Newbie questions on Running Linux

[mullin]

hi,

i'm very interested in this project. may i ask a few basic questions as i can't find the faq section.

1. the linux will be booted from the SD/MMC card and won't replace the windows mobile 2005, right? that means it's possible to have dual boot?
2. can i install the linux applications on the device? if yes, installed to the SD/MMC card?
3. do i need to use some special installation packages, e.g. ipk at the zaurus? or just can install any desktop application on it?

thanks a lot!

[Chatbox]

I'd love to know as well...
It'd be good to see other alternatives OSes and software on the Universal as well as seeing how they perform on the same hardware. Playing smooth VGA DivX is a high priority need for me, and right now, WM5 with TCPMP doesn't offer the smoothness I need.

[cr2]

WM5 with TCPMP doesn't offer the smoothness I need.
It can be a hardware limitation
and was discussed here many times.
The LCD on universal is great, but the video
subsystem is not good compared to Blueangel
or, better, ipaq hx470x.

[cr2]

1. the linux will be booted from the SD/MMC card and won't replace the windows mobile 2005, right?

Yes. Currently there is no linux driver for the M-Systems DoC G3, where the bootloader and wince are located.

You will have hard time destroying them by your actions ;)

that means it's possible to have dual boot?

Yes.

2. can i install the linux applications on the device? if yes, installed to the SD/MMC card?

Yes. You can consider the MMC/SD card as if it was a hard disk on
your desktop computer.


3. do i need to use some special installation packages, e.g. ipk at the zaurus?

Yes. The Linux installation image is compiled with OpenEmbedded, and is the Openzaurus in some
sense.


or just can install any desktop application on it?

You can install any "desktop" applications
from Debian for ARM CPU, if you will also install all
the dependencies. *.ipk is the debian package format.