SearchIncluded in this image are following additional packages on default:
update-modules apt ipkg midnight commander strace altboot (I kind of like it) wireless-tools wpa-supplicant pcmciautils
Apart from that, you'll find the key settings are applied as described by Android Zaurus. Last but not least I've added his Rotation applet. Great little utility!
The installation instructions are still the same, so I just updated the download links, which can be found in the menu item on the left.
Once again, have fun!
IMPORTANT UPDATE: It seems that there was an error in the gnu-tar version. Please re-download if you had problems
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( 3 / 916 )I've uploaded a kernel and minimal console image for the owners of a Zaurus SL-C7x0 and SL-C860. Since I don't have one of these devices myself (my SL-C750 died in a dreadful coffee experiment) I need volunteers to test this.
The same installation procedure applies for the SL-C1000, SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 devices. Instructions and can be found in the previous post or from the menu on the left.
The specific SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 downloads are initrd.bin, zImage.bin and updater.sh.
Please give it a try and give me feedback on your results.
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( 3 / 932 )
It took much longer than I expected, but I finally did it. Android now works on my Zaurus SL-C1000 as well as on my SL-C3100!Solution:
The SL-C1000 installer works slightly differently from the SL-C3x00 version. It uses Altboot to boot from a ext3 partitioned SD card. I tried using a the normal procedure where the root filesystem boots from internal flash, but this resulted in socket errors (Connection refused) on startup of Android, as described here. I simply don't know enough about the internal workings of Android as to understand why this is, so I searched for a workaround. Using Altboot is the workaround I came up with. Since Altboot makes it possible to boot from SD or CF apart from the usual internal flash memory, I partitioned and formatted a 1Gb SD card with a ext3 partition. Then I Flashed a slightly customized Poky kernel with Altboot included. The Android root filesystem is extracted to SD and the Zaurus boots from SD. From there it's a simple
/start to start Android. That sounds too simple? Let's do a step by step then 
Preparations:
Partition and format your SD card with an ext3 partition. The ext partition is important, if you want this to work. Don't use fat or fat32, use ext3, otherwise you'll regret it. I used
sudo gparted on my Ubuntu desktop to make the partitioning and formatting easier. I also added a swap partition for some future Debian experiments, but this isn't necessary. For now you can safely skip the swap-partition step, just make sure you have a ext3 partition formatted (is the importance of the ext3 bit clear enough you think?).Download:
Download gnu-tar, initrd.bin, zImage.bin, updater.sh and android-root.tar.gz and copy the files to the freshly formatted (ext3) SD memory card.
Flashing:
The flashing is done in the usual way.
1. Remove battery and power adapter cable
2. Wait for 5 seconds
3. Replace battery, close and lock battery cover
4. Attach power adapter cable
5. Keep OK button pressed while pressing on/off switch
6. From the Japanese menu, choose option 4 (Update), then 2 (SD) and finally Y
You're asked if you want to flash the kernel, erase the flash, flash the root filesystem and finally the Android root filesystem. You can except all questions with the defaults (all yes). Only the last bit, the extraction of the Android root filesystem, doesn't work (yet). It doesn't seem to be possible to extract a tar archive to an ext3 formatted SD from the flashing environment (Permission denied). We need to do an extra step because of that unfortunately.
After flashing the Zaurus is rebooted automatically and Altboot is started. Choose option 1 so the Zaurus boots from internal flash memory. Login with root and extract the android root filesystem manually.
cd /media/cardDepending on the speed of your SD card this can take a while.
tar -xzpf android-root.tar.gz
Now, I found out the best way to handle now is doing a full reset (power off, battery remove, 5sec wait, replace battery and power on). The Zaurus boots, and when Altboot starts choose option 3, boot from SD. The first time you do this you'll be asked for some input. One is the administrator password for Altboot and the other is a question if you want to copy the home directory. Answer yes to this question!
The machine now boots from SD and you can login as usual with root.
Starting Android:
To start Android, simply run
/startAnd now, let the party begin!
