Mobilepro 900c and linux is possible?

To reboot from linux on the Mobilepro: Just type
# reboot
at a console prompt.
Or select 'Reboot' / 'Restart' from an Opie or IceWm menu

Works (almost) every time. No need for a hard reset. .

Do not press the reset button. This makes the system hang, requiring a hard reset.

good, then the linux code is already written for it

sweet...ill try that tonight

Manual on how to install linux on the Mobilepro 900 updated with 'how to find the CF card'

see Linux on Mobilepro900 - testers only!

The nitty-gritty has been completed I think, thanks to cmonex' comments. Now hope it becomes obsolete some day once we have a cloop version

Now for some nice screenshots of the distro itself.. TBC

bsaunder: The reason you are seeing 2.6.19 kernel modules is because thats the current kernel being used in jlime for the jornada7xx. Cosmo0 hasnt built a full kernel with modules yet, just the zImage, which is a basic bootable kernel with very few drivers built in.

Now the good news. After tinkering around with the icewm image on the 900c, i figured out how to make it run a slight bit better and also got orinoco wireless working decently. These are the steps i did if anyone wants to try it until i build a 900c specific userland.

1) Go into /etc/init.d and comment out the first 3 uncommented lines in bootmisc.sh as these are jornada specific.

2) Delete the 2.6.19 kernel modules directory in /lib/modules

Wireless is a bit of a trick without modules. So insert the orinoco card. Boot CE. Then boot linux. It seems the kernels built in orinoco driver has to see the card at boot time, or it wont work. Now pull out the orinoco card after linux boots. Run startx and open a terminal. Reinsert orinoco card and type 'ifdown eth0' and you'll get an error, ignore it, then type 'ifup eth0' to connect to an unsecured network. BAM! You may now surf the web, use irc and install packages.

Cheers.

Edited by RTFM 2007-06-18 7:03 AM

I got screenshots uploaded already.

http://freeshells.ch/~wicked74/900c/linux/

Cheers

absolutely great manual!

*wow* screenshots

I'll put the link in to those in the manual. Any problem if I deeplink directly also?

Been watching this thread with great interest...

Glad to see such great progress being made so quickly now...

Meanwhile, sold my lil' 728 not too long ago, for several reasons. One concern was about the display proportions (1/2 VGA?) that I think while the 900C is larger it is the same proportions as the 720/728 right??

The thing I found when running Linux on the 728 was that while I had a lot of width on the display, there wasn't enough vertical height to go with it. This resulted in awkwardness in using some apps where in order to have enough working height you had to turn off toolbars, etc. Also, found that there was a lot of vertical scrolling when trying to read webpages, etc....

So, my question is before I take the plunge with a 900C, do you guys think I'll have the same issues with the 900C as on the 728 with regard to display proportions???

Thanks for any and all input!

michelbel: Sure thatd be fine.

ArchiMark: Yep, you'll have the same display issues. While the screen is physically larger its still 640x240 resolution. One that note however, not sure what window manager you had previously used, but the jlime icewm image has loads of keyboard shortcuts, such as alt+f11 ( word key on jornada ) which full screens any window ( removes taskbar and window borders ) so that the app window can make use of the entire screen. Works out very nicely for most things. Example photo here: http://freeshells.ch/~wicked74/j720/images/gpe-mini-browser-fullscreen1.png

Or you can disable the taskbar completely in icewm for even more desktop space and have the menu open via a single click to empty spot on the desktop as shown in this 900c screenshot: http://freeshells.ch/~wicked74/900c/linux/icewm-custom-config.png

Cheers.

Thanks for your helpful reply and info, RTFM...appreciate it!

Pics look good...I like the icewm without the taskbar look....very nice....

BTW, I was using icewm on my 728 with 720degrees before....

So, now trying to decide whether to take the plunge or not on a 900C...or just wait awhile and get one of the upcoming Fujitsu FM-U8240 little tablePC....or get both!!!

instead of studying for exams i was trying to write some xscale soft reset code and trying jtag again. no success with either yet

with the jtag, i'm really about to give up. we hooked up another 900c (one that was 100% working), and the OCD software still will not read the known proper values from flash. i know what is atwhich location and it just gives nonsense.

the other jtag programs will not even detect the cpu

any better software? doesnt anyone else want to try?
this is important for linux too.



p.s.: i remember now that this linux can do a reset via software. where is the code for it?
- edit: forget that, that cant be a real soft reset in linux, i must be real tired now to forget that.

Edited by cmonex 2007-06-19 4:51 PM

cmonex,

Is it possible that the manufacturer's encrypt this info somehow, so that users can't get the info???

Just a thought....

Mark
Who doesn't know jtag from a hole in the ground....

sorry i'm lost..what info do you mean here?

here is a pic of the ocd commander thing (as said, it's the only one that would detect the target)

tried to read the romhdr signature as thats a sure point (the E0 and E1 it threw at me is meaningless), then tried to read OS start (21 is no good), then tried to write into PC and LR... no luck and i dont know what the errors mean, no help file is included with the program and google is useless

Edited by cmonex 2007-06-19 5:30 PM






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