Hard Choices

[HeavyWeaponDude]

Hello everybody!
I've been a quite accustomed Linux user for a while, then i've decided to replace
my Palm with a Zaurus. I got luck and find a refurbished SL-5500 for an affordable
price on e-bay. I've played a bit with it and already tried to flash different OZ ROMs.
But now I want to start to play seriously, so I'm thinking it's time to stick with a
specific ROM. And here I come with the questions.

What ROM will you suggest to me that has the following specs:
-easiness (I'd prefer to climb the ladder one step at time, just to avoid confusion, and
                also that will be nice to shift all my PIM from the Palm to the Z with small
                pain)
-flexibility
-good compatibility toward already avaiable .ipk (even about GUI)
-maximum amount of free memory (I've a 1Gb elite SD which I'll use for all the software, so I'd like something similar to the OZ 64-0 ROMs)
-customizable wallpaper (LOL, that's not really important, but always nice)

I've also already ordered a Targus modem and a Spectrum wifi card. I've Kismet
on my laptop I would love to make it running from my Z too.  Oh, and Wellenreiter too! Any kernel issue with these? Or something particular to setup?

Looking around it seems to me (but maybe I'm wrong) that the Sharp variants are more to it than OZ. So I was thinking about Cacko or TheKompany. What will you suggest to me?
Also any good link/documentation/howto around which will explain
everything from the base up? (I've already checked the ZUG howtos and the unofficial one).

I'm sorry for a post this long. Hope not to be boring to anyone. I've wandered a bit across forums/groups/etc. but many of the suggested links I find are broken, so I'm not having a really easy time making up informations. It's most like bits and pieces.

Thank you all for your patience and help!  

[Pcghost]

I don't know about migrating from Palm, because it has been over 6 years since I had a Palm, but here is why I chose Openzaurus.

I started using Debian Linux, which has a really cool way of installing packages.  It uses massive on-line repositories full of virtually every piece of software know to man.  It's called Apt (well actually it's Apt + dpkg).

I bought a 5500, and was moderatly impressed with the Sharp Rom, but it felt really limited and slow.  Then I stumbled upon OZ.  It's literally Debian for the Zaurus.  It uses the same style package management, which rules, and is waaay better looking than the Sharp rom.  Yeah it takes a little work to set up, but the Hentges Rom fixes that by installing the most used apps by default.  It is truely magic, and once installed, you will not regret it.

See http://oz.hentges.net for more info on the Hentges version of OZ and it's really cool card file system

The Sharp Rom and its derivatives use old libraries and are pretty much a dead end in my opinion.  Hope that helps..

[Storm]

I don't know about migrating from Palm, because it has been over 6 years since I had a Palm, but here is why I chose Openzaurus.

I started using Debian Linux, which has a really cool way of installing packages.  It uses massive on-line repositories full of virtually every piece of software know to man.  It's called Apt (well actually it's Apt + dpkg).

I bought a 5500, and was moderatly impressed with the Sharp Rom, but it felt really limited and slow.  Then I stumbled upon OZ.  It's literally Debian for the Zaurus.  It uses the same style package management, which rules, and is waaay better looking than the Sharp rom.  Yeah it takes a little work to set up, but the Hentges Rom fixes that by installing the most used apps by default.  It is truely magic, and once installed, you will not regret it.

See http://oz.hentges.net for more info on the Hentges version of OZ and it's really cool card file system

The Sharp Rom and its derivatives use old libraries and are pretty much a dead end in my opinion.  Hope that helps..
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I would have to agree wholeheartedly with pcghost. I am a Debian developer, and have been for several years. I got my Zaurus a few weeks before OZ3.5.3's release, and like you, played around with the other ROMs. I tried OZ because I like its openness, and the fact that it was based on Debian. I haven't tried Hentges yet, as I need to figure out the right upgrade path from straight OZ.

If you want even more Debian-like behavior, check out [a href=\"http://pocketworkstation.org]PocketWorkstation[/url], which is real Debian for the Zaurus, and runs on GPE and OPIE. That is another project I am working toward, since I just got a 1GB SD card. (I'm also trying to finish out my script to convert MPEG/DivX to make them viewable on the Z.)

Hope that helps,
--Storm

[HeavyWeaponDude]

Many thanks for your suggestions and help. I found them to be useful.  
So I've spent the past night and a bit of today playing around with OZ (the Opie version). Yep, is definetly worth it, much MUCH powerful. Cacko was too damn slow and
The Kompany didn't gave me the chance to set up a 64-0 environment, which I prefer
the most, since I got that neat 1 Gb SD card.

On the other hand, I've left the OZ 3.5.3 in favour of the 3.5.2, because of that power bug (about the off button and the right cursor) which I find to be really annoying.
Furthermore, the simple workaround to comment out /dev/apm_bios from /etc/device_table didn't work for me, so I've decided to stick to 3.5.2 for now.
Any particular advice about this version of OZ? For as long as I've played with it, everything has gone smoothly, but I didn't come up with more advanced stuff for now.

