Omegamoon blog http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php var gaJsHost = ((\"https:\" == document.location.protocol) ? \"https://ssl.\" : \"http://www.\"); document.write(unescape(\"%3Cscript src=\'\" + gaJsHost + \"google-analytics.com/ga.js\' type=\'text/javascript\'%3E%3C/script%3E\")); ]]> Copyright 2010, cortez cortez en-US SPHPBLOG 0.5.1 Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (v10.04) on Zaurus... http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100725-171306 Having my GuruPlug all set up I started building Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (v10.04) some time ago. From scratch, compiled natively, that is. It took me quite some time to get myself acquinted with (re)packaging first, but now I kind of seem to manage my way through it most of the time.

Ubuntu Jaunty (v9.04) was the last version that supports armv5te CPUs. The current versions only runs on the newer ARM processors (armv7+). So that meant I had to re-target all armv7 specific packages to make them work on the (older) armv5te CPUs again. Since this is the only way to get the newer Ubuntu versions going on our beloved Zaurus, it had to be done!

What a work! It probably can be done much quicker, but here's what I did. I took a debootstrap of the ARM (armv7+) version of the official Ubuntu Lucid version to begin with, and started rebuilding all packages one by one, re-targetting them for the armv5te CPUs. Some of the packages need special attention, and others can "just" be recompiled. I have to say, the GuruPlug is really a marvellous piece of hardware, and just perfect for doing this kind of stuff. It's just great not having to concentrate on all these cross-compilation problems you have to deal with when building ARM packages on the i586 platform. I can assure you, the GuruPlug saved me quite some headache!

Before you're going to ask me where all the fun stuff can be downloaded, this post is first of all meant as a status update of the project. Currently I only have the minimal Ubuntu distribution working. All compiled from the original Ubuntu sources, with just minimal changes to some of the packages.

So, no, the complete repository isn't available yet. But I just wanted you all to know that the good news is that it is still possible to get the latest and greatest version of Ubuntu working on our Zaurus. Woohoo!]]> Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100725-171306 cortez Sun, 25 Jul 2010 15:13:06 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=10&m=07&entry=entry100725-171306 The sky is the limit... http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100531-120041 My PlugComputer arrived last friday. The GuruPlug Server Plus to be exact. What a great little gadget that is. I'm still experimenting, but I'm amazed by the speed. Bottleneck now seems to be the harddrive I'm using, which is a cheap USB drive. So I'll have to pick up a eSATA drive I guess.

Oh, and regarding all reported problems on overheating... no problems here!

This means new possibilities for Zubuntu... More on this later!]]> Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100531-120041 cortez Mon, 31 May 2010 10:00:41 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=10&m=05&entry=entry100531-120041 Android 1.6 "Donut" on Zaurus http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry091004-222145 Just a quick note to say I managed to get Android 1.6 aka Donut working. I tested it on my Zaurus SL-C860. I had to add support for Android in the (2.6.31-rc9) kernel and fix some small glitches in the code to get it boot. There are still lots of things to fix though. On first impression the keymapping is wrong, the touchscreen doesn't respond and it boots in portrait on default. It took quite a while to find out how to get Alsa (sound) working, but that seems to be fixed finally.

So, there are lots of things to do, meaning I have to spend more hours experimenting, debugging, configuring. -sigh-

First try on getting the htc-hero theme running didn't work. Would by nice to have that working as well... ]]> Zaurus, Java, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry091004-222145 cortez Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:21:45 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=10&entry=entry091004-222145 Zubuntu working on c7x0 as well http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090914-144945
Oh, and yes, I will provide patches and source... When I'm ready. Power management is still not 100% working, so I need more time to fix it. The kernel config can be extracted using the config-module. ]]> http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090914-144945 cortez Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:49:45 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=09&entry=entry090914-144945 Zubuntu 2.0 - Enhancements and Refinements http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090830-202350 [ updated 01-09-2009 ]
Just after releasing version 2.0 I found that there are some things that need to be fixed. I think it's handy when I start a list here with known problems and their solution (whenever I found one). Decide for yourself if it's worth fixing, or if you rather wait for me to upload a new release, which could take a while.

