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.
2009-11-30
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.
2009-11-06
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.
2009-03-06
I’ve made a custom cross-compilation toolchain for ARM processors. It works either
as a standalone toolchain or within Scratchbox2.
http://zenvoid.org/software/cross-compiler/
Most precompiled toolchains were not suitable for my own purposes since I needed a very specific version of binutils and glibc, and trying to build CodeSourcery’s toolchains with their included script was too much masochistic.
The source code and build script is included, and unlike the build script
in CodeSourcery toolchains, this one actually works. It is meant to be
hacked, built from source code to create toolchains with custom patches
or with different tool and library versions.
Unless otherwise stated, articles and their accompanying pictures are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Spain License.
roberto@zenvoid.org