Android is updated and goes unnoticed

This December Android source code received a significant update, but apparently it went completelly unnoticed. The git repository of most components were updated to be compatible with the new Android kernel, based on linux 2.6.27 (previously 2.6.25). Most components have merged a repository called "cupcake", with lots of changes that have now become official. Also, external libraries were updated too. I think we should expect a new minor release of the SDK in a few weeks too. Remember to run a "repo sync" to keep your source code up-to-date (this one will take a lot of time).

This is great news for me, since I was not being able to port Palm TX to Android. I needed version 2.6.27 because it's the first version with official support for Palm TX. I was getting segfaults when executing one of the core applications in Android (servicemanager) in that version. Now I believe the port will work flawlessly. :-D

Palm TX support added in the main kernel

On October 9, Linux kernel 2.6.27 was released with support for the Palm TX handhelds. That was a merge from the hackndev kernels, which have had experimental support for many PDAs for a long time. Also, I have noticed that general support for PXA2xx/PXA3xx microcontrollers are much more mature than it was one year ealier.

Congratulations for the achievement !

Linux4Palm Development Workstation on Gentoo Linux

The title says it all ! :-)

Logged in Palm TX ! :-)

Amazing ! Logged in Palm TX !

Since Palm TX linux USB support in hackndev kernel works flawlessly, I was able to deploy buildroot's chroot jail and setup sshd in it ! I'll post a screenshot soon. :-)

Kernel (almost) correctly recompiled for Tungsten E2 !!!

Good news ! I was able to boot a home compiled kernel for Palm Tungsten E2 today. :-) This time, I downloaded an older kernel revision from hackndev svn (revision 382, I think, from April 2006). It's a modified 2.6.16 and it's probably the revision nerdfeliz used to compile his kernel. The adjustments were simple, and after some trial and error, I was able to setup an USB serial port. Here are the steps to build the TE2 kernel:

• download hackndev kernel revision 382
• in the main Makefile, change the CROSS_COMPILE to reflect the prefix name of your cross toolchain (mine was "arm-linux-")
• in arch/arm/mach-pxa/palmte2/palmte2_buttons.c, remove the __exit macro from palmte2_buttons_remove
• do a make menuconfig and load nerdfeliz's configuration 20060406.
• add usb gadget support, pxa usb support and serial gadget with CDC ADM support
• in boot options, add "g_serial.use_acm=1" option to change usb serial behavior
• make and cp
  

That's it. This kernel should boot. :-) To activate USB, we need the following trick:

• mknod /dev/usb_serial c 127 0 (in TE2 /dev directory, not in your PC ;-) )
• add a "getty -L 38400 usb_serial" line in TE2 /etc/inittab
• load Garux and set the "Open Cradle USB" option
• boot with the device connected to the PC
  
• after the many usb error messages disconnect the USB cable, wait your desktop flush /dev (wait 5 seconds) and plug the USB connector again :-D
• open gtkterm or minicom and open /dev/ttyACM0 in your desktop (or ACMx if you have other ACM devices)

All right, then ! Now, we have a working ARM linux system and a really expensive dumb terminal linked to it !!! Not quite. :-( I was unable to log in the remote system using gtkterm or minicom, either with "root" user or "default" (buildroot default user), even after playing with securetty and passwd/shadow configurations. Also, there's another sad bug: there's some kind of problem with the SD card driver, it keeps popping error messages. More to come...

Hackndev custom linux kernel for PDAs [ref]

I've downloaded hackndev modified linux kernel. It's a heavily modified kernel, with support for a lot of ARM PDAs. After reading TE2 mailing lists and some fixups I was able to compile a Tungsten E2 specific kernel. I couldn't boot it, however, the screen just faded after booting and nothing else. I tried two different kernel revisions and two different "config" files, with no success. The kernel image that is correctly booting in my Palm is from April 2006. I'll continue my research to a proper kernel in hackndev svn around this date.

Linux on Palm Tungsten E2 How-to [ref]

Meet Garux, a linux bootloader for Palm OS. There's a specific Palm Tungsten E2 Garux build in that page, along with instructions on how to install Opie on it.