As always, I welcome any feedback, and please report problems, share fixes, enhancements etc.

kdepimpi
Package libqt3-mt isn't installed. Install it with apt-get install libqt3-mt. If you don't have an internet connection setup download it here and copy the file into /var/cache/apt/archives, then install it with the command above.

Apart from the missing package you need to move some libraries. Do this with mv /opt/kdepimpi/lib* /usr/lib. This should make the kdepimpi applications working.

Sound
Run alsamixer, and change the following settings:
  • Left mixer (is [off], press "M" to enable)
  • Right mixer (is [off], press "M" to enable)
  • Speaker (use "up-key" to turn volume up)
  • Right mixer left (is [off], press "M" to enable)
  • Left mixer right (is [off], press "M" to enable)

    • You'll find them all the way to the right. Exit alsamixer by pressing the "cancel" key twice. This should enable sound.

    Broken packages
    After running apt-get update followed by apt-get upgrade to get the latest package updates from the repositories you'll find that some packages bail out with an 'illegal instruction' error. This is due to a bug in libstdc++6. For now, hold your horses and wait before upgrading.

    Other things that need to be fixed:
  • Mapping volume up and down on the back
  • Screen swivel auto rotation

    • [ updated 01-09-2009 ]]]>     Zaurus, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090830-202350 cortez Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:23:50 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=08&entry=entry090830-202350     Zubuntu version 2.0 released for Spitz http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090829-014821 Just a quick note to say that I've just uploaded Zubuntu v2.0. I think it's stable enough, but you'll let me know soon enough I guess!

    Zubuntu v2.0 is based on Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" and is using the latest linux 2.6.31-rc8 kernel.

    For all of you lucky enough to own a Spitz (SL-C3000, SL-C3100 and SL-C3200) please download the root filesystem and the root-addition archive containing the device-specific kernel and the kernel-modules for Spitz,

    Please use the installation instructions from the previous version.

    More info on this later. Now I need a good nights sleep first!]]>     Zaurus, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090829-014821 cortez Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:48:21 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=08&entry=entry090829-014821     Zaurus resurrected finally! http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090828-063509 Hmm, so here we are, waiting for a follow up on the Zaurus for quite some time, and when it finally arrives we can't help being disappointed by the specs. Pocketability and connectivity are my main worries. I just want to take the device from my jacket (size) and be online all the time (3G). But, apart from that, the keyboard looks great, the CPU speed and internal memory is enough to run most apps comfortably and battery life seems stunning (unchecked, have to see it first). Current mid/netbook trend has done great things in terms of optimizations of the Linux operating system, and since the PC-Z1 (the Z refers to little Zaurus brother of course) runs Linux, the limits of possibilities take a huge step forward compared to our beloved Zaurus.

    I say this is a great upgrade from the Zaurus, much better than any of those battery slurping, overpriced and overweight Wintel based things thrown at us for months now.

    Time for a group buy. I'll check what Brett can do for us. Anyone in? The more the merrier :-)

    PS: The PS-Z1 seems to be based on Ubuntu 9.04... Would be cool to have a Zubuntu 2.0 based on 9.10 for the Zaurus in the meantime. Oh, what the heck, I'll upload one later.]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090828-063509 cortez Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:35:09 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=08&entry=entry090828-063509     Wireless networking in Zubuntu http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090823-223248 I was testing the (upcoming) new Zubuntu release today on my Spitz. For my wireless network I once again tried to use my old Buffalo WLI2-CF-S11 compact flash card. Although the card worked nicely for a while, it has always been a troublesome experience setting it up. I guess last time I had it working was before I changed my home networking security from WEP to WPA.

    So I figured today was the time to delve into the secrets of chipsets, firmware and flashing, just to see if I could get the Buffalo running again in Zubuntu.

