Re: [jornada] Status

Tomas:

The HP Jornada 710, 720, 728, or 820, runs the Windows CE operating system. Many people consider this operating system to be inferior to the GNU/Linux operating system. So, we want to run GNU/Linux on the Jornada 7xx and 820 computers.

There are two ways to do it. Because the Jornada 7xx and 820 computers have Windows CE for its operating system, the Linux community had to come up with a way to get the computer to stop running Windows CE and start running Linux. That is what haret and linexec do. So, the first way to get the Jornada 7xx to run Linux is to prepare a compactflash card with a Linux distribution and use haret or linexec to bootstrap Linux. The problem with this approach is that you effectively "burn" the Jornada's compactflash slot in that you have to keep the compactflash card inserted in the Jornada for as long as you run GNU/Linux from it.

Now, the Jornada 7xx and 820 computers started selling before Flash-ROM was readily available, so HP designed the Jornada 7xx and 820 to hold Windows CE in ROM. As you know, ROM can only be programmed once and Flash-ROM can be programmed multiple times (in fact, the "ROM in "Flash-ROM" is a bit of a misnomer since the memory is not truely read-only...). So, to allow for future upgrading, HP designed the Jornada with a removable board that only contained the operating system.

This brings us to the second way the Linux community can run GNU/Linux on the Jornada 7xx and 820 - making our own board to replace the one that comes in the Jornada from the factory. Since we want to use Flash-ROM instead of straight ROM to hold our GNU/Linux distribution, we call the board the "Flashboard".

Now, to give credit where credit is due: HP engineers designed the first Jornada flashboard. All of the things necessary to duplicate their effort is on the internet and readily downloadable. The only two problems left to make it work is how to program the Flash-ROM for the first time after manufacturing the flashboard and distributing the manufactured and programmed flashboards to the GNU/Linux community.

Hope this tome helps!
-Mark Gollahon

Tomas Vyskocil wrote ..
> Hello,
>
> i would like to ask for some question, i don't read this forum for some
> time and I don't know state of linux port for jornada 7xx now.
>
> My question - what can do for me programs like haret and linexec? I
> don't meet this program before?
>
> And what is main diffrence now, between machine with flashboard
> doughterboard and without?
>
> Can me anyone answer this newbie questions?
>
> Tomas
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Received on Fri Nov 12 2004 - 14:46:29 EST