3100 Optimisation

[flux]

hello

i've got my 3100 with cf for wifi and gps ; usb for external keyboard.
software : kexecboot and debian sid
kernel : 2.6.36

i wish i enhanced some stuff, and i need your help to know if what i'm thinking is possible.

1) replace the 4GB micro-drive by a CF of 16 or 32 GB ; is there any limitation on the CF card GB size ?

2) I'd like to run wifi and gps at the same moment sometimes. here is my idea :
i'd like to get a "nano wifi" (like this one : http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-EDUP-Wireless-N-1...b#ht_5120wt_883 )  
chipset rtl 8188 csu, supported according to this thread : http://ns.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg47477.html

and here i have several solutions...
      * if possible, transform the big USB in mini USB.
      * add a big usb female adapter in my zaurus. i found a place to make it fit under the arrow cross (down right of the keyboard).
      * remove the USB adapter, keep only the wifi module, and make it fit under the arrow cross.

the second and third solutions are the ones i prefer, especially the 2nd (new usb female adapter). it would need to change the resistor to 1K (according to albertr, see : http://www.penguin.cz/~utx/zaurus/www.iral...aurus/wireless/ )
add an hole in the zaurus (under the arrow cross), and have 4 electrics wires run into the zaurus to the usb female adapter.
(the third solution requires the same wiring, but no hole in the zaurus).
i obviously can't wire it myself, i don't have the skills. but i wonder if i knew exactly what must be connected "where" and "to what", maybe i could find an electrician near my location that could wire it for me (4 wires, and the  1K resistor).

i need you to advise me about that, what you think about my wishes (CF, and usb nano-wifi).

thank you
flux

[utx]

1) replace the 4GB micro-drive by a CF of 16 or 32 GB ; is there any limitation on the CF card GB size ?

Probably not. CF standard is not SD and does not change specification every few years.

2) I'd like to run wifi and gps at the same moment sometimes. here is my idea :
i'd like to get a "nano wifi" (like this one : http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-EDUP-Wireless-N-1...b#ht_5120wt_883 )  
chipset rtl 8188 csu, supported according to this thread : http://ns.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg47477.html

I have this one. It works well and has a good sensitivity. It even can run with 180mA power which unmodified Zaurus can provide. It can run on 3.3V and it is possible to implement hardware rfkill without external parts. It is small enough to fit inside Zaurus SL-C3x00 (in the space between battery connector, infrared and ioport).

There are following problems:

• It claims 500mA. You have to tell to kernel that it is OK.
• Ralink driver is poorly written and wants large contiguous pieces of memory. (It's hard to allocate it on a longer time running system.)
• Power saving mode is not optimal. I can imagine better saving.

and here i have several solutions...
      * if possible, transform the big USB in mini USB.
      * add a big usb female adapter in my zaurus. i found a place to make it fit under the arrow cross (down right of the keyboard).
      * remove the USB adapter, keep only the wifi module, and make it fit under the arrow cross.
the second and third solutions are the ones i prefer, especially the 2nd (new usb female adapter). it would need to change the resistor to 1K (according to albertr, see : http://www.penguin.cz/~utx/zaurus/www.iral...aurus/wireless/ )
add an hole in the zaurus (under the arrow cross), and have 4 electrics wires run into the zaurus to the usb female adapter.
(the third solution requires the same wiring, but no hole in the zaurus).
i obviously can't wire it myself, i don't have the skills. but i wonder if i knew exactly what must be connected "where" and "to what", maybe i could find an electrician near my location that could wire it for me (4 wires, and the  1K resistor).

Why you need large or no USB? Buy or build an adapter. If you damage a standalone connector, the loss would be just about one dollar.

The free space below arrow crosses has only 14mm x 22mm. And there is a distantion stand, which could make an obstruction for the wireless signal. Take in account that you need ideally at least 5mm of non-conductive (free) space around antenna. (Well, my dongle definitely does not fit there, but I hope that a small Bluetooth module may fit there.)

Changing resistor to 1K sounds interesting, but I am thinking about software switch for it (so kernel can compute whether it is possible to provide 500mA).

i need you to advise me about that, what you think about my wishes (CF, and usb nano-wifi).

Well, I am thinking about internal WLAN and Bluetooth and 500mA modification as well.

I already have everything ready for the WLAN and an idea about Bluetooth, but not yet done anything of it.

[flux]

I have this one. It works well and has a good sensitivity. It even can run with 180mA power which unmodified Zaurus can provide. It can run on 3.3V and it is possible to implement hardware rfkill without external parts. It is small enough to fit inside Zaurus SL-C3x00 (in the space between battery connector, infrared and ioport).

This place seems small to make wifi fit, but i saw you only kept wifi module. Do you have any picture of the module in the place (infrared...), and, what would be great, the wires from where to where they go... i wanna see/know what wires must connect even if finally, i don't touch the inside of the zaurus not to break it...

There are following problems:

• It claims 500mA. You have to tell to kernel that it is OK.
• Ralink driver is poorly written and wants large contiguous pieces of memory. (It's hard to allocate it on a longer time running system.)
• Power saving mode is not optimal. I can imagine better saving.

where to tell the kernel it's ok (which option of the .config ?) ?
i hope rtl8188csu  won't take too much memory, i already bought the nano-wifi... would be sad.
the power saving is a real problem, especially if the nano-wifi is inside the zaurus, and can be not plugged out when not used. my solution to add an external usb female (big) comes out again...

Why you need large or no USB? Buy or build an adapter. If you damage a standalone connector, the loss would be just about one dollar.

i'd like a large USB because the nano wifi onto wouldn't break the zaurus shape... an adaptater onto the small usb would be bigger than the NANO-wifi... it's so small... have you seen the picture on my first post... it's smaller than your mini-wifi...
2nd, with an other usb entry, i could fit keyboard and wifi, keyboard and mouse ... without carrying the external usb-hub.

