Messages

76

Accessories / For People Who Lives In States, I Need Some Help

« on: February 19, 2006, 07:30:07 am »

( sometimes, it's a big disadvantage living in Canada where no one wants to do shipping )
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Maybe then, this service is interesting for Canadians:
[a href=\"http://www.usa2me.com/site/default.aspx]USA2ME snail mail forwarding[/url]
I never used them, just found the site once when looking for email forwarding.

77

Accessories / Solar Power For Z

« on: February 19, 2006, 07:24:29 am »

- is it possible to charge its internal battery with the normal Zaurus AC adapter?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105688\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I guess, you mean "connect the Brando device to Z's 5VDC power jack and charge the Z". If not, that's my question now.

Plus: Voltage should be pretty stable (from battery). Has anyone measured this (batt full/empty, sun on/off  )? Found any risks to damage the Z? voltage/current peaks maybe?

How does the Z deal with low currents?

Aren't the solar panels very fragile?

edit: Is anything know about other solar charger for PSP or USB devices such "Solar EFX" and "Logic 3" available from ebay in europe.

78

Accessories / European/world Voltage Ac Adapter

« on: February 19, 2006, 06:48:34 am »

I know TRIsoft sell's EA-70S for about EUR50 and I know people here use PSP AC adapters. And I assume any good regulated 5V supply would do, but I do want something as cool as the 100V adapter (EA-72) that ships with Zaurii. I've never seen an AC adapter that small (and it does 1A DC output).

USB power is not really a solution as I have an SL-C860 which doesn't have a standard USB socket and don't want to carry two cables (Zaurus-USB and USB-AC).

For sure, I don't want to burn my Zaurus. So something tested with, approved for Z is worth a few EUR more.

edit: found solar power thread

79

Sharp ROMs / Strange Behaviour (crash) On Unsuspend

« on: February 18, 2006, 01:48:19 pm »

Cacko 1.23 full on SL-C860.

In Light&Power I have enabled auto suspend. Nothing special, no CF/SD/USB. The only non-standard thing I did was setting unix password for zaurus and root and trying to disallow sudo in /home/etc/sudoers (my fault, but seurityis inportant, everywhere)

Sometimes the device goes suspend while I'm working, espacially while using Konsole und keyboard. That's very annoying. Is auto-suspend only sensitive to the touch screen?

Then, unsuspending does usually not work at first try. Sometimes pressing the side power key doesn't have any effect at all. Sometimes, it seems the device goes back to suspend a spilt-second after unsuspend. (Backlight blinks once. When CF Wifi is plugged, the WiFi link LED blinks as well.). Sometimes it works (about 1/3 of tries).

After I enabled passcode protection, things went worse. The behaviour above can still be observed but I can be even worse: Display on, "Enter passcode" shown, almost dead (touchscreen and keyboard ineffective, Power key ineffective, changing the screen from PDA to laptop style doesn't trigger screen rotation, display always on).

However, I can ssh/usbnet works to my surprise. There is are processes like:
  388 ?        SN     0:00 /usr/bin/sudo /usr/local/bin/apm.rom --suspend
  403 ?        SN     0:00 sh -c apm --suspend
  405 ?        SN     0:00 /usr/bin/sudo /usr/local/bin/susp.sh
which reappear after being killed.

Changed /etc/sudoers back to default. Killed
  437 ?        SN     0:00 /usr/bin/sudo /usr/local/bin/susp.sh

Situation now: Display off. ssh connection broken. Unsuspend works and I get the "enter passcode" dialog which is again not sensitive to touchscreen or screen rotation. auto-suspend after seconds.
Once appearently the touchscreen worked once, now I have eight asterix below enter passcode when I unsuspend, nothing else.

What's wrong here? Are similar problems known? I know, I messed with sudo and killing proccesses but the problem existed before. Is it cacko specific?

This may or may not be linked to Luss Screen Saver And Auto Power Off

80

Linux Issues / Ip Masquerading For Zaurus/usbnet

« on: February 17, 2006, 06:38:14 pm »

Any Howto out there seems to assume 2.4.x kernels. 2.6.x should be similar but it doesn't work for me. What kernel and modules do I need for IP MASQ?

The machine in question runs 2.6.8, the kernel has compiled in:
CONFIG_NETFILTER=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=y

iptables was not used here before. Appearently the iptables command tries 'modprobe ip_tables' which fails. Full output (to any command):
FATAL: Module ip_tables not found.
iptables v1.2.11: can't initialize iptables table `nat': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.

Installing the ip_tables module won't help (not surprisingly):
FATAL: Error inserting ip_tables (/lib/modules/2.6.8-jk20050516/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.ko): Device or resource busy

I want a simple IPMASQ to link Zaurus and dial-up PPP.

81

Sharp ROMs / Jap Question When Flashing Cacko

« on: February 17, 2006, 03:33:57 pm »

I've put up screenshots of the installation process here:
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=114917\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Nice. Can I repost your translations on the wiki?

82

Software / (up-to-date) Documentation Heavily Needed

« on: February 17, 2006, 03:13:44 pm »

I'm open to redesigning of OpenZaurus website - it's Wordpress 2.x
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=115080\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

The OZ Wordpress ist not bad, but it's a wordpress and I was looking for a manual. Actually the info I needed was easy to spot in the left-hand column (installation and how-tos) but I wanted to find out more (like "why do I need an 'original' Sharp ROM to flash OZ and what exactly does original mean?"). More can be found in all those articles but it's not _that_ easy...

