Sep 232009
Here is a video Mark and I made of the complete flashing and installation process, and a tour of the new userland features.
For those following along at home, the required setup artifacts are below. You will need
- Your zipit z2
- A linux computer with an internet connection (to download the packages below) and gparted installed
- A microSD card
Do you have everything ready? Let’s get to it!
- Head over to http://sourceforge.net/projects/openzipit and downloaded the autoflasher
- Download Aliosa27′s new kernel image and userland here
- Grab the latest mouse emu from here
- Using Gparted, Format your microSD to a fat16 partition (I did 300 megs but you really need much less than 100
- Extract the autoflasher to the fat16 partition
- (as root)Extract the kernel + userland image somewhere on your pc
- From the extracted files, copy out the ./boot/zImage-2.6.29 to the root of your microSD as kernel.bin
- Boot the Z2 and allow it to flash and reboot to the new Linux logo
- This will also make a copy of your original kernel and wifi firmware, copy them off the microSD somewhere safe
- Using Gparted, Format the microSD into 2 new partitions, ext2 (the majority of the card) and swap (the remaining 256 megs)
- Rename and copy the wifi firmware back to the Z2 as described here
Hunter, this is pretty cool to see. I have wanted a zipit since they released, and finally picked one up yesterday. In fact, I managed to get one that doesn’t require a contract for a measly $30 bucks! I’m quite excited that there have been some big changes just in the last couple days, making the zipit even more fully functional!
With that said, I’ve got a couple questions for you.
1) Do you think that installation and configuration of OE on the Zipit Z2 will become more automated any time soon? I’d love to get mine set up with an install with all the goodies, working wireless, Dillo, ScummVM, etc, but I’m kind of linux retarded.
2) How difficult is it to return to the stock kernel if you decide to do so? I wasn’t expecting to have unlimited IM and near unlimited SMS features, so that makes me hesitate to flash my unit if reverting to stock is very difficult.
MattG, you can have those features via pidgin and other apps.
SMS is only free for 14 days with a contractless Z2.
Since the autoflasher saves the original kernel, it should not be that hard, right?
I’ve always been loathed to use swap on any kind of flash drive whether it be usb, sdcard or the nand in a pda because it might lower the life expectency of the device.
is this really the case or am i still living in the stoneage?
SGreen: I wasn’t aware that anyone had managed to run Pidgin on a Z2. That’s quite exciting.
Also, according to the welcome message on my Z2, I’ve got 5000 free incoming and 5000 free outgoing messages per month, for the first year. Granted, I’ve yet to see the SMS function work on my unit.
As for reverting to original kernel, all the information I’ve seen on the autoflasher program says it can only be used on the stock kernel, so I have no idea what steps would be taken to revert to stock after loading a different kernel.
It will probably kill the card, since they are the cheapest form of flash made.
Just chuck it out in a few months and spend another $10 on a new card, that will be faster and bigger than the last one.
Hey Matt,
1. Yes and no. In the sense that we will put out userland images with precompiled apps yes, definitely. On the other hand, the autoflasher is about as easy to use flash as any project I’ve worked with (psp, bioses etc), so I don’t expect a lot of usability improvements to happen there. We’ve got a good community of folks working on this though, and there should always be somebody to help you out.
2. I have not returned to the stock kernel myself, however once you have linux installed, you should be able to dd the stock kernel back over to mmblock (see previous thread comments) without any issue… Careful though, flashing is by definition the task that is most fraught with the possibility of a bricked device that can only be re-flashed with a serial cable.
I believe the 5000/5000 deal is when you are paying for the monthly service, however as the price of hardware continues to drop zipit corp may decide to subsidize the hardware less with recurring revenue…. doubtful though, that’s the meat and potatoes of a software company.
Hey cyberian,
It really depends on the media as well. In my experience CF cards degrade far faster than SD, and have a lower limit of write cycles. I’ve been using the same microSD for userland/swap for about a year (everyday usage and some really heavy tasks and swapping too…), and have yet to notice any issues or data corruption. I would have probably gone through 3 CF cards by now.
i’ve been using finch (ncurses version of pidgin) on the zipit since about february, works really well alough a few dialogs are a bit big so it’s better to just copy your config from a desktop than recreate on the zipit. — it works really well
thanks for the new video update.
ok i’d never actually tested the number of writes that an sd card could take before it goes belly up, i’ve killed cf cards and thumb drives before running xp and linux from them but it did take a while (xp about 3 weeks, linux about 3 months)
Hunter, thanks for your response. That was exactly what I was getting at. Like I said, I’m not experienced with the back end of linux. I can do some stuff in shell, and I can use the distros I’ve got, but when it comes to compiling, updating and installing, I’m clueless. The userland images I see you referring to often seem to be what I’m looking for to get my zipit up and running.
As for reverting to stock, I don’t follow what you’re saying, and again, I think it’s due to my low level of linux skills, once again.
As for the SMS, this is the message I got when I registered a username for my zipit:
“Great news! Ur Zipit Z2 is now activated.
U get unlimited IM 4ever and for the next year, u get 5000 incoming and 5000 outgoing text messages FREE each month! So chat away with all ur friends.”
It seems pretty straight forward.
matt: the sms on a stock z2 is /strange/ because it’s not /real/ sms but sms via email.
also the way it is setup you can’t receive sms messages from a phone until you have added that phone number to your buddy list. it’s a form of spam/pervert protection
On the write question , there is not much to realy worry about unless your downloading stuff all the time. It also helps that atime is disabled as well in these userlands. I think it would be safe to say that the end goal is to have the stock +gobs more functionality then the stock image. Pidgin with a smaller font/gtk theme and a launcher in the menu is comming up in the next userlands, as well as a network and battery applet. Stay tuned.
Aliosa27,
Can’t wait to try pidgenZ2
Sounds fun
All,
Has anyone gotten autologin or auto-x working? I think the image may be easier to use for some if it booted straight into a gui maybe with some fluxmenu entries?.
Should step 7 read ./boot/zImage-2.6.29 and not ./bin/zImage-2.6.29
thanks, fixed
Hello!
It need advice.
So far I use only one host. But there is a problem. Host is down due to excess traffic. Wrote a letter in support, such as adding traffic, pay the. They – no, 30GB and everything. For every hosting plan.
Transferring domain to another site – a troublesome thing and go on for a long time. Must send a statement to wait for some time approval. In general, solid bureaucracy.
But the most difficult to believe to some host in general. Suddenly a chaos everywhere? How to do business in such conditions?
Hope the advice of such a plan:
Is there any normal hosters? I myself with Ukraine and the host chose Ukrainian.
How can the hoster to fight for their rights? I fussed with the site 2 years, and he brings me income.
