NetBSD on MIPS based Windows CE PDA machines (NetBSD/hpcmips)

der Mouse | 29 Nov 2007 06:07

Re: Workpad Z50 RAM

> I have a Z50 with all accessories sitting on a shelf (for a long
> time) and wonder if you use Linux or native Z50 PS?

What's "PS" here?  All I can think of is "power supply", and that makes
no sense whatever when contrasted to Linux.

> If you use Linux, would you be willing to make me a CF bootable drive
> if I provided all materials?

Surely a Linux list would be a better place to ask?  (I can create
bootable z50 CFs for NetBSD if anyone wants.)

The thing - well, the hardware thing - I most want for my z50 is a
replacement ROM, one that doesn't inflict wince on me even for booting,
but that is likely to be somewhat difficult to get my mitts on.
(Preferably, of course, EEPROM, so I can pull it and rewrite it on
another machine as desired.  And while I'm wishing....)

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Khoa Tran | 29 Nov 2007 06:34

RE: Workpad Z50 RAM

I believe our friend accidentally typo-ed the "P" key in place of the "O" for "OS," but that's just my guess.

What would you put on this image? I've been building 4.0 packages on the z50 with distccd to mooch resources off of another computer, but it's still painfully slow :P

It's really not that hard to install it yourself: you can do it just with one CF, but I had to do a lot of reading in order to figure it out (and I suppose that's part of the fun). I've been mulling over whether or not to write a doc myself for a colleague who has a spare z50 lying around and is interested in messing with NetBSD.

~k

(another QC NetBSD user)

> From: mouse <at> Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA
> Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:07:27 -0500
> To: port-hpcmips <at> NetBSD.org
> Subject: Re: Workpad Z50 RAM
>
> > I have a Z50 with all accessories sitting on a shelf (for a long
> > time) and wonder if you use Linux or native Z50 PS?
>
> What's "PS" here? All I can think of is "power supply", and that makes
> no sense whatever when contrasted to Linux.
>
> > If you use Linux, would you be willing to make me a CF bootable drive
> > if I provided all materials?
>
> Surely a Linux list would be a better place to ask? (I can create
> bootable z50 CFs for NetBSD if anyone wants.)
>
> The thing - well, the hardware thing - I most want for my z50 is a
> replacement ROM, one that doesn't inflict wince on me even for booting,
> but that is likely to be somewhat difficult to get my mitts on.
> (Preferably, of course, EEPROM, so I can pull it and rewrite it on
> another machine as desired. And while I'm wishing....)
>
> /~\ The ASCII der Mouse
> \ / Ribbon Campaign
> X Against HTML mouse <at> rodents.montreal.qc.ca
> / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

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der Mouse | 29 Nov 2007 08:13

Re: Workpad Z50 RAM

>>> I have a Z50 with all accessories sitting on a shelf (for a long
>>> time) and wonder if you use Linux or native Z50 PS?
>> What's "PS" here?  All I can think of is "power supply", and that
>> makes no sense whatever when contrasted to Linux.
> I believe our friend accidentally typo-ed the "P" key in place of the
> "O" for "OS," but that's just my guess.

Doh!  Of course.  That at least makes sense, which none of my other
theories did.

>> (I can create bootable z50 CFs for NetBSD if anyone wants.)
> What would you put on this image?  I've been building 4.0 packages on
> the z50 with distccd to mooch resources off of another computer, but
> it's still painfully slow :P

What would I put on it?

- A small msdos boot partition.  (Mine is some 128M, but I have an 8G
   microdrive in there, so I can afford the space, and I'd like room
   for not just a couple of gzipped kernels and hpcboot, but about a
   dozen uncompressed kernels, hpcboot, a couple of other programs, and
   a fair bit of spare space - it's about 1/3 full right now.)

- One or more partitions set up as desired (I'd check with the
   "customer" before freezing the partitioning).  I'd install NetBSD
   there.  (It'd probably be 3.1, because that's what I have running on
   my z50.)  I'd install either the 3.1 distribution or my slightly
   hacked 3.1, as desired by the "customer".

> It's really not that hard to install it yourself:

No...not once you know what you're doing.  As a first introduction to
z50 hackery it's somewhat daunting.  I was lucky; my z50 came with a
"340M" microdrive with NetBSD already installed on it.

> (another QC NetBSD user)

Cool!

/~\ The ASCII				der Mouse
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