I am thinking of installing this. I have previously been running CramFS and loving the quick boot times. It only hung at boot on me once, which is much improved over the original firmware

The read me says the following:

- Flash in U-Boot (22/March/2006 or later)
- Copy ONLY open2xfile.img to your SD card.
- Boot + Update
- Copy ONLY open2x kernel to your SD.
- Boot + Update

Is this Art's Uboot from the same web page? Can I run Open2x without changing my bootloader? Is it for sure recommended to update the bootloader?

For the second step... Is this the same as in installing CramFS? Will open2xfile.img update at boot or is it recommended to update it from flash_open2x.gpu?

What are the benefits of running open2x? Are all applications compatible? What about the movie player? Will I still be able to watch movies?

Thanks for all your help.

It is the one from Art's homepage. I only changed the skin to Blue Poison and put filesystem and kernel to one file.

You don't need Art's bootloader for Open2x.
It is potentially dangerous to change the bootloader and you need a compatible SD cart to do so.
Open2x is much more compatible as cramfs.
Before you use flash_open2x.gpu you must change the firmware to 1.4.0 because cramfs is read-only.


Regards,
Stephan

I'm in the process of updating using flash_open2x.gpu and open2xfile.img and it's been sitting on a black screen for a few minutes now.. I'm on the official 1.4.0 firmware.

I also find the readme quite sparse for something so 'big'. I'd like to see a better explenation of certain steps and such. Thanks!

Is it possible to have a skin-changer patch for Open2X like the one used for Cramfs ?

Is Open2X based on 1.4? Does this mean that it will stop you from making further upgrades when the problems in 1.4 are fixed?

I'm just a bit confused because I thought it was a seperate filesystem image, so I don't get why the FW on it before flashing matters.

(Still on 1.1 for fear of bricking)

Pfft, once you've gotten to 1.1 the bricking risk is minimal, kernels are easy to re-flash if something goes wrong. It's the u-boot (1.0.0->1.0.1, IIRC) that you have to worry about.

Just as I said. Cramfs is a read-only filesystem. So you can't run a program that wants to write to the nand. You need one from the GPH firmwares (1.4.0 is just an example, 1.1.0 should also work...)




No.


Regards,
Stephan

hello !
what are the avantages of open2x FS over the FS of GPH ?
what about boot time?

Is there sterm like in the cramfs ?

thank you

Faster boot time, nice splash screen, networking, drivers for stuff.

Much faster. From 40 seconds to about 8.

No, you have to install it yourself.

No problem.

Thank you again !

Faster boot times
Read-only filesystem
Open Source


Regards,
Stephan

So if I have cramfs 0.04 now, I'll have to reupdate to GPH's fs, and then update to open2x?

Precisely.

In the readme it says something about new uboot..
Lets get this straight.
- I have cramfs 0.04
- I put the official fs from GPH to my sd and then update.
- Then I put the open2x files on my sd and it will update as a normal image?

So now I'm sitting at:

write_important_data finished at block: 504
Partition formatted succesfully
Wrote 8224768 bytes of data to 504 blocks
0 bad blocks detected

Is it the script finished? Should it return to the 1.4.0 menu? Is it safe to turn it off and update the Open2X kernel?

Thanks.

---

Continued:

Well, Open2X is installed and working. It seems a little quicker at booting than CramFS (maybe by 1 second).

Where is this project going? What are the end goals?

I am stupid.

fomit: how long did it take to run flash_open2x.gpu?

now I am at:

write_important_data finished at block: 504
Partition formatted succesfully
Wrote 8224768 bytes of data to 504 blocks
1 bad blocks detected





Can I shut it off?


EDIT: I did, and all went fine. Now we have a very cool bootscreen and boot time went down a little from cramfs.

Here's a quote from DJWillis:



That's all I know...



Yes.

Regards,
Stephan

The name "Open2X" is a bit misleading: this is just the cramfs layout in squashfs on theoddbot's ROFTL layer.

The goal of the Open2X project is to replace the entirety of GPH's applications with community applications, all open-source of course.

That's what I figured and why I asked earlier about the movie player.

Are there any programs known not to work with this firmware, like how neorage and some other programs didn't work in cramfs?

To naples39:
If you mean Rage2x by "neorage", then I must say it works fine cramfs...

Q: Has open2x locked nand like cramfs?

Yes.

Haha, yeah, that's what I meant. Whoops

So I notice that this "Open2X" is running SquashFS instead of CramFS. I remember theoddbot mentioning something about why he chose CramFS over SquashFS, but I don't remember the reasons.

cramfs was already in the source tree. squashfs needs to be patched in (not that it's hard).

Where can I download this firmware?

I cannot find it here->http://www.distant-earth.com/open2x/

Thanks for your help

What is the point of installing open2x over cramfs? I'm happy as it is right now and I don't really see what is new in open2x apart from a possible 1 second faster boot speed.

