Zaurus-hardware-support-deb

[tux]

 Well I set out to re-install the original way.  Then I started looking at zaurus-hardware-support.deb. It occurred to me that I could extract the files and play about. Well, basically all I have done so far is extract the bits and tar them up instead of making a deb package. I then copied my tar of the stuff onto the SD card and untarred to root of hard drive. The files include the modules needed. So I should be able to roll my own deb that will put the modules for the kernel I want to flash in the appropriate place and use the original method of install. This would be handy for using updated kernels on a first install. It might even let me have my wish about OABI kernel and OABI rootfs.  (Sorting the gui out is the killer there.)

I'm going through the commands in the postinst script manually and the setting of the hardware clock that some people were asking about is dealt with in that script.

Here are the commands for that:

# Fix hardware clock
ln -fs /dev/rtc0 /dev/rtc
/etc/init.d/hwclock.sh start

So there is something useful straight off.

There appears to be something wrong with the keymap commands though. I'll look at my swapped out microdrive and see what the difference is. There was something about a directory or file not existing....

 

[tux]

 I think that if I get the deb package files from Neil's repository I could extract them, examine them and learn how they work. They do offer shortcuts to setting up the hardware and the X system.  I can use the same techniques I'm using on the zaurus-hardware-support.deb.  

My idea is that I could then produce my tailored versions of these packages, to suit me.  In the first instance i want OABI kernel and OABI rootfs with everything working. Yes i know EABI + EABI are the coming thing.  And I'll certainly want to move on to that when it becomes the mainstream.  

At the moment I am happy with the Debian arm/OABI repositories and the wider range of available packages.   So that is why I think I'll be spending my Debian on BigZ time on what I've outlined above.

Eventually I would want to do the same job for EABI + EABI, the packages and the zaurus-hardware-support deb. This would/should make life easier for me in the future: maybe for other people too. But first steps first!

Cheers.

PS I did notice when playing about with the soundhack script that I got a message that snd_seq_oss was AWOL. Has this been mentioned before? Any ideas?

[tux]

 I did a bit of googling and found several ways to get the deb packages. Since I have just done a fresh install with all the Neil packages used and I haven't yet done:- apt-get ( or aptitude) clean this is what I did. All installed packages have the deb file stored in /var/cache/apt/archives. So I simply copied the ones I wanted.

Here is the list:

titchy_0.1_arm.deb
titchy-desktop_0.2_arm.deb
titchy-internet_0.1_arm.deb
titchy-media_0.1_arm.deb
titchy-pim_0.1_arm.deb
xserver-zaurus_0.1_arm.deb
zaurus-hardware-support_0.4_arm.deb
zaurus-soundhack_0.2_arm.deb

The important ones to look at are

xserver-zaurus_0.1_arm.deb
zaurus-hardware-support_0.4_arm.deb

The rest basically are packages that list other packages as depends and so automatically install the other packages.

I'm finding these files and contents very interesting, not to say educational. YMMV!

[tux]

 

Here is the list of deb packages from the TitchyLinux repository:

titchy_0.1_arm.deb - simply uses the control file to automatically install packages
titchy-desktop_0.2_arm.deb - ditto
titchy-internet_0.1_arm.deb - ditto
titchy-media_0.1_arm.deb - ditto
titchy-pim_0.1_arm.deb - ditto
zaurus-soundhack_0.2_arm.deb - contains various files that are installed - I will not be using this.
xserver-zaurus_0.1_arm.deb - contains angstrom frame buffer files for the X system and scripts to make initial settings - depends on zaurus-hardware-support
zaurus-hardware-support_0.4_arm.deb - depends on various packages from the Debian repositories and on xserver-zaurus  - various settings are made by script


The titchy-* packages that list other packages as depends and so automatically install the other packages.
The important ones to look at are

xserver-zaurus_0.1_arm.deb - did not alter this - only depends on zaurus-hardware-support

zaurus-hardware-support_0.4_arm.deb - I unpacked this, edited the control file to remove the depend on soundhack and replaced the angstrom 2.6.20 modules with the poky/oabi/cortez 2.6.21 modules and rebuilt the package.

To install these directly I copied them to /var/cache/apt/archives and tried using dpkg -i package1 package2. It didn't work. So I installed the packages that zaurus-hardware-support needed, according to its control file. Then dpkg -i package1 package2 worked.

Now the OABI + OABI system is at the same stage as the original set up from TitchyLinux, before any attempt to install a desktop or window manager.   I have done a dist-upgrade to lenny/testing and the set up seems stable at this point.  

The next job is to install xdm or gdm and see if they work!  

If anyone is interested in packing and rebuilding deb packages there are plenty of useful pages at the Debian site. I found another one which helped me to do the job without having to do too much puzzling about the manual information: Intimate Project.  


At the moment there is a lot of command line twiddling. You have to install using the original files and then use the modified hardware package, then reflash to the cortez/openedhand kernel. If the nest stage is successful I will need to play about with compiling a 2.6.20 oabi kernel. The original method uses the Debian.iso which uses 2.6.20 modules at set up!! I will also need to set up a local repository for my rejigged package(s). If all that is successful: I suppose I'd need to find or set up a host for the files.  

By the time I finish this, I expect we'll all be able to easily install EABI + EABI  and that EABI will be mainstream Debian too!!   But it is all fun and teaching me a great deal.