How To Install Angstrom After Cacko

[craigtyson]

OK Updated the WIKI Docs.  Now has links to relevant files.  Will update with my progress getting various stuff working on the C1000.  Currently the only issue I have is lack of space on the root.

The C1000 Angstrom image configures the Onboard flash with two 64MB partitions one mounted as Root the other as Home which means I'm running out of space to install apps to root.

Although ipkg is set up to install to either, if you install a package to Home then you have to manually link the files into the root file system.  I'm considering writing a script to run through the /home/packages/usr directory and create links in /usr but I'm concerned it will do more harm than good.  Currently I install a package and then run it form the command line and see where it fails and link that file into its root location, takes time but stops messing things up.

More info to go onto the WIKI.  I'm a firm believer in documentation helping a distro, and think that UBUNTUs success is as much to do with its documentation as its code and ease of use.

[speculatrix]

Although ipkg is set up to install to either, if you install a package to Home then you have to manually link the files into the root file system.  I'm considering writing a script to run through the /home/packages/usr directory and create links

IIRC, someone wrote a utility for this very purpose, but the angstrom devs didn't like it very much as it had too much potential to break things. I'll go see if I can find it in the mail archives.
--edit-- sorry, can't find it. might be worth asking on the angstrom user's list about it.

[craigtyson]

Yup.  I'd agree that automating linking breaks things, just got myself into a pickle that needed to be re-flashed out of. But hey if you don't break it then you can't fix it.


Updated the wiki docs with some Application suggestions for Cacko users.  Hope its of use


C

[Jon_J]

AngstromAndCacko on the wiki instructions worked well for me.  
http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/AngstromAndCacko
I just had a few things that I had to repeat and do over again.
zImage.bin changed to lowercase when I extracted it in windows and transferred to my CF card.

I don't know if I'll stay with Angstrom though - Waay too many things seem to be broken or not working.
The only way I can use package manager successfully is to install one file at a time and reboot after each install.
USB settings don't stick. I would go on, but I don't think everyone wants to hear my gripes about Angstrom.

My main purpose to try Angstrom is because of the 2.6 kernel, and before very long, "Regular" SD cards will not be available, they will all be SDHC

[craigtyson]

Good to hear the instructions worked.

The GUI for installing software seems to have some isuses runnning on my C1000 so I use the command line which works fine.

USB is a bit of an issue, though Ive found some scripts that work fine.  Il add them to the post.

As I said in the before you start bit.  its going to take a bit of time to get everything to work.  The good news though is Angstrom is closer to a "normal" Linux distro so there are quite a few work rounds out there for getting more out of your Z.

After 2 weeks of tweaking and a couple of reinsalls, I'm now more or less sorted with my Angstrom setup. The only bits that remain to "fix" are

WEP / WPA for WIFI
WIFI applet not showing connection information
On Screen Keyboard layout, no £, and repeat speed too quick
GUI for MPlayer (Kino2 alike?)
Chinese language support (guess I just need the right UNICode font + an input method)

And then the bits that Cacko SHARP can only dream of

Printing using CUPS
Citrix  / ICA client

[Jon_J]

On my C3100 I installed "Angstrom-x11-image-glibc-ipk-2007.12-r13-spitz-installkit.tgz"

One thing that worked, and really surprised me was my Wifi card just connected when inserted. (Ambicom WL1100C-CF)
I opened up my router to "no security" (is normally WPA) and just did the upgrade and updates.
I tried commandline installing, but I couldn't seem to download the files that way. I'm more of a GUI type person.

Do I need to install BASH to get some of the missing console commands?
cardctl command is missing, and some other commands are missing that I don't remember right now.

USB networking didn't work for me either. I once had USB networking connected in Cacko, but I have since installed SP3 to windows and ndis driver only installs if I have my other Zaurus (with pdaxii13) connected. (When connected with my Angstrom Zaurus, the ndis driver in device manager is not available).

I do have another PC with Puppy Linux, and would like to try to connect thru USB on that machine, but the Linux USB instructions on this forum are archaic and go over my head.

