Ubuntu

[paddy]

I am looking to install ubuntu ,from looking on google and ubuntu/home i can see there is a beagle version and also a standard armel version ,but i think there might be a custom image for the pandora that was shown in videos before the pandora release.

I am looking to install the best current version so far and wanted to know if someone can point me in the right direction ,i want to bug test it as much as possible and get stuff working on it ,if someone could let me know what kind of progress ubuntu has on the pandora that would be great also.When looking for a ubuntu image i notice mostly the notebook remix ,no standard desktop edition ,i think that was on the beagle board ,also can i use the beagle board version on the pandora ,and finaly what bad things can i expect from installing ? i would be formatting a 4gb card for the install and swap file ,no nand.

ps ,on a simular note ,is there a full tutorial on how to put the current pandora OS onto the SD with possible swap file as well ? this would be a very good thing as i am always lossing so much space on nand by installing/uninstalling i never get the same space back and always reflashing ,no good for pandora nand or my time.

thanks

 

[SomeGuy99]

The one in the old videos was Zubuntu (Zaurus Ubuntu).

http://www.omegamoon.com/blog/static.php?page=ZaurusUbuntu

Zaurus was an older handheld similar to the Pandora. It also inspired Angstrom Linux IIRC.

Also Paddy, check out this:

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/54508-simple-dev-pnd/

Now you can install stuff to your heart's content. I am

 

[paddy]

Would i not be better to go with the current arm/ubuntu than Zubuntu as it's not worked on anymore or possibly update Zubuntu to a more current driver set ,i can't find much on the current arm/ubuntu status but i would like to know in advance how complete it is ,but hey thats what i have my pandora and free time for i guess ,it's just the downloading/installing part i am unsure of as there are a few different versions of arm/ubuntu but i still can't find a download for either.

I like the sound of the dev-pnd but i am getting to the end of my install maddness as i have run out of things to try in the repo ,i like the full gnome desktop and the many preinstalled software solutions on ubuntu but again i have no idea what is actuly included in this arm/ubuntu image.Mabe some solution would be to install the full gnome desktop to the current pandora OS ,but i have tried and even tho i have installed everything (i think) i have no idea how to change the current session to gnome ,i tried this through the session manager but there was no gnome listed.

I think i will use the dev-pnd to get my custom settings saved and it would be better to use swap on the SD as well ,this makes media much better to use and also i can install a few other things that i would wish were installed by default in the current pandora image.

I think for me to get what i want out of the pandora i am going to need to learn much more about porting stuff ,my want list is quite high in terms of software for the pandora ,music software like basic sound recorder and audacity and getting the mic working would be a great start but also handwriting recognition software ,simple paint software like mtpaint (something small but effective) more desktop options like gnome desktop or kde desktop of mabe even notebook remix.Cheese webcam works on the pandora but we need a driver set for cam hardware ,something like skype woudl be nice but the best solution would be to port one of the older versions of Amsn that has mic support and also has (working mic support) as new versions have broken mic.

The future looks good but only if the pandora is in the right hands and the right software gets ported ,this was mabe why i was thinking of jumping onto ubuntu but again i have no idea of what it can do and even if it runs on the pandora ,i will keep looking but if anyone has any idea of the current status please do tell.


thanks

 

[SomeGuy99]

Nice to see you stop to take breath!

I don't we'll benefit much from running Ubuntu. We can get Gnome running somehow, even if we have to harass the devs about it. I think the main problem is killing XFCE and dropping back to the shell properly. I asked Ed, but no luck with his advice so far.

The next stage beyond the Angstrom repo is twofold Paddy:

Debian Repos (Angstrom supports these apparently, and there are 25,000+ programs out there).

Compiling from source. With this we can have any Linux program in the world! I'm already compiling and running some basic apps with little to no dependencies. Stuckie is already working with people who want to test .deb packages and compile software.

I want to figure out how to port stuff too, then we can put all of this effort to good use (for everybody else).

Edit: I have the mic working already. I mapped keys to recording functions, like a Dictaphone. I'm a bit behind with my guides, but this will be one.

The main problem with just jumping ship to another distro is hardware drivers - even stuff made for the Beagleboard won't have Pandora specific drivers.

