Archive for April, 2003

The Database of Future Ideas

// April 11th, 2003 // 27 Comments » // General

Got a revolutionary idea that may not be at all possible now, but could be in the far future? You could go tell others about it, or simply keep it to yourself and let it die with you.

Cross-compiling Linux Console Apps on RedHat for Zaurus

// April 9th, 2003 // 1 Comment » // Techie

I figured I’d throw this information up here in case someone was searching the web for this sort of thing — maybe you’ll find this useful.

Anyway, I got my hands on a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 recently for dirt cheap, and immediately switched to using OpenZaurus and Opie on it. One thing I noticed was the lack of console apps I’ve grown used to on other Unix systems. I figured since nobody was making them, I’d figure out how to build them myself.

First thing I did was find someone’s web page that explained how to setup my own build environment to cross-compile for the Zaurus. this page I found to be very helpful. Just download all of the relevant RPMS, etc.

Now, when building GNU applications, for example, I’d set my path to the ARM compilers now installed in /opt/Embedix/tools/arm-linux/bin and issue “./configure –host=arm-linux –prefix=/tmp/dir/for/installation” in the source directory. Then “make && make install”, which will put all of the files you need for the Zaurus in /tmp/dir/for/installation (or whatever you use of course). So far this is working for me. I also copied /opt/Embedix/tools/arm-linux/bin/locale to the Zaurus into /usr/local/bin, as some apps use it and the Zaurus doesn’t have it by default.

Here are some handy console apps that I was either able to build myself with the above setup on a RedHat 9 system, or downloaded from elsewhere:

I’ll try to update here more when I have time, or feel free to drop me a line if something above isn’t clear. I’ll add more packages here that I make as well

(UPDATE: Another link for help is here.)