The free space below arrow crosses has only 14mm x 22mm. And there is a distantion stand, which could make an obstruction for the wireless signal. Take in account that you need ideally at least 5mm of non-conductive (free) space around antenna. (Well, my dongle definitely does not fit there, but I hope that a small Bluetooth module may fit there.)

i understand the problem, but with you wifi module into the infrared (...) place... the problem isn't the same ? i thought the place under arrow key was bigger...

Changing resistor to 1K sounds interesting, but I am thinking about software switch for it (so kernel can compute whether it is possible to provide 500mA).

that was what you told me above with the kernel ? yeah, would be less dangerous that switching the resistor... how do we tell kernel to give more power if needed ?

I already have everything ready for the WLAN and an idea about Bluetooth, but not yet done anything of it.

please, do not hesitate to post here the thought and try you do, with picture if possible... i'd like to learn all about this.

Thx a lot

flux

[utx]

This place seems small to make wifi fit, but i saw you only kept wifi module. Do you have any picture of the module in the place (infrared...), and, what would be great, the wires from where to where they go... i wanna see/know what wires must connect even if finally, i don't touch the inside of the zaurus not to break it...

No, I don't have a photo, I did not solder it yet, but I am sure that it fits there without cover. You need five wires: GND (many places), VBATT (many places), 2x USB (see albertr photos or try to find soldering points), RFKILL (I have an idea to use one of spare SCOOP IOs that have soldering points below the plastic cover near the HDD connected to modified Ralink dongle (see the description on its teardown page).

There are following problems:

• It claims 500mA. You have to tell to kernel that it is OK.

where to tell the kernel it's ok (which option of the .config ?) ?
the power saving is a real problem, especially if the nano-wifi is inside the zaurus, and can be not plugged out when not used. my solution to add an external usb female (big) comes out again...

echo 1 >/sys/bus/usb/devices/1-2/bConfigurationValue

Power saving is not such a big problem, you just have to implement RFKILL to decrease power consumption to zero when not in use. It is always a good idea, even the best WLAN needs 10mA in power saving modes.

Why you need large or no USB? Buy or build an adapter. If you damage a standalone connector, the loss would be just about one dollar.

i'd like a large USB because the nano wifi onto wouldn't break the zaurus shape... an adaptater onto the small usb would be bigger than the NANO-wifi... it's so small... have you seen the picture on my first post... it's smaller than your mini-wifi...
2nd, with an other usb entry, i could fit keyboard and wifi, keyboard and mouse ... without carrying the external usb-hub.

The free space below arrow crosses has only 14mm x 22mm. And there is a distantion stand, which could make an obstruction for the wireless signal. Take in account that you need ideally at least 5mm of non-conductive (free) space around antenna. (Well, my dongle definitely does not fit there, but I hope that a small Bluetooth module may fit there.)

i understand the problem, but with you wifi module into the infrared (...) place... the problem isn't the same ? i thought the place under arrow key was bigger...

The place near the infrared is larger but it's very thin. The place under the arrow is thick but small. far the largest space could be find inside internal plastic cover near the HDD. But it is not useful for wireless.

Changing resistor to 1K sounds interesting, but I am thinking about software switch for it (so kernel can compute whether it is possible to provide 500mA).

that was what you told me above with the kernel ? yeah, would be less dangerous that switching the resistor... how do we tell kernel to give more power if needed ?

There are two different things: Tell the kernel that it's OK to run a device that claims 500mA and really provide 500mA. Without the hardware modification, Zaurus still provides not more than 180mA.

I already have everything ready for the WLAN and an idea about Bluetooth, but not yet done anything of it.

please, do not hesitate to post here the thought and try you do, with picture if possible... i'd like to learn all about this.

There are several other posts here that discuss these modifications: WLAN, Bluetooth, stereo recording.

[flux]

There are following problems:

• It claims 500mA. You have to tell to kernel that it is OK.

where to tell the kernel it's ok (which option of the .config ?) ?
the power saving is a real problem, especially if the nano-wifi is inside the zaurus, and can be not plugged out when not used. my solution to add an external usb female (big) comes out again...

echo 1 >/sys/bus/usb/devices/1-2/bConfigurationValue

Power saving is not such a big problem, you just have to implement RFKILL to decrease power consumption to zero when not in use. It is always a good idea, even the best WLAN needs 10mA in power saving modes.

with my new edup ep-n8508, i tried what you told :
echo 1 > /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb1/bConfigurationValue

Sadly, when i plug wifi, i get :

rejected 1 configuration due to insufficient available bus power.

Do i miss something ?

[utx]

with my new edup ep-n8508, i tried what you told :
echo 1 > /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb1/bConfigurationValue

Sadly, when i plug wifi, i get :

rejected 1 configuration due to insufficient available bus power.

Do i miss something ?

First plug the device, then you can force configuration to load. Client devices have name "number-number". "usbnumber" is a host device.

[flux]

hello

so i did what you said, and got the same error as when i tried to plug it in an usb-hub with power...

i didn't check the first time this error, but now, i try to understand it.
you can see it on :
http://pastebin.com/JLwwi7pB

it looks like i lack memory....
but, when i do free -m :

Mem:            59         42         17          0          5         17
-/+ buffers/cache:         19         40
Swap:          143          2        140

so i don't really understand. Do you have an idea ?
(i'm using your  kernel config, utx, with some minors change
thank you a lot !
flux

[flux]

ok, that's fine...

after adding swap, it seems to work