Linux on HPC Survery

Honestly, I don't have time for these kinds of things....

1) b...I am a maintainer, aren't I?

2) d? I wish. Nope, I have to do everything myself. I think a CE installer would be cool, but Windows is best.

3) Choosing one of those would be limiting the capability of these machines. I am working on Linux to use my 720 for all those things. If I can get it to record, jot notes, and type documents at the same time, it would be matched with CE in one area (given that the software is smooth). To be honest, I do want it to be as much of a laptop as possible, but 32mb of ram just does not cut it. Same with the screen size. If it is ever going to have that kind of functionality on Linux, I will need to program my own web browser, office....you get the idea.

Oh, and I am a 720 owner. But you can get what you need from this.

Hmm, interesting results.

It seems that most people want a mini laptop, installable via a desktop PC CF reader and would be willing to try it. So, lets see what we've got (this will probably apply to JLime / J720degrees and any other distributions out there)

Mini Laptop
This depends on what you'd want a laptop for. The more "Windowsified" users probably would want Office applications, web browsing software and games. The more "Linuxified" users would probably want console based compilers, development enviroments (html, c++ and so on). Both of these can be done in theory. Opie GUI is fast, even on the J680, and contains an up-to-date web-browser, office software and games. X can be run, but its probably only feasable on those Jornadas with at least 32MB of RAM and ideally faster processors (J7xx).

Leaving the GUI aside, it should be fairly easy to get a mini laptop style distribution up and running. Almost all Linux console applications can be ported, and a sizable chunk of graphical (X) applications can also. Mostly, its just a matter of porting most of them.

Windows Based CF Installer
This is a more interesting aspect. Windows (any version as of yet) will not allow you to partition a removable device. It will also ignore any partitions on them (occasionally denying the device exists). You also cannot write disk images (containing partitons) in Windows, even with 3rd party sofware. However, you can partition an IBM/Hitachi Microdrive. These have a mask driver, which "hides" the removable flag on a device. The driver can be bodged to work with any removable device that you can get the HWID (hardware-id) for, which is essentially all of them. Once the device is seen as a drive it is possible to write disk images (see DD for windows), or to partition and extract images.

My JLime installer works, but has the potenial to do massive damage if incorrectly used, even with a few in built safeguards. With a little work though...

--
So, were getting closer to a feasable OS upgrade, that even novice users can install/run, but we're not quite there just yet.

I really think a Windows based installer is pretty pointless. I would much prefer a bootable cd based installer that doesn't touch any existing OS already installed on the PC, especially as your installer totally hosed my USB subsystem!

Another option could be a CF installer based on a Live Linux distribution, say Knoppix or even DSL. Much easier than struggling with Windows limitations listed in your post and safer because you don't touch the operating system on your PC.

Another way would be finding a way to install on the Jornada, e.g. an application to partion and install onto the card, or is this even less likely?


Can you tell me exactly what happened? I've tried to recreate any errors but none have ever broken the USB system.

Much less likely if based on Windows.
More or less a script (shell, python, perl, ..., whatever one prefers) if based on Linux.

1) Did you ever consider using Linux on the Jornada?

b) Yes, and did : no suspend at the time so I returned back to WindowsCE because I couldn't wait the loading time of linux from wince


2) If you said "too complicated to install" - which would make it eaiser?

b) Compact-Flash-Reader desktop PC based installer (in alpha)


3) Should Linux on the Jornada...

a) Act as a PDA/Organiser
b) Act as a mini-laptop, e.g. internet + word processing + media
both are requirements to me : good PDA software with synchronisation and mini laptop

I bought a zaurus before but was disapointed because I had to chose between a pda with sync (original OS) and a mini laptop (excellent pdaXrom)

Now with more experience with 720degrees, I have a slightly...stronger stance on this situation.

3) D. It should support, rather than just pda functions, or just working as a mini-laptop, all of the functions that users could possibly want. Is it so hard to include OPIE for pda functions and Kdrive for laptop-like usability? Or console for the users who just want pure Linux running on their handheld? No, it is not incredibly difficult, and it makes sense to make a distribution work with more than 20 people. That is the goal of 720degrees. There should be no need for such a survey, as last time I checked, a distribution is not supposed to cover only a very small userbase.

Development on the Jornada is just a bonus, we can all get that by installing gcc. I see that as part of the mini-laptop function - doing what the user wants.

Edited by ProgramSynthesiser 2006-08-04 7:21 PM