EDIT:
Will Gparted from Debian arm work in Angstrom? http://packages.debian.org/sid/qtparted
It has a ton of dependencies. I need to "fix" my HDD, it is only using 1.2 GB. I lost the other 2.8 GM when I partitioned it as per instructions.

[craigtyson]

I'm guessing you are using the "Terminal" icon not the "Root shell" icon
most commands are not accessable from the "Terminal" icon for some reason.

from "Root Shell" do

ipkg update
ipkg upgrade

if that worked try

ipkg list | grep -i {what you want to install} to see if it exists in the feed

For example I couldnt see what app was availavble to view pdfs so I

ipkg list | grep -i pdf

and then used

ipkg install epdfview

to install it.

C

[Jon_J]

I do use the root shell
update/upgrade worked for me.
I haven't tried "grep", I just tried "ipkg install package.ipk"
If you don't know the real name of a pkg, it's difficult to install that way.

With the pkg manager, all I need to do is look at a list, and it never mis-spells words or transposes the occasional odd character.

[craigtyson]

Yup using the command you do need to know the exact name of the package but you dont add the .ipk as this will fail as ipkg will assume you have the file.

so if i was going to install nano id do the following

ipkg list | grep -i nano

to list all the packages with nano in their title or description.

looking through the list I'd see there is a package called nano so I'd install it by

ipkg install nano

not

ipkg install nano.ipk

hope this helps

C

[craigtyson]

Updated link

http://linuxtogo.org/gowiki/N00b%20Guide%2...20a%20SL-C1000)

[Jon_J]

craigtyson,
I want to update my Cacko install to the latest kernel, using "eviljazz-kernel" (which includes latest tetsu and newer SD card driver).
If I flash this to my dualboot Cacko/Angstrom install, do I also need to replace the file: /home/root/zImage.bin (in Angstrom) with the newer kernel's "zImage"?
The files included in the eviljazz kernel upgrades are only these 2 files:
zImage
updater.sh

There is no "tools.tar" to extract "zImage.bin" from.
Should I just rename the above "zImage" to "zImage.bin" and place that on my Angstrom install into /home/root ?

Thank you, I'm a little dense when it comes to these things.

[craigtyson]

As far as I know the tools.tar file contains the extras that make it possable to resize your partitions when installing cacko and some kernel patches. There are no extraction tools in there.

If your zImage file is the kernel then renaming it should work.  However I would make sure you have your data backed up and a free afternoon to fix your Z if it all goes wrong.

Good luck

C

[Jon_J]

It worked!
There is an extra step one needs to take to upgrade Cacko's kernel with an Angstrom/Cacko dual boot setup.
Do this after you do the steps shown on this page:
http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/AngstromAndCacko

1. Flash Cacko with eviljazz's kernel. I used eviljazz's kernel "kernel-fastfpe-cachedfb"
(instructions are inside when you download this)
place these two files onto SD/CF
zImage
updater.sh

Use normal flashing procedure.
battery out 5 sec and power disconnected, replace battery, close door and move switch to "on"
While holding the "OK" button, turn your Zaurus on. You should know what to do from there.
After flashing this kernel, you are asked to reset your Zaurus.
Zaurus boots into Cacko with new kernel installed. (pic below)

2. Now remove the eviljazz kernel files from the SD/CF if you use the same card.
Now Angstrom doesn't boot, so you need to do the following, place the following onto a SD/CF:
(I did not need the "hdimage1.tgz", since I had Angstrom previously installed).
These files are described on the Angstrom spitz install page.
http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/angst...tallation-spitz
gnu-tar
zImage.bin
updater.sh

Flash as normal.
Angstrom will boot now.

3. Go back to the eviljazz kernel files that you have and rename "zImage" to zImage.bin"
Boot into Angstrom and replace /home/root/zImage.bin with this new one.
You can tell if you replaced it because the file sizes are different.
eviljazz "zImage" = 1120 kb
original Cacko "zImage.bin" = 1086 kb

4. check that you can boot into Cacko now using the command:
kexec -f /home/root/zImage.bin

5. Once Cacko is running, check that you can boot into Angstrom.
Go to settings and use the "Shutdown" icon and select "Reboot"
You should now boot into Angstrom.

