Re: 5450 Status & Questions

Ian..
I wouldn't worry about bricking. I've gone back and forth between WM2003 and Familiar a
couple times now without any heartache at all.

As far as installing, the process I used is here:
http://familiar.handhelds.org/releases/v0.7/install/install-serial.html
It's very clear and easy to follow. The one thing that throws you off is that the
current bootloaders don't support the video for the 5450, so you don't see the pretty
splash screen. I thought it wasn't working for quite a while, but it actually was. when
I connected via a serial console, and hit enter, vwhallah, there was the boot prompt.
You can only install over a serial link, too. Although the cradle has USB, you can't
create a terminal link over it to either install or get a console. (You may already know
that, but if not, it'll save you the time it took me to figure that out.)

There is a trick to restoring the 5450, though, because Bootblaster backs up the ipaq
file store as well as the system store. There's a manual procedure for separating them
which sounds kind of scary, but works just fine. You can find it here:
http://handhelds.org/hypermail/ipaq/178/17874.html

Hope you find this helpful at all. Even though the touch screen isn't working, it's fun
to fire it up in console mode and play around.. It takes about an hour's work to go back
and forth, once you've downloaded the latest unstable image (currently 9.3) and have
your saved WINCE image chopped down to size.
Have a good one,
Bob

On Oct 14, Ian Chilton <mailinglist@ichilton.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I have a lot of Linux experience but no experience of an Ipaq. I have
> just bought a 5450 and am expecting it to arrive at the end of the
> week and am ultimatly wanting to run Linux on it as I use Linux as my
> everyday operating system.
>
> So, I was wondering what the status of Linux on this device is and would
> be interested in hearing from anyone running Linux on a 5450.
>
> I have had a look at: <a
href='http://www.handhelds.org/projects/h5400.html'>http://www.handhelds.org/projects/h54
00.html</a> and
> it seems to be saying that touch screen isn't working and the wlan
> support is a bit scetchy - is this still the case or has these issues
> been fixed?
>
>
> And just a few general questions:
>
> What's the best up-to-date document to read which will tell me how to
> get Linux on to the device the 1st time?
>
> What's the likelyhood of me "bricking" the device?
>
> Can I safely restore PocketPC2003 after Linux has been on?
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> --ian
>
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Received on Tue Oct 14 10:56:43 2003