If something else to advise, I will be pleased and grateful.
Жилье и, Регистрация и Торговая. Недвижимость Испании
you made hackaday.com again
New z2mouseemu is up, shift(…) dpad up or down will turn up the brightness of the lcd/or down, shift + dpad left or right will turn up or down the brighness of the keypad. Its in single steps so it takes a while..
swanky! Nice!
This is a pretty cool hack. Was wondering if it can run skype.
[...] kernel 2.6.29 running Fluxbox with mouse (newly added), audio, and WiFi functionality. Follow his step-by-step flashing instructions to load the kernel into the Zipit. Once flashed, a partitioned microSD card servers as the [...]
Hey Alex,
You’d need to solder on your own mic either way. Not sure if there’s an arm port of skype, but I bet you could get gizmo to run without much issue.
Gizmo5 runs…not well..but runs
[...] kernel 2.6.29 running Fluxbox with mouse (newly added), audio, and WiFi functionality. Follow his step-by-step flashing instructions to load the kernel into the Zipit. Once flashed, a partitioned microSD card servers as the [...]
instructions and diskimage for windows users later this evening..
hay I have a “Psion Tenlogix netbook pro” it runs windows ce.net would some thing like this work for it too i am having a ruff time getting it to work with pcmcia wifi cards i have ordered a cf card for it in hopes that will work
Don’t make life easier for Windows users.
Hey Bry, Windows users need some cheap linux boxes too
Hopefully this’ll be a fun, cheap way to get some more folks to use linux day to day. Most of us started out on windows (or dos.. or commodore basic…. man am I old)
Errol,
I recall about 4 years ago there was a bit of a hooplah over getting OE with gpe running on the psion netbook pro. Not sure how well that worked out for everyone, but psilinux/openpsion should run ok. Their status page shows kernel and X11 to be working at minimum:
http://linux-7110.sourceforge.net/status.shtml
good luck!
Picked one up after work from local Target store on clearance for $24.95. Looks like a cool weekend project.
Nice little image… if I can get the z2mouseemu working. I get into X11 and can’t mouse around with the directional pad. Don’t know what I did wrong…
Are you using startx to get into X11?
Junkmunkey – Which part of the country did you find one on clearance at Target?
I found mine near Houston.
hTom: I got mine on clearance at Target as well, though mine was $35. I am located in Ohio.
Thanks, will check the one store in my area (midwest) that sells Z2′s. Bought the first Z2 on ebay, but a 2nd for development would be nice.
I am see some really bad vertical color banding on the fluxbox wallpaper unless I hod the z2 at a funny angle. Anyone else seeing this? Is there something I can do software wise? Is my unit defective?
To me, from rotating it around it looks like they might have taken an lcd meant for portrait use and used in the landscape orientation. I just mean that tilting up and down does little but side to side really impacts the look of the screen. Which is what would see if he turned his laptop on its side.(I compared it to my dell 9 mini placed on its side.)
I’ve got the kernel flashed onto the unit. I setup up my sd card and the file system loads and I can start x and get into the terminal window. I’m having an issue with inputting numeric characters. Anytime I hit alt + button it displays a foreign character set.
What directory in the file system should the Z2mouseemu be placed in? Also where should the renamed wireless drivers be placed in the new file system?
I’m sorry if I sound like a complete noob, but I know just enough about linux to get myself into trouble but I enjoy tinkering with it. Thanks.
I would have thought lib/firmware/libertas but that seems to be wrong as I have no wireless now. It worked on the last filesystem I had setup.
/lib/firmware/libertas is the correct directory
z2mouseemu should be in /bin
The latest version gives you numbers if you hold shift down…
Hey sgreen yes, the LCD on the z2 is a vertical lcd oriented horizontally. This is why the framebuffer is rendered @90.
Aliosa27: i copied those files there and I get the following in my dmesg
libertas: failed to confirm the firmware download
libertas failed to load firmware error=-110
The files are in /lib/firmware/libertas
they are owned by root and are chmoded 755
hunter: I guess that is what you get for <$50. Not a huge deal, I can just hold it a little sideways. I only wanted to be sure mine was not defective.
I moved the two files and now it fails in a different manner.
it fails to load the helper this time. So I must have a borked gpsi8686.bin somehow.
I can use the one linked form the wiki right?
aliosa27- sorry my problem was with not being able to input numeric characters after starting x windows in the terminal, you can input them at original shell prompt.
Aliosa27 could you post the size of your gspi8686_hlp.bin and gspi8686.bin files?
I have the kernel flashed in and everything works but wireless, I tried several versions of the gspi files and cannot get wireles, including the origonal zipit z2 ones and the marvel website ones.
gspi8686.bin 124K
gspi8686_hlp.bin 2.1K
and your wireless works?
I have been trying versions of the firmware all day and it always fails.
Could you read your dmesg and see which version those are ?
should be something like 3p10, etc
grab a copy of the wireless+x+audio image off my site, it has the firmware in the image(for now till i release this next one) .. do you have devmem2 , and what image are you running
I am running the image from this article and dded in the kernel that was in it.
Basically I did what the article suggests but used dd instead of the autoflasher as I already had a usable linux environment.
What exactly is devmem2?
Hi all,
If I already auto-flashed my z2 following your post “Zipit Z2 New Kernel Update!” should I still follow the steps in this new article or should I be starting somewhere else?
-mark
Ugh, need to check this more often. Yes, I do start X using “startx” from the command line. Too bad there’s little or no logging to find out what’s going on…
Hunter/Aliosa27: a few months ago sweetlilmre asked me to knock up a logo for the openzipit sf site. he never used it (probably because it was c***) but i refound the jpeg and xcf versions (i can convert or improve if neccessary) if you want to take a look.
http://russelldavis.org/stuff/openzipit-logo-draft3c.jpeg
http://russelldavis.org/stuff/openzipit-logo-draft3c.xcf
Russell Going to set that logo as the default background image in newer builds…
All, A beta debian image has been uploaded as well(in case you are not on irc) usual place…Taking suggestions… after today everything will be moved over to the sf site so we can get things going as a community…
aliosa27.net/projects/zipit2/debianz2.gz
Enjoy…
Aliosa27: the debian based rootfs is great. especially the apt ability
[...] hacker Hunter Davis runs through installing Linux on the low-cost WiFi connected IM device in his latest tutorial. [...]
[...] hacker Hunter Davis runs through installing Linux on the low-cost WiFi connected IM device in his latest tutorial. [...]
[...] hacker Hunter Davis runs through installing Linux on the low-cost WiFi connected IM device in his latest tutorial. [...]
[...] hacker Hunter Davis runs through installing Linux on the low-cost WiFi [...]