You can download it from:

Archive with modified skin.

or

Art's Homepage with original skin.


@sand_man

Open2x is much more compatible.
Open2x has a nice boot screen.
Open2x is an open source project.


Regards,
Stephan

I be honest, and Im a techie type person, I find the lack of what I would call proper install instructions a big limiter on this. I would love to try it but Im not going anywhere near this until I understand exactly what is involved and so far read thing this thread its not obvious to me yet alone any one not techie...

Sorry Guys !

what do you mean with "much more compatible"?

about networking, what is currently possible via the usb cable? (is there a samba server? )

No samba in it at the moment, it's basically got the same network functionality as the old Networking Firmware in the archive. It also has drivers for a USB WiFi stick.

And if you want the quickest boot time possible, I recommend you upgrade to art103's uboot. Stops all that nasty autobricking stuff too.

Here is a tutorial in english:

Tharos Portal

And the german thread on GP2x.de:

Thread

If this is no help for you, I'm sorry too.

Regards,
Stephan

Edit:
P.S. My english is to worse to write a proper guide for you. So sorry for that. But you can ask precise questions, and I will help you.


E.g. Neocdgp2x works with open2x. In fact it is the only one I know, so perhaps "much more" is a little exaggeration.

Ow, ok.

More compatible with what?

see my question... and the answer

Programs for the GP2x ?

As you know there are some programs which don't work with cramfs. (Neocdgp2x e.g.)

I've been a little nervous about updating my firmware to either Cramfs or Open2x. Does it upgrade the same way as the official GPH firmware? I've succesfully upgraded to 1.4.0 with no problem. I might then try to upgrade to Cramfs or Open2x. Which one is generally better? Are there any pros and cons between the two besides Open2x being one second faster in boot time and slightly better compatibility?

Thanks sbock, that makes more sense now...
Now sure how I missed that page before...

Just one thing for you to know:

All new delivered GP2x from EvilDragon and Craig will have Open2x as default firmware.

EvilDragon wrote about it in this thread on GP2x.de.

Sorry folks, it is german once more...


Regards,
Stephan

Pretty similar, though not quite the same. You have to run a program to flash the filesystem separately before updating though, or you end up with a crash, but that's just a matter of finding the right filesystem download (open2x in the filesystems section on Art's page - there's a link to it in the archive under homepage of the package with the modified skin) and matching up the firmware required with it.

i.e. If you want to use Open2x, download the filesystem called Open2x, the kernel with the same name, copy the filesystem to SD and run the .gpu... when it finishes, copy over the GP2xkernel.img file from the kernel zip and turn on - and hope you get a firmware flash.

If you update Uboot first, the flashing bit is less haphazard is all, if I understand rightly...


In terms of which is better, most seem to be saying Open2x; it does have some slight advantages over cramfs, and possibly some major ones. And so far as I can tell, the only disadvantage is the lack of an sterm (which you can *get* - you just have to install it yourself). So go with that, I would...

Install instructions:

1) If you are running CramFS make sure you reflash the GPH 1.4 firmware. You only need to flash the firmware. You don't need to run the applications utility.

2) Insert an SD card with the contents from the Open2X archive ONCE THE GP2X has booted the GPH 1.4 firmware. Run the Open2X utility. This will perform the update to SquashFS and will make your NAND read-only.

3) Make sure that the only thing on your SD Card is the new kernel (gp2xkernel.img) and restart your GP2X. This should install the new kernel.

Once this is finished you will have a fairly quickly booting GP2X.

---

I have noticed the same movie player freezes with this firmware as with CramFS. It only seems to freeze when running on "normal". I'm not quite sure why the video freezes.

Also, one thing I have noticed with the movie player is that when I have multiple video files on a card and I am playing the last file, the movie player refuses to play the last approximately 30 seconds of the last file. Has anyone else noticed this?

Does this fix the problem with sound coming out of the speakers on the GP2X when using TV-Out?

Fomit - on a completly unrelated note - I'd just like to say that every time I see your name I think of the GCC complier optomization "--fomit-frame-pointer"...

Just upgraded to this (Aswell as art103's uboot) boot time is now 11secs from switch on, very impressive. The menu aint half bad either.

I'm a little confused about this stuff too, is there just a modified firmware that doesn't change your NAND to write only that has USB host support? I got a USB cable and want to be able to hook up stuff as easily as possible without needing a degree to figure out the stuff that's posted here, I don't have any Linux background like a lot of people here so a lot of these words just go over my head.

I dont think there is one.

You need the "user_files" from Art's Homepage.
There is no need to change the firmware for USB host support.

Regards,
Stephan

I'd like to, but I can't really upgrade to this firmware because my SD doesn't support the GPH method of installing.

Can you install the Open2X firmware using any standard GPH firmware (1.1 etc) or must you upgrade to 1.4 first?