    First I checked for the chipset on the Buffalo card. Where else than on OESF I found that the Buffalo had a Prism 2.5 chipset. Next thing I checked was whether there was a way to update the firmware. I had no idea, never tried actually. I found this great site with lots of interesting information about flashing prism2 firmware.

    I noted the information (using the 'dmesg|tail' command) after inserting the card into the Zaurus. It said:
    wifi0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
    wifi0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.0
    wifi0: STA: id=0x1f v1.3.5
    wifi0: defaulting to host-based encryption as a workaround for firmware bug in Host AP mode WEP
    wifi0: defaulting to bogus WDS frame as a workaround for firmware bug in Host AP mode WDS
    wifi0: registered netdevice wlan0

    Using this handy reference table, I found that in my case, having a NIC id of 800c, I needed a primary 'K' and secondary 'F' release code of the Prism2 firmware. So I downloaded the firmware, using version 1.1.1 (pk010101.hex) for the primary firmware and version 1.8.2 (sf010802.hex) for the station firmware. Version 1.8.2 is not the latest (that is 1.8.4) but reportingly the most stable version, so I went for that one.

    I used the Zaurus to do the actual firmware flashing. The hostap-utils package contains the prism2_srec utility, which is used for the firmware flashing. After doing a testrun using...
    # prism2_srec -v wlan0 pk010101.hex sf010802.hex

    ...I saw no significant errors of any kind, so I then started the actual flashing using...
    # prism2_srec -v -f wlan0 pk010101.hex sf010802.hex

    This went flawlessly, and 'dmesg|tail' now told me:
    wifi0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
    wifi0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.1
    wifi0: STA: id=0x1f v1.8.2

    Firmware upgrade went fine this far, according to the version upgrade, so now it was time to check whether or not the card supported any new features, WPA being the most important for me.

    In the current version of Zubuntu I use WICD as network manager. In the properties I saw my home network instantly (it was not shown at all before the flash upgrade) and I could choose WPA as well. After entering my WPA passphrase I was connected to my wireless home network in just a minute.

    This was worth the upgrade, I hope this is of any help to any of you. It may be worth upgrading your wireless card as well. Be careful to pick the right firmware versions for you specific situation!
    ]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090823-223248 cortez Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:32:48 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=08&entry=entry090823-223248     Latest for Spitz http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090720-225825 SL-C3000, SL-C3100 and SL-C3200 kernel for your Spitz device and give it a try.
  • 2.6.31-rc3 kernel
    		• MD5: 602d83142fbf3d8692e4adf4dee07b4d
  • 2.6.31-rc3 modules
    		• MD5: b154506766ead4018140ca3c8bef9a63

    Like previous kernels, the offline charging code still doesn't work, but at least the suspend/resume works again (thanks to Eric Miao for helping out again). This kernel also has all drivers compiled in to get Android going, so hopefully more on that later as well.

    Again, please give it a try and give me feedback on your findings!]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090720-225825 cortez Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:58:25 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=07&entry=entry090720-225825     Zubuntu on my refrigerator (Zaurus SL-6000L aka Tosa) http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090716-153753 After having acquired a Zaurus SL-6000L it has been eating dust in the drawer for quite some time now. Sorry about the bad joke comparing the Tosa with a refrigerator, but it simply looks that way to me. I still can't get used to the form factor, the keyboard and the size... well, it's huge and heavy. So, having said that, now lets have some action-packed Tosa fun then.

    Current status

    The 2.6.31-rc3 kernel is booting. Long live the serial cable, which revealed that there currently is a problem with the alsa sound device driver. So after disabling sound support in the kernel for the time being the kernel at least boots. Not that I see anything in the console! Bummer, the lcd (or backlight?) seems to be turned off. But from the serial console I understand that everything boots ok. After logging in as "root" (blindly) and starting "xinit" the Zubuntu desktop is started. Fonts are displayed as boxes, but hey, that should be easily fixed. I almost got excited, but soon found out that the touchscreen doesn't seem to work. But then again, I didn't calibrate the screen... Now, how do I press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace on this ridiculous small keyboard... I don't know, stuck again I guess. Ouch, have to Reset the device again, possibly corrupting the filesystem.

