linux on xda

[vadiim]

Hi there!

Is anybody working on porting linux to xda now ? Is any info about project's state available ?
I found this idea very interesting, and I'm interested in porting Linux on my cell phone - SONY CMD-J5. Internally xda & j5 is very similar(!) - both have hercrom100 cpu, twl3011 chip, and there is absolutely no docs on hardware, excluding firmware hackers' info (r00t.host.sk, http://hyperion.sp.unipg.it/bodhi3/), but there is still nothing that seems like datasheet.

[Anonymous]

HI

No help to give I'm afraid but am having a similar linux problem. Mainly connecting to a linux based wireless LAN and using telnet facilities on linux systems.

[W4XY]

Hi,

As far as I'm aware no-one is working on it. Mostly because everyone is too busy with other stuff and it doesn't have priority. Maybe because people are too busy finding out what can be done with the current software.

One note though: when running Linux on an XDA you have nothing todo (or hardly) with the hercom chipset etc. The ARM that would run Linux is completely separate and would communicate with the GSM modem through a serial AT command interface.

[vadiim]

OK, thank you.
And then a new question: if two devices both using hercrom100 & twl3011 chips, they must (?) have similar hardware IO ports. For example, it was concluded that on Sony J5 on-chip com port data register is accessible via 0xFFFF5800 port, and first timer's control registers are accsible via 0xFFFFF800, 0xFFFFF802, 0xFFFFF804 ports. I didn't find any info about this ports on the site's pages. What's the matter ? I know that they are busy people, and cannot spend a lot of time disposing XDAs. More politely, I want to ask - is any sort of similar info is available to anybody ?

[W4XY]

In the XDA all or almost all I/O with the end-user is taken care of by the StrongARM chip. This chip communicates through GPIO lines and a serial port with the GSM ARM chip. This part is the custom ARM/DSP combo. I suspect that there will be great similarities between things like hardware ports on the processors themselves. I doubt that the are used in the same way as on the XDA. For the XDA port it is not needed to touch the hercom chipset at all.

Porting linux to something like such a Sony sounds like a very big and uncertain effort. With the XDA at least there is the iPaq, which is similar and has a linux port. Still for that port Compaq used a lot of internal specs that are not available on the XDA. I suspect the Sony to be quite different from the XDA because I don't think it will have and additional strongARM for starters. Do you know if the thing was manufacutered by HTC for Sony? Because if it is a Sony design than even if the chipsets are identical there is no comparison possible.

[vadiim]

Hmm. I expected that you have a bit info about hercrom chipset. :(
Also I expected that hercrom chip plays a more significant role in the xda, than a gsm modem. But the firmware loaded to hercrom cpu might be useful - possibly it converts AT commands to the output on some ports to drive the gsm hardware; may be it quite plain for reverse-engeneering than Sony firmware, where gsm hardware driving routines mixed up with lot of other stuff. Hmm. May be, it is possibe to find a guy from, for example, HTC software development team, who can help us. Dreams, dreams..
"Porting Linux" is sounds quite good, but now it's no more than brave idea, you right.
There is no additional chip in the Sony that drives LCD, takes care of user input and so on. Also, I don't know who is real manufacturer of the device. It is almost certainly known that hercrom is the one and main cpu in the device. There are 32Mbit flash chip, in which resides the firmware. And this firmware is disassembled by ~10-20 volunteers.
Thank you very much.
And where is my Interactive Disassembler ? :)

[pigeon]

Hello all...

Just some quick questions with xda and linux...

- What's the current status of linux support? Like, what works, what doesn't?

- How many people (or maybe also who) are actually working on porting linux onto the xda?

- What has to be done for xda linux support?

Thanks.


Pigeon.

[Peter Poelman]

Status of porting Familiar Linux to the XDA:

a) Lots of people think it would be totally cool
b) Nobody's doing it


We here at XDA-developers would love to help out and share our experience with the device and we can invest quite a bit of time. But we're not diving into this one on our own (just yet).

Given that Familiar Linux runs on an iPaq the job wouldn't be too great. Getting the kernel to run would be doable. Getting it to talk to the screen, modem and buttons may be a little more tricky. And there issues with the flash chips not being supported by Bootblaster (?). Probably the lack of a sleeve-interface and/or CF-card slot would make development a little bit more tricky.

All in all, it would be a Good Thing (tm) if some people that are really familiar with familiar would spend a secluded weekend with some of our gurus, sometime later this summer. Maybe do this as a project at CCC Camp (https://wiki.camp.ccc.de/Camp/view/Main/CampOverview)?

[pigeon]

I've been using Linux/Familiar on my Ipaq for quite a while (2+ years). I'm also a developer for Familiar and GPE (not actively right now though, "busy" you know ;) I have a fair bit of knowledge how it works as a distro. However I'm not really a Linux kernel/drivers hacker. I'm willing to help porting Linux onto xda for sure, though I don't really own a xda yet, which is even more tricky. Been looking around ebay for xda but haven't started really getting/biding one yet.

Anyway... I'm basically one of those i-am-not-buying-a-device-unless-it-can-run-linux person. ;)

Cheers.