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[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: 300mhz Processor, Command Line Interface, Comp Sci, Connectivity, Engadget, Five Minutes, Hack, Homework, Instant Messenger, Linux Laptops, Linux Machine, Messenger Client, Messenger Linux, Microsd Card, Mouse Support, Nbsp, Pmp, Tunes, Z2, Zipit Wireless Messenger [...]
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[...] Read Filed under: Engadget.com Tags: hack, hacked-firmware, instantmessaging, instantmessenger, linux, machines-have, processor-and, tunes-on-the 46732Comments (0)http://www.chinawholesaleonline.cn/2009/09/38-zipit-wireless-messenger-receives-linux-injection-becomes-38-netbook.html%2438+Zipit+Wireless+Messenger+receives+Linux+injection%2C+becomes+%2438+netbook2009-09-28+01%3A32%3A00chinawholesale [...]
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Where are the latest files placed on sourceforge?
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Tom: http://sourceforge.net/projects/openzipit/ but there should be some updates coming soon i.e. new autoflasher, debian based rootfs and some new bootloader/kernel stuff so you might want to wait a few days
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Post tags: 300mhz Processor, Command Line Interface, Comp Sci, Connectivity, Engadget, Five Minutes, Hack, Homework, Instant Messenger, Laptops, Linux Machine, Messenger Client, Messenger Linux, Microsd Card, Mouse Support, Nbsp, Pmp, Tunes, Z2, Zipit Wireless Messenger Posted in: Gadżety | | Komentarze (0) [...]
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[...] hacker Hunter Davis runs through installing Linux on the low-cost WiFi connected IM device in his latest tutorial. [...]
Aliosa27- I’ve got the new debian filesystem from your site on my card but when it boots up it will not except root and blank as login. Did the login change from previous image?
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Junkmunkey: the userid/passwd is root/debian
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nevermind login: root password: debian worked
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Russell : Thanks for verifying I was checking the right place.
Hunter : congrats for the engadget mention!
[...] algún escritorio de bajo peso…Continue reading Zipit Z2 transformado en "nanobook" LinuxRead | Permalink | Email [...]
Hey Tom,
Thanks, though I wish they gave more credit to Aliosa27 and sweetlilmre in the pingback articles. I’m actually working on another video that is REALLY going to blow some minds, hopefully have it posted up tonight or tmorrow.
russell- sorry i didn’t see your response among all the pingback articles. Is your mouse working on the debian image?
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Hey JunkMonkey, Sorry your comment got blocked as spam too… Perhaps I should have pingbacks displayed below comments somehow? I’ll have to look into my wordpress css… Anyway, I’ll be posting an updated video with some (really WILD) new functionality hopefully by tomorrow so we’ll have a new comment thread to fill with spam
Aliosa27,
I make sure all my articles reference your work in the title, but it seems like the major repeater blogs don’t pick that up. You should get more credit for your hard work, continual thanks
Junkmunkey: yes the mouse is workign in the debian rootfs and if you add Lokichoas’s keymap you get lots of new crunchy key goodness (or get the newer debian rootfs which has it included).
well lets qualify the mouse statement it works in X and with gtk+ apps but looks like qt3/4 apps might be a problem — psi doesn’t seem to like it.
Slight correction: the ZipIt takes a miniSD card, not a microSD.
Hi all just want to make sure my post didn’t go unseen you have a lot of peoples attention about this $38 netbook,
anyway here is my question.
If I already auto-flashed my z2 following your post “Zipit Z2 New Kernel Update!” should I still follow the steps in this new article or should I be starting somewhere else?
-mark
Hey Mark,
Don’t follow the guide, at least the flashing part. You’re currently flashed at r1 i’d guess. You can re-flash the mmcblock to r2 with dd from within linux, Aliosa27 posted some info on that in the last comments thread here. I have not tried this myself though, but others comment that it works for them. BE CAREFUL! If something goes wrong with the flash you’ll be in a bad spot and need the serial header mod to re-flash.
[...] Hunter Davis has a video along with step-by-step directions for using OpenZipIt to turn the Zipit Z2A Wireless Messenger into a a netbook with Audio, Mouse, etc. [...]
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Whats the biggest mini-SD card the zipit z2 supports? (just ordered one from target for $50) and now need to by min-sd.
thx
I personally use a 2gb, so that should be fine. Have not heard of 4gb or 8gbsdhc works, can only vouch for 2gbs. Good luck and welcome to zipit hacking
i use 1gb and 2gb cards i seem to recall someone saying they had a 4gb kingston card that worked but that is just hearsay although i also recall GPSFan (zipit kernel hacker) saying there is no reason why sdhc cards shouldn’t work they’d just be slower than they should be.
Confirmed that *some* local targets have Z2′s for $24.98. Was on the rack on not on the endcap with a clearance sticker. Had to use a scanner to verify the lower price. Had to grab another one at this price.
Hunter – Aliosa27 and sweetlilmre’s hard work is greatly appreciate and I appreciate you getting more people involved in the project.
I’m using a 4gb dane-elec sdhc in mine, and it’s been working fine. From what I see on Amazon, right now the largest mini/micro SD cards are16gb, though I would feel a little silly spending more on a memory card then I did on the Z2 it would be going into
Would any of the developers or more linux savy among the commenters consider putting together a more detailed how to for post flashing/filesystem setup such as connecting to a wpa wireless access point, filesystem placement of wireless drivers, keymaps, etc. Considering the attention this has drawn in the tech media over the past 24 hrs it would be beneficial to many of the linux newbies or hobbists (myself included). Much thanks for all hard work everyone has put into this, really cool.
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Question:
I turned a newly purchased ZipIT on before flashing, curious to see what it looked like. Unfortunately a neighbour has unsecured wireless that it found and did an update.
Am I now out of luck trying to load the custom kernel? So far it hasn’t worked
Thanks in advance!
Update:
It still worked, ends up the flash wouldn’t kick in while plugged into the charger.
Maybe this will help someone else, looking forward to joining the ZipIT community.
Hey for those that wanted another vid, I’ve got one up of HULU streaming to the Z2 (transcoded). Really fun stuff!
Hunter, have a new simple image ready for windows/mac/linux users …will let you write the flashing tutorial..emailing you
Hey Aliosa27,
Awesome thanks, that’ll help a lot of folks We should start re-posting and collecting all our collective info on the SF site too. Lots of interesting project ideas swirling around
Aliosa27 – Is the new image available for testing?
[...] you need to make this happen is to follow this simple tutorial. Experienced Linux users can breeze through this with their eyes closed, newbies can likely also [...]
