Some Questions About The C3200

[Heather]

Hello. I have had my C3200 for about a week now. Before that, I had an SL-5500. So far my impression is "why did I wait so long to upgrade?" I thought the SL-5500 was like a mini computer, the C3200 is so much more so.

Sorry in advance for long post. The bold headings are the parts that are most important. There are a few things I was hoping to get working on my C3200 that I haven't been able to yet. I have done many searches and just haven't got these fixed yet, so I was hoping maybe someone knew the answers or could better point me in the right direction. I'm still using the stock ROM. I've installed stuff, but haven't flashed anything yet.

First of all...thanks a ton to Meanie. I'm sure everyone says that. I would still be reading Japanese on my Zaurus if it weren't for those extensive customization pages. And also thanks to Cresho because he was very helpful back in my SL-5500 days and I know he does a lot of helping around here.

What works:
USB-Keyboard - usbkbd-en_2.4.20_arm.ipk (I need to reconfigure the xml mapping, though, because some keys weren't mapped properly)
USB-Mouse - inputhelper_1.0.1-1_arm.ipk
Zemufeex - zemufe_0.1.1-3ex_arm.ipk (so far, I tested SNES9X and ZNESTER, I also installed snes9x-sdljoy to work with my joypad, the buttons work but the directional controls do not, see below)
opie-embeddedkonsole (qkonsole crashes when the mouse is plugged in, so I used the terminal app from my SL-5500 in non-mag mode)
qpose - space trader is finally available on my Zaurus, yay
2GB Sandisk SD card - worked perfectly without any coaxing (didn't work on SL-5500)

What does not work:
USB HDD I bought a 120GB USB HDD, it is formatted as NTFS. I installed automounter_c3000_0.5.0_arm.ipk and ntfs-zaurus_2.4.20_arm.ipk ... I can get fdisk to show me that the drive exists and that it is NTFS, but it doesn't mount, and if I try to mount it manually (mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstorage) then it tells me that it's an invalid argument.

WiFi I have a sandisk plus CF wifi 128MB card that doesn't work. I tried installing sandisk-plus_arm.ipk and it still wouldn't work. So I bought a Socket wifi card from eBay. If I can get that one to work, then I won't care that the sandisk one does not.

Joypad I also have a nice cheap retractable USB joypad which is a very nice small size. The Zaurus recognizes it and all of its buttons except turbo and clear (I don't care). I have verified this with jstest.

snes9x-sdljoy works nicely except for the directional controls. I can pause, unpause, open the menu, cancel, and okay just fine (all 6 snes controller buttons work), but cannot move at all.

I tried to use joy2key-z -config kbd1 and joy2key-z -config snes9x, and even tried to figure out how to use joy2key-z without arguments to configure itself to my joypad. When I did that, axis 0, 1, 2, 5, and 6 all did not respond, but axis 3 (up/down) and axis 4 (left/right) did respond. But even so, the buttons should have worked and I can't get any other apps to respond to any button pressing while joy2key is active. There's not a lot of documentation available, but I found one site in Japanese that seems to suggest that I need to install tetsu's special kernel.

Tetsu's kernel So on that note, I searched for tetsu's special kernel. I found the page at http://tetsu.homelinux.org/zaurus/kernel and downloaded zImage-v18h-3200.bin then followed a link above it to get updater.sh.3200. Because these pages are in translated Japanese ... I just want to make sure that these are the files I need before I do this. Meanie's page gives instructions, but he mentions an ipk to install after the kernel update. I can't find an ipk, so I'm assuming updater.sh needs to be run after the zImage is installed?

X/QT and Java The next step is getting X/QT and Blackdown Java 1.3 working. I did install Jeode and it works, except the text editor I wrote for my SL-5500 appears to need to be run in magnified mode. I haven't played around with Jeode's AWT on the C3200 yet, but I suspect it's going to be difficult to get the toolkit windows working correctly in landscape mode. I tried to install Blackdown, but got a lot of errors, ending up with one saying the device is full. I have 30MB left in the program area, so I was a bit surprised. Maybe I need to install it to the HDD instead? But non-GUI Java doesn't interest me much (Jeode would be just fine in that case), so I am going to try X/QT before I try Blackdown again. Any advice about which one? It seems like I should install X/QT Jumbo, but I wasn't sure.