    Anyone willing to help from here?

    Bare in mind that this is all pretty experimental, so if you want to try it yourself don't be afraid to get your hands dirty and be prepared for some nasty headaches!

    Backing up your device

    First thing I did was making a NAND backup. If, in the worst case, this doesn't work out, I can always restore to the original state. Let me document here how I did that, because I didn't know that myself for this device. First of all make sure you have a FAT formatted SD or CF card inserted for storing the backup.

    Removing AC/Power, keep the 'D' and 'P' keys pressed on the keyboard and then press the Reset button on the back of the device. The Diagnostic menu should show up now. While in the menu plug in the AC/Power adapter, just to make sure there's enough juice for backing up the device. Go Left and Down twice and press "Ok" to select the option "NAND BACKUP". Follow further instructions on screen. Good thing this device has English messages by the way! All the other models I own show Japanese messages, and well, although I know my way around those menus, I really don't understand any of the text shown. Anyway, after the backup has finished press Cancel to get back to the Diagnostic menu.

    Press the Reset button again to turn off the device. I don't know if this is the preferred way to do this, but I couldn't find a better method.

    Making preparations

    Use the instructions for setting up the Zubuntu filesystem from here in the "Making preparations" part. The Tosa specific root-additions can be found here.

    Flashing the Multiboot kernel

    Since I messed up my build tree pretty badly I wasn't able to build a multiboot kernel for the Tosa. Luckily 'Ant' had a copy lying around somewhere (thanks for that Andrea) so off I went flashing the multiboot kernel.

    First, plug in the AC/Power adapter. Second, insert your FAT formatted CF or SD card containing the updater.sh and zImage.bin files. Now Reset the Zaurus using the button on the back of the device. To get into the Maintenance menu, press and hold the "OK" button, and press the power button. It should pop up a menu that has four options (nicely in English again), choose the option that says "Update". Select the medium that you are using, either CF or SD. The updater will run and the kernel is flashed. When it is done, the device will automatically reboot.

    Experimental

    From here it all gets a bit wacky. After reboot, the boot menu is shown, probably saying it couldn't find any bootable kernels (unless you prepared well of course). Pressing the Power button doesn't work, so I had to Reset the device again. Not very nice, but the kernel has no SD/CF cards mounted, so these won't get corrupt (no guarantees).

    Booting the device with the Zubuntu SD/CF card inserted shows Zubuntu in the boot menu. Pressing the "OK" button starts Zubuntu, at least until the login prompt. Login using "root" and type "startx" to see the desktop. Be aware that the touchscreen needs calibrating, but ts_calibrate bails out with an error here, so that didn't work for me.

    Help is needed from here, so please try this and give me your feedback, report problems, share fixes, enhancements etc.

    As you know by now, using the "Donate" button from the menu on the left keeps me motivated big time!]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090716-153753 cortez Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:37:53 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=07&entry=entry090716-153753     The /root cause, media effects, perfect timing and result at long last... http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090517-200532 Audacious as a lightweight media player. Worked as a charm, at least for me. Now, working on the Zubuntu 2.0-RC1 release, I tried the Audacious v1.5.1 player from the Ubuntu Jaunty repository. No luck, the player wouldn't even start, it just segfaulted.

    Googling here and there I found Eina, downloaded the source and compiled the player natively. Eina indeed is a nice, simple but complete media player, using Gtk+-2.0 only and GStreamer for media playback it fitted the lightweight profile. But after playing back some random MP3 files it came apparent that it couldn't play the tracks without hickups on my Zaurus. Whatever the root cause of the hickups was I still don't know, but the effect was that I once more Googled for Audacious and the cause of it segfaulting on startup.

    To my surprise, the author of Audacious has just released a brand new version (v2.0.1) a couple of days back. Perfect timing, so I downloaded the source and started to compile it once again natively. The building started about 5 hours ago now, and it is still building the list of plugins. I had to restart the build once because of an error in the SID plugin, so I disabled that one. Maybe next time I need to check first whether cross-compilation is a better option. I wouldn't dare to stop it now!

