Hdd-free Patch For Cacko Rom!

[ZDevil]

SOLVED: for details see post #15 below.

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Hi,

I am stilling thinking of setting up dualbooting Cacko and Debian/EABI using the sharp bootloader and kexec as described here: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=25555

Even though dualbooting Debian and PdaXii works fine, I feel like having the NAND run Cacko so that there are more varieties.

The question is: the internal disk is already partitioned with one big giant partition filled by the Debian rootfs.
The fact is Cacko/Sharp rom require the internal disk to be partitioned in exactly three parts with exact sizes/sectors.
I cannot do this with GParted in Debian because the program can only resize in terms of MBs, not sectors.
fdisk doesn't work here because repartitioning with fdisk will wipe the disk content clean.

Of course there is a straightforward way: just tar up/create a back up image of the Debian rootfs, then use fdisk to repartition the disk, then put the Debian rootfs back in HDD1, and finally install Cacko and set up dualbooting using the method in that thread. Actually this is also what I may do.

But many Debian Z users have already got the whole system working. This method, however simple, is clumsy and not without risks.

So would it be feasible to do it the other way round: tweak Cacko/Sharp rom in such a way that it simply ignores the HDDs part. In principle it seems workable to me, because the files living in the three hdax do not seem to be critical for the system to operate. Everything important is all in the NAND flash.
I have tried to play with /root/etc/rc.d/rc.rofilesys in Cacko by taking away all the instructions to mount the HDDs. But Cacko fails to boot because of something missing in the process (let me skip the details here).

Has someone ever tried to do a similar thing? I would great appreciate if you could share your insights here. Thanks!

[adf]

It has been done as a part of on old pocketworkstaion intallation--the guy doing it wanted to make PW look native on (I think) a 3000. the project got superceded by XQT, but in part of his instrucions he boots cacko by doing a key combo (ctrl -c?) when cacko complains about the missing partitions--it then loads just fine.  This surely could be massaged into something workable.

[ZDevil]

That's nice! Thanks!

So it does sound workable. The question now may be: can we make use of the PW solution/script(s) and make it work for Cacko? What are these files? Any pointer?

Just think of one more advantage of doing this: it is not just good for dualbooting, but also perhaps good for backing up and restoring, as the system will entirely live in one disk.

[adf]

That's nice! Thanks!

So it does sound workable. The question now may be: can we make use of the PW solution/script(s) and make it work for Cacko? What are these files? Any pointer?

Just think of one more advantage of doing this: it is not just good for dualbooting, but also perhaps good for backing up and restoring, as the system will entirely live in one disk.

According to meanie's big pdf of zaurus lore at www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/book/zbook3k.pdf  he hacked rc.rofilesys to get rid of those annoyances re hdd1 and hdd2. maybe there is a solution there?

1 biggie--do any of the sharp/cacko mail clients handle g-mail? I mention it since it seems like a big advantage is the combo of pdaishness and laptopishness would seem to indicate that quick email checks and that sort of thing should be handled by the pda style boot.  Possibly the javaj based gmail mobile client could be used ith the qte stuff doesn't do it?--  not trying to hijack--just a concern for the results of getting this working'

[ZDevil]

Yes, it is always enjoyable to read Meanie's "Bible for the Zaurus".  

So this is Meanie's hacked rc.rofilesys: http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/cus...ofilesys.hacked

I am still looking at it and can't use it right away, because I don't fully understand the bits there. There are still scripts to mount the three hdd partitions, and i don't quite sure what the "restorepc" does in the boot. Any idea?

[adf]

Yes, it is always enjoyable to read Meanie's "Bible for the Zaurus".  

So this is Meanie's hacked rc.rofilesys: http://www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/cus...ofilesys.hacked

I am still looking at it and can't use it right away, because I don't fully understand the bits there. There are still scripts to mount the three hdd partitions, and i don't quite sure what the "restorepc" does in the boot. Any idea?

None.  I was more interested in the idea that the size and content of the 3 partitions was variable, and guessed that this might lead to the working dual system under discussion.

[speculatrix]

are you sure the partition sizes have to be correct - AFAIK all that matters is that they're the right type of file system and have the smattering of files on the which sharp use for recovery?

[matthis]

Size doesn't have to be correct, file partition type is adjustable in rc.rofilesys.
The problem is that of .sys files, and the requirement for the actual existence of the partitions.

[ZDevil]

Thanks, speculatrix and matthis. Yes, I was mistaken. Size doesn't matter, as long as the right files go to the right partitions.
Still this is an annoying feature. Perhaps only C3000 needs this setting. But why do C3100 and C3200 have to follow suit?
Cacko/Sharp can be (even) much more user-friendly without this setting.

Has anyone tried Meanie's hacked rc.rofilesys?

[speculatrix]

Has anyone tried Meanie's hacked rc.rofilesys?

I simply created small partitions to allow rofilesys to not barf, so that everything worked normally if I reflashed, it still allowed me to create a swap and an ext3 partition which is all I really wanted!

[adf]

Has anyone tried Meanie's hacked rc.rofilesys?

I simply created small partitions to allow rofilesys to not barf, so that everything worked normally if I reflashed, it still allowed me to create a swap and an ext3 partition which is all I really wanted!

yeah,that might be simplest

[jocasmi]

@Adf. I 've configured Sharpmail and opiemail with stunnel to deal with my gmail account, as explained in some post earlier in OESF, if you have any problem, let my know and I'll post the steps.

[adf]

@Adf. I 've configured Sharpmail and opiemail with stunnel to deal with my gmail account, as explained in some post earlier in OESF, if you have any problem, let my know and I'll post the steps.

Thanks, I will

[ZDevil]

How forgetful I was!  This problem has been solved for long by mathemajikian's "Cacko patch" for OpenBSD/Zaurus ( https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=21249 ) !  My 3200 did run OpenBSD for quite a few months before moving to Debian. Anyway here it is. I incorporate mathemajikian's hacks into one automatized scriptpack with some enhancements and tools.

Here is the readme FYI:  [ Invalid Attachment ]
The scriptpack can be downloaded from here.

Now Cacko boots happily without caring about the HDD anymore!    

Now sure how this fix works for Sharp ROM, but I suppose it will.  

Have fun!

[ZDevil]

Updated to v0.2:

• Changed the timestamp to a truly unique one
• Made the backup files move to the installer's backup directory instead of leaving copies in the small flash space.

Otherwise v0.2 works exactly the same way as v0.1. So don't worry if you have used v0.1. You may just want to delete the backup copies in /root/etc/rc.d in Cacko (you have to do it in the [D+B] Linux Emergency Console and mount the flash partitions /dev/mtdblock2 there).

Have fun!