New SL-5500 user, help running spreadsheet and database

[Edranom]

I bought an SL-5500 about 2 weeks ago. It had open zaurus 3.2 on it when it arrived. After about 2 days of searching i was able to re install the stock rom back on it. I use it for work daily. I use it to track the inventory on my truck and keep track of my time, so a spreadsheet and database are very important to me. I use ubuntu on my desktop at home and was disappointed to discover that I cannot transfer files to and from. the programs I use on the desktop is calcurse, tudu, and sc. I was hoping that since the sl-5500 runs linux that i would be able to install those on it. is there a way to do so?

[Varti]

I bought an SL-5500 about 2 weeks ago. It had open zaurus 3.2 on it when it arrived. After about 2 days of searching i was able to re install the stock rom back on it. I use it for work daily. I use it to track the inventory on my truck and keep track of my time, so a spreadsheet and database are very important to me. I use ubuntu on my desktop at home and was disappointed to discover that I cannot transfer files to and from. the programs I use on the desktop is calcurse, tudu, and sc. I was hoping that since the sl-5500 runs linux that i would be able to install those on it. is there a way to do so?

Hi and welcome!  I have moved your post to a new topic in order to avoid confusion.

Varti

[Edranom]

so for spreadsheet I am using hancom and for database I use portabase. Is there is anything else I could be using? I have a ton of other questions regarding the zaurus. I have depended on my palm for so long and the zaurus platform is quite new to me. The biggest question I have is why can I download palm software all day long but software selection for the zaurus is pathetic at best? I would have thought that there would be more since it runs linux

[Varti]

Hi,

I have seen your message on #zaurus about Crow's Cacko port. I have found a copy of the old Crow's page on archive.org, together with the two 5000D/5500 archives (though the cackorom-Applications.zip file is still missing), I have archived it here:

https://www.oesf.org/repository/websites/cacko-crow/

Regarding the lack of application: for every ROM/distro there is/was usually a main feed, plus other feeds made by contributors, some of them are unfortunately not available anymore; I'm planning to host as many feeds as possible here on oesf, to preserve them from bitrot. For most ROMs, the choice of applications depend on how many ports have been done by the developers. The only exception is Arch Linux ARM, for which all the applications available for x64 desktop are already available for ARMv5 too, hence for the Zaurus too. Unfortunately, Arch Linux only runs on the newer Zauruses, also since 5500's ARMv4 CPU isn't supported by Arch Linux.

If I have understood correctly, you have found two of the applications you need for OpenZaurus but you had problems running them, is this correct?

I have found at least calcurse being compiled for pdaXrom, but it was for ARMv5 only. I guess your best bet would be to compile them by yourself for either Sharp ROM/Cacko or OpenZaurus, since you have already used both. I have been recently given a 5500, so I might help you with that, though I can't promise anything as I have very little spare time.

Feel free to ask any other question regarding your Zaurus.

Varti

[Edranom]

Hi,

I have seen your message on #zaurus about Crow's Cacko port. I have found a copy of the old Crow's page on archive.org, together with the two 5000D/5500 archives (though the cackorom-Applications.zip file is still missing), I have archived it here:

https://www.oesf.org/repository/websites/cacko-crow/

Regarding the lack of application: for every ROM/distro there is/was usually a main feed, plus other feeds made by contributors, some of them are unfortunately not available anymore; I'm planning to host as many feeds as possible here on oesf, to preserve them from bitrot. For most ROMs, the choice of applications depend on how many ports have been done by the developers. The only exception is Arch Linux ARM, for which all the applications available for x64 desktop are already available for ARMv5 too, hence for the Zaurus too. Unfortunately, Arch Linux only runs on the newer Zauruses, also since 5500's ARMv4 CPU isn't supported by Arch Linux.

If I have understood correctly, you have found two of the applications you need for OpenZaurus but you had problems running them, is this correct?

I have found at least calcurse being compiled for pdaXrom, but it was for ARMv5 only. I guess your best bet would be to compile them by yourself for either Sharp ROM/Cacko or OpenZaurus, since you have already used both. I have been recently given a 5500, so I might help you with that, though I can't promise anything as I have very little spare time.

Feel free to ask any other question regarding your Zaurus.

Varti

Hi,

This is some positive news!!!

yes, for some reason or another I can't get Hancom Sheet or Portabase to display correctly when I had openzaurus running. I liked alot of the features OZ had. I'm not a huge fan of the stock rom but with it I am able to use the apps that I need.

As for compiling stuff, well, that is not my strong point so I would prefer to avoid that if possible.

It's good to hear that you are tyring to preserve as much as you can for the Zaurus. Just because something is old doesn't mean it has no value any more. My boss at work doesn't quite understand that, he laughed at my palm, and now laughs at my Zaurus. He says "There is an app for that for your phone".  But from what I've seen, the apps for my phone (iPhone 4) suck and usually lack the features that I need.