    To be continued, hopefully the result will be worthwhile...

    Update: Not bad at all. Building finally finished, and the player works. Guess what. I think this will be the media player for the next oncoming Zubuntu release
    :-)

    Update: I'm glad to say this was really worth the effort. The new Audacious 2.0.1 player plays the tracks I've thrown at it without any interruptions. Bitrates varied up to 256Kb/s. And it's even light enough to do other stuff as well without any problems. Superb!]]>     Zaurus, Music, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090517-200532 cortez Sun, 17 May 2009 18:05:32 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=05&entry=entry090517-200532     Most pieces of the puzzle seem to fit.. http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090425-221741 After hours and hours of trying, interpreting and changing of code, problem guessing, debugging, reading logs, kernel rebuilding and device flashing I finally succeeded in waking the Zaurus up after suspending it. Man, you wouldn't believe how much time I spent on getting something "simple" as turning On and Off the device to work.

    So, result is that since this afternoon I have the latest 2.6.30 kernel working on my SL-C3100. There are still some things to fix, but most things seem to work... finally!

    Update:
    Some of you already requested a link to download the kernel, so here it is then. The 2.6.30-rc2 SL-C3x00 kernel (MD5: 43b691cc05a3c1aa694a287b34aefc23) and the corresponding SL-C3x00 modules (MD5: bc13ae45d2e79e6987d9ba60f75fa206) are both highly experimental. Bear in mind that, as said, some things need to be fixed.

    Update 01-05-2009:
    I've build the latest 2.6.30-rc4, this time with support for CPU frequency scaling and Android and I added various wireless LAN drivers (as modules).

    Update 08-05-2009:
    New update using the latest 2.6.30-rc4 kernel. This version fixes the screen flickering and the unexpected (hard!) hangups. I had to disable the CPU Frequency Scaling to get it stable, so I guess that needs more work. Until now this one is very stable. I've added more kernel modules as well. Since the previous version was buggy I've simply overwritten it with the new one. Please re-download!

    The kernel should work on the SL-C3x00 (Spitz) as well as the SL-C1000 (Akita).

    2.6.30-rc4 kernel: Download (MD5: d92771c86cd7c53cabd1bd216eac5a0f)
    Kernel modules: Download (MD5: 377c155df6fd1fc569188ddafa282af6)

    Again, please give it a try and give me feedback on your findings!]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090425-221741 cortez Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:17:41 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=04&entry=entry090425-221741     What's going on at Omegamoon headquarters... http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090213-112853 You may ask yourself why it is taking so long before a fresh new Zubuntu release is uploaded on this site. Well, I was asked some time ago by an Ubuntu developer to get all Zubuntu related packages into mainstream Ubuntu, so it could become part of the upcoming 9.04 Jaunty release for ARM.

    First and most important package would be the kernel, so I've been working on getting a working 2.6.28 in the last couple of weeks, resulting in a more or less working kernel. But I'm having some major issues, power management isn't working for instance.

    So this is taking a little longer than I expected. The current 2.6.28 kernel I'm using has support for the ext4 filesystem, build-in support for Android, and I'll try to incorporate CPU Frequency scaling as well, so we can overclock the CPU and try to fry an egg on our Zaurus ;-) I guess I have to sit through another series of kernel debugging session before this kernel is ready for release. The CE-170TS serial cable I kindly got donated from Rolf Leggewie is doing overtime currently.

    Parallel on this, I'm in the process of extending the kexecboot boot manager. A lot of ideas have been passed on at the #kexecboot IRC channel. Feel free to join us there by the way, although we might bark sometimes, we certainly won't bite. So expect to see autostart functionality, ext4 support, customized logo and icons, (re-)ordering of items and much more in an oncoming release of the boot manager.

