Re: Still alive?

Hi Jeroen !

Thank God for you !
It would be great if you could look into it, because it seems we have
stuck to this
problem and no one had a good glue how to solve it.
I think solving the touch screen problem would kick this project really
forward a big time.

About the loop file-system and SD-card:
I think it is not yet time for that, because the problems we are having
with the touch screen.
When the graphical interface works ok, it migth be one way to add to the
project.
But I would like to promote linux also in general, and I think the best way
is to start with a good bootable dvd or cd with a loop-filesystem.
That's why I suggested to use the Kanotix live-cd. That is the best one,
where
usb also works well, and it is optimized for 586-processor which makes
it incredibly fast, but
works with most machines now in use (no need for a 64-bit processor yet,
and works well also with new flat screens,
and there is a big variety of boot options with a graphical boot menu,
and there is
programs for bluetooth and network configuration etc. in KDE-graphical
interface.
It's now my choice for base of my next bootable dvd-project. It is based
on KNOPPIX,
and both are Debian-based, so basicly everything that is instructed on
the web-site
applies as such.
One way, that I recommend, would be to make an own Kanotix-based
bootable dvd for this
Axim SD-card linux boot development project. It would be quite easy e.g.
for me to add this stuff
to my next dvd iso-image.

One way to build a bootable live iso image from your own linux system
fast is
to install LiveBackup which is a program and set of tools to do that .
I think it was found from SourceForge.
It would be a fast and easy errorfree way to send a entire working
development setup in a single file.

It is not hard for a Windows user to burn an iso image to dvd e.g. with
Nero.
I could even convert the file to Nero's native format, if finding iso
format from Nero with a
mouse is overwhelming.

At least Windows users download from:
http://www.kanotix.org/changelang-eng.html

Mikko Silvennoinen

 
Jeroen Dierckx wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 10:07 AM, Dominic Laberge
> <doumlaberge_at_hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> theres a kernel image for x50 here (2006) by Jeroen 'JeDi' Dierckx
>>
>
> I wouldn't use these. They are very old, and don't have the features
> that were added since then (I believe the touchscreen isn't even
> working, because they were busy refactoring that part of the kernel
> code).
>
> I don't have the time to put a lot of effort in this (we are moving
> towards the iphone at work, developing for windows mobile is becoming
> a too much pita), but I am still very interested in this project.
>
>
> Some thoughts though:
>
> In my time, we created a method where we would just create an image
> and put that as file on a normal FAT16/32 SD card. We used an initrd
> that had the fat and loop file systems in it, and mounted the linux
> image using the loop device. This is a lot easier to deal with for
> non-linux people, because they don't have to use linux to partition
> the SD card, don't have to understand the linux device file system
> etc.
>
> I know what some guys will think: "If you don't know these things, you
> aren't going to help much with the project", but that is not true.
> There are two parts of developing this port: developing and
> testing/hacking. Non-linux, non-programming people can still help with
> the second part, where config files, background images with incorrect
> resolution, ...have to be checked and modified. If we would provide a
> couple of files that they can just copy to their SD card in windows
> and start linux from their device, we would reach a lot bigger
> audience.
>
> Generating the images is a bit of a hassle though, so actual
> development, where you have to recompile stuff and replace a lot of
> files, is probably easier using the normal method. For this, we used
> the usb filesystem (again built into the initrd) and mount the root
> filesystem over usb using NFS. This takes a while to set up, but once
> you got it, you can just develop, compile, and run. No image creation
> of SD card copying involved.
>
> So in short, we should make it easier for non-programmer or less
> technical people to be involved in this project, because it seems that
> a lot of people want to help but don't know how. So there should be a
> list of non-programmer issues that these people can have a look at,
> and an easy (not involving booting to linux, because that stops a lot
> of those people) way to do this.
>
> For the touchscreen though, I think there will be some programming
> involved. I didn't follow this closely enough to know this for sure,
> but it seems that the offset for the touchscreen is not always the
> same, so it isn't just changing some settings or one value. There's
> probably an interpolation algorithm that's wrong in the touchscreen
> code.
>
> I would want to test this stuff in a couple of days, when I can find
> some spare time, so is there an updated webpage somewhere with the
> current features, problems and an explanation how to build this port
> (which kernel sources, what patches, what distribution)?
>
> Greetz,
> JeDi
>
>
>
>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 08:23:28 +0300
>> From: mikko_at_pwar.net
>> To: aximx50-port_at_handhelds.org
>> Subject: Re: [Aximx50-port] Still alive?
>>
>> Hi Joe !
>>
>> By all means do the image with your kernel, but test it first and let know
>> how well it works.
>> Remember to name it so that it is clear, that it is for X50 and on what
>> kernel version, and that it is patched test version.
>> If you also could make a patch-file for the kernel about the patches you
>> possibly made, and a text file explaining for what they are.
>> (making a patch file: in linux console type diff --help and you see what you
>> can do (compare all files in the
>> changed source and the original source so, that the output is the
>> differences in a ed script format that will change the original as patched
>> version, I think and name it as whatname.patch. The output format can be
>> attchieved with --ed option, -r option makes it recursively
>> go thrue all subdirectories. To test the patch file copy the patch-file to
>> the original source directory and in
>> linux console type: patch -p1 --dry-run <
>> /path/to/kernelsource/whatname.patch
>> e.g. patch -pl --dry-run < /home/joe/hanheldskernel/touchscreenfix1.patch
>> If there is not reported problems with the dry run it is possible that the
>> patch works.
>> After actually using it without the --dry-run option if diff says the
>> resulting source is exactly like the one you are trying to create,
>> it's ok. Does anyone know to recommend any fancier diff options ? or have
>> the whole suitable command line figured out ?
>>
>> Mikko Silvennoinen
>>
>> Joe Belford wrote:
>>
>> Thanks Mikko, I'm working on the 20070316 image for the X50 but, I've
>> compiled my own kernel using the latest from handhelds.org CVS. Currently
>> 2.6.21-hh20. I can put together an image for the x50 based on the 200706
>> image and this compiled kernel. But before I do that I'd like to make sure
>> it's cool with everyone, I don't want to start dumping a bunch of hacked
>> images out there and making everyone lose faith in the project.
>> -Joe
>>
>> On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 6:41 PM, GonzaloF <gfalinux_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> 2008/5/14 Dominic Laberge <doumlaberge_at_hotmail.com>:
>>
>>> for those who need updated link check out the project wiki (linux x50v on
>>> google)
>>> i downloaded the image for x50v today and x50 image is also available
>>> the direct link is : http://projects.linuxtogo.org/~law/aximx50/
>>> peace
>>>
>> In http://projects.linuxtogo.org/~law/aximx50/images/200706/aximx50/:
>>
>> Index of /~law/aximx50/images/200706/aximx50
>> [ICO] Name Last modified Size Description
>> [DIR] Parent Directory -
>> Apache/2.2 Server at projects.linuxtogo.org Port 80
>>
>> There is no image available for x50!!! is this updated?
>>
>> Thanks...
>>
>> GonzaloF
>>
>> --
>> http://blog.gfear.com <- gLinuxeando
>> --
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>> https://www.handhelds.org/mailman/listinfo/aximx50-port
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
Received on Thu May 15 2008 - 17:47:25 EDT