Status Of Pdaxrom

[chiark]

Sorry for the dumb question, but I'm confused as to pdaxrom on the Zaurus platform.  I've just purchased an SL-C3100 after a couple of years away from the Z - I had an Akita that I sold.

It seems pdaxrom continues, but is nothing to do with Zaurus.  Could it be be brought back to the Z?  Should it be brought back to the Z?  Is anyone else interested?

It seems feeds are a little missing in action: anything we can do collectively to organise those?

Sorry for all the questions which can probably be found by 2 days searching, but after 2 days searching I'm now more confused than ever
Thanks in advance

[jcabrer]

Welcome back!

I'm back myself after a couple of years without a Zaurus.  I'm a few weeks ahead of you at this point, so I will try and get you up to speed as best as I can.

pdaXrom.org has indeed dropped Zaurus.  This may or may not be a temporary thing.  I wouldn't bother looking back there unless they make an announcement, since nothing is left of the feeds, or any other downloads.

Many of the old feed are gone too.  Even mine (pdaXfeed.dyndns.org) suffered a crash, and never was restored.

Most of the core feeds are still mirrored at ibiblio, so it is possible to set those up as your primary feeds.

if you are intending to run some flavor of pdaXrom on the C3100, I would recommend pdaXii13

Meanie has been kind enough to make a backup available http://members.iinet.net.au/~wyso/myZaurus/pdaXii13/

You can also try pdaXrom Beta3, and apply all the SP1-8 patches.  Not sure where those links are, but I'm pretty sure I can find them if you like.  I went this route first, and finally ended up on pdaXii13(v2?)

[chiark]

Thanks!  That's a great synopsis!
I tried pdaXii13 for the past 2 days and one annoying bug that I remember from 1000 days still appears to be there: sometimes, the device point blank will not respond to the power button.  This drove me up the wall with the 1000...  Do any of the SPs work for fixing it?

It seems that Meanie also has a page aboutpdaXng: is there any work happening on that?  Sounds interesting  !

For the moment I've gone back to Cacko 1.23 and might look at dual booting with pdaXii13...  But that one bug bought memories of lost notes flooding back!

It's a real shame that there seems to be a general lack of manpower behind the Z now, it still has a purpose in this day and age.

[jcabrer]

I don't know if that's a real bug or not.  I know what you are talking about though.  You press the button, and nothing happens, or the screen will flash on for a moment and then flash off again.  I've found that it is sufficient to press the button once, with a quick release, and then wait.

It seems that waking up can take more than a moment, and if you press the button multiple times, the button press events queue up.

Also, if you suspend without closing the lid, you will see a similar problem.  Best to suspend by closing the lid.

[koan]

I'm interested. What are you proposing to do ?

I have very little time to do Z stuff, that's why I only do a little dev work for the applications I need but I might be able to stretch to do a bit more.

Ideally, I'm interested in any activity that leads to a modern kernel and fast OS for the Zaurus.

[chiark]

Hi Koan, at the moment I'm not proposing anything: unfortunately I don't have the necessary skills to build kernels and package for the Z...  What I'd love to see though is some form of Zaurus distro that is modern, fresh, fully-featured, stable, etc  and I might be able to help coordinate it, but that's probably stretching the truth too

It looks like Meanie started off with just that intention with pdaxng: I'll drop him a PM to see how far he got with it.  It might be that angstrom, or zubuntu, or something like those are the future for the Z, but it definitely deserves to be optimised to the unique environment that the Z lives in.

PM'ing meanie now.  If I hear back, I'll update the thread.

[jcabrer]

Frankly speaking, I don't believe there is enough momentum remaining in the Zaurus community for it to remain a viable platform into the future.  At least not judging by the number of posts in some of the topics here.  

There are better supported platforms out there emerging, Pandora for example (not saying it's there yet), that have complete open-source kernels (Zaurus never did, to my knowledge).  Some of the new slate devices also seem to hold some promise.

As for me, I will continue to share everything I build for my two devices, and if I find solutions to problems that nag us all, I will share those as well.  I have no doubts that the Zaurus PDAs can do just about anything, but it takes a certain kind of person to survive the ups and downs of living on the bleeding edge.