    So, to cut a long story short, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. Plan was to release a Zubuntu Jaunty combined with the 2.6.28 kernel and the new boot manager. But since this could take a while to finish, I might upload a new root filesystem based on Jaunty using the 2.6.26 kernel. Give me a shout and let me know what you think!

    Last but not least, Google has cut me off from their Adsense "service" because of alleged misuse. My account "has posed a significant risk to AdWords advertisers". Bullocks of course, they just didn't like paying me. But anyway, this means I have to ask you all to use the "Donate" button if you like what I'm doing and are willing to support me. Thanks in advance!]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090213-112853 cortez Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:28:53 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=02&entry=entry090213-112853     Zubuntu meeting Jaunty Jackalope (9.04) - First Impressions http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090114-071038
    I was contacted recently about the Ubuntu for ARM initiative from Canonical. I always thought that this was targeted at the armv7+ family of CPU's, but to my astonishment this seems not to be true! This means that the latest (unstable) Ubuntu should technically spoken work on our beloved Zaurus.

    So that's why I started another 'proof of concept' just to see if it is possible to get Ubuntu version 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) running on the Zaurus.




    The images speak for them self I guess. I've got it all set up now, using most of the applications from the Zubuntu 1.0 RC1.

    The system is running a stock Ubuntu 2.6.28 kernel with most of the packages 'as is' from the official Ubuntu repository.

    This is just a first impression. Pretty cool so far!]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090114-071038 cortez Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:10:38 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=01&entry=entry090114-071038     Running Zubuntu from internal flash memory http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090105-071025
    The following procedure copies most part of Zubuntu into internal memory. Unfortunately the complete distribution is too large to fit completely into the little memory available, so a part has to be made available on SD, CF or Microdrive (see the Postinstall for more info).

    It is important to now that the only drawback currently is that you have to keep your SD card inserted during use of Zubuntu, since (on default) the /usr and /var directories are located there. If your model has a Microdrive, you'd better install these two directories there, in order to make this disadvantage disappear.

    Disclaimer: First of all, be aware that, if you've previously had the original Sharp ROM, Cacko, pdaXrom or any other distro running from internal memory, you will lose it permanently after following these instructions. If you're not sure, be sure to make a NAND backup before continuing. How to make a NAND backup is described here (kind of).

    1. Making preparations
    These instructions assume you have a Zubuntu installed as described here. There are plenty of other possible installations, but I'll only cover the default here.

    Download the following two files:
  • mtd-utils_1.1.0+git-r1_arm.deb
    		• MD5: 01a45a3a6aa71dde9611160e943bcd1e
  • zubuntu-flash-install.sh
    		• MD5: 45a629b112088394efad3aeba61dc861

    2. Start Zubuntu
    After setting up Zubuntu, you should be able to select it from the bootmenu. Select it there so Zubuntu boots and login with the root user account. Copy the downloaded files from step 1 onto the Zaurus.

    3. Installing required packages
    Install the mtd-utils package downloaded in step 1 by executing the following command:
    dpkg -i mtd-utils_1.1.0+git-r1_arm.deb

    4. Copying Zubuntu
    The rest is just a matter of copying over the base system. Since this can be tricky, I've created a small script to do the dirty work. Run the script by entering ./zubuntu-flash-install.sh.

    You'll be asked on which memory partition you want to install Zubuntu. Possible options are the second and third memory partition, being the Root and Home partitions of the original Sharp ROM. Default choice is the third partition since this is the largest one (about 90Mb on Spitz/Akita). After that the partition is erased (permanently!) and most of the Zubuntu system is copied from your currently running system. This also means that all adjustments, settings and configurations are preserved.


    You can safely ignore the messages 'ignored sockets' and 'implausible old time stamps'.

    5. Post install stuff
    After running the installation script there are still a couple of things to do.

    ** /etc/fstab adjustment
    Remove the mount point to the Zubuntu default installation (/dev/mmcblk0p1 on default) from the /etc/fstab file.