[MADmanFREE]

Looking like there are a lot of us on this site just gagging for Linux on our XDA. Hopefully by the end of the summer this will have emerged in some way then.

Perhaps now would be an appropriate time for somebody here, or elsewhere to take charge? Of course it has to be somebody who has time, and knowledge. Me personally am one of the many people who are eager to test, but don'y have a clue!

Many thanks. And heres to something getting underway very soon.

w w w . l i n u x . x d a - d e v e l o p e r s . c o m

here we come !!!
Martin

[pigeon]

Maybe we could have a bit more detail list of what steps are needed to be done/discovered in order to have a usable (or full) linux port on the xda?

Something like...

- JTAG
---- locating JTAG pins(?)
- bootloader
- drivers(?)
- etc(?)

Someone who really knows about the xda can come up a comprehensive one and people can slowly work on them?


Pigeon.

[W4XY]

Hi

Now that I made some progress, we can look at this.

Maybe we could have a bit more detail list of what steps are needed to be done/discovered in order to have a usable (or full) linux port on the xda?

Something like...

- JTAG
---- locating JTAG pins(?)
- bootloader
- drivers(?)
- etc(?)



Currently I finished the JTAG part and a bootloader can be flashed in this way. More details can be found at the following page, but it has not been finished completely yet: http://xda-developers.com/jtag/

To port Linux, I think the following steps are needed:

- reverse engineer the hardware mapping to registers, pins and addresses
- port a bootloader with this information
- port the kernel with this information

Now the first two parts would be an iterative loop, starting with a basic set of hardware features such as screen, touch screen and buttons. For this it is necessary to understand how the bootloader (for example bootldr at http://cvs.handhelds.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/bootldr/) works and how it can be limited to basic functionality.

When the bootloader has been ported with the basic hardware features than this information can be pretty much directly used for porting the kernel.

Question is:
Who has experience with coding in the bootldr or BootBlaster for iPaq?
Who has experience reversing the Wallaby bootloader to figure out how hardware is controlled from software?
Who can create a basic build for running the bootloader in RAM on the XDA from Windows CE?

Any volunteers can mail me, but I don't have much time to instruct. People should have the ability to take a 'Figure out how the LCD is controlled' and proceed from there with something like IDA Pro.

[W4XY]

Question is:
Who has experience with coding in the bootldr or BootBlaster for iPaq?
Who has experience reversing the Wallaby bootloader to figure out how hardware is controlled from software?
Who can create a basic build for running the bootloader in RAM on the XDA from Windows CE?

Any volunteers can mail me, but I don't have much time to instruct. People should have the ability to take a 'Figure out how the LCD is controlled' and proceed from there with something like IDA Pro.

Ok, I took it upon myself to at least create a basic port and procedure for getting bootldr running on the XDA in RAM (without flashing). When that is working, I'll post more details on where to get it etc.

[MADmanFREE]

We appreciatte the effort that you all make on this site. As I have no experience in any of the things that you mentioned I can be of little assistance for the moment. But as one of the few here that are interested in this Linux port, I look forward to testing and giving feedback.

Looking forward to the XDA Special Edition Linuc ROM ! ! ! v0.01

Martin

[oktal]

I have a couple of years experience coding under Linux on desktop PCs, and some experience coding kernel modules, although no specific experience of Familiar.

I don't have an XDA yet (quite a big obstacle except at CCC), but I want to get one soon; I saw one a friend of mine had, and I fell in love with it.

I have quite a lot of time to work on stuff like this, and I'm thinking of going to CCC if a couple of other people are who are interested in Linux on XDA.

I'll be on #xda-developers on IRCnet and #familiar and #handhelds.org on Freenode.net pretty much every evening (BST) and my email is oktal@gmx.co.uk

[valheru]

Good deal. Thanks for the offer for assistance.

[oktal]

I'm afraid I've decided that I can't come to the CCC. It's too short notice (only found out about it a couple of days ago), a long way to travel, I'd be coming alone, and I already have plans for that weekend. :(

[W4XY]

An old thread back to life! Linux porting has now started in full on http://xanadux.org. We're looking both at porting to Wallaby and Himalaya and do not want to stop after the kernel is done. Userland applications and maybe even a full distribution are our goal.

Check it out.

[AlBaraSoft]

I wish to know:
1. What is the status of the project now?
2. How to join? (I tryed to send to the email there but couldn't)

regards,

[W4XY]

Hi,

I wish to know:
1. What is the status of the project now?

Currently there are two developments going on:

XDA 1 or Wallaby: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/WallabyProgress

XDA 2 or Himalaya: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/HimalayaProgress

Progress and information can be found in the respective Xanadux pages: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/XanaduxDeveloperHome

2. How to join? (I tryed to send to the email there but couldn't)

Oh that is strange. Where did you send mail to and what was the result? The e-mail address is: development@xanadux.org

Beware that the current state of linux is very primitive. But with both it is possible to boot Linux and start TCP/IP networking over USB.

If you want to join and try and implement a feature help is very welcome! We are looking at several features such as Touch screen, button support, GSM modem etc.