55 replies to this topic

[hagisbasheruk]

Thats it my mind is made up ! im a linux user at home and the posibilities for this device is well astounding i have to get one for Christmas,How is SDIO driver coming along?anyone heard anything?
Why not do an internal mod to the GP2X for power to usb,saves modding all your usb hardware and ok it might drain batteries quicker but hay how many bateries could you put in your pocket.
I think(pocketdebian) pocketworkstation would run ok on this from a 256Mb sd card(Full Linux Desktop)
http://www.pocketworkstation.org/ says Other comparable handhelds running Linux might also work with some porting, let me know if you have one you want supported.
SO LET HIM KNOW FOLKS !

[DijiTao]

This is great news, although just a few hairs shy of the fantastic news that would be GPH releasing their version of the kernel. The sooner GPH shows that they want to be part of the OSS community the sooner we can expect to get the attention of more developers. If an anonymous coward happened to submit the story to Slashdot… well I know nothing about it…

[DijiTao]

Why not do an internal mod to the GP2X for power to usb,saves modding all your usb hardware

Because the GP2X runs off two AA batteries - each at 1.5v and 1.5v * 2 = 3v, while USB requires 5v.

Edited by DijiTao, 12 October 2005 - 02:51 PM.

[codesmith]

Why not do an internal mod to the GP2X for power to usb,saves modding all your usb hardware

Because the GP2X runs off two AA batteries - each at 1.5v and 1.5v * 2 = 3v, while USB requires 5v.

That's not a problem at all: http://www.st.com/st...f/docs/7403.pdf

[abigsmurf]

Good news but there's one thing...

It's nice to see the kernel and bootloader are seperate but I'm not too keen on the idea of regulary flashing the bootloader as new versions are released. Would it be possible to protect one section and leave that untouched with every flash so there's no potential for bricking the gp2x with a failed flash or buggy update?

[DijiTao]

I knew stuff like that was out there, but the external mod seems much easier/safer/better (because of battery life) although not nearly as pretty. (well it wouldn't be bad if done correctly) Here's my plan for the USB power problem:
http://www.gp32x.com...ndpost&p=279392

Once we all actually get the hardware in our hands thou, it might turn out that there's plenty of room to cram a DC-DC converter in there.

[DijiTao]

Good news but there's one thing...

It's nice to see the kernel and bootloader are seperate but I'm not too keen on the idea of regulary flashing the bootloader as new versions are released. Would it be possible to protect one section and leave that untouched with every flash so there's no potential for bricking the gp2x with a failed flash or buggy update?

Booting from the SD card seems like a real possibility- I'd just do that and leave the firmware untouched.

[xafier]

It's nice to see the kernel and bootloader are seperate but I'm not too keen on the idea of regulary flashing the bootloader as new versions are released. Would it be possible to protect one section and leave that untouched with every flash so there's no potential for bricking the gp2x with a failed flash or buggy update?

you mean like we've had to do with the GP32? provided your batteries aren't flat and you dont switch it off its highly unlikely you'll trash your GP2X... and if you do you better pray someone gets a JTAG cable going for it so we can still fix them

[DJWillis]

It's nice to see the kernel and bootloader are separate but I'm not too keen on the idea of regularly flashing the bootloader as new versions are released. Would it be possible to protect one section and leave that untouched with every flash so there's no potential for bricking the gp2x with a failed flash or buggy update?

Looking at ways to update the bootloader, kernel and disk image without touching any (or as little as possible) of the GPH stuff is already high on the TODO list . Nothing has been looked at in enough detail for me to really comment but I will anyway.

The current thinking is that you may need to install an Open2x aware version of U-Boot (or some other bootloader) on the device (risky) to then enable things like SD boot, dual kernels in NAND etc. etc. but that really needs some detailed thinking about. The current U-Boot that is flashed to the GP2X’s (well dev-kits) only supports booting from NAND or a fixed memory location if you load your app onto the GP2X via serial . No SD/MMC booting.

[Digitalrat]

Do I understand it right that you'll change the bootloader like that you can choose games that doesn't use Linux directly in the bootloader?

On some Linux-distribution there is the option to restart to windows. That means that the distribution is changing the configuration for the bootloader just for one start, so it'll load Windows directly. Couldn't you implement something like this in the game-launching-menu in Linux? It would be possible to start Linux- and no-os-games in one menu then.

[Sonic-NKT]

what about this:
it is also used on gclinux, the gc doesnt have a os like the gp32 and the executables are dols, there is a dol loader (for gclinux), which copies the dol to memory i think and then resets linux, but the last thing it tells the system is to load this dol of the memory.
couldnt something similar be used for the gp2x?

[Vimacs]

sure, why not.
kexec is not gc specific, it is originaly mean to change the kernel on runtime but on gc you just use it to load a dol, it should run on gp2x pretty easyl.

Edited by Vimacs, 12 October 2005 - 07:38 PM.

[Sonic-NKT]

oh didnt know that.. good to hear.

[hagisbasheruk]

Why not do an internal mod to the GP2X for power to usb,saves modding all your usb hardware

Because the GP2X runs off two AA batteries - each at 1.5v and 1.5v * 2 = 3v, while USB requires 5v.

That's not a problem at all: http://www.st.com/st...f/docs/7403.pdf

thanks for that it saves me explaining LOL

[Oscaruzzo]

DJWillis, when are you going to post the kernel sources on the site? I'm uber-curious to see those device drivers