The C1000 Topic

[flyguy]

Hello all,

I just received my C1000 not long ago, and I've been trying out different operating systems (Sharp, OpenZaurus, pdaXrom) as well as different software packages (Znester, kismet, firefox, Opera, GAIM, kinkatta-lite, mutt).

What I've found so far is that I can't find a satisfactory combination.  I have been eagerly waiting the release of Cacko 1.23 for the C1000, and I've been searching the forums for the best setup, but I haven't been able to find one place that comprehensively talked about options for the best overall setup for the C1k.  Everyone has different needs, but it is pretty clear to me that certain things everyone wants (e.g. a web browser) and clearly some are better than others (Opera > NetFront).

So I'd like C1000 owners to post what general setup they are using, and what the major bugs are.
pdaXrom was too buggy, and OZ was too small for me, so I've decided on using the Sharp Rom for now (it cuts off my wifi less often, and the feeds are more reliable).  

I'm using the NAND restore from Trisoft, Opera for a browser.  I tried kismet but it always hasn't been able to work yet.  I'm using a linksys WCF12 wifi card.  Is anyone really happy with their setup?  What are you using?

Louis

[flyguy]

My setup:

C1000, linksys wcf12 wifi card, ea-70 adaptor

Sharp ROM via Trisoft website

Opera as web client (best i've seen, faster than firefox)

 kinkatta for AIM (really slow) -- GAIM would not work, neither would qtjim

mutt for e-mail (can't send, can't use gmail), OpieMail for e-mail(can't send, can't use gmail).

I want a good sniffer, but i got an error from the discoverer feed, and kismet couldn't connect to server, so no luck there

i also want to have the e-mail light work on the outside.  i haven't been able to get this to work yet.

i'm getting an SD card soon.  Not sure how that will function, but i can only hope for the best.

[TsingTao]

Since I am actually a C1000 owner/user, I'll throw in my rather pedestrian mishmash.  I'll post again if/when it becomes more interesting.

 But for now I'm running ye olde Sharp rom,  mcconvert'ed for english.  Consult my signature for the accessories I currently use with any frequency.

 Currently working on configuring stunnel to enable gmail with pop3 from the embedded mail client .  I'm using instructions from one of these boards...

 Also currently working on setting up Divx support with Mplayer and Kino, again, 'simple'  instructions are available, but as a n00b it's a little bit of an undertaking for me.

 What you will hopefully see in the near future from me.

 - Cacko Rom (anxiou$ly awaiting the C1000 variant)
 - Wifi sniffer (I've heard reports of Kismet and Wellenreiter working with sharp rom,
                     but the instructions I've seen are little involved and I haven't had time
                     enough to tinker yet.)

 -  Opera (Netfont is not good IMHO, I didn't appreciate Opera enough on my 5500)

 Problems ?  The video player chokes on a number of mpegs I throw at it, not sure why.  And my todo list items don't show up on my calendar, but other than that, it's working fine.  Oh wait, my flexible rubber keyboard's keys map  wierd (but that might be due to the Z's Japanese heritage).

 This is working for me as my needs aren't too complex.  I mainly bought this device for general computing needs in a portable package during my 1 year abroad in Japan.  It can play movies (I can encode mpegs as easily as divx and I'm not a cinemaphile so the slight quality difference doesn't bother me...it's way better than on my Jornada 720) and MP3's well enough.  1.5GB is a reasonable amoung of storage for me.  I can access the web via Wifi, Wired Lan, or Modem, thus even if I can't get the mail client to work just yet, I can still access my 3 webmail accounts, not to mention get news and make reservations and other ecommerce stuff..

 I've got high hopes for the Cacko Rom, but for now I'm OK...

[Cresho]

sharprom with the gant theme from zaurusthemes.org

opera/netfront
bluetooth, wifi, 56modem dialup
Divx movie player look down for my tutorial
snes nes games playable...look in this forum for my link
mp3 player and mass storage through 2gb 1gb 4gb cf
advanced word editor
portabase
qashmoney
ko/pi ka/pi
mileage calculator
flashcards using soq
voice recorder
visualq photo editor
gallery or photoviewer
gaim for msn
ftp
zbedic with wicki encyclopedia and dic
bdicty with medical enc
opera browsing cd files for drug guide lippincott's and prentice all.

i can record videos and play back on my zaurus using dv4500 from mustek via kino
i can take pictures, edit and email em out using fujifilm xd adatpor for cf and into zaurus

man..................its everything i can ask for and much much more.
the list goes on and on and on

pdaxrom doesnt work --------yet but i am waiting for it

openzaurus----------welll...its just a toy. and am still waiting.

