SL-6000, Debian, and a few (?) problems

[hojosan]

So I got my SL-6000 a month ago.  After some guidance from Klaus at http://www.pocketworkstation.org, I got the relevant packages downloaded and unpacked on my 1 GB SD card.  I followed the instructions at http://digilander.libero.it/c700/ for installation on a C700, with only minor deviations (i.e., I didn't make the changes he describes to /etc/inetd.conf, /etc/hosts, /etc/hosts.deny, /etc/hosts.allow, since I don't do direct telnet/ssh/ftp to and from my Z from machines on my LAN).

After following these instructions, I can readily boot my Zaurus into Debian or the standard Qtopia using the "bootselect" flag in /home/zaurus/what.txt.  So far, so good.

However, I now have a couple of really weird problems which must be related in some way to files I edited or installed, yet I can't see the connection to any of the changes I made.

Problem #1:  After rebooting, my SD card isn't seen.  But, once it has booted, I can open a console window and do "mount -a" and it shows up just fine.  At that point, if I'm in Qtopia, the little SD icon also pops up on the taskbar.  Any ideas what service I screwed up that the card no longer will mount automatically at boot?

Problem #2:  The real killer is the one I haven't been able to fix yet with any command line action, and that is my Wi-Fi access.  Before I started editing the various startup scripts, my Wi-Fi would work fine with my home system.  Now I just get the Initializing message, the little green light flashes for a few seconds, then I get "Network Offline".  Since I got this device, I have essentially used only the Wi-Fi for all my connectivity and so I'm pretty much dead in the water without it.  

Can anyone shed any light on what I might have screwed up?  Are there some services that aren't started normally through /etc/rc.d/init.d that I need to re-enable, and if so, how?  If not, maybe someone can point me in the right direction to figure out how to get things back to working.

By the way--the Debian installation works flawlessly on this SL-6000.  I didn't do anything other than get Xvnc-xf4vnc-4.3.0.104-kw1-arm and zaurus-debian-big-v0.17.tar and unpack them on the card, plus following the directions for the C700.  If I can just get my handheld to run Debian with full internet connectivity, I think I'll be done with my major struggles.  

[smuelas]

Hi hojosan
I've been using Debian on the 6000 for more than one month. In fact Klaus helped me with the allways problematic keyboard. My experience is quite good. I haven't had the problems that you mention, but some 'specific issues'. For example, I was unable to launch wireless from Debian, so I had to launch it from Qtopia, exit and login in Debian. Not very nice.
I haven't found any problems with SD as I don't use it. I remember that in his page, Klaus suggest to change the default mounting mode in 'fstab'. Look at the filesystem in your SD, as it only works in Debian if it is 'ext2'.
Another point not solved is the right control of light in Debian.
Now I'm tring a new way to access Debian using the same principle (and *.tar.gz) of Klaus distribution but launching the X's trough Xqt instead of using the Fbvnc. I have opened a Topic in this list with this issue. Tomorrow I will open a web-page with all the needed information.
The advantage of this method is that you can maintain everything of the original Qtopia at the same time that using Debian. You can open a window with the standard Opera, for example, and another with Firefox or Konqueror, and this at the same time. You can launch and/or shutdown wireless as you are working with Debian... and so on.
But do not forget that the Z6000's CPU is not one of its strongest points so be carefull in not asking too much of this nice beast.  Also, it is important to create a swap for helping the ram. Not a problem at all, but should be done.
Have a good time with your great small computer  

smuelas

[hojosan]

I have my SD card formatted in the ext2 file system.  I don't have a desktop reader, so I inserted it, umount'ed it, edited the /etc/fstab, then formatted it, and it's working okay, as far as I can tell.  I can certainly read and write files, and the

It's taken me a week or two just to get things organized on my card, unpacked, and do the configuration files editing (I have a 2 year old son!  These things take a lot of your time!).  In the time before I finished the editing, the darn 802.11 worked, as did the auto-mounting of the card in ext2 mode.

I forgot to mention one thing about my boot messages--I am now getting a booting error of "modprobe: can't locate module block-major-60" which I am reasonably certain is related to one or both of my problems.

In my various manipulations of files, I don't think I did anything that should have affected the loading of kernel modules.  Can anyone think of a reason why a module would now be failing to load?

I also just rebooted to Debian mode and I'm now getting another modprobe error--"can't locate module ext2fs".  What the heck is going on here?  Sheesh.

-h

[hojosan]

Well, this is sort of a confession update.

I forgot that I had changed my frequency on my home Wi-Fi router (to channel 12) just before all of my Zaurus changes.  Yesterday, I changed the frequency again (to channel 2) and my wireless is working.  So that's one problem solved.

However, the weird mounting problem and modprobe messages are continuing.  I am considering going ahead and reflashing the Z to its default state and then restarting from scratch.

If anybody has any ideas about the missing modules and lack of auto-mounting, please let me know.

I'm off to try Gnumeric.

[MrZaurus]

Hi I am having problems with my Debian system on my 6000.  Whenever I open xterm it instantly closes.  I am a linux newbie and would appreciate any help thanks.

[adf]

Hi, uinless this has already been answered, and by the date it may have been, it is probably a font issue.

I am assuming you've installed xqt?
Have you installed xqt fonts misc?

go to a console, (in qtopia) and type startx, then go to the qxt screen and try to open xterm.
 Look at the errors in the qtopia console.

They should point you at the problem.

-adf