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[...] 分类: 外围设备, 手持设备 可怜的Zipit。作为售价是149.99美元的即时通讯客户端时无人问津。即使是现在，变成一个38美元的即时通讯客户端也没有很大的吸引力。但它变身成售价38美元的带有Linux系统的便携设备，那就不一样了。这种机器以前就被优化过，但这次是由亨特戴维斯改造的，他可以让一个最原始的Zipit Z2 变成一个功能齐全的Linux系统，正如下面的视频所示的。你需要的是亨特的破解固件和microSD卡。一旦完全改造，你会得到鼠标，无线连接，甚至音频输出，以便可以在旅途中享受音乐。虽然这个界面，不会使其成为最引人注目的PMP。只有300MHz的处理器和内存，我们不会去编译我们的COMP-SCI101功课，但这个小玩意肯定会带来全新的体验。 [Via lilputing] 引用来源 | 此文章网址 | 转寄此文章 | 回应 [...]
[...] you need to make this happen is to follow this simple tutorial. Experienced Linux users can breeze through this with their eyes closed, newbies can likely also [...]
[...] 分类: 外围设备, 手持设备 可怜的Zipit。作为售价是149.99美元的即时通讯客户端时无人问津。即使是现在，变成一个38美元的即时通讯客户端也没有很大的吸引力。但它变身成售价38美元的带有Linux系统的便携设备，那就不一样了。这种机器以前就被优化过，但这次是由亨特戴维斯改造的，他可以让一个最原始的Zipit Z2 变成一个功能齐全的Linux系统，正如下面的视频所示的。你需要的是亨特的破解固件和microSD卡。一旦完全改造，你会得到鼠标，无线连接，甚至音频输出，以便可以在旅途中享受音乐。虽然这个界面，不会使其成为最引人注目的PMP。只有300MHz的处理器和内存，我们不会去编译我们的COMP-SCI101功课，但这个小玩意肯定会带来全新的体验。 [Via lilputing] 引用来源 | 此文章网址 | 转寄此文章 | 回应 [...]
[...] EL Enlace .: http://hunterdavis.com/archives/201#more-201 [...]
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Well, I read all the warnings, so I know I may now have a $25 paperweight…
I followed the directions, but am stuck at the OpenZipit logo screen.
After flashing the kernel.bin, the device won’t read the mini SD.
Any suggestions? Please help
Max
Max
I think your Zipit Is ok. your probably stuck at the same point I was. you get the openZipit screen but no actual boot.
once you have re-partitioned the memory card to ext2 you have to copy the file system to it.
Copy the previously extracted files and directory’s from zipit2-audio+x+mouse to the root of your microSD.
[...] Но это все уже история. А реальность такова: на hunterdavis.com выложена в открытый доступ прошивка позволяющая [...]
[...] is a WiFi IM device but here’s Hunter Davis who has hacked it to run linux. (via make, hackaday) This is definitely very interesting and might be a good unit to study linux [...]
Thanks, Mcavity!
I repartitioned and recopied the filesystem, x-window-manager, and z2mouseemu to the SD and it boots ok. Able to logon and startx. Mouse works ok and GUI reads “workspace 1″ on the bottom.
Now I am stuck with a blue screen (hope it’s not a BSOD!?!?!).
Not sure if I’m supposed to compile my own kernel as instructed on http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/openzipit/index.php?title=Getting_Started_with_Open_Embedded_and_the_Z2#WIFI_firmware
Also, where do I put the gspi8686.bin/gspi8686_hlp.bin files.
This device is sweet, I hope I can get it working!!
Hey maxunknown,
Wifi firmware goes to /lib/firmware/libertas/ overwriting the old stub files. No need to compile your own kernel, just use the one included with the image (/boot/kernel-2.6.29). Once you’re in fluxbox with startx, hit ctrl-t for a terminal (… and t), and ctrl-m to maximize that window.
Good Luck!
Max
as of right now things are still a bit raw.
I’m working on a faq that Ill try and post on sourceforge shortly.
So far the only things I myself have managed to run are mplayer and fluxbox / x.
I still need to figure out how to setup the wireless and find other apps [like chat and email clients]
As I get them figured out I plan to update the Faq.
in flux box the stop button next to the mouse is the “right” button. it will give you a menu however most of the apps are not really installed right now.
I have took the file and renamed to kernel.bin and put in the roof of the memory card as well as the files from the autoflasher rar. I cannot get it to boot to the linux flash screen though. It just reboots the system as normal and never does anything. Can someone please help me? Thank you.
Sorry about the double post, but I didn’t do it exactly as described. I am using a 1GB microsd card with a microSD to miniSD adapter (instead of a real miniSD card). The Z2 recognizes it when I put it in.
I had a problem getting Gparted to work with a linux livecd so I used windows to format the card to FAT (which I assume is FAT 16?). I used the built in windows format utility because I couldnt get PartitionMagic to work with a memory card.
I extracted the zImage-2.6.29 in Linux and then renamed it to kernel.bin
I then put the kernel.bin in the root of the memory card as well as well as z2script.sh and the folder “modules”
I put the memory card in the microSD to miniSD adapter and then inserted it into the Z2. It says it detects a database and then I go to the reset system settings. The system does a soft reset but it does not go to the flash screen. It reboots as normal.
Can someone help me figure out why it is not working? Is it because I didn’t use Gparted? Thank you very much.
Hey StraySoul,
You should be able to format the card with windows as fat16 . You may want to open up the disk management application, make sure it’s fat16 and not fat32. You can probably extract the kernel.bin in windows as well, I don’t believe fat preserves file permissions. Also, sometimes it takes the zipit a while to see the SD card, give it a few reboots, and try it with and without the power cord plugged in. Good Luck!
I will retry with and without the cord. Also, do I need to retype in my Wifi password and account information so that I can do the system reset again each time I try? Or can I just power the device off and then turn it on to retry again? Can’t wait to get it up and running
Thank you.
Nah I don’t even go to the connect, I just hit the home button after hitting next a couple times and it lets you go to settings
It still isn’t working, I rebooted it about 20 times with and without the powercord in. I don’t understand it. Could it be because it’s a microSD card in a microSD to miniSD adapter? I cant figure it out. I cry :’( lol
I’m using a microSD to miniSD adapter, but it might not like your card. Could be that… You may want to try formatting in gparted too, in case windows is doing something screwy.
Do you know how to make Gparted work from a Linux LIveCD? Whenever it tries to set up the filesystem it has an error and doesn’t work. I assume this is because its running from a LiveCD, I looked on Google and couldn’t find anything.
It should run fine from a LiveCD. I think your memory card may have a problem, or be formatted oddly? Perhaps it is the computer, or the adapter you are using for the card when you format it?
live cd of gparted works fine as well as a micro sd to mini adapter. [thats what I did.]
