Re: Fwd: Installation and use

Hi all, sorry for the late response.

On Fri, 2008-10-03 at 14:51 -0500, Andrew Browning wrote:
> Forwarding to the list, in case anyone else has insight on my responses.
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Andrew Browning <[email protected]>
> Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 2:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [Familiar] Installation and use
> To: "Ashcroft, B.A." <[email protected]>
> 
> 
> On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 1:19 PM, Ashcroft, B.A.
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> > I tried the instructions for setting up the pda for usb (i have no serial port on my desktop)  but I could not load the new files into the PDA.  I tried using my wifes SD card, but it did not work.
> 
> SD cards on 2.4 linux devices can be pretty tricky. What's the card
> capacity? If it's over 4gb, then the card is SDHC which I'm pretty
> sure the kernel won't recognize.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card
ie: This is more of a hardware issue than a kernel one.

> Even if it's under 4GB, it might not
> be readable.

Keep in mind that some of the cheap imitation cards you're likely to
find (eg. on eBay) may report a certain size but not actually have all
the chips to support it!
Also keep in mind that if you're trying to verify this with (say) a
USB2.0 card reader on your workstation you may have issues with the
ability of the reader (eg: some don't like capacities over 1 or 2GB).

afaik, mmc support in 2.4 is a bit flaky. iirc, the common solution is
to boot the system with the card installed, and then reboot ... although
my memory of such tricks is unreliable ;)

> If the file system is NTFS (likely not the case, but it's
> a possibility), I don't think the kernel will be able to read it.

NTFS ability should be compiled as a module and be
installable/loadable ... tbh, I'm not sure of the status of ntfs in 2.4
but I'd expect you to be able to read an NTFS filesystem.

>  In
> fact, I'm not even sure if it can read a FAT32 file system. FAT12 and
> FAT16 should work, unless the card is just a really finicky one.
> 

There should not be issues reading fat/vfat filesystems. The most common
error made with these is a lack of nls & codepage modules. Performing
"logread | tail" after a failed mount will identify this.

> > So I basically have a brick as I cannot sync the device, I cannot access the files, I cannot even download enough software to make this run like the basic setup of pocket pc 2002.
> >
> > Can someone tell me what I need to do to get this device connected to anything?  I have the option of a w2k machine with cygwin and a serial port,  windows xp with a serial port, or ubuntu/windows xp with usb.  I would just like to be able to connect to the PDA and access it's filesystem.  Connecting it to the internet would be fun too, but just being able to load software on the machine would be enough.
> 
> This probably isn't the solution you had in mind, but if you're
> willing to spend more money, it can work. You can purchase a sleeve
> for the iPAQ (there are various models available) that supports a CF
> or PCMCIA card. You can also purchase a CF or PCMCIA wired or wireless
> network adapter. I bought a dual-PCMCIA sleeve for around $100 back in
> 2003/2004; I bought a near-new iPAQ 3800 WITH a dual-PCMCIA sleeve for
> around $100 in 2005 or so. Both came from eBay. The prices have
> probably come down since then. The sleeve will let you insert a wired
> or wireless network adapter so you can then transfer files, and remove
> the sleeve when you don't need it. As a bonus, many of the sleeves
> include extended batteries. Back before I got my first Windows Mobile
> phone, I used to carry my iPAQ w/ dual sleeve, PCMCIA wired network
> adapter, and PCMCIA wireless network adapter with me to hotels and
> conferences, and I was pleased with the setup at the time.
> 

FLASHING (if you had serial on your workstation)
The easiest way to flash these devices, get basic comms and/or perform
debug is to have a serial connection. On a good day you can buy such a
cable on eBay for under $10 (any currency;). Alternatively you may be
able to do one of these:
http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/HpIpaqSerialCable
http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/HpIpaqH2200SerialCable?action=show&redirect=HpIpaqH2200Serial
http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/HpIpaqPlugMod
http://www.handhelds.org/minihowto/h3600-serial-cable.html
ps: you could try using a livecd on the machine with a serial port.


USB NETWORKING
In my experience, USB networking to a Windows machine is not likely to
work. USB networking to a Linux machine should be dead easy, provided
you follow the instructions on:
http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/UsbNet !!!


> > Just one more question is it possible to use the PDA as a usb memory stick.  This would be enough for me to use.
> 
> Don't think this is going to happen. Even if there were a way for it
> to work, it's not worth carrying around something that large (and
> battery-powered) that can only hold like 64-128MB of data.

There was talk at one stage (iirc) about development of a driver to
perform this, however I've never seen/used it. If you only need to copy
files to/from your Linux machine (assuming Ubuntu+Nautilus) using sftp.

> 
> good luck!
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Marcus.


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