So, I thank you for all the help you have provided thus far.

[Edranom]

Installing Cacko now, I will let you know how it turns out

[HoloVector]

Here is a feed that another 5500 user, sjdf, recommended.

http://quickening.zapto.org/ZaurusFeed/

[Edranom]

Here is a feed that another 5500 user, sjdf, recommended.

http://quickening.zapto.org/ZaurusFeed/

HoloVector,

Thank you so much!

[Edranom]

I did get the cacko rom working yesterday and the apps I need for work are working as expected. so now I need to figure out how to get sc, tudu, and calcurse working on it

Thanks for all the help guys!!!

[Varti]

I'll see if I'll manage to find some time to try to compile them on Cacko, I'll let you know.

Varti

[Edranom]

if I knew what I needed to do or have installed I would try compiling stuff, I just don't know where to start with it.

[Varti]

In the past I have always compiled directly on my Zaurus, but I believe setting up a crosscompiler would make things easier and faster. There are various cross-compiling howtos for the stock Zaurus ROM, the one I'm following is this, a mirror of the official Sharp developing page: http://www.ossh.com/zaurus/mirrors/docs.za...tup_howto.shtml
I have tried to set it up on my company's Windows 7 PC using alternative arm gcc binaries for cygwin, but I had troubles in running the 32bit cygwin environment. I'm now trying to install it on my Linux setup, more news will follow.

Varti

[Edranom]

Would I be able to write stuff on my pc using free pascal and run them on my zaurus?

[Edranom]

Also, are there advantages using the Cacko rom over the Sharp 3.10 rom? Also, I've noticed that sometimes when I try to install something (SuperTux for example) it says there are other packages that need installed. It doesn't list them so how would I find out what else needs installed?

[Varti]

Hi,

an update on my cross-compilation effort. I have successfully installed the crosscompiler on my Linux setup, compiled the Qtopia example program and ran it on my SL-5500, with the stock Sharp ROM v. 3.13 installed. I had to convert the .rpm packages to .deb ones (since I'm running Linux Mint) using alien, and change their architecture from i386 to amd64 so that I could install them on my system. I wasn't sure that running a 32bit crosscompiler would work out of the box under a 64bit system, but everything went (almost, see below) without problems. I have used the --target=amd64 parameter as suggested here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/322624/how-...in-a-x64-system .

My only doubt is regarding one of the packages (glibc-arm-2.2.2-0.i386.rpm): when I tried to convert it using a different procedure (i.e. using alien -g glibc-arm-2.2.2-0.i386.rpm, manually changing the architecture in debian/control and building the package with debian/rules binary), the conversion reported many non-blocking errors, although in the end the .deb file has been anyway created. When I converted it again using the --target parameter, no error was reported, but I have noticed that with this procedure no verbose output is printed at all, so the errors might well have remained, I'll investigate on this.

I have also managed to compile the latest version of ncurses, which is required by calcurse, tudu and sc. Next time I'll install it in the Qtopia crosscompiler environment and try to compile the programs.

Regarding your questions: I have done some research and found out that, at some point in the past a generic ARM Linux binary of the FPC compiler was available on the freepascal website. This compiler is actually an i386 binary, and it only allows to compile binaries for the Zaurus on a x86 setup, and not directly on the Zaurus. The page on archive.org: https://web-beta.archive.org/web/2005040323...-linux-arm.html and the package itself: https://sourceforge.net/projects/freepascal...OldFiles/2.0.4/, file arm-linux-fpc-2.0.4.i386-linux.tar .

I have managed to find a full port of FPC v. 2.0.0 too, which should allow compiling on the Zaurus, but it is for pdaXrom only: http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/...d/contrib/daal/  . The latest 3.0.2 version is also available for ARM Linux on freepascal.org, though it is for EABI Linuxes only (i.e. PdaXrom/OpenZaurus/Angstrom/Alarmz), the Sharp ROM and Cacko are based on OABI. For an explanation about OABI/EABI, look here: https://wiki.embeddedarm.com/wiki/EABI_vs_OABI . I might try to compile the latest version for Sharp ROM/Cacko, if you need it.

The improvements of Cacko for the 5500 over the original kernel, apart for the ones described on Crow's site, are listed here: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&...ost&p=19920 (after the The kernel includes several improvments over the stock ROM line), they are mostly performance and stability patches. I'll try this kernel too, but I have first to buy a new CF-USB adapter; I had an old one which became unreliable a while ago, and AFAIR it is possible to flash a 5500 only via CF (newer Zauruses support flashing via SD too).

To find out the required dependencies of a package, refer to this post: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&...st&p=176357

Varti