Using r121 (Part 2)

This post is related to setting up wifi network (WPA-PSK) using my PLANEX CF11X Wireless card. The main issue with this card is it fails to load by default, a new firmware has to be loaded into the card's RAM upon use.

The firmware files required are:
* pm010102.hex
* rf010804.hex

These files can be downloaded here:
1.8.4.tar.bz2,
1.8.4.tar.bz2

There exists /etc/pcmcia/hostap_fw.conf which contains script for loading the firmware, however it doesn't seem to work. Not sure how it is supposed to work here. Hence this is another workaround that works for me.

NOTE: You need to have the hostap-utils, hostap-driver and wpa_supplicant package installed.

Create a script file called loadwifi.sh, we assume the .hex files are copied to /etc/pcmcia/firmware directory.

#!/bin/sh
echo 'loading PLANEX CF11X firmware'
prism2_srec -gs wlan0 /etc/pcmcia/firmware/pm010102.hex
prism2_srec -gp wlan0 /etc/pcmcia/firmware/pm010102.hex
iwpriv wlan reset 1
prism2_srec -rp wlan0 /etc/pcmcia/firmware/rf010804.hex
iwconfig wlan0 mode 2

Next, modify /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf for your wifi settings.

Here's my example

    ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
    ctrl_interface_group=0
    eapol_version=1
    ap_scan=1
    fast_reauth=1
    network={
        ssid="(Your SSID)"
        proto=WPA
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        pairwise=TKIP
        group=TKIP
        psk="(Network_Password)"
        priority=2
    }

Once you have all these setup, the following is the step by step call to put the network up. Put these commands into one script for easy access.

Load the new firmware into Wifi Card's RAM
> loadwifi.sh

Enable wlan0
> ifconfig wlan0 up

Load WPA setup to authenticate with server
> wpa_supplicant -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -D hostap -i wlan0 -B

enable DHCP client to get IP (assuem server using DHCP)
> dhcpcd wlan0

The connection should be on and should be able to browse the net now.

Using r121 (Part 1)

After doing a lot of research and try out, there are some fixes that should be applied to start off:

1) [Fn] + [1,2,3,4] hot keys not working

To fix, modifiy /usr/X11R6/bin/startx

change the line from
defaultserverargs=" -nolisten tcp"
to
defaultserverargs=" -nolisten tcp -kb"

2) Xmms failed to play mp3

When try to play mp3 file in xmms, it complains with "failed to open audio output: eSound Output Plugin 1.2.10"



To fix:

Option 1:

It is found that you can solve this problem by issuing the command
> esdctl unlock

Xmms will be happy to play music now. So basically we need to add this command to the startup script to prevent this happening.

Option 2:

This is actually an easier solution, what you need to do is to change the XMMS plug-in settings (Option->Preferences, Audio I/O Plugins Tab).

Change the Output Plugin selection from eSound Output Plugin to either OSS Driver or ASLA output plugin.

Installing pdaXrom r121

Happy New Year! This is my first post in 2007.

After playing pdaXrom beta3 for a few weeks, I decided to start testing r121 out in the new year, and explore the power of 2.6 in my Z. :-D

My expression of this release it good. I personally would rather working with this release more than the old beta3. (Maybe I should try pdaXii13 though, since I got stuck with some annoying bugs and don't know how to fix). I will keep using this release and learn more till the next one comes up.

Installing r121 is not the same as installing the old releases, it requires you to first update the bootloader, which is called U-Boot.

It is recommanded you do a NAND backup beforehand in case you want to roll back. (I didn't really do it, as we can download it from the TriSoft website anyway)

The following are the installation procedures (based on C3200)

Part A) Installing U-Boot
1. Prepare a SD or CF card, format it in FAT16.
2. Extract bootloader files (pdaXrom-1.1.0r121-Kathrin-u-boot-akita-current.zip) to the card.
3. Turn off Zaurus, remove power adapter (and battery).
4. Press and hold the (D+M) keys, plug the power adapter
5. In the diagnostic menu -> Extra Menu -> NAND Flash Erase
6. Turn Off Zaurus, remove power adapter (and battery).
7. Insert SD or CF card with the extracted bootloader files.
8. Press and hold (C+D) keys and plug in power adapter.
9. You should see both the green/yellow leds are on for around 10sec
10. When the leds are off, unplug power adapter.

