Hello, Just Joined The Community

[Yellow Kitty]

yeah the wheezy option is broken in the installer, suppose you could try to drop a compiled version of xzcat into the appdata folder of the installer PND.. but that is a bit overboard..  


However I've used this tutorial to apt upgrade squeeze to wheezy on pandebian.

http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-upgrade-debian-squeeze-to-wheezy


Although I didn't bother backing up the /etc directory in the first step.. It wasn't necessary.

Okay, I am going to attempt to upgrade Sneezy to Wheezy. I'm not sure what the difference is but Wheezy seems better. I'm still new with the terminal commands so... I just might end up breaking my PanDebian I'll follow the steps in that link and skip step 1 like you did. I've used the vi editor with the piratebox config... wow, it's once crazy editor. You try to type and learn that letters make the editor do things. It took me all day to learn to change a line with it.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Like TrashyMG said, install squeeze then upgrade to wheezy.  I then upgrade to jessie then to sid just a matter of changing the sources.list and do update, updrade, and dist-updgrade.

You can stick with Wheezy if you want.  As for XFCE4, just do sudo apt-get install xfce4 and it will install the required packages.  After that, you can startxfce4 from the Run.

 

[sebt3]

I've used the vi editor with the piratebox config... wow, it's once crazy editor. You try to type and learn that letters make the editor do things. It took me all day to learn to change a line with it.

vi is not a crazy editor. It's huge mprovement over the initial standard Unix editor : ed. Compared to ed, vi add literally a newer dimention to file editing but sure the usage is rather similar.Once you're used to it, you just wonder why your previous editor wasnt that powerfull

I for one leave regularly ":x" in my file on my work desktop

 

[Yellow Kitty]

Whoohoo, I did it! I upgraded to Wheezy!

Everything worked. I followed the steps given. It took a while. I used the terminal to check what type of debian I had after the dist-upgrade by typing: lsb_release -a , I got a GNU/Linux 7.7 Wheezy! Thanks Trashy!!

@Shenmue: Thank you! I'll go and try the sudo apt-get install xfce4... do I do this with the native terminal on super zaxxon, or with the PanDebian terminal? They alter two different sd cards it seems... I'll just try it with the super zaxxon terminal and see what happens.

@sebt3: I used nano to edit the upgrade things I'm staying away from vi editor... until I understand how to use it!

EDIT:

@Shenmue: Okay... I figured it out. The super zaxxon terminal says that sudo is not a command. I used the PanDebian terminal and the command worked. It's installing right now.. ~130 something Mbs. Thanks!

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

@Shenmue: Thank you! I'll go and try the sudo apt-get install xfce4... do I do this with the native terminal on super zaxxon, or with the PanDebian terminal? They alter two different sd cards it seems... I'll just try it with the super zaxxon terminal and see what happens.

Do this in terminal in PanDebian.  Thing is, I dedicate the entire 32GB SD card for Pandebian and using Direct install (so I can have the linux file directory structure to play with).  I even put the pandebian pnd downloaded from the repo on that card.  That way that card is a fully standalone Pandebian installation (all you have to do is create the same pandora directory structure on this card as well, i.e., /pandora/apps, appdata, menu, desktop and put the Pandebian pnd in there).  I can take that card and stick it into any other Pandora and automatically have pandebian there.

 

[TrashyMG]

So... I don't really get the need of having xfce4 running in pandebian on top of Superzaxxon. Is it broken for you on regular SuperZaxxon?

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

So... I don't really get the need of having xfce4 running in pandebian on top of Superzaxxon. Is it broken for you on regular SuperZaxxon?

  It's just cool that pandora can do weird stuff

Also, when running xfce4, I recommend using openbox as, like trashy said, there's no point of running xfce4 in xfce on regular Zaxxon.

Or you can just run the xfce-panel only and not the full xfce4 deskop as the default lxpanel that comes with Pandebian sometimes doesn't show all the stuff...

