[wplug] Zaurus UPGRADED

[Robert Coutch]

========== Added my responses/question below.

On Friday 16 January 2004 11:31 pm, Bryce Lynch wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2004 at 11:45:26PM -0500, Robert Coutch wrote:
> > I downloaded the latest ROM (V 3.10) from Sharp to try in my Zaurus.
>
> The latest is v3.13 - at least that's what I'm running on my SL5500.
>

========== Where'd you get 3.13 ? The developers site?
========== They only show 3.10 on the MyZaurus website.

> > They have revised the filesystem layout but it still doesn't make sense.
>
> That is annoying.  The best way to learn how it's laid out is to SSH in
> and just look around in the directory tree.
>

========== SSH is probably my most used tool but I couldn't get it working 
yet.

> > Wireless setup and use has improved and includes a taskbar utility to
> > turn the card on/off as well as show signal strength and network info.
>
> One of the nicer features - once I figured out what it was it made
> things much easier.
>
> > Some of my old favorites (VNC, Kismet, ZSafe, OpenSSH) have not been made
> > to
>
> I've gotten Kismet and OpenSSH to work on v3.13.  Just a word of warning
> - you'll have to change the permissions on /home/zaurus/Documents/OpenSSH
> to owner zaurus, group qpe, otherwise when you change to the
> month-at-a-time view in the Calendar application, it'll crash on you. 

=========== So that's what happened! I was wondering about the calendar 
blowing up.  I've been keeping backups before any major changes so if 
something goes wrong, I just restore to the previous state. That's how I got 
my calander working again.  I'll follow your advice.

> Check this out:
>
> http://community.zaurus.com/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=8&group_id=5&
>atid=109
>
> Have you ever tried Keyring?
>
> > I had to format my SD-RAM card back to FAT because I couldn't figure what
> > user/permissions to assign to the ext2 file system that was on the card.
> > I kept getting errors about write permission (I'll fix this later).
>
> You can safely keep it formatted as FAT without trouble.  You can even
> install applications to it.
>

============ Yes, but I feel more Linux-y when I use ext2.
I saw some tools for ext3 but no kernel modules.
I don't know why every device that runs on batteries isn't using a 
journal type file system.  I've fragged my Zaurus a few times after
it froze up and required the battery switch to be flipped (not the reset 
button).  I run fsck.ext2 on /dev/mtdblock1 every so often and it usually 
finds problems not fixed during the boot process.
==========================================


> > I can no longer sync with my Linux (SuSE 8.2) system because
> > Qtopia-desktop is >no longer compatible with the new ROM.
>
> That is really annoying.  Instead of running an FTP service for
> synching, it's now a SMB connection running what I think is a
> stripped-down version of Samba.  If you plug it into your cradle and
> bring up the ethernet-over-USB link, portscan your Zaurus to see what
> else is running.
>
> > Sharp does offer updates for Windows users (isn't that special?) to allow
> > sync with Outlook.
>
> The pain from that one hasn't stopped yet.  Sheesh.
>
> > I can at least drag and drop files to it from Konqueror using the smb://
> > protocol. The PIM/PDA programs no longer use XML format for data storage
> > but are now using a database of some sort.
>
> Even more annoying when you have to re-type all of your contact
> information and associated notes by hand.  Sharp lost a lot of my
> business for that one.
>

============= I backup up all my PIM data on Qtopia-desktop for Linux,
via a backup, by copying the files directly AND sync'd with Outlook on my work 
laptop.
I just restored the data from Outlook after dowing the Windows related 
updates.

Oh the irony of creating a Linux based PDA with NO LINUX DESKTOP SOFTWARE !!!!
Didn't they think that 99% of the people buying Zauruses would be Linux users?  
DANG !
===============================================

> > If you want to know more, tell me.
> > I'm going to give the new ROM a good test trial before making it
> > permanant.
>
> Try v3.13 of the ROM image.
>

============ I gotta find it and see what the differences are between 3.10 and 
3.13. I'm guessing mostly bug fixes.

> I've been considering running OpenZaurus for a while now, maybe I'll
> install it and write up a review.
>

============ I'd like to hear about it and about what will/won't run under 
OpenZaurus.

> The Doctor
>

============ Thanks for replying.    -Bob

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