revol/faq.html

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<title>Revol: Linux on the Psion Revo</title>
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<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="black" vlink="black">
<h1>Revol</h1>
<a href="index.html">Main</a> |
<a href="sshot.html">Screenshots</a> |
<a href="faq.html">FAQ</a> |
<a href="download.html">Downloads</a> |
<a href="links.html">Links</a> |
<a href="dev.html">Development Stuff</a> |
<a href="pkglist.html">Packages</a>
<hr>
<h3> FAQ </h3>
<ul>
<li> <b> Did you write this? </b>
<p>
Well, not really. Its related to <a href="http://psilinux.org/">Psilinux</a>
which is a project to port linux to Psions.
When I started, the port to the Revo was pretty much
complete, but no decent distribution existed for it (though there were
some for the Revo+).
The focus of Psilinux is on the 5MX, so
I put this distribution together to better support the Revo.
</p>
<li> <b> Can I keep all my existing files in EPOC while I try linux? </b>
<p>
Any files on your palmtop will be lost when you boot linux. It is advised
that you make backups of any essential files before you install. You will
need quite a bit of free space for the install, so you may have to delete
some files to install.
</p>
<li> <b> How can I change virtual terminal? </b>
<p>
The 'menu' key is generally the same as the 'alt' key on PC
keyboards. You can switch console by pressing menu-1,2,3 etc.
Similarly, pressing ctrl-menu-backspace equates to ctrl-alt-del
and will cause init to reboot the system.
</p>
<p>
Console 1 provides a default shell, you can start extra shells on
consoles 2-5. Consoles 9 and 10 show the syslog output and kernel
messages.
</p>
<li> <b> How do I type a pipe (|) ? </b>
<p>
Fn-T.
</p>
<li> <b> You always run as root! Dont you know this is bad practice? </b>
<p>
Maybe on desktop/server machines, but this is a PDA. I decided it was
pointless to bother with multiple users on a palmtop. If you damage
the system, you can simply install it again fairly quickly.
</p>
<li> <b> Why does the filesystem have a peculiar layout? </b>
<p>
I wanted to keep the filesystem simple so the layout is slightly different to
a normal linux distribution. I have tried to keep it generally similar to
the usual layout, however.
</p>
<li> <b> How do I start PicoGUI? </b>
<p>
From the console, type 'P'. This should automatically start PicoGUI.
</p>
<li> <b> How do I change the PicoGUI theme? </b>
<p>
Edit /etc/pgserver.conf and change the themes= line. There are several
themes to choose from in /pgui/themes.
</p>
<li> <b> How can I set up a serial connection to my desktop linux machine? </b>
<p>
There is a copy of pppd included which you can use to set up a PPP link
if you wish. However, I usually use the simpler SLIP protocol.
</p>
<p>
Firstly, on your desktop machine (you need SLIP support in the kernel
or the SLIP kernel modules loaded), execute the following commands as
root:
</p>
<pre>
slattach -s 115200 /dev/ttyS0 &
ifconfig sl0 10.0.2.1 pointopoint 10.0.2.2
</pre>
<p>
(This assumes the revo cradle is on COM1, substitute ttyS0 for your
serial port otherwise)
</p>
<p>
Next, on the Revo, simply execute /bin/connect. This performs similar
commands to the ones above to set up the link on the Revo side.
Hopefully, if the link is running you should be able to test the link
by pinging the revo (ip 10.0.2.2) from the desktop machine. You can
perform simple transfers between the desktop and revo using netcat
(nc).
</p>
<li> <b> Shouldnt this be called GNU/Linux? </b>
<p>
Actually, no. The argument for GNU/Linux is that most linux systems
are a modified version of the GNU system which has been around for
longer than linux has. However, Revol uses embedded versions of
the standard parts of the operating system normally provided
by GNU tools (uclibc instead of glibc, busybox instead of the GNU
fileutils etc). So Revol is a non-GNU linux system and it would be
incorrect to call it GNU/Linux.
</p>
</ul>
<hr>
<a href="mailto:fraggle@nospam.alkali.org">Simon Howard</a>. <br>
I am not associated with Psion Digital.
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