Well after spending hours and trying 4 memory cards, the 4th worked instantly first try. This device must be very very picky with memory cards! Now I’m off to try to partition the card with ext2 and swap.
OK it has been successfully flashed, but I don’t think it backed up my original firmware and Wifi firmware??? The memory card contains all of the same files still. I left it in the device until it turned itself off.
Hrm, in that case, i’d just download the firmware from the site linked to in the previous article and on sourceforge. Glad you finally found a good card. It is indeed, very picky.
OK I rebooted it and it froze at the Linux screen and apparently it copied the firmware files over at that time. I now have the firmware backup files. When it turned itself off right after it initially flashed, I checked and it had all the same files as before I did the flash (weird).
My problem now is Gparted still. It keeps failing and wont write any filesystems. I gave the majority to ext2 and then what was left (the 256) to linux swap. I kept both of them as primary partition, and kept the other defaults such as ’round to cylinder’. I didn’t label either of them either. It comes up with an error a few seconds after it tries applying the filesystems.
I don’t understand why it isn’t working for me. No one else seems to have any problems using Gparted.
Perhaps the difference is in the cds you are using? Is it an ubuntu live cd, or a gparted cd? It sounds like you are getting close!
I am using Ubuntu Live CD right now, as I’m sure others have also used. I would highly doubt I’m the only person that is doing this on an Ubuntu Live CD. I cant figure out why it isnt working. I guess I will have to try a Gparted CD maybe.
Maybe I am using Gparted wrong? Do I create a msdos partition table or something else? msdos is the default.
Got Gparted to work on the latest Ubuntu LiveCD by reinstalling e2fsprogs and util-linux. I also reinstalled gparted. It worked the first try after reinstalling these.
Now I am trying to figure out how to extract the kernel + userland image as root. Could someone explain how I would do this? I tried right clicking and using extract here and it gave me an error while extracting most of the files.
Hey StraySoul,
Open a terminal, then enter ‘sudo nautilus’. That’ll open up a file browser as root.
actually I used a gparted live cd to do the partitioning and a ubuntu cd to copy the files over.
make sure you run the file browser as root or when you try and copy the files it will fail.
Ok anyone intrested I have posted a quick and Dirty Faq over at sourceforge. hopefully people will find this useful.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openzipit/forums/forum/917462/topic/34170611
I was able to extract the files by using ‘sudo nautilus’ but I haven’t been able to copy over the Wifi firmware because it says I do not have permission. I typed in sudo nautilus and then I copied the Wifi firmware and mouse file to the file manager window. I then tried transferring it from there to the memory card but it doesn’t let me. I assume its because I am new to Linux and am not doing it right.
Sounds like it. Do this, from a terminal do “sudo nautilus & ” then do another “sudo nautilus” this should get you 2 windows that you know are both run as root. Good luck!
Thank you, thank worked great! Now I just need to learn what I can do with this. I am a complete Linux n00b as you can tell. I don’t even know how to go about setting my WEP password and then testing the Wifi. Is there an easy way to do this? Sorry for so many questions.
Ya there’s a howto posted up on the SF wiki just recently that should help you, that and the previous answers in the comments thread. Good Luck.
Can you please link me? I can’t find it. Thank you.
Douglas Henke posted (below) on the next video comment thread
mcavity: I have an 8GB SDHC card (actually a microSD in a micro-to-mini adapter) in mine. Works great.
Jim SP: I’m using a WPA2 network, thus:
1) In /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, I have something like:
network={
ssid=”MySSID”
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk=”My very secret passphrase goes here.”
}
(IMPORTANT: I have commented out the eapol_version and ap_scan lines from the original wpa_supplicant.conf.)
2) Run the supplicant:
wpa_supplicant -Dwext -ieth0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
You should see some messages saying it associated. Suspend it with ^Z then background it with “bg”. (The control key is the one up and left of ALT, with the elipsis in white and the [X] in red.)
3) Run the DHCP client:
udhcpc
That should get you a DHCP lease; for me, the default route and DNS settings worked out of the box.
I edited the file with my WEP password and SSID. For part 2, should I boot, type root, then startx, and then run xterm? That’s what I tried to do, but I cannot enter numbers and symbols, it comes up with foreign language chracters. In the screen where you type in root I can type in numbers. I dont understand why it isnt working?
See the next thread where people discuss this issue. Basically you can update to the newest mouseemu and it’ll resolve this issue, or force-load the keymap as discussed.
The 30th of September?
I am using the z2mouseemu file that says it was modified on the 30th. Is this the newest one? Is the newest one called something else?
I am using z2mouseemu from http://aliosa27.net/projects/zipit2/ it says it was modified on September 29th actually. Is this the wrong one? Do I use one of the other ones and change the name to z2mouseemu? What next thread is it discussed in? The Hulu one?
[...] Linux box. Basta utilizzare DOSbox o un emulatore NES e seguire i consigli dell’hacker Hunter Davis che vi ha installato una distribuzione funzionante con addirittura il windows manager Fluxbox. [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
$50 bricklett + questions
My $50 zipit from target arrived today; I followed instructions (plug in, press green button) and nada; I figured power supply was bad and voltmeter sez 17.5v (casing sez 5v). I can return for refund at any target so no out of pocket.
Target and amazon both say backordered 2 to 4 weeks.
Anyone else get a DOA unit?
Anyone else checked PS voltage?
Any place I can order another w/o 4 week wait?
Than
I got the z2mouse-remap file and renamed it to z2mouseemu and replaced the old z2mouseemu file. It doesn’t work as far as I can tell. I tried holding in the smiley face button and using the directional pad and nothing happens. I then tried putting back the original z2mouseemu file and it still won’t work. It used to work with the old file and now it doesn’t. I don’t understand why it would stop working? Could the memory card have gotten corrupted already?
Hey Than,
I haven’t gotten a bad unit yet, but as with all electronics that’s bound to happen sometime. It definitely does not use 17.5v (consider there’s a mod to run it off a usb plug). If there’s a local target you may try finding one on clearance, otherwise you may be waiting 4 weeks.. That or ebay. Good Luck!
I still can’t get the new mouse files to work. I have been trying to get them to work for 4 hours. I tried both editing the startx to show the new name of the file, as well as renaming the file to z2mouseemu and then placing it in the bin directory. I also formatted and repartitioned the memory card 3 times. Neither is working for me. Maybe I do not know how to use the new mouse file? I had an older version that used the smiley button and you had to hold that in to use it. Has something been changed again and maybe it is working but I’m just not using it right? Please help me. Thank you.
I ended up switching over to Debian and the mouse and keyboard works fine. Thank you for all your help Hunter!
Is setting up the Wifi in Debian the same? I set mine up with iwconfig, but it only works temporarily then it stops working and I have to reboot and retype in the SSID and password.