    ** Adjust the symbolic link to /usr and /var
    Since the complete Zubuntu distribution is too large to fit completely into internal memory, both /usr and /var have to be made available on SD, CF or Microdrive. The installation script creates two symbolic links for this purpose, pointing to /dev/mmcblk0p1, being the first partition on your SD memory card. You need to adjust it only if you've installed Zubuntu on a partition other than the first one on your SD memory card.

    ** Adjust /etc/rc.S/00mount-zubuntu.sh
    This file mounts the Zubuntu default installation early in the boot process, since files in /usr and /var are needed during boot-time. The mountpoint used in /etc/rc.S/00mount-zubuntu.sh is /dev/mmcblk0p1 on default. You need to adjust it only if you've installed Zubuntu on a partition other than the first one on your SD memory card.

    6. Reboot from internal flash memory!
    Now reboot your Zaurus (run reboot). You'll notice that there's a new option in the bootmenu with a litte memory icon in front. Select that option, and Zubuntu boots from internal flash memory!

    7. Footnote
    Please give me your feedback, report problems, share fixes, enhancements etc.

    Last but not least I want to stress the fact that visiting the advertisements on the left or (even better) use of the Donate button is much appreciated!

    Have fun!]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090105-071025 cortez Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:10:25 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=01&entry=entry090105-071025     Zubuntu 1.0 RC1 ready for take-off http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081225-120828 here.

    I've tested this on my Zaurus SL-C1000 and SL-C3100 devices. I also succeeded in running Zubuntu from internal flash on the SL-C1000, which is pretty darn fast!

    I still have to document how to get Zubuntu running from internal flash. I'll post it here when ready.

    Update:
    Use xbindkeys-config to add new keyboard shortcuts. This is how the brightness keys are controlled currently. It's possible to use xautomation (xte), so Fn-Up, Fn-Down, Fn-Left and Fn-Right now moves the mouse cursor. Quite cool!

    Update:
    I'm rebuilding the kernels for all models with build-in support for sound, bluetooth, pcmcia and infrared. I'll also include modules for more (wireless) network adapters. I'll report here when they're ready!

    Important update for Spitz owners:

    Please re-download and install the bootmenu-kernel and the root-addition archive. This should solve some of the problems reported.

    Keep those advertisement clicks coming, but only if they're sincere of course. Or you can use the Donate button on the left, Feel free to do so!]]>     Zaurus, Gadgets, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081225-120828 cortez Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:08:28 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=08&m=12&entry=entry081225-120828     Zubuntu 1.0 update... http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081030-074514 I'm currently finishing off the 1.0 release of Zubuntu. Zubuntu is based on Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" using the Mojo "Hasty Hippogriff" repository on top of a Poky 2.6.26 kernel.

    There will be two versions, Zubuntu-Base and Zubuntu-Desktop.

    The Zubuntu-Base contains "just" the kernel, a working X Server and some basic applications. I leave it up to you to decide what additional packages to install. A lot of the applications can be installed directly from the Mojo repository.

    The Zubuntu-Desktop contains, apart from all the packages in Zubuntu-Base, a more complete set of standard applications. Only packages missing currently are PIM applications (Calendar & Contact).

    Both Zubuntu distro's will be targeted at the Zaurus Spitz (SL-C3x00) and Akita (SL-C1000) models first. I'm still in the process of getting an alternative boot kernel (kexecboot) working for at least the SL-C7x0 and SL-C860 models, but this will take some more time I'm afraid. I recently acquired a Tosa (SL-C6000L), but I still have to check what is needed to get Zubuntu working on this specific model.