[Heather]

Update on usb hdd:
I used fdisk to change it to fat32. Retyped what I see on fdisk:
Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1    1    14593 117218241 b Win95 FAT32

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstorage causes the USB drive's light to blink but reports:
mount: Mounting /dev/sda1 on /mnt/usbstorage failed: Invalid argument

[Drake01]

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstorage causes the USB drive's light to blink but reports:
mount: Mounting /dev/sda1 on /mnt/usbstorage failed: Invalid argument[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=165628\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I use pdaXii13 and I can't remember what the directory structure is like on Sharp or Cacko ROMs, so I'll ask what is probably a silly question:  Does the /mnt/usbstorage directory exist on your Z?

[Meanie]

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstorage causes the USB drive's light to blink but reports:
mount: Mounting /dev/sda1 on /mnt/usbstorage failed: Invalid argument[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=165628\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I use pdaXii13 and I can't remember what the directory structure is like on Sharp or Cacko ROMs, so I'll ask what is probably a silly question:  Does the /mnt/usbstorage directory exist on your Z?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=165634\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

/mnt/usbstorage does not exist unless you create it manually or let the automounter script create it for you.
since the usb hdd wont work unless you use it with external power, ie, via a powered hub, depending on which usb connector you plug it into on the hub, it may be /dev/sdb1, /dev/sdc1, etc... if you have other devices stuck in the hub as well...

I have the sandisk wifi as well and it wont work out of the box on Sharp ROM. It works out of the box in Cacko since it got updated hostap drivers. Had to steal those drivers from Cacko to make it work on Sharp ROM but that was a long time ago... It works out of the box on pdaXii13

the updater.3200 needs to be renamed to updater.sh
it will flash the kernel (zImage) for you. there should be some extra kernel modules that are packaged up in an ipk file on the same site where the kernel image is.

[Heather]

The directory usbstorage exists, and /dev/sda1 exists (fdisk /dev/sda shows it exists) ... so doesn't that mean they are both there? I have a Maxtor OneTouch III Mini which has a cable that has 2 USB connectors on it. The instructions say plug the red one in, and the black one is in case you need extra power, so I plug that one into my USB power adaptor. The Zaurus gives all indications that it recognizes the drive properly with fdisk, it just won't mount.

Or would a symptom of not having enough power show up as fdisk working but mount doesn't work?

I'm considering pdaXrom and Cacko but haven't decided to switch yet.

Edit: USB HDD problem solved: Fdisk didn't change partitions properly on the Zaurus (data showed up in Windows after I had supposedly deleted, created, and written  the FAT32 partition in fdisk and even verified by removing the cable and plugging it back in again several times with reboots ... odd). So I reformatted as NTFS in Windows, and now the USB HDD works with the NTFS drivers Meanie provided. Yay!

[speculatrix]

Edit: USB HDD problem solved: Fdisk didn't change partitions properly on the Zaurus (data showed up in Windows after I had supposedly deleted, created, and written  the FAT32 partition in fdisk and even verified by removing the cable and plugging it back in again several times with reboots ... odd). So I reformatted as NTFS in Windows, and now the USB HDD works with the NTFS drivers Meanie provided. Yay!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=165661\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

gosh, are you powering the 120G hard drive directly off the Zaurus, or using a powered USB hub? I didn't think the Z would be capable of that!

[pelrun]

Fdisk didn't change partitions properly on the Zaurus (data showed up in Windows after I had supposedly deleted, created, and written  the FAT32 partition in fdisk and even verified by removing the cable and plugging it back in again several times with reboots ... odd).[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=165661\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Fdisk worked properly - it doesn't format partitions, it just manipulates the partition table. The partition type fdisk displays is only a hint to the OS - the partition itself can be formatted differently.

You would need to run mkfs to actually overwrite the data in a partition.

[Heather]

Thanks pelrun. Well, formatting on the PC fixed it and now I'll know for next time.

As far as powering the drive, I have an AC adapter for my iPod. It's just a small box with a USB port and a plug. I had been using it to charge my iPod and my Zaurus SL-5500 (I had to replace my power cable and I found a retractable USB sync/power cable for it).

There's no way the Zaurus can power my USB drive alone, but the drive came with a USB Y cable. The red connector goes into my USB hub and the black connector goes into the iPod's adapter. It doesn't take up much space and it works just fine, except so far it seems I have to disconnect it while the Zaurus is rebooting or else the mount command fails when I start back up again. That's not a problem to me.

So I guess the next step is installing the tetsu special kernel and hoping that fixes the joypad issue.

I really like the C3200.

