Hi there,

I read about the possibility to install *.ipk files on the maemo plattform. Is this realy possible - if so, what do i need?

I was researching quite a bit & found out that:
"*.deb and *.ipk are very similar packages" - i even found an (old) guide on how to convert *.deb to *.ipk (written for a sharp zaurus).
Unfortunatley I allready have the IPK file - so i either need to directly install that one, or convert it to a deb & see if that works.

One other sollution might be to install from source. Yet - this maemo thing seems very very light to me. Meaning - i am (without having tried) almost certain it doesn't contain "build-essentials" or at least an "untar" function. Of course i could untar it on my desktop system - yet i still need to do make/make install on the N810 itself, don't i?

Desktop OS: Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy)
PS:
I just thought about one other possible sollution:
Create a *.deb from source on my desktop PC. I'll try that later today - but i guess it wont work as too many dependencies will be unsolved on the N810 later on.

Btw - i try to get "Korganizer" (handheld version) installed, without having to install KDE.
The source is available on KDE.
Ipkg is available on openPMA as well as on KDE. Most interesting: openPMA's 2 year old release has version Nr. 2.x whereas KDE's version number (KO/Pi) has 1.5...

AFAIK .ipk packages are all for ARM, not ARMEL (that is, a slightly older executable format, the format used for Sharp Zaurus and also the very first version of the operating system for the Nokia 770. Later OS'es use ARMEL).

So, even though it's technically possible to convert from .ipk to .deb package format the installed application won't be able to execute.

Installing from source is the way to go (and then you will have to tackle the problem of code written for the qtopia platform vs. the hildon/gtk2 platform used for Maemo - not an impossible problem though, as now there's apparently a qtopia (or at least qt) port for Maemo).

.ipk files for angstrom can be for armel. you'll have a lot of dependencies to handle, but they should act like .deb files, IIRC.

-John

Installing from source:
Sounds like a good idea to me. Qt vs gtk shouldn't be a problem - as long as the necessary sources are available & the .deb is created on the N810, i think?
So the question remains: How can i create a .deb - or install from source - directly on the N810?

On ubuntuusers they talk about getting ubuntu on the N810 - a bit after the next desktop release... But that's actually more than a month from now & who knows what problems the programmers might run into before they can realy think of releasing an ubuntu version for the N8x0. Even if they manage to do so in time - they mostly talk about compatibility to intel based platform, but if i understand the tech. data on nokia's page correct, the N810 processor is produced by Texas Instruments?

The N810 is an ARM CPU produced by Texas Instruments (called OMAP), i.e. not x86.

As for building from source, normally you do this by installing a scratchbox cross-compiling environment on your PC (Linux PC, or VMWARE image on Windows).

Thanks - that's actually, what i was already thinking of.
Do you know what & especially where to download the necessary stuff to get a proper environment for maemo?

I found some promising guide on maemo - yet unfortunately the mentioned scripts
* maemo-scratchbox-install_4.0beta.sh
* maemo-sdk-install_4.0beta.sh
are not linked to any download location & the search for "scratchbox" doesn't give a result on maemo.org.

BTW:
ARMEL is the recent (N810) related hardware, if i understood your first post right? As in your second post you talk about ARM (which is the older hardware, if i understood you right).

No, ARMEL vs. ARM is not hardware; it's a matter of binary format. The whole system basically has to be one way or the other, but it's entirely software.

* maemo-scratchbox-install_4.0beta.sh
* maemo-sdk-install_4.0beta.sh

=

maemo-scratchbox-install_4.0.sh
maemo-sdk-install_4.0.sh

Or replace 4.0 with 4.0.1

Hi qwerty
I did search for maemo-scratchbox-install on babylon/google (4 results)
I tried the ubuntu reps (multiverse, universe enabled) -> nothing useful.

So where can i find the mentioned files?
(maemo-scratchbox-install_4.0.sh
maemo-sdk-install_4.0.sh)

Btw. Of course i meant software not hardware ;-)

http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/4.0.1/INSTALL.txt