Re: New Image

[Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>]

<gary@singular.org> writes:

> After listening to the stink over the weekend about images and firmware
> and broken package dependencies and documentation I figure I will just ask
> a few point blank questions to save myself some headache. 
> 
> - everything I see is netwinder specific.  boot images, roms, therm, etc
>   is netwinder baggage avoidable when installing?

None of the current Debian ARM developers has non-NetWinder hardware,
so that's the main problem.

> - I don't and haven't used debian: I looked at the cd creation pages on
> debian.org and found alot of i386 specific stuff.  How can I create a cd
> of the current arm port?  the machine I am trying to install is disk space
> and bandwith impaired so ftp install or copying to the hard disk is not an
> option and what I downloaded was around 800 meg.

I think you can use the debian-cd package.  I've never used it myself.
It probably is necessary to patch it for the ARM architecture (but I'm
not sure).

Or you might just try copying the appropriate directories off of the
ftp site, and mounting that locally.

> - what is the *real* status of Xfree86?

I finally got the packages to build a few weeks ago (check the
archives).  I only got the framebuffer server to work.  Philip
Blundell also sent me some patches I have yet to look at.

I uploaded some packages to:

  ftp://ftp.jimpick.com/pub/debian/arm/xfree86/

I also forwarded a patch to the Bug Tracking System so that my changes
could be incorporated into the official Debian sources, but they
haven't yet.  That's just a matter of time.

> - what do I need minimally to install the debian port?  e.g. I am working
> with a bastardized version of ARMLinux from www.arm.uk.linux.org - will
> this suffice to use the debian image?

I'm not sure how to go about installing it.  But you can probably use
the image I created, if you add your own kernel.  If you can boot into
ARMLinux, maybe you can create it on another partition?

> - what is the status of the port? how long will it be before it is
> considered a "finished" product? 

I'd like to see it go into "potato", but the freeze date is coming up
fast, and there is still lots of work to do.  Overall, the toolchain
is in good shape and I finally got X to build, so there doesn't appear
to be any major hurdles, other than lack of time and manpower.

Cheers,

 - Jim