Will Pandora Be Able To Run Debian?

[hch]

hi and sorry if this is a redundant question. i am currently looking for a replacement of my ageing sharp zaurus and came across the pandora. hardwarewise it seems like this would be the perfect machine, but i wonder whether i will be able to run a lot of the software i need on it.

on the zaurus i have installed the debian eabi branch and i have seen in this forum that the developers at least think about making it possible to run it on the pandora. my question is simply if it will be possible to install some standard os like this (with some reasonable effort) or, alternatively, if the firmware will allow standard deb packages to be installed or individual open source packages to be easily ported to the pandora.

thanks in advance and looking forward to sept. 30!

 

[cosurgi]

installing debian on it is one of the first things that I'll do after I receive it. I'll do it right after I make sure that I have an easy way to dual-boot into original firmware, and to be able to use the originally shipped kernel while in debian, etc...

 

[sindbad]

I think the best way would be to install <insert distro name here> on an SD card and boot it from there. That way there's no risk of fraking things up and you can still run stuff made for the pandora only (albeit not quite as comfortably).

 

[Flat]

there are already arm versions of debian out there (like http://www.debian.org/ports/arm/) so it should be possible.

 

[hch]

great, thanks for the answers! so i guess i'll preorder one then - hope to be among the first 3000

 

[Squidge]

course, it will not be as simple as slapping debian arm on the device and expecting it to run, you'll need to install the appropriate drivers from the official distribution to your own, and then make sure you have a compatable kernel.

 

[christo930]

hi and sorry if this is a redundant question. i am currently looking for a replacement of my ageing sharp zaurus and came across the pandora. hardwarewise it seems like this would be the perfect machine, but i wonder whether i will be able to run a lot of the software i need on it.

on the zaurus i have installed the debian eabi branch and i have seen in this forum that the developers at least think about making it possible to run it on the pandora. my question is simply if it will be possible to install some standard os like this (with some reasonable effort) or, alternatively, if the firmware will allow standard deb packages to be installed or individual open source packages to be easily ported to the pandora.

thanks in advance and looking forward to sept. 30!

I would like to see the zaurus os ported to the Pandora. I've read great things about it, but I can't afford the high price of entry.

Chris

 

[DJWillis]

I would like to see the zaurus os ported to the Pandora. I've read great things about it, but I can't afford the high price of entry.

Chris

For what it is worth the open Zaurus distro (OpenZaurus) morphed into Ångström and it's build system evolved into Open Embedded. We derive our current filesystem from Ångström with lots of custom Pandora buildrules and string the whole lot together with Open Embedded. Make of that whatever you want .

As for Debian. Debian ARMEL (EABI) should not be a big deal at all.

There are several ways you could run it. I guess the easiest would be to boot it off a suitably configured boot SD holding down the peripheral boot button combo and leaving the NAND Pandora distro alone. I already do that for a few Debian derived demos I have on SD's on my Pandora dev board. With the exception of the PowerVR blob you should be able to get most of the hardware going using open source drivers if you want to be a Debian purest, if not then it would be easy enough to hack in the closed bits .

 

[TaG]

I've added this to the wiki FAQ:
QUOTE
The open Zaurus distro (OpenZaurus) morphed into Ångström and it's build system evolved into Open Embedded. We derive our current filesystem from Ångström with lots of custom Pandora buildrules and string the whole lot together with Open Embedded.

 

[hotblack]

Thanks for the info. I'm an old Zaurus user who fondly remembers OpenZaurus (I still use my 5000D but more rarely these days) and had assumed that getting OE/Angstrom going wouldn't be too much of a pain and generally the easiest way to get various things up and running.

So you're using Angstrom/OE with custom buildrules etc for the core Pandora distribution? Is this going to be either fed back into OE or made available to people? Seems like making this setup common would be useful for those wanting to bring software across. I'm also interested if there will be a central package feed for us to use and contribute towards, and if so how ownership of packages and vetting of them will be managed.

Would be interesting to know to what extent Opie is being used. It's a great basis for those who want more PDA functionality on their Pandoras.

 

[hch]

so is it reasonable to expect that there will be a debian eabi rootfs tarball floating around that spares one the painful first steps of installation?

 

[Megamixman]

so is it reasonable to expect that there will be a debian eabi rootfs tarball floating around that spares one the painful first steps of installation?

Nope. It is never reasonable to expect someone else to do the work for you.
It is reasonable to expect someone to figure out the correct steps and put up a guide, but you can't expect a time-frame.

 

[_VWV_]

Well if someone makes a .deb package with kernel + blobs, I'll be able do do everything else myself.

 

[hch]

It is reasonable to expect someone to figure out the correct steps and put up a guide, but you can't expect a time-frame.

that's fair eanough, thnks. just wanted to get a feel if i would be the only one trying to pull this off - this would be beyond me.