[Heather]

Okay, I tried to update to Tetsu's special kernel. I'm sure you don't have to restore to factory settings before you install it, but I did just in case.

I downloaded the zImage 18i 3200 bin file (not the stock image that's also on the site) and renamed it simply zImage.bin. I renamed updater.sh.3200 to updater.sh. I copied these 2 files plus the kernel ipk onto a blank SD card. I did a hard reset, held the OK button while turning on the Z, picked option 4, picked the SD card option, picked the left option (Y). The Sharp screen appeared (like on a reboot, except there was INIT text at the bottom), and then a message that ended in "Please restart" showed up in the upper left corner.

So, I did a hard reset again and booted it back up. Then installed the kernel ipk using the GUI installer. I switched SD cards and loaded the terminal package, copied my saved locale.conf file over (I prefer the quick and easy switch to English over the localization ipk), rebooted again.

Why doesn't the new kernel show up in System Info? It's still showing the Feb '06 Lineo kernel. I also tried "echo 1 $ > /proc/tspressure" to enable touchscreen pressure and the response was "cannot create /proc/tspressure: directory nonexistant". (Edit retried with /proc/zaurus/tspressure and got same result)

Am I doing something wrong or is there a way to verify that the kernel was successfully installed?

[adf]

I've seen a couple of issues that might be affecting this proceedure.
First, did the Z show a black screen wit text at the upper left saying something about updating te kernel, and maybe showing progress with a series of dots? I'm guessing it didn't, and that maybe you didnt manage to flash the kernel.

As a rule, I've had more success with CF than SD for this sort of thing, though it does work on the right sd card.
Also, was your card formatted FAT 16, not Fat 32?

If you happen to have a small cf card lying around, fdisk it (type 06, I think-but double check),  then format it mkfs.vfat -F 16 /dev/whatever-the-card-is-(hdc, maybe?)/partition number (probably 1) and try flashing from that. Other wise, maybe check the formatting on your Sd card.
and depending on your updater it is either zImage or zImage.bin  be sure the "I" is capitalized.

[Heather]

Should I be able to read the updater.sh as I would any shell script? I tried (not on the copy that's on the card but on an extra copy) and I don't know if I don't have the correct text format (UTF8, ISO, etc), but it looks like garbage text to me.

Thanks for the help with the CF card thing. I will try that.

No, I did not see any progress, it was just BOOM done. It took less than a minute to go from the Sharp splash screen to "please reset".

[speculatrix]

Should I be able to read the updater.sh as I would any shell script? I tried (not on the [div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=166185\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

you've definitely got a problem, updater.sh is a shell script!

try reformatting the card completely before copying on the files - ensure it's not mounted before hand.

I found that my Z wouldn't reflash from CF with an SD card in it for some reason (was flashing Angstrom at the time).

[Meanie]

Should I be able to read the updater.sh as I would any shell script? I tried (not on the [div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=166185\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

you've definitely got a problem, updater.sh is a shell script!

try reformatting the card completely before copying on the files - ensure it's not mounted before hand.

I found that my Z wouldn't reflash from CF with an SD card in it for some reason (was flashing Angstrom at the time).
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=166187\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

i beg to differ. updater.sh is no ordinary shell script. it is encoded in a format that the Sharp bootloader/flasher can understand. you would need to decode it in order to decipher its content.

also ensure you are using the right file name for flashing. Some distros use zImage whereas others use zImage.bin
can't remember which one uses which, but double check that you got the right file name or nothing will happen...

[adf]

Should I be able to read the updater.sh as I would any shell script? I tried (not on the [div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=166185\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

you've definitely got a problem, updater.sh is a shell script!

try reformatting the card completely before copying on the files - ensure it's not mounted before hand.

I found that my Z wouldn't reflash from CF with an SD card in it for some reason (was flashing Angstrom at the time).
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=166187\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

i beg to differ. updater.sh is no ordinary shell script. it is encoded in a format that the Sharp bootloader/flasher can understand. you would need to decode it in order to decipher its content.

also ensure you are using the right file name for flashing. Some distros use zImage whereas others use zImage.bin
can't remember which one uses which, but double check that you got the right file name or nothing will happen...
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=166192\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

..or if nothing happens, change the name  

[speculatrix]

you've definitely got a problem, updater.sh is a shell script!

i beg to differ. updater.sh is no ordinary shell script. it is encoded in a format that the Sharp

oh, very sorry to have misled, thanks for the correction meanie, I must have been thinking of something else when I wrote that but my brain is blank at the moment.