 

[Yellow Kitty]

So... I don't really get the need of having xfce4 running in pandebian on top of Superzaxxon. Is it broken for you on regular SuperZaxxon?

Trashy, it's just cool to pack your Pandora with as much stuff as possible. Why have just one xfce when you can have two

@Shenmue: I was wondering if you can have everything on one card. I tried to copy and paste folders form my pandora sd card into the PanDebian sd card, but it won't allow it. Windows says I need to reformat the PanDebian card. The only folder I seem to be able to copy/paste anything into is in the PanDebian card in /home/.../pandome/...? I'll figure it out somehow. I'd like what you have, where everything is all on one sd card.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

I did the installation on one card from the beginning so I didn't do copy and paste afterwards.  Not sure if it even works if you copy and paste directory afterwards.  Didn't try so don't know here.

I'm not sure if you use Direct install or Loopback.  For Direct, Pandebian need ext formatted card.  With ext formatted card (my is ext4 formatted), you can't copy and paste on windows as window can't recognize ext partition.

 

[Yellow Kitty]

@Shenmue: Hmm... I used Direct install since the Loopback didn't work for me. I guess I'll eventuall re-install PanDebian on the Pandora card like you did. Did you just install PanDebian ontop of your Pandora card?

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Essentially yes.  But I only have pandebian pnd on that pandora card.  So it does not depend on the other card on another pandora for example.

 

[Yellow Kitty]

Essentially yes.  But I only have pandebian pnd on that pandora card.  So it does not depend on the other card on another pandora for example.

Shenmue, I can't do what you did? It won't let me. The PanDebian installer says: "cannot install into target  '/media/BLUE32'  mounted with noexec or nodev." BLUE32 by the way is the name of my primary sd card with the pandora folders. What does noexec and nodev mean? I tried to install it in an empty sd card with only the essential pandora folders and no PND files in them and it says the same thing?

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Essentially yes.  But I only have pandebian pnd on that pandora card.  So it does not depend on the other card on another pandora for example.

Shenmue, I can't do what you did? It won't let me. The PanDebian installer says: "cannot install into target  '/media/BLUE32'  mounted with noexec or nodev." BLUE32 by the way is the name of my primary sd card with the pandora folders. What does noexec and nodev mean? I tried to install it in an empty sd card with only the essential pandora folders and no PND files in them and it says the same thing?

Check here for a step by step instructions except put the PanDebian PND in /pandora/menu/ on the same card which I called pandebian .  I don't know what those errors of yours mean as I didn't encounter them with my installation.  Was your card preformatted ext?  You have to do that first using Gpared and then choose No when Pandebian ask you if you want to format the card.

 

[Christoph.Krn]

[...] The N810 & N900 are essentially based on two very different concepts. The older [circa 2007] N810 is based on the concept that it is a pocket PC which runs on a miniature Linux distro. The "newer" N900 [circa 2009] is based on the idea that it is a cellphone, and it works as a cellphone proper... an outdated one. I already have a cellphone that can do more than the N900. It seems redundant to me to have two cellphone. The N810 supplements my cellphone because it works as a mini computer. The screen of the N810 is also much larger [~4.5in], compared to the ~3.5 of the N900. The N900 is also made from creeky cheap plastic, whereas the N810 is made from metal... I think titanium.

The interesting aspect is, to people who know about the technology, they are very similar devices, with the N900 being potentially more interesting (because the hardware, which is very, very, very similar to that of the classic 600Mhz Pandoras, is faster than that of the N810). This is because BOTH of them are running on a version of Maemo, with, basically, the one on the N900 being developed further. So, the basic system software is very similar, but the graphical user interfaces of these two devices are very different, due to the fact that the more finger-friendly interface of the N900 was regarded as superior for this smartphone-like device.
In other words, if you can do something on the operating system of one of these devices, chances are that the same thing can also be done on the other device. If you still have them, you can install a regular desktop-like system on them, like on the Pandora. I don't own any of these Nokia devices myself, but this should lead you into the right direction: Easy Debian.

