Arch Linux ARM on N900 - Page 45 - maemo.org

malfunctioning | # 441 | 2013-05-27, 17:55 | Report

Originally Posted by Android_808 View Post

Malfunctioning: i remember the zaurus, really wanted one for a long time but the better ones were only available in japan, not uk iirc. i would consider it a forefather of the eee really.

I would say any of the *boxes (flux, black,open...) would provide good performance. just need a decent theme. on a device like this is window sizing really essential, or could everything just run maximised?

Sorry for the OT, everyone! Please move along if you are not interested in hearing about the Zaurus.

Android_808, I completely understand! The clamshell ones were only available in Japan, or through grey market outlets like conics.net in the USA or trisoft.de in Europe (Germany).

Because I got really late to the party (2008) I got my SL-C1000 (the only ones which didn't have internal micro hard drive and instead had just flash memory, and in my mind far preferable), from eBay. I ended buying a number of them because I like them so much, and still have a few.

There were a number of roms for the Zaurii. Somebody named cortez even had Ubuntu running on SD for it, and in theory they also support the latest FreeBSD. Personally I settled for pdaXrom, and compiled Fluxbox 1.0 for it. I love the system to this day (but perhaps part of it is that I like Fluxbox so much, and the idea of running it in a palmtop device is awesome).

I'm going to get rid next month of two of my Zaurus computers (I have 5 right now, and no reason to hold on to them since I'm using the N900 mostly now), so let me know if you are interested. I have 1 SL-C1000, and 1 SL-C3000 (it has a micro hard drive, but I prefer the SL-C1000). The SL-C1000 has my awesome setup with Fluxbox running, and a set of preinstalled applications.

The Following User Says Thank You to malfunctioning For This Useful Post:
ArchiMark

malfunctioning | # 442 | 2013-05-27, 18:03 | Report

Originally Posted by Android_808 View Post

I would say any of the *boxes (flux, black,open...) would provide good performance. just need a decent theme. on a device like this is window sizing really essential, or could everything just run maximised?

Sorry, I forgot to reply to this part (I'm so obsessed with fluxbox and the Zaurus LOL).

Yes, performance is unparalelled unless you run something like ratpoison or evilwm I suppose. In my SL-C1000 running at 413Mhz, I think the baseline load with fluxbox running is something like 23% CPU, but on an N900 because of the new architecture I suppose it should be less than half.

Yes, everything should just run maximized! In my Zaurus, I had a set of keys to maximize windows (something like Ctrl Shift F). Ideally, in the N900, you could toggle maximization using the camera button for example. And you could also move from desktop to desktop using the volume rocker buttons. That would be an excellent solution. Oh, and make windows maximized by default (the menu and keys configuration files in fluxbox should have that condition after the launch command for each application).

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to malfunctioning For This Useful Post:
ArchiMark, Estel

pinsh | # 443 | 2013-06-03, 12:34 | Report

I installed Arch on my N900 but I'm getting some errors when trying to boot it. I think one problem is that I installed it in mmcblkp0p5 (not mmcblkp0p4) and even though I adjusted the u-boot menu entry, it does try to mount mmcblkp0p4 as ext4 during boot. Is there a config file where I can change this? I tried adding an entry to fstab but it didn't help. Also, are the other errors "normal"?

When booting Arch I get the following errors:

First screen:

Code:

gpmc could not claim irq-22
voltdm_scale: (some error)

Second screen:

Code:

omap_i2c: controller timed out
EXT4-fs (mmcblkp0p4): unable to read superblock
..
bcm2048 3-0022: BCM I2C error!
bcm2048 3-0022: Is Bluetooth up and running?

then the boot process stops (device not responsive).

Any help is greatly appreciated.

pinsh | # 444 | 2013-06-05, 01:28 | Report

No one? I started from scratch again and I'm still having the same problems. Could it be that my N900 has a hardware revision that's not supported or something?

ArchiMark | # 445 | 2013-06-05, 02:50 | Report

Originally Posted by pinsh View Post

No one? I started from scratch again and I'm still having the same problems. Could it be that my N900 has a hardware revision that's not supported or something?