[JohnX]

I'm using the NAND restore from Trisoft, Opera for a browser.  I tried kismet but it always hasn't been able to work yet.  I'm using a linksys WCF12 wifi card.  Is anyone really happy with their setup?  What are you using?
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I have a C1000 and I'm on Hentges T3/OZ 3.5.3 ROM (It's a customized/tweaked/reworked version of OZ3.5.3).
What works:
Konqueror (and Opera if you want it but IMHO konqueror rocks.  Opera takes a little bit of doing but is not too hard)
Wellenreiter and Kismet.  Wellenreiter is darn cool
X/Qt: an X server that sits on top of Qt and lets you run some X apps.
Opie Mediaplayer2 and xmms-embedded both play mp3s just fine.  opie-mediaplayer2 required a configuration change. (just uncommenting a line in the config file)
the usual suspects: opie-ftp, noteZ, wlanswitch, opie-reader
screen auto-rotate works, suspend only works from the menu, suspending sometimes takes 15 seconds instead of being instantaneous
USB stuff is supposed to be smoother in hentges vs normal OZ, but I haven't played with it.

what doesn't work (or that I didn't get to work):
snes9x
playing movies

Basically it does what I need it to do just fine so I use it and when I get bored I play with trying to get snes9x working.

-X

[jh]

I've tried just about everything on my C1k... original alpha OZ image, a tweaked image that I built with OE, the new Hentges image, GPE, and pdaXrom.  Thoughts on each:

Original Sharp ROM: nice, but really had no chance of me sticking with it

OZ and my tweaked OZ:  stuck with this image for quite some time.  My tweaks were mainly just some keymap changes and swapping out the opie PIM apps for Ko/PI and Ka/PI.  Those two apps are complete overkill for my scheduling and addressbook needs, but I like 'em too much.  I didn't like any of the media-playing apps, so I wrote my own simple mp3 player in python/pyqt.  Which is another great thing about this image... it seems like just about every python module under the sun is available thanks in large part to mickyl.

CoreDump's Hentges: a great image... fixes up and adds a lot to the standard OZ image.  A lot of good work went into this and it shows.

GPE: another good image... I really like the clean look and feel of gpe and it was very responsive.  Nice group of folks working on it, too, and its build system is openembedded which I had up and running enabling me to build my own image, apps, etc...

pdaXrom: my current image and I think one that I'll stick with for a little while.  The latest 10.4 release for the C1k is absolutely awesome.  Little things like auto-rotate working fine (to be fair, hentgest and gpe worked with auto-rotate), and the biggest thing: the power button actually suspends.  First time I've seen that in a C1k image.

The main thing I was missing from GPE was a good ebook reader... I tried compiling a couple, but I lost patience.  On pdaXrom I have Ko/PI, Ka/PI, and OpieReader, which I think is the best ebook reader for the Z.  I also have Python/pyQt for my media player, plus I have access to pygtk if I want to explore that.  For browsing I can choose from Dillo, Firefox, or Links... I was using firefox for a while, but then I found that between dillo and links the trade-off in speed and memory vs. full-featured browser wasn't worth keeping firefox around.  Dillo and links (-g so it supports graphics) have been doing just fine.

What else... oh, I have the pdaXrom SDK and have been able to compile a couple of missing python modules and a few other things without too many problems.  It's not as easy as OE, but it's a nicely setup cross-compile environment that you can download from the pdaxrom folks.

That's about it... my main uses of my Z aren't too complex: small amounts of PIM, ebook reading, ssh to home to read my email (in emacs so I don't need a GUI), and web browsing.  pdaXrom handles this all quite nicely with a lot of room to grow and a lot of flexibility.

jason

[CoreDump]

pdaXrom: my current image and I think one that I'll stick with for a little while.  The latest 10.4 release for the C1k is absolutely awesome.  Little things like auto-rotate working fine (to be fair, hentgest and gpe worked with auto-rotate), and the biggest thing: the power button actually suspends.  First time I've seen that in a C1k image.

Could you email me the output of "dumpkeys" to oe (at) hentges dot net?

[jh]

You betcha... sent!  I'll attach it here, too...  [ Invalid Attachment ]

jason

[flyguy]

I've settled into pdaXrom RC12 w/ ROX desktop and XFCE4.  I use links for a browser, gaim works great.  I'm still working on getting kismet working, and movies optimized.  RC12 has seemed fairly stable though.  I'll have to use this until Maslovsky finishes cacko 1.23, and I can try that.

-Louis

[Ragnorok]

- I tried OZ ... it just didn't seem right to me, but that was before the GTK version.
- I tried pdaXrom RC10 ... way too unstable.  I really, really like the idea of a full-blown X-based Linux in my pocket, though.  (shakes head)  One day I'll try it again to see where Laze & Co. have gone with it, just because it's such a cool thing.
- I couldn't find Hentges, or Watapon, or G-whats-it, or any of the others mentioned on the forum, so I didn't try any of them.  So I stuck with the standard Sharp ROM.

- Then Saint Maslovsky actually allowed me to beta test Cacko 1.23 for him, and I must say I can easily understand why people rave about Cacko.  It's stable.  None of my CF worked on Sharp without lots of futzing ... in Cacko they just work, even BT.  It's got a great built-in app set, including Opera 7.55, and applet-easy over-/under-clocking.  Iptables out of the box.  Power button suspends just fine.  The keyboard mapping is great, plus it includes the keyhelper app, and it's got a dozen different countries' keymaps built-in.  I can't speak to the non-english map, but I like that one.  It all just works.  And it has 85 MB in the user partition.  Wowzers!

