Re: Debian on Zaurus status update
On Sun, Mar 02, 2003 at 02:36:50PM +0100, Klaus Weidner wrote:
> The Debian side of things appears to be working perfectly - I had *zero*
> problem reports regarding the Debian userspace applications. People are
> even running KDE and Gimp on their handhelds.
Great!
> The way it works is as follows:
>
> - a customized kernel launches /sbin/debian-init.sh instead of
> /sbin/init.
Why do you need a customized kernel? For launching an alternate init
process, you can use a kernel parameter: init=/sbin/debian-init.sh.
> - the debian-init.sh shell script prompts the user what system should be
> booted. In the case of the native system, it simply execs /sbin/init,
> and boot proceeds normally.
>
> - for the Debian system, the sd driver module is loaded (from the
> original flash ROM), and the Debian partition is fscked and mounted.
>
> - the bootloader then does a pivot_root and chroot, and proceeds execing
> the /sbin/init on the storage card.
I had thought about a setup like this, but this kind of functionality I
think belongs in the bootloader. I had heard rumours of someone working on
an improved bootloader for Zaurus devices, but I don't remember any names.
> - no support for the hardware clock is available. The only way I found to
> set the hardware clock is through the Qtopia time application. It would
> be great if someone could extract the necessary code from it and
> package it as a standalone program (or add support to "hwclock").
This should not be too much trouble, but I don't see it as a high priority
at the moment. The code is out there.
> - I haven't found the zapmd source, and it doesn't work quite right on
> the C700 (the maximum display brightness available is darker than what
> the hardware can do).
I only have an SL-5500, so I can't help there. Where does zapmd come from?
Is there some reason why normal apmd does not work correctly?
> - Suspending with "irattach" running seems to crash the system. As a
> workaround, I've added a "killall irattach" to the suspend script.
The standard Debian apmd has hook scripts to handle this kind of thing.
> - The bootloader currently only supports SD/MMC cards. To support CF
> storage, it would be necessary to initialize the PCMCIA code in the
> script, so that the block device for the card becomes available.
> Preferably without needing to run any userspace daemons. I haven't had
> time yet to do tests in this direction.
Yes, CF support is problematic for this reason.
> - The PIM app I'm using is jpilot, which works well on the C700 but needs
> too much screen space to be useful on a 240x320 display. Also, it only
> syncs with a Palm handheld, not with a desktop Linux. gpe or opie
> would probably be more useful, but I haven't gotten them running in
> the short time I spent experimenting with them.
Ivan's opie packages are coming along nicely; they work quite well out of
the box for me.
> I'm a bit short on time at the moment, but I hope I'll get a release out
> next week. The C700 is my highest priority (since that is what I'm using),
> and I'll also try to do a release for the Zaurus 5x00 series.
I'd like to experiment with your release; unfortunately my SD card is on
loan for a project at work. Maybe when I get it back.
--
- mdz
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