 

[paddy]

Your work so far sounds great SomeGuy99 ,good to hear that you got the mic working and yes pulling from the debian repo would be a great idea meaning no real need for ubuntu at all.Yeh i thought the drivers would be a problem and i really wasn't sure if the beagle ubuntu image would work out,my next step will be learning how to build from source for the pandora and moving from nand to sd.I have 2x 16gb micro-sd in my psp right now and no need for it yet on the pandora ,mabe the 4gb sd will do for now but i want to have the flexibility of space to test with so i will try Stuckie's dev-pnd out soon.

looking forward to your mic guide.

 

[viridior]

I would recommend looking at the Touchbook (http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) also. They use a ubuntu.squashfs image along with aufs for their system, but a simple unpack of that .squashfs on a SD card along with copying the Pandora kernel (and modules) over you should be good-to-go.

 

[paddy]

I would recommend looking at the Touchbook (http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) also. They use a ubuntu.squashfs image along with aufs for their system, but a simple unpack of that .squashfs on a SD card along with copying the Pandora kernel (and modules) over you should be good-to-go.

Where would i get the pandora kernel and modules ,sorry how would i do this ,just extract the ubuntu image onto the root and also put the pandora firmware on the root as well ?

 

[viridior]

I would recommend looking at the Touchbook (http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) also. They use a ubuntu.squashfs image along with aufs for their system, but a simple unpack of that .squashfs on a SD card along with copying the Pandora kernel (and modules) over you should be good-to-go.

Where would i get the pandora kernel and modules ,sorry how would i do this ,just extract the ubuntu image onto the root and also put the pandora firmware on the root as well ?

Somewhat in this order (I don't have my pandora yet so I can't test this myself)
1. Get separate SD card for Ubuntu.
2. Format accordingly: http://code.google.com/p/beagleboard/wiki/LinuxBootDiskFormat
3. Get squashfs image for Ubuntu: http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/release/latest/ubuntu.squashfs
4. Mount squashfs and copy contents to /dev/mmcblk0p2 created from step 2
5. According to this, http://www.rjmitchell.ca/~jeff/blog2009/2010/06/07/pandora-running-firmware-from-sd-card-instead-of-nand-flash/ you just need to make a boot.txt for /dev/mmcblk0p1
6. Boot into Pandora's OS and copy /lib/firmware and /lib/modules (you might need some other directories if driver installs are in non-standard places... such as wireless drivers which may be in /etc/Wireless) to /dev/mmcblk0p2

EDIT: grammar

 

[paddy]

Cant mount the ubuntu.fs in windows and tried to extract with no luck ,squashfs-tools not working on xp but shoulsd be working ,so i will need to get my good old live-cd out but just wondering if there is a way to mount it on the pandora ,also i am unsure of what other drivers i would need ,wifi isn't in ect\ and i should also get sound touchscreen and display drivers ? - cheers for your help btw viridior

 

[viridior]

Cant mount the ubuntu.fs in windows and tried to extract with no luck ,squashfs-tools not working on xp but shoulsd be working ,so i will need to get my good old live-cd out but just wondering if there is a way to mount it on the pandora ,also i am unsure of what other drivers i would need ,wifi isn't in ect\ and i should also get sound touchscreen and display drivers ? - cheers for your help btw viridior

I really don't know where everything is on the Pandora OS, this is just things I've figured out messing around with my Touchbook. It might also be a good idea to copy /etc/dbus-1, /etc/hal (if applicable), and /etc/X11/xorg.conf also. It may be that the drivers all live in /lib/modules which would be good. As far as squashfs, I have Linux workstations and I mount within them, don't know much about Windows squashfs drivers. An Ubuntu/Knoppix/*linux* LiveCD should have that capability.

 

[Siggen]

What im thinking when I'm reading this thread;

What about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, It has a nice desktop layout made for small screens and also compilant with touch interfaces.
Its based on Gnome but Canonical rewrote it to only be 2D based (comared to the desktop UI which is 3D based)


Its nice, and think about it, if you install Ubuntu Netbook + Pandora Drivers + LibPND = Awesome gaming device.

EDIT:
Just wanted to say, all open windows only occupies the task bar with an Icon to not taking up much space, the ubuntu icon top left minimizes all windows, and the titlebar of fullscreen windows are integrated with the top bar.
The menu is ofcourse compilant with the freedesktop standard, I think LibPND would work well with it.

 

[vadsamoht]

What im thinking when I'm reading this thread;

What about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, It has a nice desktop layout made for small screens and also compilant with touch interfaces.
Its based on Gnome but Canonical rewrote it to only be 2D based (comared to the desktop UI which is 3D based)

It's known as Ubuntu Netbook Edition, for whatever reason.