Is there a config file I can edit so that it works in Fluxbox?
bobsandefur,
My powersupply is rated at 5v, multimeter says 4.85v so it looks like a bad power supply toasted your zipit.
StraySoul,
when copying over executable files to the card, make sure the files have the needed permission to run. Otherwise it’ll give a permissions error that you can’t see since it’s a console message given after X is loaded. This is easily fixed by running
chmod 777 “program”
Just make sure you put the proper path so that it can find the file.
I’m using z2mouse-option on all my cards because I like the toggle and the option key seems to be unreadable in the OE image, I try to keep my interface on the Debian and OE images as similar as possible.
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
Anyone willing to help me out trying to do this from OS X?
I got it flashed ok, but I can’t seem to get the ext2 image to boot. I honestly don’t know what I’m missing, as I did it all sudo’d. Is it more complicated than copying the tarball over and untaring it as root?
I also tried form my vista machine using the Debian.gz img, but that failed because I’m using an 8g card and the phsydiskwrite kept saying there was a 2G limit. It seemed to offer to override the 2g limit, but then it would die immediately if I did.
Oh I forgot to mention, it might be a clue, I got this message for everything in /dev:
tar: ./dev/mem: Cannot mknod: Invalid argument
tar: ./dev/mmcblk0p5: Cannot mknod: Invalid argument
tar: ./dev/tty5: Cannot mknod: Invalid argument
tar: ./dev/hda15: Cannot mknod: Invalid argument
Am I just going to have to download a linux image?
Hey Matt,
Don’t have any osx machines handy, but I’ll help if I can. Those tar extraction errors happened to me once I believe I was extracting not as root. If you are on osx, you may have the dd utility installed, or can install it with darwinports. With that you can just dd the debian image to the sd card.
Good Luck!
[...] [via hunterdavis] [...]
Thanks Hunter,
I’m pretty sure I did it as root. The sudo’d commands were still in my buffer when I read your post.
I hadn’t thought of using dd for the .img, but when I try I get “operation not supported” (I think that’s the right phrasing). Maybe drivers?
I’m away from it now, but I’m gonna try a few more things.
[...] by flashing it (even easier than installing a distro on an eeepc), you can get it doing some cooler [...]
Okay I figured out why I got the “operation not supported” message. When I inserted my sd adapter it would mount the partitions that were there, then when I unmounted them it would also disconnect the sd adapter from the USB bus.
I had to umount -f the slices that were already on it (from previous attempts), which left the /dev/disk1 item.
After that I did the dd:
root# dd if=debianZ2.img of=/dev/disk1 bs=64k
I changed the block size to make it go faster. It was crawling without it. Now I boot into Debian. Thanks a ton Hunter.
Now to get Nethack on this thing.
Well-I returned the dead unit to target for a refund (minus shipping) and ordered another one direct from wireless. This one booted okay. I followed the instructions formatting the install disk is fat 16. The flash apparently went okay. So I pulled the microSD, copied off all files to a CYA directory, formatted SD card as 3.6 GB of ext at about 300 M of swap, put the card back and powered it up. I get the openzipit logo and and upper left cusor flashing for about 5 sec and then solid cusor. I could no turn it off so I pulled the battery. Not if boots to cursor only if plugged in, If I unplug it in turns off and won’t boot until I plug it in .
Any ideas – should I try a reflash?
Thanx
Bob
Hey Bob,
If you can see the openzipit logo, your flash went ok. Which image did you extract to the ext partition?
nada-I just formated it. I thought I didn.t need the wifi from step 11. did I need to copy stuff after format in step 10?
also video sez fat32 and I did fat16 on flash step
Hey Bob,
Yep. Copy over (as root) the userland image to the SD card and extract it For flashing, I think you can use either.
Hi,
Thanks for the post!
Have the zipit up and running in X.
Question on how to get the following to work:
1.) Entering alt values… looks like when I hit “Alt+’some key’” it does not enter the correct (alt) value in the xterm. What’s the ‘trick’ here.
2.) Where is the ‘Tab’ key located?
3.) Is configuring the wireless connection accomplished using the command iwconfig eth0 essid ‘my_ssid’ ? (can not try it, b/c I’m having a tough time figuring out the numeric entries.
Thanks again,
Mike
Hey Mike,
You’ll need a new keymap for all the alt modifier keys to work properly in X. Just download the keymap linked in the comments, and use xmodmap to load it up in your startx script. The square zipit logo is the tab key. Yes, iwconfig is how we’ve been setting it up, though I believe there was a script in the threads for ease of use. Glad you got it working
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I don’t think xmodmap is installed, though.
The startx script has loadkeys and xmodmap commented out by default.
Hmmmm…. what to do?
Mike
Hey Mike,
xmodmap should be installed…. if not, and since you’ve already got the OE distribution working, perhaps you should try the debian root image? It comes for sure with xmodmap installed, and you no longer need to cross-compile software. Plus, lots of people have had issues with it and we’ve worked through them, so there’s lots of good information on the comments threads of my next couple posts. Lots of good info on the sourceforge discussion page too. Good Luck!
Hello, I believe I flashed my Zipit correctly, but when I remove the SD card and reboot, the zipit freezes at the OpenZipit loading screen. Anything I can do?
Hey Mark,
Yes, it is waiting to load the linux filesystem. At this point, you need to flash the userland image to the SD card as described then use that to boot up the Z2. GL
[...] on the other hand, you want to find a new use for this handheld device, you might be interested in running Linux, installing DOSbox, or maybe an NES emulator. The Zipit has a 300MHz XScale processor, 32MB of RAM, [...]
hi hunter,
I need some direction here. I have gone through the posted steps to flash the zipit but when it comes time to reboot and (hopefully) flash the new kernel, nothing happens and instead it boots to it’s default state. Here’s a few specific facts:
> When I received the zipit it had already been updated via the zipit site. I do not know if this also implies it no longer has the “original” kernel or not. It is now stating it has “software ver 1.13″. Is this update from zipit responsible for disallowing the autoflasher to do its thing? If this is the issue what to do next?
> I am using a 4GB SDHC card. I was successful in partitioning it with a 300 MB FAT16 partition. The zipit says it sees the full card fine from its default state. The remainder of the card is unformatted (need it be?).
> If the ONLY way to flash at this point is via the hardware serial port I guess I will, but I sure would like to take the software path if possible.
all suggestions are welcome.
thanks, corner5
Hey Corner5,
Updating the Zipit to the newest version won’t prevent you from flashing linux. Sounds like an issue with the the SD card you’re using. Either:
1. read-only permissions on files (bad)
2. missing the install script on sd root (bad)
3. sd charge activation time is long (common)
1 and 2 are easy to check and fix. If it’s 3 (which is common), I’d go into the stock Z2 menu and select a “reset to default”, this will cause the Z2 to soft reboot. Doing this a couple of times should hopefully get the SD card active and readable by the time the Z2 loader looks for the flash script. Good Luck!