That's it, you're finished.
Jon

[Allelectrix]

just been reading this thread with some interest, so, by the looks of things you Guys have had some gripe with Angstrom.

I am interested in doing the following with this OS:

1. Set up Networking using USB Wifi with an rt73 based card
2. Wifi MUST support at least Managed and Monitor modes , with Monitor mode supporting packet injection
3. install a good Web Browser
4. install LinNeighborhood
5. install good EMail client
6. install Aircrack-ng
7. install Kismet
8. install Samba and support software
9. install GUI MP3 Player
10, install CUPS
11. install MySQL Server

Does anyone know if these APs will run on this OS ?

Oh yes, I want this on a C1000.

[Wildherb]

Allelectrix,

Angstrom is well worth checking out but is not without its frustrations as you have seen from this thread. For me, some 2 years after the demise of OZ, I still see OZ as a richer platform in terms of its applications and hence its functionality (at least, the apps that I want - oh, quick note that Blue Lightning is doing some great work on porting the legacy QT apps to the new Angstrom OPIE interface).

There seems to be a straight choice in the Z community now, either:

1) to go with a 'full size' OS (OpenBSD, Debian or the emerging Zubuntu) which offer a full archive of applications but at the expense of some annoying niggles at the lower levels like power drain when in standby mode or lack of basic drivers and, of course, being  being un-optimised for the limited resources of the Z
2) Choose an optimised operating environment that has full hardware support and be resigned to missing out on some of the applications or functionallity that you would like.

Wait, there is a 3rd option...

3) Some sort of hybrid, either multi-booting or hot switching. Hats off to the Angstrom team for the options they have given us with their kernels altboot)

Personally, I'm leaning towards Angstrom/OPIE as a base OS as it is light and functional and I'm looking for a way to get the full archive of Debian apps through XQt and something like pocketworkstation or a chrooted rootfs on another partition. GPE is just so awful as an interface! If only there was an option to boot it directly into a modern window manager such as E17 or XFCE4 and use that as a window into the Debian/Ubuntu package archive then I'd be a very happy man!

Anyway, back to your post. I've run Angstrom (and OZ) on a Spitz and my experiences are as follows:

1. Set up Networking using USB Wifi with an rt73 based card - cant help here as I use CF cards. Both Prism and Orinoco seem to work just fine.

2. Wifi MUST support at least Managed and Monitor modes , with Monitor mode supporting packet injection. Yes, monitor mode and Kismet run fine with Prism and Orinoco. I did have some success with packet injection using a Prism card. See below.

3. install a good Web Browser. Konqueror under OPIE is pretty good for my requirements. Under GPE there is a build of Firefox but personally, I cant be bothered to wait a full minute for a browser to load when I just want to view some informaton. It's not as if it will give you Youtube or anything 'modern', so I'll take Konqueror (or Opera or Netfront on cacko) any time! Dillo sucks. Developers, please can we have something midway for X such as Galeon?

4. install LinNeighborhood - not tried it.

5. install good EMail client. The OPIE mail client is horrible. Sylpheed on GPE or under XQt is good.

6. install Aircrack-ng. Aircrack worked for me with a Prism card, but having proved that Aireplay can inject packets, I've not actually bothered to wait around to crack a WEP on my Z as it seems a bit pointless. I'm sure it will work but oh!, so slow! There is a video somewhere on the web of a guy doing packet injection from a Z with OZ. search around here somewhere. http://hackaday.com/2006/07/22/aircrack-ru...a-zaurus-c1000/

7. install Kismet. Works like a dream. Full colour and full control of sorting etc.

8. install Samba and support software. Samba works fine. Not sure what support software you want. Based on this, I guess LinNeighborhood should work fine.

9. install GUI MP3 Player. OPIE has a GUI media player.

10, install CUPS. Not tried it.

11. install MySQL Server. Not tried it.

Hope that helps. Do let us know how you get on. If you find bugs then feed them back to the devs through their preferred channel which is NOT this forum.