Free software, open source, copyleft. Freedom.
2010-02-26
This is a continuation to the post about Ubuntu 9.10 in SmartQ 5. I keep getting a constant flood of emails that remind me that I should upload my patches, so here they are :)
Before giving more details I would want to recommend against using Karmic in your SmartQ 5. Installing Ubuntu’s previous version (Jaunty) is straightforward and it performs faster than Karmic.
When I asked in #ubuntu-arm about the performance regression I got no answer. I suspect that default compilation flags are responsible, most likely related to VFP. Slowness is most noticeable and annoying in interpreted languages, like Perl. So, unless some of the new features included in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) are important to you, don’t bother trying.
Anyway, if you are still eager to install Karmic, here is the modified mountall package.
Patches are required because Karmic expects a modern kernel. There are people trying to port SmartQ source and drivers to a recent kernel, which would be the propper way of fixing this issue.
My quick and dirty hack to the mountall package is able to boot with older kernels. It was not meant to be published, but here it is by popular demand. Keep in mind that it is only a workaround and not a proper solution, the contents of /etc/fstab seems to be ignored during boot, other programs may fail or require patches too, and there could be more hidden issues. Fell free to share your fixes.
2009-12-20
I recently found a laptop computer with the hardware caracteristics I was looking for and bought it to replace my old one. I’m very happy with the hardware, but ain’t going to provide free advertising here because I believe the manufacturer does not deserve it.
First task was to perform the exorcism. I removed the proprietary software that the stupid manufacturer puts inside and forces me to buy. Next, all labels and physical spam were detached, including the most important one: the original certificate of authenticity, the one that proves that you don’t care about people freedom, was replaced by a certificate of hacker authenticity.
Product key is made from hexadecimal ascii characters, and barcode contains the string “genuine gnu/linux hacker” encoded. Feel free to use or modify it (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license). The package contains a printable PDF file and its source SVG (made with Inkscape).
No hacker needs a certificate, but it was a fun parody which has a practical usage too as a way to cover some of the remaining spam that is hard printed and can’t be easily removed. The real Genuine Advantage comes when people is unchained from the evil tentacles of of the restrictive software.
It seems that the warranty of my laptop is now invalid as I rejected its EULA and removed one of its “inseparable components” (judge’s decision in a least one previous case here in my country). Who cares, I feel much better now, my freedom is more important than laptop costs. Fuck you stupid laws.
2009-11-30
I ran a quick test of latest Ubuntu and Kubuntu desktops in the SmartQ5, nothing serious, just installing and launching some applications for curiosity’s sake. KDE 4 feels slower than GNOME, but admittedly, both of them are too bloated for the hardware. Nevertheless, it was fun to play with a full desktop in such a small device.
2009-11-28
A new version of the Qi bootloader for SmartQ is available, now called SmartQi bootloader:
http://zenvoid.org/software/qi-smartq
I’ve included the excellent patch made by David F. Carlson, so the CPU will run now at 666 Mhz in its maximum performance setting (was previously set to 533) and memory timing parameters are optimized. The result is greatly improved performance.
Linux kernel must be named /boot/linux-SMDK6410.bin and there should be 2 MiB of free, unpartitioned space at the end of the SD card. To install the bootloader, use the install-smartq-qi.sh script:
./install-smartq-qi.sh /dev/SD_CARD_DEVICE qi-smartq-20091126.bin
Currently I have tested on a Q5 with the provided kernel only. Feel free to test and give feedback, but please, before doing so be aware that the software is for people who are not afraid of hacking their devices and maybe taking some risks in the process. It distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty.
Source code is now on gitorious too, enjoy hacking:
http://gitorious.org/qi-smartq
2009-11-06
This is a cross toolchain for ARM that uses Ubuntu 9.10 compilers and libraries, so it (hopefully) maintains compatibility with the native compiler for ARM. Precompiled binaries for i386 and the complete source code with its build script are here:
http://zenvoid.org/software/cross-compiler/
It works for me but not warranties, remember to run the DejaGnu test suite if required for your project. Tests results and patches are appreciated.
