DSL on my palm?

Forum: DSL Ideas and Suggestions
Topic: DSL on my palm?
started by: street

Posted by street on Jan. 18 2005,13:42

I have installed DSL on 128 mb sdcard. It works fine on my XPcomputer.
I would like to put DSL on my Palm Tungsten C. Install it on a sdcard. Put the card in the Tungsten C and boot up in linux and surf the web through wifi!?

Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Jan. 18 2005,16:38

I don't think so, DSL is compiled to run on x86 processors only, and I think Palms run on ARM processors, but I'm not sure.

But theoreticly you could try it on a Pocket PC.

-J.P.

Posted by Mechcozmo on Jan. 19 2005,00:22

Quote (SaidinUnleashed @ Jan. 18 2005,11:38)

I don't think so, DSL is compiled to run on x86 processors only, and I think Palms run on ARM processors, but I'm not sure.

But theoreticly you could try it on a Pocket PC.

PocketPCs and Palms both use the ARM processors, but some PocketPCs don't. Nonetheless, they both use proprietary measures to take the screen input and turn it into a screen tap.

It would be neat to do, however. I would like (read: be cool) to run DSL on my Tungsten|T but for now, Palm OS 5 will do...

Posted by apple on Jan. 24 2005,14:17

what about making a new kernel for it with arm support. but does a palm have a touchscreen? i think so. in this case you will have to take the driver for it in there too.

Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Jan. 24 2005,18:43

Quote (apple @ Jan. 24 2005,08:17)

what about making a new kernel for it with arm support. but does a palm have a touchscreen? i think so. in this case you will have to take the driver for it in there too.

Ohh, that's kinda funny. I laughed.

We could, theoretically, but none of the current developers have the means, or the desire to make DSL work on anything other than x86.

The only port that /might/ happen is to the ppc architecture, but only if someone acquires a mac, and takes the time to completely rebuild DSL from the ground up. Knoppix could not be used as a base.

Most likely, official ports ain't gonna happen. Much less any time soon.

However, if you wish to attempt to run linux on your ARM, there are distros out there that have ARM ports. But like Mechcozmo pointed out about the screen, there are forces working aginst you.

-J.P.

Posted by Mechcozmo on Jan. 30 2005,22:47

Quote (SaidinUnleashed @ Jan. 24 2005,13:43)

[quote=apple,Jan. 24 2005,08:17]The only port that /might/ happen is to the ppc architecture, but only if someone acquires a mac, and takes the time to completely rebuild DSL from the ground up. Knoppix could not be used as a base.

Most likely, official ports ain't gonna happen. Much less any time soon.

What language is DSL written in? If it is C or something close to it then Xcode could theoretically build it for PPC and even PPC(64).

It would take some work for the lower-level stuff to be ported... but if most of DSL is a high-level language then its good. Of course, time is money...

Anyone with too much time on their hands as well as a Mac out there?

Posted by BillH on Jan. 31 2005,12:33

Quote (Mechcozmo @ Jan. 31 2005,06:47)

... Xcode could theoretically build it for PPC and even PPC(64).

It would take some work for the lower-level stuff to be ported... but if most of DSL is a high-level language then its good. Of course, time is money...

Anyone with too much time on their hands as well as a Mac out there?

Well, I have access to a computer lab at my university that is being retired. It has 50 PowerMac 7500/100s. These are old-world PPC Macs with early OpenFirmware. A DSL port is EXACTLY what these machines need. As it is now, they are running KanjiTalk 7.5.5 and the school is planning to toss them. THey have 80Mb RAM and 1 Gb HDDs.

I don't have the know-how to do the port, but I know that there is a Debian port for PPC that supposedly works with these machines. So, yeah, I bet there are a bunch of older Macs out there that COULD be part of the DSL family.

Posted by Fordi on Jan. 31 2005,16:58

Nearly right. The configuration are generally the same, with the architecture-specific stuff redone. Scripts would also have to be rewritten, especially those involving /dev/hd?? (on macs, this designation is different sometimes, occasionally neither IDE or SCSI... Which irritates me, but reading up on how Debian PPC is built is helping)

By the way, my DSL-PPC is about 10% done. I have a kernel. It makes my Mac Mini smile.

Posted by AwPhuch on Jan. 31 2005,22:49

Quote (Fordi @ Jan. 31 2005,11:58)

You go boy!!!

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by clivesay on Feb. 01 2005,02:35

Quote (Fordi @ Jan. 31 2005,10:58)

By the way, my DSL-PPC is about 10% done. I have a kernel. It makes my Mac Mini smile.

Fordi - this would be fantastic. I have quite a few old macs that have been donated to me and I also have some ppc thin clients according to caulktel. This would be very welcome if you can pull it off!

Chris

Posted by HariSeldon on Feb. 03 2005,01:37

Go to < UClinux > It is a port for a bunch of handhelds and works well with ARM's.