Its nice, and think about it, if you install Ubuntu Netbook + Pandora Drivers + LibPND = Awesome gaming device.
<snip>

I'd like to see it, but it won't happen for the following reasons:
1. It struggles on a 900mhz eeepc, whereas the Pandora has to be OC'ed just to make 800 with some problems (source: Wikipedia)
2. It requires an installation, although there is a liveusb option (which would prob. work on a SD), this would cause unnecessary bloat and be very slow.

Pity tho.

 

[Siggen]

It's known as Ubuntu Netbook Edition, for whatever reason.


I'd like to see it, but it won't happen for the following reasons:
1. It struggles on a 900mhz eeepc, whereas the Pandora has to be OC'ed just to make 800 with some problems (source: Wikipedia)
2. It requires an installation, although there is a liveusb option (which would prob. work on a SD), this would cause unnecessary bloat and be very slow.

Pity tho.

Bout the name, I forgot, it was called Netbook Remix up untill Canonical overtook the development. Befor that it was called remix, so lets forget that

Well if it strougles on a 900Mhz i386 (dont mean to be nitpicking but small m is Milli and capital M is Mega ) does not necisarily mean that it will struggle on 800Mhz or even 600Mhz Armel. Ubuntu is a relative bloated Linux distro, well its become less bloated recently and I think its going to become faster and smaller on the next revition Maverick Marecat. What about installing the Netbook UI on top of Angström Linux? This way everything should work, just add the Arm Ubuntu repo to Angström and install Netbook UI with dependancies, this will leave out problems with drivers and PND will be supported.

Problem with that is the limited internal disk space, but if you install an Angström on an SD card, this can be used as a workaround. You then also have the internally stored OS to fall back too.

 

[Pleng]

EDIT:
Just wanted to say, all open windows only occupies the task bar with an Icon to not taking up much space, the ubuntu icon top left minimizes all windows, and the titlebar of fullscreen windows are integrated with the top bar.
The menu is ofcourse compilant with the freedesktop standard, I think LibPND would work well with it.

There are videos showing Pandora running Ubuntu's netbook launcher (atop the standard OS) somewhere. Unfortunately it's too buggy for release right now, apparently. Which is a shame because it just looks GORGEOUS!

 

[jdbye]

Actually the Ubuntu netbook launcher seems like the perfect launcher for the Pandora, I'd love to have that as my launcher once I get a Pandora. If only they weren't so hard to get a hold of...

 

[Stocker]

I've been trying to install Ubuntu using the server image from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Beagle

It appears to boot the kernel, but the screen then fades to black and nothing else happens. I've tried messing with the boot.scr but not got anywhere apart from some funky coloured lines on the display.

Anyone else have any luck ? Should this even work ?

 

[SomeGuy99]

I've been trying to install Ubuntu using the server image from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Beagle

It appears to boot the kernel, but the screen then fades to black and nothing else happens. I've tried messing with the boot.scr but not got anywhere apart from some funky coloured lines on the display.

Anyone else have any luck ? Should this even work ?

The Beagleboard has hardware differences to us, so you'll need the Pandora specific drivers I guess.

 

[paddy]

I tried an armel image of ubuntu but i keep getting a sys hault ,not all the drivers are installed but most are copied over ,i think it's to do with the ram image settings from what i have read but i am not very good at linux stuff soo .. asking for a nice dev type to point us in the right direction for a full ubuntu desktop on sd

 

[Chero]

I downloaded stuckies ubuntu extend image, uncompressed it to SD, added a boot.txt (the same one to run angstrom from SD), added /lib/modules and /lib/firmware from Angstrom.
Then I was able to boot ubuntu and could login, but the image doesn't have a WM.
I didn't have any wifi, so I manually downloaded and installed iwconfig (the full tools and needed libs) and copied the scripts to enable wifi (see ARCH-linux thread) over from Angstrom but then it complained about not having busybox. Then I gave up cause I had other things to do ...

 

[Chero]

I have a bootable Ubuntu image on an SD-card.
Keyboard and touchscreen are working after some fiddling.

Now I'm trying to get wireless working but I get an error in "dmesg" that it is unable to load the firmware.
All the needed modules are loaded and the firmware is in /lib/firmware, do I need something else ?

Edit : the wifi-issue is solved by adding a udev rule.

Thanks,
Chero.