2009-06-22
Photos of an Openmoko Freerunner mobile phone (not new, took them last year). Debian installed. The capacitor soldered within its micro SD pins is present on modern hardware revisions to solve a problem with the GPS.
Photos taken by me and, as usual, published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
2009-06-12
This release has some fixes and helpful changes for debugging. But remember that it is experimental and unsupported code, so be careful. Source code and binaries are here:
http://zenvoid.org/software/qi-smartq
The kernel is also updated. It is recommended to use the kernel and modules included in that directory as it has been modified to show Linux console messages on the screen (very useful for locating and fixing problems). To install the bootloader, follow the instructions of the previous release.
When booting, it shows a very short red light, followed by a short yellow, followed by green light. If green light is reached, it means that the bootloader has finished its job and Linux is booting. If you are using my modified kernel, you should see the boot messages from this point. This is the meaning of the LED lights:
Blinking red LED should mean that the battery is too low, but it is not implemented yet.
Photos of the boot messages and Mer distribution running from SD card:
If you are interested in cooperating with the Mer project please join to the #mer channel at irc.freenode.net.
2009-06-04
Groklaw – TomTom Settlement Aftermath: Get the FAT Out
It was widely known that FAT is patented by Microsoft, but unlike other patented algorithms, Microsoft was apparently not making active use of the patent against Linux so nobody was worried. Not anymore. TomTom gets the dubious honor of being the first manufacturer that is the target of a patent lawsuit that covers its embedded Linux with FAT support. Much like MP3, plans to remove FAT from Linux products are starting to emerge:
“The Linux Foundation is here to assist interested parties in the technical coordination of removing the FAT filesystem from products that make use of it today.”
Mer is a community project, free and open source. Initially seems much difficult that a project like this become an attractive target for a lawsuit (at least under my subjective point of view), but manufacturers can distribute Mer with their products, and they are encouraged to do that. Those manufactures are much more attractive.
Now what? Ignore patent threats? Put FAT packages and modules in a separate repository? Kill FAT forever?
The only thing that I’m sure is that reading Donald Knuth texts is always an enlightening activity:
Groklaw – Donald Knuth: Mathematical Ideas, or Algorithms, Should Not Be Patented
2009-06-03
Update: This information is old, please read a more recent post on this topic.
I made a modified Qi bootloader for the SmartQ 5 MID that can boot from the
external SD card, as a convenient way of developping or testing OS, or for system rescue purposes in case of internal flash corruption. This is the bootloader operation:
The SmartQ Qi bootloader is written to the end of the SD card. Create partitions to suit your preferences, make at least one ext2/ext3 partition to install the root filesystem and optionally a swap partition, but always remember to reserve 1 MiB of free, unpartitioned space at the end of the SD card. To be precise, at least the latest 1042 blocks (512 bytes each) must be reserved.
The precompiled bootloader and a kernel, installation script and source code are here:
http://zenvoid.org/software/qi-smartq
Look at the script install-smartq-qi.sh in order to make a bootable SD card:
./install-smartq-qi.sh /dev/SD_CARD_DEVICE qi-smartq-20090603.bin
To boot from the SD card, keep the “move” (also known as fullscreen) button pressed and then press the “power” button.
There is no battery check at the moment, look for the next release, I’m working in that.
2009-05-08
The SmartQ5 MID is an ARM tablet device made by a chinese company. Based on S3C6410 processor, it can run Linux, modified Qi and U-Boot bootloaders, and low cost. An interesting platform for hacking. I could not resist the temptation to open it and take some photos of its inner beauty.
Photos taken by me and, as usual, published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Unless otherwise stated, articles and their accompanying pictures are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Spain License.
roberto@zenvoid.org