Author Topic: Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie  (Read 5884 times)

Zismylaptop

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« on: May 11, 2005, 09:44:46 pm »
I love Open Zaurus and want to onvert to it on my SL6000. But first, I'm trying to make it work on the old collie. While some things I've dealt with are covered elsewhere such as suspend, here are some things that I haven't seen discussed:

-- Using Opie 3.5.3 on an SL5500 Collie requires overcoming some interesting hurdles.

* The first is the apm_bios problem. Getting rid of the line in fstab overcomes this for most people, but won't serve all.

* The second problem is more serious: if you do much of anything with the package manager, you run out of root flash, corrupt a package or two, and crash out of Opie. The standard solution is to add an SD card with a generous ext2 partition. That involves its own hurdles, which can be overcome using this post: https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Multip..._a_CF_/_SD_card. Now the question is, what steps (e.g. making directories and softlinks) do you have to take to ensure that (a) your packages are installed on the SD, and (b) your path variable and all the other ways in which programs are found is updated?

-- There are no keys or keyboard shortcuts available for large moves and selects. While the simple motions, like Home, are available on the pickboard, even these are hard to use because they require paired taps.

-- The text editor (though much nicer than the Sharp version) has serious flaws:

* There is no replace function

*The "open" page, when asked to alphabetize by date, does a date string comparison instead: Fridays, then Mondays, then Thursdays, etc.

*There is a "delete" on the edit menu that deletes the file! This shouldn't be anywhere in a text editor, but definitely not on the same menu as cut and paste. Furthermore, the text of the warning message is misspelled (there is no "a" in irreversible).

-- The clock on the 3.5.3 SL5500 Collie is odd. It appears to go back to the creation of the image on reboot, but a suspend usually restores the correct time. Sometimes it actually gets worse by resetting to January, 2003. However once you've really convinced it, there is no more trouble.

-- Several people have mentioned ssh-ing into Zaurus. Where can I find information on that?

-- How do you get out of console 1? I discovered that logging in as "root" with no password lets you use the console, but how do you get back to Opie short of rebooting?

Mickeyl

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2005, 04:53:17 am »
Take the time to read the ReleaseNotes, they answer at least your last question.
Cheers,

Michael 'Mickey' Lauer | Embedded Linux Freelancer | www.Vanille-Media.de
Consider donating, if you like the software I contribute to.

lardman

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2005, 05:19:57 am »
Quote
-- Several people have mentioned ssh-ing into Zaurus. Where can I find information on that?

Set a password on your Z (as ssh on OZ won't accept an empty password).

Then just point your ssh client at the Z's ip address and log in:


Si
C750 OZ3.5.4 (GPE, 2.6.x kernel)
SL5500 OZ3.5.4 (Opie)
Nokia 770
Serial GPS, WCF-12, Socket Ethernet & BT, Ratoc USB
WinXP, Mandriva

zenyatta

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2005, 05:57:10 am »
Quote
Set a password on your Z (as ssh on OZ won't accept an empty password).

Not true, actually. You do need to set a password before you can ssh into Z but it can be an empty password. So you open Console, enter "passwd" and just confirm an empty password twice. At least on my machine it only gives a warning.

z.
SL-5500, 256MB Kingston CF card, 128MB EDGE SD card, Thomson HED-155 headphones
OpenZaurus 3.5.3 / Opie (kernel 64-0)

Gondola

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2005, 09:33:56 am »
Re: SSH

Personally, I created an extra account on my Z just in case there's some kind of security issue on my LAN.  WEP isn't perfect.  I SSH in with the new account, which I gave a passwd, then su.

WinSCP3 gives me errors when I try to connect (problems with 'groups' etc) but it works ok after it gives a couple error messages.


Re: Formatting your SD or CF card with two partitions.

