RasPi progress

A quick progress report, for those Raspberry Pi fans wondering what is happening...

I have Puppy booting on the RasPi. But, still some issues to resolve.

What has consumed much time is my decision to build from Gentoo binary packages. I have had to learn from scratch how Gentoo split up some packages and some oddities in the directory layout of some packages.

This morning I got a desktop, with mouse and keyboard working (that took awhile!). I am finding some problems, for example jesse's 'guess_fstype' does not detect ext4 or swap partition types, only fat -- so I have put a workaround in the 'probepart' utility to fallback to using 'blkid'.

I am now going to experiment with a build from Debian Squeeze packages.

---

Comments

initrd
Username: mavrothal
I was wondering if you use the standard puppy init script to boot RP. Tried to boot buppy with an ARMv7 kernel I made on the XO-1.75 (replacing busybox and other initrd binaries with the armv7 versions). Booted ok but then failed to find partitions as you said, but also failed to generate /proc or /sys/block as shown [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/35623379@N07/7353925958/in/photostream/lightbox/]here. So should be something more than probpart. Any pointers? Thx

Re initrd on raspi
Username: BarryK
"I am doing "full installs" for these SD cards, booting on Mele and RP. No initrd. When I release Woof with most bugs ironed out for the RP, you will be able to create an SD image with your choice of kernel. You will need to use a kernel compiled for armv6.

ext2 xip
Username: technosaurus
"I have had good experience with using ext2 with xip (execute in place) for full installs where flash storage is used but it works best if mount with noatime set also. I have not tried it with the compressed ext2 patches, but my gut tells me that you have to choose xip OR compression. The xip option would probably be best for the pi, and may not even need swap.

robotic plane for disaster mapping using the Raspberry Pi
Username: disciple
"Did anyone see this? http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2012/06/openrelief-launches-open-source-disaster-relief-drone

tablets in the future...
Username: dionicio
"Of the world illiterate http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428696.400-tablet-pcs-preserve-indigenous-knowledge.html :)

touch interfaces not intuitive
Username: disciple
""the intuitive swipes and finger taps of a tablet interface" "Touchscreens are far more intuitive" Is this a load of "fanboy" nonsense? I don't have a lot of experience with touch interfaces, but the ones I have used seem to hide critical functionality, using completely non-obvious actions to invoke features, and not giving you any indication that the features exist. Much less intuitive than scrollbars and things in a traditional mouse-oriented gui that are actually _visible_. Are some tablet interfaces significantly better? Which ones should I be checking out?

Re touch interfaces
Username: BarryK
"disciple, Yeah, this something that bothers me, too. I am wondering if computing is taking a giant step backwards. I think it is the right move for Puppy to stay with the traditional mouse and keyboard, and user interfaces with menus, scrollbars, trays etc.

touch interfaces
Username: smokey01
"I agree Barry. I have an iPad3 and it's interface is simple and intuitive but it drives me crazy because I can't configure it the way I would like. You get what you get and are stuck with it. With Puppy you have total control and that's the way I like it.

touch screen
Username: aarf
"after a few weeks of continual touch screening I have come to the conclusion that it is the primative software that is the problem more so than the touch screen itself. some things just can't be done purely because the software says you touched here when you know darn well that you touched over there. it is a matter of learning by trial and error what can and can't be done and then using and remembering work arounds for touches that won't happen no matter what. multi touch software is in it infancy.

Simple programs
Username: bigpup
"I agree. The programs in tablets are very basic on touch commands and options. Probably comes from there beginnings as apps for cell phones. Many are designed still for cell phones, but work on tablets. Hate to say this, but Windows 8 may be the turning point, where apps will be more complex and have more features. I have an Android based tablet and a true program designed for a tablet is still hard to find. Most were and are designed for cell phones.

Touch interfaces for the illiterate
Username: dionicio
"tasting the words sounds like fanboy-ism. :) You are absolutely in the point about the flight path of Puppy. I love Puppy and its bright future. :) Yet I welcome fanboys working in bringing onboard the illiterate.

Tags: puppy