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Yesterday I took some time to set up all the tools needed to see whether or not the latest emulator image could be ported to the Zaurus easily.
First I investigated the emulator a bit using the adb-debugger. An important change can be seen when running mount
rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
/proc /proc proc rw 0 0
/sys /sys sysfs rw 0 0
/tmp /tmp tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock0 /system yaffs2 rw,nodev,noatime,nodiratime 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock1 /data yaffs2 rw,nodev,noatime,nodiratime 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock2 /cache yaffs2 rw,nodev,noatime,nodiratime 0 0/tmp and /cache are added since the previous version, so we have to add them to the Zaurus image as well.
Next thing I did was to rip the emulator file system. This can be done easily by pushing the binutils package to the emulator and archiving the /system, /data and /cache directories using the adb shell command.
Having that, I downloaded the Linux 2.6.23 Android M5-RC14 kernel and created a diff file against a vanilla 2.6.23 kernel to see the specific Android changes.
Since kernel debugging isn't exactly one of my favorite hobbies, I then created a complete Zaurus (Spitz) image with the kernel used in the previous Android release, just to see what it did. Well, this ends up with a black screen, no bouncing red ball, nothing.
Setting the logging level to 7 or 8 shows lots and lots of errors, mostly related to the binder block device. I guess that's were most changes took place.
I am now in the process of applying the kernel changes. This is rather time consuming, so this could take a while longer. Unfortunately I don't have that much spare time currently. I know AndroidZaurus is also working on this, so maybe we could make this a joined effort .
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( 3 / 2347 )Google released a new Android SDK recently... sigh, so much to do and so little time. I'll try to get this ported onto my Zaurus shortly, because it's so damn cool. We'll manage I'm sure, just wait and see.
Has someone ripped the file system already, or even better, managed to get the kernel patched successfully?
Anyway, dust off the dev-tools, get the party hats and let's get it on!
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( 3 / 2326 )I've uploaded a new version of the Android image for the Zaurus SL-C3x00 models. It appeared that there weren't any package managers installed on default. Apart from that the wireless tools and the wpa-supplicant packages were missing as well, which makes it quite difficult to get online. Thanks for pointing that out speculatrix .
Included 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 / 2549 )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 / 2505 )
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 / 1705 )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 / 2465 )
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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( 2.9 / 2472 )
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 / 2682 )
I started to document my attempts on creating a clean debian system from scratch on my Zaurus. Although this has been done before using a ready-made root filesystem, my attempts start from scratch. Bear with me hereI'm still working on it, so it may be a bit premature to give it a try by following the instructions step by step.
Please leave a note if you find any errors. Thanks in advance!
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( 3 / 2523 )I recently installed LinuxMCE in favor of M$ Vista. Vista is suckin' big time, period! It's a 10+ minute boot each time, and after 5 minutes or so the systems hangs completely. So I finally decided to dump it. Installation of LinuxMCE was a drag, but finally I got it installed. Playing music and watching movies works great, but somehow my Hauppauge PVR350 (including the infra red control) is not detected. That means I'm missing quite some of the media center experience (whatever that may be), and I'm unable to control the system using a remote control.
Now I see that there's a new beta available, based on Kubuntu 0710. I guess that means I have to spent some time reinstalling
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( 3 / 2407 );)
;)
