The last two nights, I've been in bed browsing the web with my Zaurus using Konqueror (instead of reading, as I usually do).

One night, I went to a Debian HowTo page and read for almost an hour without any shutdown. I did have the light at its lowest setting but I'd assumed the wifi card was sucking down battery power.

Last night, I did a short web browse then decided I wanted some software on my Debian box. I ssh'd into my Debian Box then started apt-get'ing a LOT of software. I'd ssh'd into other boxes before, using the Z, but this was the first time I'd done something actually usefull instead of playing around. It was powerfully refreshing.

I noticed that the time on my Zaurus kept changing, so I followed this FAQ tip at http://openzaurus.sourceforge.net/oz_website/faq/faq.php?id=42

I I installed a bunch of apps last night. I'll provide a list soon. One of the apps was the Konqueror browser. This browser is MUCH better than Opera...so much better than Sharp really should consider just dropping Opera, IMO.

I ran into another problem last night. It seems that I can no longer install software onto my Z using OZ...even when installing to SD card. I've managed to use only 10MB of the 128MB SD space but when I go to System Info/Storage, internal storage/jffs2 is showing only 1544kB available out of a total of 14464kB. I'm assuming I cannot control the size of jffs2 when installing/flashing OZ...how does one fix this then?? /mnt/ram is barely used...23797kB total and 1246kB used. I don't know much about the innards of OZ but it seems that even if I install all software to SD, I still end up using internal space. I like OZ alot but cannot see not being able to install anymore software.

I ssh'd into my Zaurus and did this:

# uname -a
Linux zaurus 2.4.6-rmk1-np2-embedix #11 Tue Oct 29 14:43:28 CST 2002 armv4l unknown
# uptime
3:25pm up 4:22, load average: 4.00, 4.00, 4.00
# df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mtdblock4 14464 12920 1544 89% /
/dev/mtdblock6 23797 18 22551 0% /mnt/ram
/dev/mmcda1 125344 12000 113344 10% /mnt/card

Also, the backup utility that comes with OZ is non-functional. I talked to a friend from when I used to go to #zaurus yesterday, via ICQ. She recently ran OZ (before I installed it a few days ago) and she mentioned the lack of backup utility. I guess I need to read up or ask questions on how OZ users currently back up their data...after all, OZ is still beta software, IMO. I've not started storing important data (yet) but I'd hate to lose my hard-earned wifi settings and such, a few days after I've gotten OZ to work nicely!

Oh...one more thing (for now). I really like the System Info/Processes window...where you can see what's currently running on your Z and kill a process, if necessary. Reminds me of a slim version of gtop!

OK...have a nice day, all!

OK.

I installed OZ 3.0 last night. I selected the 40-24 ROM, since it was the recommended one for newbies. My laptop dualboots XP and Linux and last night, Linux was booted. I didn't want to reboot to XP so I thought I'd attempt to download the required OZ files (zImage-5500-40memory-24storage.bin and initrd.bin) and move them to CF card using a PCMCIA-CF adapter. While I use a PCMCIA wifi card with no problems, I had problems getting my notebook to use the PCMCIA-CF adapter and CF card. So after about 90 minutes of playing with the notebook, I decided to boot XP instead.

I booted XP, downloaded the above files, moved them to the CF card then used OZ's instructions (you'll find those at the OZ site) to install OZ. It installed fine but after the install and reboot of the Z, I had a battery light that wouldn't stop blinking. If I unplugged the power cable, it would stop blinking but start again if I replugged the power cord. A hard reboot solved the problem.

Once I rebooted, OZ did it's obligatory 3-4 minute initialization, with its pretty background of a dinosaur. Once that was finished, I ended up with a very spartan-like palmtop. There's no web browser (like the stock Sharp ROM) but there is a terminal program to work by commandline.

I plugged in my D-Link DCF-650W CF wifi card and battled to get it to work. I got it working 22 hours later (about an hour ago). I had to reflash OZ 3 times until I got it working. The first time I tried to use the CF wifi card, I found that I couldn't even configure it, as the config utility was missing...well, it was there, only there were no wifi config options listed. The wifi card couldn't even be detected. I then reflashed and before booting up OZ, I took out the CF card that had the ROM and replaced it with the CF wifi card. OZ immediately noticed the card but wouldn't accept any DNS nameserver IPs (I hear this is a bug). I spent alot of my day trying to hunt for a HowTo or any info regarding this but there is practically NO organized information on how to set up wifi cards with OZ. I finally decided to post to the Zaurus-general mailing list and ask for help. I got a bit of info: This is a bug in OZ 3.0 and that you could bypass the bug by manually editing the Z's /etc/resolv.conf file and add the nameservers by hand. I tried this and it didn't work. I then reflashed and retried to enter the nameserver data thru the OZ GUI...still nothing. I reflashed a last time and decided to edit /etc/resolv.conf before doing anything else. I then set the wifi card's other data with the OZ GUI and tried to ping my gateway. It worked. I then tried to ping my Linux desktop. It worked. Finally, I was online.

About an hour ago, I tried to download fluxbox for the Z using OZ's package servers (PS) software. PS installed it and when I tried to install Konqueror next, I got a low memory error, stating I didn't have enough space to install much else. So, I removed fluxbox.

From what I understand, you can chose customized kernels for OZ and since I installed the 40-24 one, I was under the impression that I had 40MB of memory and 24MB storage. I'd thought I could store more than one app on the Z itself. I guess I'm going to have to rely heavily on my 128MB SD card (and my 256MB CF card, when I don't have the wifi card plugged in).

I guess that's enough for tonight. I'll continue to update on my OZ install during the week.

Cya

Welcome to my Zaurus journal.

I've found that my PDA page is becoming large in digital size. After looking at it a bit, I've found that most of the data is related to the Sharp Zaurus that I purchased in April of 2002. Each time I purchase a peripheral or do something stupifying, I edit my PDA page to reflect those changes. There's a ton of yellow 'UPDATE' banners that reminded me of weblogging, so I decided to attempt to move everything here. The move will progress during December.

This is my second account with www.blogger.com. My first one is actually hosted on my paid server space. I wanted to try Blogger.com's hosting, this time (free hosting). It was Blogger.com or Xanga.com. I like Blogger.com better, as things are much more customizable, regardless of the required Blogger banner.

I must mention that there's a Zaurus WebRing that I created. It currently has 10 members and is slowly growing. All Zaurus owners are accepted: the SL5000, SL5500, and A300. See http://www.wigglit.com/webring.html for more data on the Zaurus WebRing.

There's also an IRC channel that I created, #zaurus-wr, which is hosted at irc.freenode.net. Please feel free to go there and share your thoughts. Actually, #zaurus-wr isn't meant to be just another Zaurus chat channel...its meant for coordination of Zaurus WebRing members. Not only that, but its also meant as an information medium. Soon, an infobot will be placed there, to help with data management and dissemination.

This Blog isn't meant to actually augment the Zaurus Webring. I just wanted something different as my Zaurus/PDA section. Don't expect a ton of professionalism here. :o) This Blog is going to be in a very lax format.

Well, I'll try to post here daily, or at least everytime I do something stupifying with/to the Zaurus. Catch you all on the flipside...