You'll need to install dosfstools and e2fsprogs-mke2fs to do that, but the directions referenced in that link above are very good. (1gb SD card split into 375 fat16/rest ext2)
[span style=\'font-size:8pt;line-height:100%\']Nokia 770, running latest firmware.
1GB RS-MMC sandisk card
Garmin Etrex Legend GPS/USB Earthmate GPS
Rooted, with an SSH server, VNC viewer, etc.
[/span]

lardman

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2005, 09:49:48 am »
I also see the problems with groups, I've no idea what it means though and it seems to work.


Si
C750 OZ3.5.4 (GPE, 2.6.x kernel)
SL5500 OZ3.5.4 (Opie)
Nokia 770
Serial GPS, WCF-12, Socket Ethernet & BT, Ratoc USB
WinXP, Mandriva

bladerunner

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2005, 02:19:48 pm »
OZ 3.5.3
GPE
Collie

I found that logging in with ssh using a user account and then su to root causes the PATH environmental variable not to be set correctly for root's environment. Therefore, using ipkg did not work as ipkg was not found.

Instead I use "shh -l root 192.168.129.201" to login to a root session via USB.

I use a 256MB SD card split into 2 128MB primary ext2 partitions. I use 1 partition for installing packages and the other for holding my user files. It auto mounts OK, no problems.

Also, I mount NFS shares off my Mandrake 10.1 Linux PC onto my Zaurus. This allows me to backup files onto my desktop PC and also to play MP3 files off my PC. I also use WiFi with my Zaurus.

I am having trouble getting USB to work reliably at the lower layers. eg. fails to allocate a USB  address or fails to read the confiiguration info out of the Zaurus.

I note that using USB 1.1 host ( PC ) ports, is much more reliable than USB 2.0 host ( PC ) ports. However, each time I suspend the Zaurus and resume, the USB fails to get an address and I have to reload the USB kernel modules after each resume using a shell script. I have not done the apm_bios change. Would this change help me ?

Also, I can't get USB to work with my Zaurus using Mandriva Linux 2005 LE but is OK with Mandrake 10.1 on the same hardware ( I have to do some workarounds though ).

bladerunner

bladerunner

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #7 on: May 12, 2005, 02:27:08 pm »
OZ 3.5.3
GPE 64-0
Collie

A tip to avoid corrupting the root partition. I found this out by trying to install gcc and it ran out of space !! I managed to manually delete the gcc stuff to return the root partition back to it's former self.

I modified ipkg.conf and moved the dest line for SD above the dest line for root. I found that ipkg now defaulted to the SD card so the root partition is now safe from missing out the destination option when using ipkg.

bladerunner

Zismylaptop

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2005, 12:09:15 pm »
Thank you all for your help. Sorry I missed that in the release notes!

The original instructions for dual partition SD suggested that you call the partitions "card" and "card2", but in fact 3.5.3 wants to call them "card" and "card1" when you reboot. So I changed the page referenced in my first posting to reflect this (https://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=Multip..._a_CF_/_SD_card). I don't know how it is with CF (especially in light of SL6000's having a potential cf1 already). If anybody knows, please correct the instructions.

--

I'm still frustrated, however:

* I haven't found the magic sequence on my collie for upgrading even with the ext2 second partition on SD. The first thing it wants is libqte2. Even if I do only that one package and even if I make sure the temporary directory is out of the root, it destroys everything by running out of space in the root.

* Neither calendar+arrow nor chvt seem to have any effect.

--

I'm really eager to use O.Z. It is clearly so much better than Sharp's stuff. My ultimate goal is to get it onto the SL6000 that I use for real, but learning on the older machine seems like a safe way to go.

lardman

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2005, 04:46:58 pm »
Quote
* I haven't found the magic sequence on my collie for upgrading even with the ext2 second partition on SD. The first thing it wants is libqte2. Even if I do only that one package and even if I make sure the temporary directory is out of the root, it destroys everything by running out of space in the root.

Try dropping to the terminal (close opie completely), do 'ipkg remove libqte2' then 'ipkg install libqte2'.