Now I'm beginning to play around with packages. I've seen the instructions (about the 3.5.3 OZ) on:
https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Opie_3.5.3_on_the_5500

It is useful that I add the lines:

# keep the lists from filling your flash ram(main ram)
 lists_dir ext /var/lists

on my /etc/ipkg.conf file? Why?
Sorry for me still being a newbie... and many thanks again for your help!

[lardman]

It is useful that I add the lines:

# keep the lists from filling your flash ram(main ram)
lists_dir ext /var/lists

on my /etc/ipkg.conf file? Why?
Sorry for me still being a newbie... and many thanks again for your help!

This modification means that the (large) lists will be stored in a temporary RAM-based filesystem rather than on the inbuilt flash memory of your device.

This saves space on the flash so that you can install more useful things (admittedly it does reduce the amount of available RAM for running things, but that's not an issue for most people).


Si

[XorA]

If you want even more Debian-like behavior, check out PocketWorkstation, which is real Debian for the Zaurus, and runs on GPE and OPIE. That is another project I am working toward, since I just got a 1GB SD card. (I'm also trying to finish out my script to convert MPEG/DivX to make them viewable on the Z.)

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
    
OUTFILE=$1
echo \"Outputting to $OUTFILE\"
shift
    
mencoder \"$@\" -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=150:vpass=1 \
-lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -vop scale=320:240 -oac mp3lame -ofps 15 -o $OUTFILE
mencoder \"$@\" -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=150:vpass=2 \
-lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -vop scale=320:240 -oac mp3lame -ofps 15 -o $OUTFILE
might need to change to "scale=320:240,rotate=1" I cant remeber these days which way round the 5500 framebuffer is.

[Hrw]

On the other hand, I've left the OZ 3.5.3 in favour of the 3.5.2, because of that power bug (about the off button and the right cursor) which I find to be really annoying.[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=86437\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Get updated kernel from upgrades and go for 3.5.3 release ;) All APM bugs are gone now.

Hail marcan!

[HeavyWeaponDude]

I've tried that new kernel, but no luck, my Zaurus hangs during bootup
(as I wrote on https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=11967&st=60).

So, i'm still back on 3.5.2. Now I'm trying to practice with adding packets
(as my previous question about ipkg.conf points out).
I've picked up opie-calculator from the feed folder on www.openzaurus.org
(http://www.openzaurus.org/official/unstable/3.5.2/feed/opie/). I've managed
to put it up on my SD using the package manager.
All files shows correctly under /mnt/card1/opt/QtPalmtop/* (apps; bin; pics; plugins).
Reason it's "card1" instead of "card" it is I've split my SD in 2 parts: one FAT16 and one
ext2. I've followed the tutorial on https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Multip..._a_CF_/_SD_card and everything gone smoothly.

But no icon or way to launch te application shows up. Of course I've rebooted the Zaurus. And I've tried the canonical "ipkg-link add opie-calculator" which tells me:
"package opie-claculator not found".

What am I doing wrong? Maybe something to change on ipkg.conf?

[Storm]

If you want even more Debian-like behavior, check out PocketWorkstation, which is real Debian for the Zaurus, and runs on GPE and OPIE. That is another project I am working toward, since I just got a 1GB SD card. (I'm also trying to finish out my script to convert MPEG/DivX to make them viewable on the Z.)

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
    
OUTFILE=$1
echo \"Outputting to $OUTFILE\"
shift
    
mencoder \"$@\" -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=150:vpass=1 \
-lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -vop scale=320:240 -oac mp3lame -ofps 15 -o $OUTFILE
mencoder \"$@\" -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=150:vpass=2 \
-lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -vop scale=320:240 -oac mp3lame -ofps 15 -o $OUTFILE
might need to change to "scale=320:240,rotate=1" I cant remeber these days which way round the 5500 framebuffer is.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=86449\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Thats pretty much what I do, with a few wrinkles...Like converting audio to ogg...

[Storm]

On the other hand, I've left the OZ 3.5.3 in favour of the 3.5.2, because of that power bug (about the off button and the right cursor) which I find to be really annoying.[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=86437\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Get updated kernel from upgrades and go for 3.5.3 release  All APM bugs are gone now.

Hail marcan!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=86460\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Cool! Thanks to Marcan, HRW and all the developers and folks involved in solving this.

Is the kernel a reflash-only option or will a kernel package be forthcoming for existing 3.5.3 users?

Thanks,
--Storm

[lardman]

Is the kernel a reflash-only option

Kernels can only be reflashed, however you can just reflash the kernel on its own, leaving the rest of the filesystem intact - just put the zImage file on the CF card (no initrd.bin) and flash with that (though of course I'd back up just in case).


Si