Linux on GP32?

[The Dude]

Has anyone heard of any work being done on a Linux port for the GP32?

You can run Linux on CPUs all the way down to the 8086, and you can get the entire kernel to fit on a single floppy. And Linux is very flexable with hardware, that's how they have gotten Linux to run on WebTV's and the Dreamcast.

The only limitation for this would be the lack of a keyboard. But maybe a virtual keyboard could be used. Or an external keyboard could be modded for use like they have done with the GBA. Although I think I remember something about external hardware being hard to mod since the USB port isn't powered, but what about the EXT port?

Well, anyway, does anyone know if there is a Linux port being worked on for the GP32?

 

[papapopalung]

http://www.xs4all.nl/~abvuijk/http://darkf...fader.net/gp32/

 

[IntenseWage]

What would honestly be the point of porting Linux to the GP32? I dunno, I can't really think of any uses other than, "Hey guys, my GP32 can run Linux. What can your handheld system do?" Enlighten me here. If there's really some cool uses, I'd probably be interested, too.

 

[The Dude]

It could be argued that there is no point in developing anything but games for the GP32.

But then we have programs like Wind-Ups, the various text/hex viewers, and even MoviePark. They show that the GP32 can do other things than simply play games.

And seriously, there is almost nothing being done on the GP32 but emulators. At this point, anything, no matter how useless it might seem, is better than another emulator.

 

[Grand_Poobah]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gp32linux

http://info2.info.tampere.fi/~teoarsa/linux/

2 other sites thats been up for a long while.

 

[The Dude]

None of these sites seem to have made any progress, or have done anything for that matter.

They just have links to ftp sites where you can download the Linux kernel for ARM...

 

[Tobriand]

I think there's a difficulty in getting the loader integrated with the SMC driver or something. The kernel could be ported easily by someone who knos how, but the bit that actually lets it load might be a tad more trcky...

 

[The Dude]

Yeah, from what little info there is, it seems the only problem that is keeping it from booting is the lack of a SMC driver. They already have a suitable kernel.

 

[empee]

i actually get steady one new person/2months asking for gp32 linux
i point them at few places:
*.shit .. kernel stuff and some mmc(smc) code that can be used to create the smc code for linux
linux booting on gp32 funny that noone actually mentioned this yet..
korean gp32linux project

and for those who like it..
linux kernel and bootloader that works .. for gp32 ofcourse
it's old but dont think that it's actually posted anywhere before this.. (or has it.. forgot if i have..)

so.. anyone upto create smc driver now?
darkfader's gcctest has smc stuff that doesn't use gamepark libs.. this could be used for the linux driver


//markus p <empee at daug dot net>

 

[empee]

Hi Markus,

I donwloaded my binary port to the toholl directory.

- download 'bootload.fxe' to the /GPMM dir of your gp32
- create a /GPMM/LINUX dir
- download the zimage file to the /GPMM/LINUX dir
- start 'linux bootloader' app with the free launcher.

I have a strange bug: if your gp32 is cold (switched off since
a long time), linux will not boot; try again and it will boot.
Anyway, after the kernel has been uncompressed and
executed, wait for ~5 seconds before seeing the
screen display kernel log.

Darkfarder seemed to have done a lot of work: what is
his progress status ?

Thanks for all: I will start tot discover the ftp site file this
week.

Regards

Toholl

lets post this before i get 200 mails asking how to boot..

and this is from february if someone wondered

//markus p <empee at daug dot net>

 

[jegHegy]

thanks empee :]
just a note: it doesn't run in geepee32

 

[The Dude]

I can't get it to boot.

It says

Error: cannot find ZIMAGE file !!!

I have the image file in the GPMM/LINUX folder, do you have to compile it before it will work?

 

[Sonic-NKT]

arghh dint know about this
@empee will your site be available again for others?
http://empee.daug.net/

i miss it

THANKS!!!

EDIT:
NICE IT WORKS !!!!
but ends with a Kernelpanic when tried to mount root ....
argh i want linux ...
funny thing linux founds a usb hub with 2 ports
i hope someone is still working on this

bye

 

[nerd of nerds]

holy f***ing crap!!!!!!! this is AWSOME but there is one problem, i can't access the site . i wanna try linux too yes i know it doesn't work perfectly....

 

[Tidus]

but which kind of keyboard will u use with GP32 Linux??

if not, I admit I'm extremly interested

When somebody will write an easy "how to" to make it run well??? ;p

 

[nerd of nerds]

somehow we need to make a linux partition on the smc... i have an 8mb smc laying around somewhere that i could try this with, i just need a program to partition it.....

 

[empee]

linux partition would be useless without smc drivers now wouldn't it?

and df's page has example .smc file with fat and ext2 file systems.. so you could partition your 128mb smc to have 20mb for linux and rest for fat12 to normal gp32 stuff run on

and which site you cant access.. that www.fador.org one?


//markus p <empee at daug dot net>

 

[The Dude]

I guess I am the only moron who can't get it to work then?

 

[Sonic-NKT]

your site http://empee.daug.net/
hmm and does linux work when i format my SMC right? dont thinks so..
is the porject on empee.daug.net still in dev?
bye

 

[empee]

empee.daug.net aint working anymore since the host decited to firewall rest of the world from the box because of repeative ddos attacks..
there is a version running at phoenix.merseine.nu but i dont have time to update it :/

- download 'bootload.fxe' to the /GPMM dir of your gp32
- create a /GPMM/LINUX dir
- download the zimage file to the /GPMM/LINUX dir
- start 'linux bootloader' app with the free launcher.

how hard can that be?
you dont need any special filesystems as the gp32 linux (kernel) loads itself to memory..

all you need is hacked PCLink by ph0x & firefly that you can find here at gp32x and those two files from fador.org
zImage and bootload.fxe

note: atleast my explorer tries to download the zImage as text file .. so i created zImage.bin that you must rename to zImage before you upload it to your gp32!