Re: (Familiar dist. Comments) was Re: [iPAQ] Re: the Familiar Project -- v0.02 Images Available

On Saturday 20 January 2001 3:32 am, Glen Harris wrote:
> Devin Butterfield wrote:
> > Well, I have now had a chance to install the Familiar Project's iPAQ
> > Dist. images and I must say that I'm very impressed. Alexander and Edward
> > have done some very nice work, and I really hope that the Familiar
> > distribution is adopted by handhelds.org as the standard.
>
> I havn't got around to flashing it yet, but I'll throw my comments
> into the mix anyway. BTW, I agree that this is a strong (only?)
> candidate for replacing/merging with the handhelds distro. This
> is leaps ahead of the .18 release I last tried.
>
> > 1. I would be nice if CF cards where automatically mounted when they are
> > inserted to some standard mount point like /mnt/ide.
>
> I agree with the idea, but more work needs to go into the naming
> scheme, eg /mnt/hd[abcd...]/[1234...] since it will be possible to
> have multiple CF/Flash devices, each with possibly multiple partitions.
> The dual PCMCIA bacPAQ is an obvious example.
>
> > Of course, then the default is to expect msdos formatted CF cards, but
> > this is likely the best choice anyway since all the major OS's (Linux,
> > *BSD, windoze) can read/write them. The msdos fs should work fine for the
> > typical user who just wants to store data and mp3's. If people want to
> > use ext2fs then they can easily change it and backupToFlash. :)
>
> There could be a default shipped with the cramfs, then when the ramdisk
> is backed up to flash, any custom changes are saved till next boot. This
> could be done through the GUI "system configurator". More on that later.

The cramfs images will contain the default settings for a particular version
of familiar.

>
> > 2. All the convenient mount points are gone. There isn't any /mnt/hda,
> > /mnt/ide, or /skiff.
>
> Again, have a default shipped with the images, and let the user
> customize them, deleting unused points and adding appropriate ones
> for their system.
>
> > 5. It would be nice if there was a simple utility that prompts the user
> > the first time Familiar is run which guides him/her to configure basic
> > things. This should be a VERY simple tool that will be intuitive to
> > newbies, and very quick to use for the more experienced user. I think Ed
> > Muller's python based config app is the right place to start.
>
> I agree totally, the configurator looks like a real compeditor
> to the Windows Control Panel, which we all know is the epitome of
> system configuration and customization. <grin>
>
> Also, if a card is mounted and a config backup is found, an alert could
> popup asking if the user would like to replace the current config with the
> one on the card, with an option to save the existing config.
>
> Having the ability to save multiple named configs to a backup device
> and the reload them would allow multiple user configs, development and
> user configs, home, work, holiday, whatever. Imagine an office/research
> lab with a pool of devices. A person could take out a device set up to
> download data from remote data loggers, take one to a meeting with PIM
> and email apps, and have different <cringe> themes for different user
> levels: "hacker", "techie", "manager"/"technophobe". No shell for the
> manager, but there for the hacker.
>
>
> > Well, I can't think of any others right now, but I would encourage other
> > people to voice their opinions as well. Working cooperatively with a7r
> > and Ed, we should be able to create a linux dist for the iPAQ that blows
> > winCE out of the water, and clearly we're already off to a great start!
>
> Well, one which jumps to mind is to stop saving the config changes
> to /dev/mtdblock6. I have a 32Mb unit, and you can't have that Flash,
> dammit!!! Save to CF, I have an 8Mb CF card that came with my camera
> and if you manage to fill it, well, good luck to you! That saved info
> can then be transported to a different system easily and used as an
> off-device backup in the event of loss or catastrophic failure.
>

The backups don't got to /dev/mtdblock6 directly! They go to an ext2 fs which
exists on /dev/mtdblock6. The pre 0.02 images wrote directly to
/dev/mtdblock6. The final v0.02 release doesn't.

You can't save to CF. Mostly because it would be useless on reboot. The saved
image needs to be untarred in linuxrc.

As far as transporting to a different system, /usr/local (/dev/mtdblock6) is
mounted ro by default. Just make a copy. The file should be about 200K,
unless you copied a lot of stuff into /etc or /root or what not.

> > Thanks again to a7r, Ed Muller, and the all the folks at handhelds.org
> > for the excellent work.
>
> Well done people, I am seriously impressed with what has been done
> in so short a time.
>
> Once the power problem is resolved and the configurator comes up to
> speed, I would say that this would make a viable replacement for CE.
>
> glen.
>
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-- 
Edward Muller - edwardam@home.com - edwardam@handhelds.org
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny 
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