Beta release of native Debian for Zaurus
Hello,
[Bcc: to Debian-on-Zaurus announcement list]
I've finished the first beta release of the fully native Debian
environment for the Sharp Zaurus 5x00. It uses a simple boot loader that
allows you to choose between the system in the flash ROM and Debian on
the SD/MMC card.
Since the previous chroot environments, I've added a couple of new
applications, including the "sylpheed" mail client and the "links -g"
graphical web browser (it supports SSL and JavaScript). If you have an
IRDA-capable cellphone, use "pppconfig" to set up an Internet connection
on /dev/ircomm; and try "ysms" to send SMS if your phone supports that.
The web page has more instructions, but ignore everything referring to
the chroot environment integration. I'll update it ASAP.
Also included are a proof-of-concept PS/PDF and image viewer, try "fview"
on a JPG file or "fgv" on a PDF. Controls are the same as for the fbvnc
viewer (but you don't need to press the [action] key), the
"z"/[Action]-"z" key toggles between desktop and image view.
Due to compatibility problems with the other systems, I've built a
modified copy of the "crow" ROM with the following changes:
- bootloader support (launch /sbin/debian-init.sh instead of /sbin/init)
- kernel with support for iptables, ipsec and ipv6
- updated WiFi drivers to support the Symbol Spectrum24 card
- relocated the files to /home/crow/ on the SD disk to avoid conflict
with the Debian files (only the /root==/home/root directory is shared)
- deleted the games "qasteroids" and "parashoot" due to lack of space
If you want to test it, you'll need the following:
http://www.w-m-p.com/software/pocketworkstation/
crow+deb-rom*.zip
zaurus-debian-big*.tgz
A SD/MMC card with at least 128 MB size is required.
IMPORTANT: The installation will *completely erase* all the data on the
handheld and the SD disk, so make sure you save anything you want to keep
first.
Format the SD/MMC card with an ext2 filesystem and extract the contents
of the zaurus-debian*.tgz file onto it:
umount /dev/mmcda1
mke2fs /dev/mmcda1
mount /dev/mmcda1 /mnt/card -t ext2
zcat zaurus-debian*tgz | ( cd /mnt/card; tar xvpf - )
Unpack the crow+deb-rom*.zip files onto a MsDOS-formatted CF disk and
flash the kernel and root image according to the instructions for the
Crow ROM:
http://www.schwag.org/~crow/
Please let me know about your results if you try it out.
I've also built a new kernel and bootloader integration for the SL-C700,
but I don't want to release it at the moment because I bricked mine due
to a mistake during testing. If you're feeling very brave and want to try
it anyway, contact me.
-Klaus
P.S.: I found the first two bugs already:
- remove the "-hw c700" switch from the /usr/local/bin/Fbvnc script
if you're running on a SL-5x00
- if your WiFi card doesn't work, replace the "iwconfig" binary:
cp /mnt/rom/usr/sbin.rom/iwconfig /sbin/
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