    Features

  • Linux Kernel 2.6.26, EABI only, patched for use with Android 1.0
  • Sound: Tested and working, including volume control on the back of the device
  • Touchscreen: Tested and working
  • Network: Tested and working (tested with Linksys WCF12, Buffalo WL12-CF-S11, Billionton CFLT2-10B)
  • Rotation: Automatic rotation in X Server once the display is flipped.
  • Brightness control (Fn-3 and Fn-4): Tested and working
  • Bluetooth support: Added, but untested
  • USB Host: Added, but untested

    • Installed applications in Zubuntu-Desktop

  • Desktop:
    		• LXDE
  • Launcher:
    		• LXLauncher (installed, but disabled on default)
  • File manager:
    		• PCManFM
  • Multimedia player:
    		• Audacious
  • Web browser:
    		• Firefox 3. Thinking about replacing it by Midori.
  • Network manager:
    		• WICD
  • Text editor:
    		• Leafpad
  • Word processor:
    		• Abiword
  • Spreatsheet:
    		• Gnumeric
  • Email:
    		• Sylpheed
  • PDF:
    		• xPDF
  • Instant Messenger:
    		• Pidgin
  • Games:
    		• xMahjongg

    Additional extras

  • Android 1.0. Will become available later as a seperate download

    • Help wanted

    Some of you offered help already. Thanks a lot! If you're able and willing to help in any way, please drop me a line using the "Contact Me" form, and we'll see what we can work out.

    Also, if you think I'm forgetting something important, or if you have any suggestions or improvements, let me know.

    Shameless footnote

    Once more, if you like what I'm doing here, and/or it is of any help to you, please keep pressing those advertisements. The more you press, the more it keeps me motivated.]]>     Zaurus, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081030-074514 cortez Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:45:14 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=08&m=10&entry=entry081030-074514     Zubuntu 1.0 coming up... http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081012-231257


    Based on Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" I used the Mojo "Hasty Hippogriff" repositories. Bravo to the guys from the Mojo project. A job well done!

    I'm currently using the Xfce desktop environment. A lot of standard applications have to be added, but the hardware support like sound, touchscreen, auto rotation, network etc. seems to work.

    More on this later :-)]]>     Zaurus, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081012-231257 cortez Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:12:57 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=08&m=10&entry=entry081012-231257     Android 1.0-rc1 working on Zaurus SL-C3100 http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080924-172937
    ]]>     Zaurus, Java, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080924-172937 cortez Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:29:37 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=08&m=09&entry=entry080924-172937     Android 0.9-beta for Zaurus SL-C3x00 (Spitz) http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080916-230236
    Now, plans were to combine two ongoing projects of mine, Android and Zubuntu, and make it into one distro. But I'm still having too much problems with Zubuntu (I'm working on the 8.04 release) so I switched, for the time being, to Poky. I read that OpenenedHand was recently acquired by Intel, so we might see some (more) of Poky back in Moblin in one of the next releases.

    So what you download and install here is mainly a Poky distro in the first place. It's very stable and pretty complete. Give it a try, I like it better each time I see and use it. It's based on a 2.6.26 kernel patched for Android. Although the Android SDK was based on a 2.6.25, I ported the patches needed to get it working in 2.6.26.

    Android is pretty basic I guess. I didn't test all features, and I'm sure that a some things don't work yet. Like the touchscreen for instance.

    Installing Poky & Android

    Installation on the Zaurus is done in the usual way:

    1. Download the following files and copy them to a SD card.
  • zImage.bin
  • updater.sh
  • gnu-tar
  • android-root.tar.gz

    • 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 and Poky starts. First boot takes some time because of initial configuration taking place.

    Now, before getting on to Android, play around in Poky and see if you like it. It's really worth a try!

    Starting Android

    You have to exit the Poky interface by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace simultaneously. On the prompt, press Enter and login with user root. No password is needed. Now type:
    chroot /home/android /init

    Android should boot now.

    Exit Android

    I haven't found a better way, so let me know if there is one. Press Fn-Right to see the Android console, and type "reboot" to reboot the machine. Poky will be (re)started.

    Enjoy Android, and hopefully Poky. Thanks again for Speculatrix for sharing some hosting space. Much appreciated!

    By the way, if you like what I'm doing, be so kind to click on as much advertisements (on the left) as you can.
    :-)

    Cheers,
    cortez]]>     Zaurus, Java, Linux http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080916-230236 cortez Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:02:36 GMT http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/comments.php?y=08&m=09&entry=entry080916-230236