Which Rom To Use?

[systemparadox]

Hello everyone.
I've just got a new C750 and am trying to install pdaXrom on it. (I've got quite a bit of experience of flashing SL-5500 and SL-6000L).

Which version should I use? The pdaXrom site has only "latest testing", "previous testing" and "previous stable". What about "latest stable"?

I tried beta1 (since there is no C750 beta3), but it doesn't flash properly. Have reverified and recopied  but same problem.

Normally I would never use anything marked as "testing", but is that what I should be using? How stable is it?

Thanks
Simon

[louigi600]

I use latest (r197) on my C860 and I'm quite happy with it (I'm equally happy with my hevily modified r121 running from MMC).
A lot depends on what you wnat to do with your Z.
I play games and do a little internet browsing and use the ssh client a lot so r197 is fine for me (basically I use it as a sub micro notebook).
People who use it as a PDA will probabbly prefer the 2.4 kernel releases that have more things working correctly.
 
If you read some recent post you will also find that someone put up a custom beta3 for cxx0 ... you might like to try that also.

[Capn_Fish]

Beta1 is the latest stable for C750. You could look at putting pdaXii13 on there. I believe there is un upgrader somewhere.

As for flashing issues, I haven't had any with Beta1. Try the three Rs (reformat your card, redownload the files, and retry the flash).

HTH

[systemparadox]

Tried that. Tried SD instead. Same problem. I'm thinking it might be something to do with insufficient space? I have a 750, so as instructed I resized the root to 30, but the image is 40Mb.

EDIT: The failed image is bootable (with some errors), and shows the root device to be completely full. What is the maximum size I can have for the root? What size should I be using?

Thanks
Simon

[Capn_Fish]

I generally fix the limit, then resize the partition th 57MB, which appears to be the largest (so you have no user partition).

[systemparadox]

No user partition?
Could you clarify the layout of the memory on the 750 please?

On my 5500 (and similar on my 6000L) it had 64Mb of ROM (root) and 64Mb of writable memory (I'm not going to say RAM, because the contents of /home isn't lost when there is no power, unlike some stupid PDAs which will remain nameless), which was shared as /home and memory for running programs (RAM).

From what you've said I get the impression that it's all the same memory split 3 ways- is this correct? Also, just to make sure (because I've seen comments both ways on this regarding clamshells)- is anything lost when the battery is removed?
How much RAM is there? Can I give it more?

Thanks
Simon

[pelrun]

All the Zaurii have 64MB of RAM (i.e. volatile), and varying amounts of flash. The 5500 had 16MB of flash, and the 6000 and 750 have 64MB (after that everything except the 3000 has 128MB).

That flash can then be subdivided into partitions, usually a /root (which can be marked read-only) and a /user (used for /home) which is read-write.

You can proably use all of the internal flash for /root (as Capt_Fish says, max is 57 not 64 because the kernel uses some) and have an SD or CF card for the home dirs.

[louigi600]

I'm not 100% sure that this is applicable to C750 but is certainly the case on Cx60 models.
Unlike the 5500 the Cx60 devices address a real physical nand flash device as onboard mass storage.
On the Cx60 there is actually 2 flash chips (but one is forced read only):
/dev/mtd0 generally is the read only flash chip (8Mb on cx60) while the rest is on the big nanf flash (generally samgsung) chip which in turn is split up into various partitions.
/dev/mtd1 is anothe reagion where there is maintenance stuff generally not used by a running system while the rest is devoted to root and some cases also home.

So even if you run the batterys totally flat (or remove the battery without any external power source) you will loose nothing.

I made some notes for myself on this stuff here. And more generally there is more Z related stuff on my home page.

[pelrun]

For anything other than unbricking a Z via Fn+D+M it's best to not even mention that first rom chip - you'll just confuse everyone. The OS goes completely into the 64/128MB flash.

[Capn_Fish]

I'll do my best to add to the stuff above: Normally, pdaXrom puts the install on / and has a /user or some such partition as well. I found that really annoying (as it stopped me from installing large apps that needed continuous space), so the 57MB root just makes the / partition contain the /user partition, making it function mostly the same, but with the benefit of more cntinuous space.

For the mamory layour on a C750, it's 64MB of normal pc-functioning RAM, and 64MB of flash for holding the OS and data.

Hope that helps.

[louigi600]

For anything other than unbricking a Z via Fn+D+M it's best to not even mention that first rom chip - you'll just confuse everyone. The OS goes completely into the 64/128MB flash.
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Maybe ... but then if you're not told you will get confused once you start looking in /proc/mtd ....
In the beginning I went mad with it because the sum of all mtd partitions was much more that 128Mb (on C760). I started to get things into place when I started looking carefully at dmesg (that showed evidence of 2 flash chips).

I'm sorry if I confused anyone ... /dev/mtd0 is off limits unless you really know what you're doing ;-)