[SOLVED] OPIE Linux on Palm Tungsten E2 With GParted [SOLVED] (Page 2 of 4)

Hello Zam478,
if there is an Internet or (W)LAN Router connected to the PC, where "PartedMagic" is running, the program tries to establish a connection to the Internet, so that the built-in browser is instantly usable.
If you inhibit this action, why should a stand-alone Linux give network faults ?

During unpacking the "ext2"-Image the source file "new_image.ext2.bz2" vanishes and "new_image.ext2" is created. Perhaps the "stale NFS file" is "new_image.ext2.bz2".
If your "new_image.ext2"  file has 115.343.360 Bytes, everything seems to be ok. Just go ahead and copy it to its designated location.

cmdr

Hello Zam478,

the NFS fault is obviously a problem with newer versions of "PartedMagic". With my old version 2.2 it worked well, but this version is no more available. I looked for an alternative, found Puppy Linux 4.1.2 and just tested it. If you have a connection per router to the Internet, you can even download all of your needed files within this distro and copy them to the designated locations, so that you don't need the USB key (provided your RAM isn't too "puppy"). Icon "Connect" starts the network wizard.  "Bzip2"-Unpacking works easily with a right-click on the file within the filemanger (access via Icon "Home"). All storage devices are instantly mounted by clicking on their respective desktop icons. "Puppy Linux" is also distributed as ISO-file (94 MB); you can even store your personal settings before shutdown on any read-write storage device (as an encrypted image file).

I put this small distro on a bootable USB key and thus have in my pocket a rather safe surrounding for surfing the Internet with all my favourites, wherever I am!

Regards
cmdr

Hello cmdr,
Whenever I try to uncompress the bzip2 file, it would show a regular .ext2 file while it was decompressing and then disapeared after. Also, I just noticed that on my Palm, it is looking for dev/mmc, not dev/sdb1.

I actually haven't succesfully downloaded it w/ that! Whenever I save it to my documents, it shows the file name, but where does it say the % complete?

Hello cmdr,
I'm sorry, but I tried downloading it and waited for about 5 minutes (dsl connection, it usually downloads in about 2-3) and clicked on it, it gave me some error message (sorry I don't remember it). I gtg right now, so I won't be on any more today.

Hello Zam478,

You are right : I didn't.

But I have an assumption, what might be the cause. The stuff, before "linux.boot.cfg" is mentioned in your extract, is a file list with file attributes. The fault starts with "linux.boot.cfg": it is not correctly read, because the swap partition gets mounted to "/dev/mmcblk0p2" instead of "/dev/mmcblk0p28." (maybe the period after "28" is wrong, too!).
I' m rather sure, that you created file "linux.boot.cfg" with Windows, didn't you ? Therefore it uses Carriage Return / LineFeed (0x0D/0x0A) for a line jump, whereas nearly all other OSes use a single LineFeed(0x0A) for that purpose. I had this problem with another Linux Bootloader, too. To get the correct format, start "Puppy Linux" and use "geany" to create "linux.boot.cfg" anew or do it with "echo ..." (in a Terminal window) :

echo "#!/bin/sh (-)" > /root/linux.boot.cfg
echo "    ROOT_DEV=/dev/mmcblk0p3" >> /root/linux.boot.cfg
echo "    SWAP_DEV=/dev/mmcblk0p28." >> /root/linux.boot.cfg

If you mount the SDHC Card, you can transfer it directly to the root folder of its vfat volume.

Good luck
cmdr

Ok, Here is what it says now:

Also, if it makes any difference, the 28. is wrong, it's supposed to be

As in the 8. is the step number. I just created it "anew" as you would say in Gleam. The way of doing it in console just seemed like extra work. But... I might just try it that way (If I figure out how, I just sort of skimmed that part, so I'll have to read that part a little closer)
THANK YOU very much
~Zam478
P.S. If you think I'm wasting your time, please tell me. I looked at some other topics and this one is by far one of the biggest.
P.S.S. I am surprised that OPIE linux for my Palm is similar enough to normal Linux that you can help me!
P.S.S.S. I don't think I've taken the time to properly thank you, so...

P.S.S.S.S. That isn't a quote, I just thought it looked better that way.

Thanks, it's good to know I'm not wasting your time, and yes, I guess that if I was, why would you still be helping? Also, what do you mean by "Does the Palm boot need a bootflag on the vfat partition"? (Like I said awhile ago, I'm knew to all of Linux.) The files needed to run cocoboot (the initrd.gz and zImage are both on the card) but I take it you want me to start booting w/o the SD card in. I am probably just confusing myself now...
~Zam478

Some of that I didn't get, but most of it I did, I will try the new linux.boot.cfg. That is the site that I got the instructions from, well, actually, it was this site: http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/PalmTungstenE2. That is the instructions for my Palm. Also, a hard reset is when the Palm OS resets ALL data back to factory conditions. Palm must use the vfat file type becuase it comes w/ a format option in one app. This formats the card to a vfat partition.
Thanks!
~ Zam478
P.S. The instructions you were looking at are instructions on how to port Linux to a Palm Lifedrive, the only Palm that has an internal HDD. The rest (like my Tungsten E2) have Non-Volatile Flash memory. Approx. 30MB on mine. Which is nowhere near large enough for the .ext2 file.
P.S.S. I was looking over the instructions, and I think I see where you get Hard Reset from. You do this if you reset your Lifedrive (that's how you get out of Linux and back to Palm OS) and you come up w/ a 'Fatal Error' message. In with case you would preform a Hard Reset to, like I said before, reset ALL data back to factory conditions. Basicly a "Factory Reset" for you Palm just in case your OS files are corrupt. IDK where it gets its new OS files, I would have to guess from an Off Limits space in it's memory where it stores a backup of the OS.

I yeah, I just noticed, four more posts after this one and we're on a 3rd page!

Hello Zam478,

I did not realize, that the Linux kernel does NOT mount the ext2-file (which is a drive image) during boot, but needs the contained files ready on the ext2-partition of your SD card before. You had it in your instructions ! Seeing the small amount of memory, your Palm offers, there is no other way. Therefore I hope, you did not omit (with a Terminal window under "Puppy Linux") to mount the ext2-file and copy all contained files to the ext2-partition of your SD card. Ergo, the line "ROOT_DEV=$FILES_MNT/new_image.ext2" in my new "linux.boot.cfg" probably shows a path and not a "canonical" file name, as I assumed, because file "new_image.ext2" is not directly copied to the SD card. In other words : this line is most likely false. You better keep your version.

"initrd" stands for (Linux) init_ial R_AM d_isk. Imagine a bootable floppy, where some basic operations are done (hardware detection etc.), before the actual Linux distro gets started (as last task) and takes over. These two steps may also be integrated in one disk image. There are also reasons to keep it separated. Think of an older PC, which is equipped with USB, but cannot boot from USB stick. Let (small) "initrd" (installed on the HDD) scan for USB devices, mount them and start the (huge) Linux distro from there ( I do so with my old "experimental" laptop and "GParted").

"initrd" is not quite independent of the distro, it initializes. You see it with "Gparted": the size differs from version to version. But maybe, if it is for Tungsten Palms, it's always the same. I have no information about that.

Did you ever format a SD card with the Palm (so that one could have a look with "GParted" on the "vfat"- Volume Boot record, it creates ... and expects)?

Regards
cmdr

PS: You should perhaps think about a new title for this thread (YOU can change it by editing your first post), because "GParted on CD" was only the first obstacle, you had to surmount, or would you look for a detailed instruction, on how to get a Palm execute "Opie", under this headline ?