challenge all other pdaXrom users to go and do likewise!

Oh, and Zumi: shut the hell up. I can't believe you're so triflin'.

57

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Gmail Storage on Zaurus?

« on: November 18, 2004, 10:22:48 am »

Funny; my friend and I - both C860 owners - were discussing this potentiality only yesterday afternoon. I, too, would be quite interested in seeing this work.

58

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Are you running pdaXrom and for what?

« on: November 02, 2004, 04:58:06 pm »

I've got pdaXrom RC5 on my C860. It's the best ROM I've seen and I anticipate using pdaXrom for the lifetime of my device.

I'm still struggling to get my Ratoc CFU1 USB host and Aircable working, and I've not found all of the software I need/want yet, so I'm really not using it all that much. So far, my primary usage is wireless web and internet and VNC to servers and workstations for administration at work. I'd like to get wardriving (kismet/wellenreiter) and bluesnarfing (btscanner/?) working. It would be extremely cool to get the Z working as a cellphone or at least a SIP phone - I know there's software compiled for the latter, but I've not tried to get it set up yet. I hope in the long run to use my Zaurus as a laptop replacement, primarily focused on remote administration, coding, and hacking.

Thanks for making such a swell ROM for me to use, and please keep up the fantastic work!

59

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Most important missing/to be fixed in pdaXrom?

« on: October 27, 2004, 10:41:06 pm »

I'd like to add my thanks for the fantastic ROM. My 860 was disappointing me greatly until I installed RC5... now I dig it the most.

The additions to pdaXrom that would make me happiest would be:

* Better, more complete build of mplayer.

* Good RSS reader.

* System Tool applet for keyboard / silkscreen button / side button remapping.

* More in-built hardware support (Zaurus AirCable, RATOC CFU1, Symbol 802.11, TRENDnet CF-100).

* Defaulting to and automating installation of software to SD card (ie, eliminate jiggery-pokery).

Again, I thank you for your sterling efforts!