Hi again Hunter,
Thanks for the above clues. I did have the install script there, but it was nested withing a directory (not at root). Simple fix.
I now have gotten to putting the 1GB debian .img on the card, and successfully booting and getting X going. BUT, I have no mouse.
Details:
> The mouse/X feature was working with the original flash kernel step.
> After putting on the 1GB debian image (I could not find the 2GB version), I placed “z2mouse-latest” in the bin dir. Variations of this was to try re-naming it to “z2mouseemu” (which I also tried initially). I’m not clear if renaming is required. I have done this as root.
> I have tried not to needlessly bug you, so I have been reading the various entries, but so far I have not seen a solution offered. What to do next??
> I also noted it takes quite a while to open X, is this normal?
Anyhow, I know I am close. Once the mouse is up, I will move on to wifi. Is there somewhere (your site or other) to be plugged into the latest files and howto? Is this 1GB.img still the way to start off? It’s not too late for me to start over if needed.
thanks! corner5
Hi corner5,
There are a few sites that pop up with Z2 info from time to time, but nothing lasting. I always recommend re-posting to the SF wiki/forum so we’ll have it forever.
On the mouse, there could be a couple of culprits. I’d check that the /bin/z2mouseemu has read/execute permissions set. I’d also check that your /usr/bin/startx script is starting the right mouse emulator. Also, I’d double-check to see if any mouse emulator processes are running in X (ps -ef from terminal). You may need to hit smiley face to toggle between mouse emu and number keys.
Hope that’s helpful, good luck
ok Hunter, progress!
I did get the mouse working. In the end I wiped the partition, added Aliosa27′s “Debian-Z2.tgz” file. I don’t know if this is the most recent, but it did allow the mouse to work. Yes I did need to use the happy-face to toggle. I did find it interesting that the mouse movement is OFF by default (is this correct?).
question: When I replaced the bundled “z2mouseemu” with “z2mouse-latest” (renaming it and checking permissions) it would not work. So I went back to the bundled version. Did I miss something? Should I even care?
OK, now on to wifi…
For at home:
I am currently running WPA2 Personal with a key. I next need to know where and how to enter the SSID and key into the zipit. I know this has been discussed here before, so if the answer is more complex than a short reply can you please point me to the howto? Can this be done from within X? I’m guessing I need to edit a script.
For traveling:
When I do visit an open entry point (e.g. coffee shop), what’s the best way to hop on?
When wifi is up, I’m off to update packages (I think I may need help here too).
I *really* appreciate your hand holding with all this. Along with making a very cool micro-machine this is a great way for a beginner to learn linux. I’m having a blast.
thanks! corner5.
Hey corner5,
Yah the mouse movement is off by default. Not sure why your downloaded version wasn’t working, could be a permissions issue but if you’ve got a working version I wouldn’t sweat it.
For wifi, there are a few ways to do it. For encryption (which i don’t use), there should be some good guides and examples in the comments above and on the other Z2 articles on this site, as well as the other knockoff sites that pop up.
For just connecting to an unencrypted wifi hotspot on the Z2, I just use the standard linux cli tools. iwlist to list networks, iwconfig -essid essidname to connect, and dhclient to get an ip address and set your gateway.
When wifi is up, you can update package lists with apt-get update.
You can update packages to new versions with apt-get upgrade
You can install new programs with apt-get install programname
Glad to hear that you’re liking linux, it only gets better from here. Good luck.
Hi Hunter,
Great work all round, your zipit work definitely attracted me to the device. (If only you could get some commission)
Am thinking about putting Debian on my z2.
However have read some reports that this does not work if the z2 is not stock (ie: has been used in it’s native mode so to speak, so the firmware has been updated, I believe).
Is this so?
And if so, is there anyway to either flash it in the updated state, or return it to its stock condition and then flash Debian?
Kindest regards
James
Hi James,
I have not tried this myself, but I have heard reports that you can flash the zipit no matter what firmware version you are running. Hopefully it’ll work for you too, good luck!
Hi, I followed your (excellent!) directions to flash my zipit z2, But it looks like something went awry somewhere.
I flashed it successfully(?) and unpacked the filesystem onto the sd card. Now my zipit will boot to the Open Zipit logo but doesn’t seem to do anything else. The flashing lights you mentioned in your video are not flashing on the zipit and it’s been over an hour and still nothing but the logo. By the way I’m using a microsd card inside a microsd adapter. I read elsewhere that that should still work but now I’m not sure
Any help you can give is greatly appreciated even if someone can just point me in the right direction.
Hey John,
This has been asked earlier on in this and another comments thread. When you unpacked the filesystem to the SD card, did you use DD or psydiskwrite? If you were on linux, did you do it as root? Was the SD card mounted at the time? These are things to look into. Hope it helps, good luck!
I’m using a Ubuntu livecd. I didn’t use dd at all I just extracted the userland image onto the card as root. I’m not sure if it was mounted or not. Which should it be?
Thank you for replying so quickly
hey John,
If this is the debian userland, yeah that’s your problem. It needs to be unmounted, then you use DD to write the disk image to the SD card.
Okay I’ve been doing some more looking around and everyone keeps mentioning a disk image or an .img file.
What i did was download the kernel + userland image you linked. Then I extracted it using “7z e zipit2-audio+x+mouse.gz” on my linux box with 7zip. Now in alll the directions I see it seems now I should have image file of some kind. Instead I have another tar archive. If I extract that I get a linux filesystem; /boot /proc /var /etc. All of that. So I extracted that onto my sd card and nothing happens when I try to boot it.
Hi John,
I would recommend you download either the 1g or 2g image from the sourceforge page. That’s the new debian userland and it’s pretty good. Also another user here is going to post a new userland to the SF page soon, so that’s another to try. For the file that you have I would make sure that when you extracted the file you did so as root, onto an sd card that’s been cleared of space, is formatted to ext2 or 3. Hopefully that’ll do it. Good luck!
Did it flash properly?
I get a Wannabe Penguin in the left corner but no cursor or anything else on the screen. 2 green lights are on.
That’s it.
Hi
I’m having issues with windows seeing the sd card after i have flashed the image using physgui. The computer says the card needs to be formatted and ex2fsd seems sees the card but no partitions. I’ve tried two sd cards so i must be doing something wrong can anyone help
Hey untuned,
After writing the image using psydiskwrite, you should be good to go. I’m kind of suprised ext2fsd doesn’t like it, but I know windows has trouble sometimes with sd cards with multiple partitions. Have you tried the card in the zipit? It’s quite possible you are doing nothing wrong.