Si
C750 OZ3.5.4 (GPE, 2.6.x kernel)
SL5500 OZ3.5.4 (Opie)
Nokia 770
Serial GPS, WCF-12, Socket Ethernet & BT, Ratoc USB
WinXP, Mandriva

Zismylaptop

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2005, 10:09:15 pm »
Thanks,

But if I understand you correctly, it still doesn't work.

I reflash and restart. When it gets to "starting opie in 5 seconds", I strike a key so Opie never gets a chance to start. Use "root" as the collie login. Now I can remove directory /usr/lib/ipkg/lists and soft link it to a directory on card1 (ext2). I also create softlink /mnt/card1 -> /media/card1 for completeness.

Now no form of "ipkg remove libqte2" works (using -t /media/card1 or -force-depends or both). At best, it says "Nothing to do". At worst, it spits out the help at me.

So I try inserting the cf ethernet and "ipkg install libqte2" (in various combinations). Since it can find the updated package lists on card1, it gives it a go. Then either it emits all sorts of errors or it hangs forever.

One of the interesting error messages is "ipkg_conf_write_status_files: Can't open status file: /media/cf/packages//usr/lib/ipkg/status for writing: No space left on device". Why is it trying to use the (missing) cf card and what do the pair of slashes in the middle mean? Is there some place I can put another soft link?

Thanks.

bladerunner

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #11 on: May 17, 2005, 07:41:42 am »
Why are you adding symlinks ? I think this is unnecessary.

Just edit /etc/ipkg.conf and set the media destinations paths. Remove entries for unused media eg. cf . Make sure there is an entry for root destination otherwise libc6 will bite you when it tries to link via ipkg-link.

Also, ipkg seems to default to installing to root unless root is not the first destination listed in the ipkg.conf file or the destination is selected on the command line.

Once a package is installed, make sure you run ipkg-link mount < path to SD card packages >. Otherwise the packages will not be accessible.


Quote
Thanks,

But if I understand you correctly, it still doesn't work.

I reflash and restart. When it gets to "starting opie in 5 seconds", I strike a key so Opie never gets a chance to start. Use "root" as the collie login. Now I can remove directory /usr/lib/ipkg/lists and soft link it to a directory on card1 (ext2). I also create softlink /mnt/card1 -> /media/card1 for completeness.

Now no form of "ipkg remove libqte2" works (using -t /media/card1 or -force-depends or both). At best, it says "Nothing to do". At worst, it spits out the help at me.

So I try inserting the cf ethernet and "ipkg install libqte2" (in various combinations). Since it can find the updated package lists on card1, it gives it a go. Then either it emits all sorts of errors or it hangs forever.

One of the interesting error messages is "ipkg_conf_write_status_files: Can't open status file: /media/cf/packages//usr/lib/ipkg/status for writing: No space left on device". Why is it trying to use the (missing) cf card and what do the pair of slashes in the middle mean? Is there some place I can put another soft link?

Thanks.
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lardman

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Issues With Using 3.5.3 On A Sl5500 Collie
« Reply #12 on: May 17, 2005, 09:49:47 am »
Rather than moving all of /usr/lib/ipkg, try changing the location specified by lists_dir in /etc/ipkg.conf. This will alter the location where the package lists (which are downloaded when you run ipkg update) are stored. As we now have lots of feeds and lots of packages, these take up a lot of space.

Try pointing it to somewhere under /tmp (which is a ramfs and won't use up your internal flash storage).

I think if you go like this, ipkg remove and install may like things better.

Note, you will need to perform ipkg update after a hard reset and probably a reboot (as I'd guess that the ramfs is cleared when this occurs).


Si
C750 OZ3.5.4 (GPE, 2.6.x kernel)
SL5500 OZ3.5.4 (Opie)
Nokia 770
Serial GPS, WCF-12, Socket Ethernet & BT, Ratoc USB
WinXP, Mandriva