As far as the Neo900 is concerned, what's special about the Neo900 over the N900 is not that it runs forms of Linux, because both of these devices were built specifically to do that (as were the N900's ancestors).

So, unless I misunderstood you somewhere, the reason why I find your first experiences with the N810 and N900 so interesting is that the way the graphical user interfaces of these devices work influenced how you perceived their capabilities. I have been observing a couple of similar patterns in other situations over the past few years, and think that they may be helpful in improving the user experience and usability of open handhelds. Mabe you already know that the Pandora comes with "MiniMenu", an alternative user interface (here is a video about it: Pandora - One vid per day 9: MiniMenu overview). MiniMenu is very different from the usual desktop that runs on the Pandora ("desktop" in this case means the user interface with the taskbar, the windows and everything else that would normally be found on a big computer). It'c conceptually closer to a smartphone-type user interface than a typical desktop-type user interface.

If something like MiniMenu would have been the default user interface of the Pandora, maybe you would never have found it very interesting.

 

[Yellow Kitty]

So, unless I misunderstood you somewhere, the reason why I find your first experiences with the N810 and N900 so interesting is that the way the graphical user interfaces of these devices work influenced how you perceived their capabilities.

[...]

If something like MiniMenu would have been the default user interface of the Pandora, maybe you would never have found it very interesting.

Yes, the interface is real important to me. The GUI on the n810 to me is far "better" than that of the n900. Another important factor is screen size, since with these types of pocketable devices the size of your screen influences the extent of what you can do on/with it, the facile usability of certain applications where they fit into the screen, and so on. One thing I liked about the n810 is that the gnupg software was able to handle and work with very large keys. I have a 13kbit gpg key, and my n810 can work with it. Whereas the gnupg software on my new pandora cannot work with a key that large. One last thing I love about the n810 is the quality or workmenship put into the device. It's all titanium. The only problem is that with a titanium casing, getting a wi-fi connection is near impossible. I can be sitting right infront of my wi-fi tower and my n810 would still have a hard time connecting. Or my connection drops regularly, which made installing and updating things very, very frustrating! I do have Easy Debian installed on my n810. Even with a pandora, I still think the n810 is nice... perhaps a Classic, like classic cars. They'll never make a device like the n810 again. I liked the n810 so much, I bought a second one just to save.

If the Pandora came with the miniMenu as its default GUI or only interface, I would have been extremely dissatisfied! I don't like it at all. I only looked at the miniMenu once, and hated it I prefer the xfce desktop for sure.

@Shenmue: I spent all day yesterday following your instructions. I was able to do what you did and install PanDebian and the Pandora folders onto one card!!! I first reformated my PanDebian card, erasing everything. Then I went into > System, and clicked on an app called "create pandora sd card," which formats the card again and installs the needed folders. Then I followed your instructions. It worked. I was able to copy and paste all of my pnd files from my old card into the /pandora/menu/ folder in the new card! Thank you again!

 

[groovechicken]

So, unless I misunderstood you somewhere, the reason why I find your first experiences with the N810 and N900 so interesting is that the way the graphical user interfaces of these devices work influenced how you perceived their capabilities.

[...]

If something like MiniMenu would have been the default user interface of the Pandora, maybe you would never have found it very interesting.

If the Pandora came with the miniMenu as its default GUI or only interface, I would have been extremely dissatisfied! I don't like it at all. I only looked at the miniMenu once, and hated it I prefer the xfce desktop for sure.

I agree with you here. I tried MiniMenu for the first time the other day when I was troubleshooting a botched system update and have no plans on going back to that. I too bought my Pandora because I wanted a linux computer in my pocket and not another smartphone type device. I have been wanting to try PanDebian on mine since I am a debian user anyway, but I don't have the apparently unlimited free time that others here do.    I have found the standard xfce in SZ good enough, though, that I haven't felt too urgent a need to set up PanDebian yet. So far, I have been able to do everything I need to in stock SZ.