Hey Tinner,
Yeah if you see the penguin the flash worked, and it’s probably just searching for the userland on the sd card.
Hunter,
The z2 ran an update when I booted it before I had a chance to follow the steps above, and now it’s just booting up normally when I try to flash it. Did I screw something up here, or am I maybe just doing something wrong?
Thanks,
Chris
sounds like you have the SAOD (Stock App of Death), if it’s always booting into the stock app then after logging onto the im systems 9and the zipit server) goto tools and set defaults. that should clear it if there is nothing wrong with your SD card.
Hey RKdavis, I love the term SAOD.
Chris, RK is right on the money. You should still be able to boot from your SD if its supported and correctly formatted, you may just need to tools->set defaults for a soft reset. Good luck!
Thanks I got that working. One more thing now when I startx the mouse/keyboard don’t seem to be working. anything I can check for that. I’m a little confused as to the z2mouseemu steps above.
Thanks,
Chris.
Hey Chris,
Try hitting the smiley face key after your xwindows loads up. If the z2 mouse emu is running, it should switch it from keys to mouse mode. You can also use ps (ps -ef | grep mouse) to search for the running process. Glad you got it flashed ok! Good luck!
Hunter,
Thanks for your help and sorry to be a pain. Still not working. After I startx none of my keys do anything not even the power button. Was I supposed to do something with the z2mouseemu, or is it now contain in the 1gb or 2gb userland file. The link above is broken. My keys do however work before I startx, well except for the power button.
Thanks again,
Chris.
Hey Chris,
Since posting this article, I think a lot of folks have moved on to my posts about newer debian-based z2 distribution images like rootnexus’ or irongeek’s. These newer userlands will most likely be more user friendly for issues like this. In your case, you should be able to extract the mouse emulator from one of these distributions, or find it on aliosa27′s project page, or the sourceforge page somewhere.
Good luck!
Chris,
try the options key. but Hunter’s suggestion is the better one as I think the version you currently have is a much older version of z2mouseemu. the latest version is here http://aliosa27.net/projects/zipit2/mark2/z2mouseemu and I think is the one that uses the options key.
Hey Chris,
Saw your post on the yahoo group. Agree with rkdavis/dole, I’d get a new userland for the apt-get’itude
[...] so that step is similar to any of the other Debian-based userlands out there. Here is the link to Hunter’s video. QuantumLime also has a very nice and detailed page that features installation instructions for [...]
I heard there was a monthly fee for usage of the Zipit Z2, can anyone fill me in on this and what happens after I preform this hack to the Zipit device?
Hey Wendell,
Once you hack the zipit, it is running linux. There is no more monthly fee, but you no longer have access to the zipit service itself. You can still use linux wifi and client utilities to chat, etc, just not through the official zipit paid service.
Hello, I think I may have bricked mine. it flashed, shut itself down, and now when I start it up, the screen is blank, and the two green lights are on on the front. Is there any way I can salvage it? even getting back to original OS would be fine at the moment, I just want to know what is going on with it. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Saucks
Hey Saucks,
Check my youtube videos. I favorited a good tutorial about re-flashing a Z2 after a brick. It’ll require a bit of soldering. Sorry to hear about it. If you’re not getting a penguin, it’s probably bricked. Probably used an incorrect kernel image or perhaps something hiccuped during the flash itself. Not sure, but yeah you can save it with some work. Good luck!
Hunter,
I have the penguin, but the cursor stopped blinking and none of the keys work. I have to unplug the battery to shut it off. I have windows so I cant partition the sd card that way. I alos don’t quite understand the last 2 steps above. I’m stuck.
Hey Eric,
You’ll need to download a disk imaging program for windows then. Psydiskwrite used to be a good one, and dd for windows may have a graphical client as well. Sounds like the flash went fine, but the userland image on the SD card isn’t being correctly read. It’s possible it wasn’t correctly written. I’d use psydiskwrite to re-image your SD card with the userland image. That’s probably where the issue lies. This is a common spot to get stuck and lots of folks have been there, lots of good tutorials and comments floating around for this one. Good luck!
[...] on the other hand, you want to find a new use for this handheld device, you might be interested in running Linux, installing DOSbox, or maybe an NES emulator. The Zipit has a 300MHz XScale processor, 32MB of RAM, [...]
Hi Hunter,
I flashed my Zipit with the files from http://sourceforge.net/projects/openzipit with the autoflasher, but I only did get the pinguin-like animal and no “OpenZipit”-Text and no Cursor
The flashing seems to run fine (the first time), because he did write the right textlines and did save the 2 bin-files (Wlan and Kernel-Backup). After he powered down – I restarted, but I only got this little animal and the 2 green lights in the front. Do you got a solution for me or is the only solution to reflash via serial?
Thanks for informtion….
Hi Guido,
Sounds like you are almost there. The little animal plus 2 green lights on front means you won’t have to re-flash. The flashing went well. At this point it’s all about correctly putting the userland onto a miniSD card and getting it to boot. Just keep trying (using DD or psydiskwrite etc) writing userlands to microsd cards. You should eventually be able to get something to boot up. Beware of sometimes flaky microsd adapters too. Good luck!
Hi Hunter,
hasnt to be there the text “OpenZipit” without a userland-card? physdiskwrite doesnt work with my big laptop under win7 64bit, but with my netbook under winxp 32bit.
My Zipit doesnt show the OPenzipit and no cursor and doesnt access the card. Additionally the Zipit hang and couldnt switched off. The only solution is to disconnect the battery….
Which userland do you would recommend? I tried the 1GB debian userland on a 2GB MiniSD Card from SanDisk – at the moment Iam stuck
Ahh, a bigger success…the “OpenZipit” and Cursor wasnt needed and the right green LED doesnt flash on disk access, but after a while it did boot the 2GB DebianZ2 Userland from http://quantumlime.com/zipit
Is there any special key-combination? One for swictching to a text-console for shuting down via shutdown-command?
Now I have to use my 3rd Laptop (with UNIX) to copy the WLAN-Firmware-Files to the card.
I tested to startx and did get a X-Screen..but without the mouse-emulation I couldnt move it…and couldnt shutdown
Guido,
Glad to hear it! You should be able to enable mouse emulation on the quantumlime image by pressing the smiley face. Then you can just mouse to exit, or set up a key combination in your flux or x keys file.
Got problem with the wlan-firmware-filenames on the page http://quantumlime.com/zipit
There are they somtimes names gspsi.bin and gpspsi_helper.bin but the right names are gspi8686.bin and gspi8686_hlp.bin
Now the wlan-card is found while executing iwconfig