Part B) Installing pdaXrom r121
1. Prepare a SD or CF card, format it in FAT16.
2. Extract images (pdaXrom-1.1.0r121-Kathrin-akita-current.zip) to the card.
3. Turn off Zaurus, remove power adpater (and battery)
4. Press and hold OK button, plug in power adapter.
5. Wait for ~10sec and leave OK button
6. Screen will turn on and boot into emergency system
7. It will detect the SD/CF card and run autoboot.sh
8. Answer Y to the question
9. After flashing, it will reboot and pdaXrom will run.

Installing pdaXrom beta3

Christmas is coming, I have more time to spend and so I decided to give pdaXrom a go. Since people are stating that r121 is not stable enough to be used. I will go for beta3 at the moment.

After flashing beta3 in my C3200, everything seems to start off fine. Except my PLANEX GW-CF11X wifi card is not being activated when plugged in. Studying the message log from /var/log shows that some file are missing. So basically I have to find the following two files "pm010102.hex" and "rf010804.hex" from the net and copy them into /etc/pcmcia/firmware. Now I have my wifi network working now. :-)

Files can be found in http://www.red-bean.com/~proski/firmware/. pm010102.hex is in primary.tar.bz2, while rf010804.hex is in 1.8.4.tar.bz2.

Planning to connect to the feed and start setting up my Z.....Wait! pdaXrom offical site is down!!?? Fine, see if I can find another feed from another site. Oops...Even the OE forum is offsite due to moving to a new server.

Oh...looks like I have picked the wrong time to test thing out. :-p

Back to Cacko

Been back to using cacko 1.23 for two weeks. The main reason of going back is that I cannot quite find out how to play mp3 and turn the lcd off. This drain my battery pretty quick. Also I don't find the music player and kino that I like as in cacko. OZ/OPIE is getting better now, but still not quite suit my need at the moment. I hope the next release will be better and I will eventually switch to use it.

Anyway, following is the command for rewriting the locked partition:

> mount -o remount,rw /

It will be useful if you want to add/replace some files there. Remember to change it back to read-only though.

Keymapping in OPIE

One of the annoying thing I found is the '/' button next to space button. In cacko, this button will be treat as '/' by default, whereas OPIE will treat it as ',' by default.

A quick fix is to change the key mapping, which can by modified in /etc/keymap-2.6.map file.

Simply replace the line keycode 51 = comma slash to keycode 51 = slash comma

Connecting to WPA Wifi Network with OPIE 3.5.4.1

This is actually quite similar to how it works in Cacko, and here is the summary

1) Insert Wifi Card

2) Config /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Should back up this file first before doing any changes to it. :-)

Modify the file to look like the following:

       ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
     
       ctrl_interface_group=0
     
       eapol_version=1
     
       ap_scan=1
     
       fast_reauth=1
     
       network={
           ssid="SSID for your network"
           key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
           proto=WPA
           pairwise=TKIP
           group=TKIP
           psk="your password"
       }

3) Make the connection with the following command:
> wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf &

OZ/OPIE again

After doing some more research, I ended up flashing my Z with OPIE again. This time version 3.5.4.1.

The main reason is that there Wiki page has been improved a lot since I read it last time. Much more information are available. Flashing the device is very simple.

My network card was being detected and working right away the first time I boot up. Tried to install Gaim, it runs but doesn't seem to have any way for me to login. Must be some linking issue with the protocol I install? Need to do some research on it.

However, after my first reboot, my network doesn't work any more, I wonder why....

I will need to spend a bit more time playing with it.