83

Software / (up-to-date) Documentation Heavily Needed

« on: February 16, 2006, 05:22:04 pm »

Hi everyone,
I think I have a fairly good knowledge of linux, that is assuming a typical server which's hardware is supported by stock kernerls. I never used all those fancy things from USB to wireless. Just to let you know where I am. Next week I REALLY want to have a working Zaurus with wireless and all: Zaurus vs N770 comparision is on the schedule.

At first glance I was about to start with OZ/OPIE and drop the idea for lack of documentation. There is oefs.org wiki which seems written with poodle (and only poodle) in mind except for the model specific pages which mostly hardware related. Not good. There's openzaurus.sf.net which has some basic doc but it's scary to a newbie (like you when it says you must install Sharp stock ROM first or your Zaurus may burn in hell) and not well organized. Then, there is some good documention for the projects OE or OPIE but it's focused on development. You'll find more sources with google but there are mostly like "Look that's my zaurus. Your mileage may vary."

pdaXrom looks good. Nice web site, all in one place. Applications I know. Too good? First, I want a PDA, not a PDA trying to be a (XGA) desktop. And second, hmm, I get the feeling pdaXrom must be complicated to setup (stupid me, I worked as a system administrator). So I delayed trying pdaXrom.

Cacko. Hmm, stock ROM compatible, OPIE, good driver support. Looks like a good point to start with. Repartitioned. Flashed. Worked. Not it's getting to setting things up from usbnet (done but took me ages) to wireless (net yet). But -- no documentation at all? Is this at all possible?

I'm not blaming the developers. They did good work and probably a lot of it. I can't blame sharp because they wrote a (Japanese) manual. But something must be done about it. I volunteer. I've seen discussions about writing doc but none seems active.

What?

* The Zaurus BIOS, i.e. the Japanes or English menus you get by Secret_Key_Combinations (found nowhere)
* using interfaces: CF, USB, Bluetooth. ("It should work" is not enough)

How?

* be general, discuss differences between models and distributions where neccessary
* be verbose, but point the user to quick solutions where available.

Theese are just my thoughts. What I have always like about FLOSS is it's great documentation. I can't write the ultimative Zaurus user manual. No one can unless (s)he's really got too much time. But we should make sure to document as much as we can. I'm trying to correct the wiki and expand it where needed. This could be done whenever a forum questions is answered. Small steps.

84

Sharp ROMs / Jap Question When Flashing Cacko

« on: February 15, 2006, 10:42:51 am »

select "Yes" - then you will be able to repartition
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=114892\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Thanks for you quick reply. New Cacko ROM seems to work.

85

Sharp ROMs / Jap Question When Flashing Cacko

« on: February 15, 2006, 09:16:08 am »

Hi,
I'm trying to flash Cacko 1.23 full on my new (used) SL-C860. The device had older Cacko installed when I got it. Followed instructions in release notes:

Did NAND Backup, then all the steps untill 10 as described. Now according to the release notes I should get options in English. What I'm really getting is:
[img]http://www.spacezone.de/zaurus/images/flash_question_SLC860.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]
This looks a lot like "Are you sure to me?"

However I'm not sure ;-). I assume the flashing starts when I press yes. But I think I do need to repartition first. The release notes kind of say that this should be an option NOW.

Are you familiar with that? Do I have to repartition via Maintenace Menu and then come back here?

Thanks

jan

86

Software / Overview Of Distributions (roms) For Newbies

« on: February 12, 2006, 11:10:56 am »

As a still-relatively-newbie myself, I think it's a great idea. All the essentials about all the ROMs in one place, including which models they work on, installation/flash methods, software compatibility, etc. ... however as we are almost all essentially *hobbyists* with these devices, it would take a whole bunch of effort. Who's prepared to put all the effort in, especially considering we have at least 4 different software repositories to mine?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=114511\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

You are absolutely right. However I think many Zaurus user do invest a whole bunch of time mining software repositories anyways, at least I will because I really need to impress some people still undecided between M$ Windoze Mobile and maybe Zaurus. And people did write web pages and forum posts comparing distros before, just that most of it is model specific and outdated.

Personally I will try at least OZ/OPIE and Cacko for let's say a week each. I should be able to wirte somewhat of a summary afterwards.

Jan

87

Software / Overview Of Distributions (roms) For Newbies

« on: February 10, 2006, 11:28:28 pm »

Hi,
I'm relatively new to the Zaurus community, I'll receive my first Zaurus SL-C860 plus Wifi CF next Monday.

Typical newbie thoughs: "Choosing the hardware was tough, but at least the options are limited here. Now it comes to choosing software, unlimited options: Oops! OK, I need to start somewhere. I don't want to live with Sharp's ROM forever. I want more and better applications but stable. As a linux user I expect bash and X but of course I want a PDA like environment, too. And once I started using it I can't break compatibility with my data...."

Surfing the net it's really hard to get an idea of the pros and cons and what's good for me. I'll probably try cacko, then OZ/Opie but there's much more. I think what's really missing is good comparision of ROMs and feeds. (Does anyone object calling them distributions?) I tried collecting what I read on the wiki:

Wiki: Distributions

Please correct and extend the page. Remeber it's intended for new and potential users not long term power users. I want to keep the page model independet because most software is available for all models. I'm mainly interested in the table in section Applications on the bottom. (I want to read this table as "What 's the browser used in distro X?" or "How well is Y suited for PIM?") Anything above is intended to make things understandable for a general audience.

What do you think about the idea?