Not sure how you're trying to do the install, but best advice I can give you, is to try and follow the step-by-step instructions on this blog:

http://blog.jakgibb.com/2013/03/28/a...stall-on-n900/

Not perfect, but the best you're going to find I think....

Other choice is to spend lots of time reading through the posts in this thread from about page 25 on.....but I'd recommend doing fresh install following the blog....

As Skry noted earlier, this is not the easiest install and I'd add even if you've installed Arch before on other computers....

Just my 2 ¢.....

orsoniasty | # 446 | 2013-06-05, 06:50 | Report

@pinsh
These errors are completely normal besides this one:
EXT4-fs (mmcblkp0p4): unable to read superblock

And as you already mentioned - you know why it is shown. To fix it, you need to update your /etc/bootmenu.d/whatever-you-have-for-arch.item, check if both ITEM_DEVICE and ITEM_CMDLINE are correct. Then run "u-boot-update-bootmenu" in Maemo terminal. Check out the steps that were given in the link sent by ArchiMark and note that /dev/mmcblk0p* is the internal memory and /dev/mmcblk1p* is the SD card. And I hope you are sure that you are using ext4?

Last edited by orsoniasty; 2013-06-05 at 06:52.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to orsoniasty For This Useful Post:
Estel, pinsh

pinsh | # 447 | 2013-06-08, 18:00 | Report

Thanks for your reply. I installed Arch in /dev/mmcblk0p5 using ext3 (I first had some problems with ext4 using the stock Maemo kernel).

My bootmenu entry file looks like this:

Code:

ITEM_NAME="Arch Linux ARM (eMMC)"
ITEM_KERNEL="/boot/uImage"
ITEM_DEVICE="${INT_CARD}p5"
ITEM_FSTYPE="ext3"
ITEM_OMAPATAG="1"
ITEM_CMDLINE="root=/dev/mmcblk0p5 rootwait init=/bin/systemd omapfb.vram=0:3M,1:3M,2:3M quiet"

What's strange about the "EXT4-fs (mmcblkp0p4): unable to read superblock" error is

I'm using mmcblk0p5 not mmcblk0p4 (according to my bootmenu entry)
I'm using ext3 not etx4

This makes me think that Arch gets some other information on how to mount the root fs during boot, but so far I haven't found anything..

Estel | # 448 | 2013-06-08, 18:27 | Report

Originally Posted by pinsh View Post

(I first had some problems with ext4 using the stock Maemo kernel).

No wonder, as stock Maemo kernel doesn't support ext4

orsoniasty | # 449 | 2013-06-08, 19:56 | Report

You may use the newest power-kernel, it supports ext4. Ext3 works (I'm using it right now), but your config file is wrong. I do not know if you installed Arch on internal memory or on SD card, but you mixed them in the config. My Arch resides on SD card, that's my tested .item file:

Code:

ITEM_NAME="Arch Linux ARM"
ITEM_KERNEL="/boot/uImage"
ITEM_DEVICE="${EXT_CARD}p1"
ITEM_FSTYPE="ext3"
ITEM_OMAPATAG="1"
ITEM_CMDLINE="root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait init=/bin/systemd omapfb.vram=0:3M,1:3M,2:3M quiet"

(of course ITEM_CMDLINE is one line, not splitted like in here)
For internal memory, I would have something similar to:

Code:

ITEM_NAME="Arch Linux ARM"
ITEM_KERNEL="/boot/uImage"
ITEM_DEVICE="${INT_CARD}p3"
ITEM_FSTYPE="ext3"
ITEM_OMAPATAG="1"
ITEM_CMDLINE="root=/dev/mmcblk1p3 rootwait init=/bin/systemd omapfb.vram=0:3M,1:3M,2:3M quiet"

And for sure those configs were mentioned many times in this thread and other tutorials.

The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to orsoniasty For This Useful Post:
Boemien, Estel, fw190, pinsh, Skry

Skry | # 450 | 2013-06-09, 21:44 | Report

guys, also remember to fix the init= option to /usr/lib/systemd/systemd before doing pacman -Syu or you'll not be booting.

Edit:
I updated the example item in the first post, sorry for forgetting about it.

Last edited by Skry; 2013-06-09 at 21:56.

The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Skry For This Useful Post:
Estel, fw190, handaxe, phapsubongtoi