Having said all that, my favorite user interface ever on a mobile device was QTopia on my old Sharp Zaurus SL5500. If anyone ported that to SZ, I would probably end up using that at least as much as the stock xfce setup.

When the Pyra comes out, I am looking forward to setting up Lumina Desktop as my default desktop. I got to see it in action at Ohio Linux Fest and it is pretty slick. Additionally, its low use of system resources will make it a perfect fit for the Pyra. I am normally a KDE user, and look forward to being able to run that on the Pyra, but will probably spend most of my time in Lumina as the performance will undoubtedly be noticeably improved on a resource-constrained device.

Lastly, welcome to the community. This is one of the few I take the time to interact with anymore. This is one of those places where you don't really have to explain the reasoning behind "because I can" when trying to do weird things with your device. 

 

[Fzero]

[Y] 'ello Kitty

Your nice new Pandora keeping you busy I bet.

You may be on it, as probably seen on the boards or Pandoralive ... but C4A Competitions are good, at moment Pandoralive doing 3 games each month to battle for highscores.

Just wanted to mention the ungraceful exiting of programs and rebooting Pandora too when sometimes nothing else works, as you were asking about exiting programs.

...Aside from the correct way, escaping or using the Pandora Home button, sometimes [very rarely too I will say], that doesn't work, and you can force reboot if system jams up by holding the Pandora Home button and at the same time sliding the Power switch.

...Obviously that's not ideal, but it works if you really have to. I've had to do it a few times in the past when things just jam up and nothing else works

 

[rygD]

This is one of those places where you don't really have to explain the reasoning behind "because I can" when trying to do weird things with your device.  

What more is there to explain? :lol:

 

[Yellow Kitty]

So, unless I misunderstood you somewhere, the reason why I find your first experiences with the N810 and N900 so interesting is that the way the graphical user interfaces of these devices work influenced how you perceived their capabilities.

[...]

If something like MiniMenu would have been the default user interface of the Pandora, maybe you would never have found it very interesting.

If the Pandora came with the miniMenu as its default GUI or only interface, I would have been extremely dissatisfied! I don't like it at all. I only looked at the miniMenu once, and hated it I prefer the xfce desktop for sure.

I too bought my Pandora because I wanted a linux computer in my pocket and not another smartphone type device. I have been wanting to try PanDebian on mine since I am a debian user anyway, but I don't have the apparently unlimited free time that others here do.    I have found the standard xfce in SZ good enough, though, that I haven't felt too urgent a need to set up PanDebian yet. So far, I have been able to do everything I need to in stock SZ.

[...]

Lastly, welcome to the community. This is one of the few I take the time to interact with anymore. This is one of those places where you don't really have to explain the reasoning behind "because I can" when trying to do weird things with your device. 

Hi Groove! Yeah, that's why I bought the Pandora! I was looking for a mini Linux pc you can put in your pocket, and not another smartphone. The Pandora turns out to be exactly what I was looking for.

I'd recommend setting up PanDebian. Start the set up just before you go to bed. That's how I do it. Leave it plugged in all night, and it'll install everything as you sleep

And thank you for the welcome. Nice to meet you.

@FZERO: Hi FZERO!, My new pandora is great and has been keeping me busy! I spent a whole day upgrading to Jessie debian. Then two whole frustrating days to learn how to install wordpress! And after the wordpress experience, it only took me an hour to install Tinyboard!

Amazingly: I now have wordpress and tinyboard up and running on/in my pandora! It's so cool! You can't do that with a smartphone! It can do everything a laptop can do! For the wordpress installation, I followed these instructions with minor tweaks: http://www.tecmint.com/install-wordpress-using-apache-in-debian-ubuntu-linux-mint/

I had to use the root terminal of my PanDebian to do everything that website instructed. I'm starting to get the hang of the terminal!

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

I'm running Mono Develop 5.5 on Sid   Who would have imagined this little tiny machine can run Microsoft C#!    Pretty cool!