[chiark]

I suspect you're right.  I must admit that I had a deposit down on a Pandora, but cancelled after the paypal/bank deposit debacle...  Once they have stock, I'll probably jump.  I think that shows I'm not happy with life on the bleeding edge

If I can get a stable device using pdaxii13 dual booted, I'll be happy and likewise I'll share what I build.  I would not expect a lot

[koan]

Practically speaking, I think there is no future for Zaurus since Sharp stopped manufacturing it. However, I expect my two Zauruses to have long working lives even if I buy a smart phone or a tablet. The Zaurus software I am working on can easily be ported to a desktop computer or other device.

I use my 750 with Sharp ROM for PIM, dictionaries, media browsing and the net. I don't see any new technologies coming up that would make it redundant, only faster. I want to use my 3200 as a palmtop Linux box for on the go dev work, web page editing and GPS applications; it's for this device I want a modern kernel and to retarget some applicatons. Previously we had many apps ported in the "Want it Compiled" threads but many of them were not adjusted to run nicely on a VGA touch screen or use the special Zaurus keys.

I think you guys are a little too pessimistic. Look at the phenomenal output from Meanie before he got married, one guy did all that. Or Andromeda by yonggun, Zubuntu by cortez, etc. Each time one guy. There are also the fragmented groups of Japanese developers who we don't know about; for example bucchi who developed the SDHC driver for the Sharp ROM. Between a few of us, we ought to be able to manage a small project if we set a specific target.

I was really hoping that chiark was going to propose putting together some scripts etc and bring all pdaXromii13 files together to make it easier to install the latest version with all the patches pre-applied. Or perhaps get the wiki completely up to date on how to do it. Or try to find out why pdaXrom dropped the Zaurus, maybe they just didn't have anyone who owned one anymore ? And so on. I don't think it's completely beyond us to continue where Meanie left off or to create our own distribution. If we had a small team slowly working towards it, I think we can do it (eventually).

[chiark]

I was really hoping that chiark was going to propose putting together some scripts etc and bring all pdaXromii13 files together to make it easier to install the latest version with all the patches pre-applied. Or perhaps get the wiki completely up to date on how to do it. Or try to find out why pdaXrom dropped the Zaurus, maybe they just didn't have anyone who owned one anymore ? And so on. I don't think it's completely beyond us to continue where Meanie left off or to create our own distribution. If we had a small team slowly working towards it, I think we can do it (eventually).

One thing I can definitely do is update the wiki, however at the moment I'm not even sure what patches are available for pdaXii13 .  My scripting is somewhat limited, but agreed it's not rocket science.  I will also start on the pdaXrom question...

Agreed, one person with passion and enthusiasm (and a little time) can make a hell of a difference.  I'll do what I can, so will start the research into patches, etc.  I'll also host what I find.

Now, can anyone give me pointers as to the status of patches?

[deluxe]

Agreed, much pdaXrom stuff has disappeared from the web.
I got this link 3 weeks ago from Meanie himself, and it's one of the few resources left I believe
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wyso/myZaurus/pdaXii13/

[agosine]

I would be thrilled if some of the masters out there could come together to develop an updated image.  My C1000 still works great, but the apps need a good overhaul.  I have never played with pdaXrom because I never figured out which version would be best and most up to date.

[anunakin]

My feed still working, but not new in years! sorry  
I sold my SL-5500, C-3000 and C-3100

FEED: http://zaurus.vivaphp.net/pdaxrom/misc

[mars]

Would something like Angstrom/Openembedded be a decent place to start? Angstrom has made its way into Always Innovating products and the Pandora. I think what it needs are some folks to figure out how to build updated software that may not be included -- that and a friendly atmosphere. I would be willing to try and learn the openembedded tools to help.

I was just thinking about my Zaurus 3100 the other day and reminiscing about the keyboard, which is thus far the best of any of my handheld devices:Zaurus, Umid M1, Nokia N810, Nokia N900 (sold).

[ckblackm]

It looks like capnfish's feed still exists:   http://www.supakewl.com/capnfish/feed/


I'm currently running a C3200 with weeXpc  (Daniel's pdaXrom implementation based off beta3).   What would I need to start
trying to compile stuff for use on that platform?  (or would it be easier to try and patch up to the most recent version?)

thanks,
Christopher.