- I'm in the process of loading Meanie's XQt jumbo package to see what that does to it, followed by any X apps I can scrounge up, like GIMP and OpenOffice.  Cacko is supposed to be flakey with 320x200 apps.  Prboom crashes on it.  PowerManga utterly scrags the entire ROM by erradicating a good portion of the user partition during the reboot fsck check.  So it does have issues.  I've never run either of those apps ... they both had "Display Magnified" enabled, which I unchecked, and that could be the real problem.
- Kismet takes (configuration) tweaking but it's good.  Wellenreiter loads but never finds any packets; attempting to connect with the network applet while WN is scanning will lock the unit.  Asteriods works fine.  Qpdf is fine, as well as Opie Reader, and cvm from the Cacko feed.  Going to load Nethack soon, and I'm fearful on kpacman.
- I have megabytes and megabytes of stuff I'm going to throw at it and see what breaks.  It's just a long process.

- When it's all done and released, I'll load the official version, then mount the "ROM" rw, and completely re-arrange the whole thing, anyway.  That's what I did with the Sharp ROM, and it's what I'll do with Cacko.  Fortunately the C1k lets me do that ... I ditch things I'll never use, like the default calendar, address, migration, etc, etc, and put in stuff I want to keep, like XQt (if it fits) and cvm.  I ripped out 35MB of stuff from Sharp and replaced it all, but Maslovsky has a lot of that in Cacko already, so there will be a lot less re-arranging to do for it.  Cool!

[bolbit]

ragnarok, how do you manage to free space from the sharp rom for the user? I thought that removing software from the rom do not give you this space for the user, was i wrong ?

[chiark]

I've only had the 1000 for two weeks, but here's my summary:
 - Sharp ROM: it works just about.
 - PdaXRom: truly brilliant, but not quite best aligned to my needs: opera or Netfront would make it perfect, and if it could sync then I would probably stick with it.
 - Cacko 1.23 Beta: like ragnorok, I have been beta testing Cacko for Anton, and it's superb.  
 - GPE: really couldn't get on with it.  The image I used was buggy, and I ended up giving up rather than getting anything useful out of it.

If you want PIM functionality and a great browser, go for Cacko when it's released: we're on Release Candidate 16 so I am hopeful that it should be close...

If you want a full Linux PC in your pocket, go for PdaXRom.  It really is a superb piece of work, but it isn't quite where I'd like it to be yet.  I can see it getting there though, especially when PIM/PI syncs natively to outlook rather than just importing.

OZ was less than a fulfilling experience for me, but I suspect that that is due to me not looking or trying hard enough.

[flyguy]

OZ was less than a fulfilling experience for me, but I suspect that that is due to me not looking or trying hard enough.
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Yeah OZ wasn't any good for me until I tried henteges's ROM.  If you want to try OZ again, install that.


-Louis

[chiark]

THanks Louis, I'll have a look at that once I've fully tested RC16 on the 1000

Incidentally, Anton mentioned in another thread that he'll be releasing 1.23 hopefully this week providing no major faults are found

[Ragnorok]

- I somehow missed the boat to RC16/17.  D'oh!  If'n Saint Maslovsky or chiark could toss me a link I'll reflash straight away.  I'm still on 10, and I'd like to see X/Qt and such running on the newer one.  It runs on RC10, so I don't expect any hassle.

- bolbit: Search the forum for "remount" and you should find what you're looking for command-wise, but you are correct, remounting the ROM as rw does not give you more user space, directly.  Cacko leaves that 85MB after flashing.  (happy smile)  But you can move stuff from the user area into the ROM area, thereby freeing that space up, so it does in effect "give more user space".  That's why I do it, and to make as much of what I consider to be the "core" system immutable.  Sure the user partition is pretty darned safe, but the "ROM" is impossible to delete without entering Hiro's root password.
- On the Sharp ROM I took out NetFront, Jisho, address, datebook, todo, calculator, and I don't remember what else, but it was a lot, and I had 35MB free in the "ROM" when I was done.  Then I put in NoeCal, PortaBase, Tree!Explorer, Opera 7.3, X/Qt, Jeode, J2ME, lots of libs, and I don't remember what else, but it was a lot, and I was back down to under 5MB in the "ROM" when I was done.
- Since the "ROM" is a compressed file system, I put more than 35MB of stuff in there, and was up to around 50MB free in my user partition, even with KO/API and a bunch of games installed there.  Those KO/API guys update that thing so frequently that I didn't put it into the "ROM", so I could keep up!  (wink)
- By "move", I of course mean put the files in the "ROM", and softlink them back to where they started so the OS can find them.  When you're done, remount ro and you're there.
- Hope this helps...