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( 3.2 / 54 )Just to let you know I'll try to make Android installations available for the Zaurus SL-C7x0 and SL-C1000 shortly, so all of you can join the fun of having a cutting-edge (beta) product up and running in no-time.
Hopefully I will be able to test the SL-C1000 version tonight. More on this later.
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( 3 / 877 )
It looks like we're being watched. As the news spreads itself across the Net, is seems like it's kind of special to have this thing running on real hardware already. And we Zaurus users are one of the happy few. Not bad if you think that the Zaurus is no longer manufactured and shamelessly abandoned by Sharp. You wonder what drives people in making these kind of decisions. Look at the impressive amount of distro's and applications and see what this mini-laptop is capable of. There is no machine like the Zaurus currently. So the responsible people at the Sharp headquarters still have a change to regret what they did and restart the assembly lines. Just my two cents worth. False hope I guess 
See the articles in techworld and pcadvisor
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( 3 / 789 )
It seems like you never can do anything unnoticed here on the Net. The word that we as proud owners of a Zaurus are part of the happy few Android users is traveling fast. Thanks for mentioning my efforts guys, but most credits go to others, I just followed their instructions and created a hassle-free installation so others can give it a try as well.I've added the installation instructions from my earlier post in the menu on the left. Installation won't get easier than this I think, and believe me, it's really worth giving it a try. So install it while it's still fresh
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( 3 / 814 )Tested on my SL-C3100, this is a small bootable Poky 2.6.23 kernel with a copy of the Android OS from the SDK (qemu) emulator.Installation on the Zaurus is done in the usual way:
1. Download zImage.bin, updater.sh, gnu-tar and android-root.tar.gz and copy the files to a SD card
2. Remove battery and power adapter cable
3. Wait for 5 seconds
4. Replace battery, close and lock battery cover
5. Attach power adapter cable
6. Keep OK button pressed while pressing on/off switch
7. From the Japanese menu, choose option 4 (Update), then 2 (SD) and finally Y
Flashing starts, and you are asked if you want to flash the kernel, if you want the microdrive to be formatted and if you want the root filesystem to be installed.
Accept all questions answering them with y
After flashing is complete, the machine is rebooted. Login with root and type /start to start Android.
This is the basic version, without any of the patches found across the Net.
Have fun, and share your results and findings of course!
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( 3 / 721 )
Yesterday I was finally successful in running Android on my Zaurus SL-C3100. Build on a minimal 2.6.23 (Poky) linux kernel and the files and info from this blog I created a complete installable distro.The speed is astonishing, I never thought a Java based OS would be able to be this responsive!
There's lot to be done of course. Touchscreen isn't working, as is networking, the display is in portrait mode on default and a lot of applications are still missing. But it's a nice begin!
Great to have this working on my Zaurus, moreover when you know that devices shipped with Android will be sold in the second half of 2008. So we're one of the happy few, and I like that.
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( 3 / 689 )
When the news was spread that Google announced a mobile phone platform called Android I just took it for granted at that time. Always nice to have some serious competition in a smartphone world ruled by micro$oft and symbian. I have a weak spot for symbian somehow, since it's a psion initiative, and build on the experience psion had as manufacturer of PDA's that were always ahead of their time. But I like systems to be open, and symbian simply isn't. And micro$oft, well they sell OS'es still being alpha versions. Daily reboots and complete hangups are a common thing. Enough said, dump it, it's rubbish!Some week ago I came across a post that some clever guys were successful in porting Android to the Zaurus. I'm always interested in initiatives like this. The more distro's available for the Zaurus, the better. Freedom of choice is a good thing after all.
That's when I started to gather some more information about Android. To my astonishment I read that it was based on a Linux kernel, and that most of the OS was build in Java. Linux and Java, this is a combination I like a lot!!
Java on my Zaurus has been an onging experience for me. I've build various JVM's like SableVM, JAMVM and of course the official Sun virtual machine. My experience: nice to be able to develop small console applications "on the road", but not good enough for serious applications based on a graphical GUI. Although it has a great geek-factor, it simply lacks speed to be very useful in real life.
But, I will certainly check this Android thing out and see if I can make it work on my Zaurus.
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( 3 / 716 )
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