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Linux... in the palm of your hand.

18 08 06 - 22:31 Decided to boot Linux up on my TX.



Well, first time I got a root prompt up on my Palm without having to fire up pssh!

Opie / GPE?

I prefer OPIE - it seems to run a fair bit faster. Maybe becuase GPE has a real X server.

So, let's just say you want to do this yourself on your Palm TX? How would you do that?

1. (optional, but you'd have to be stupid not to) Back up your entire palm.

2. Download the TX Boot Bundle from here.

3. Take a blank SD or MMC card - at least 128MB.

4. Throw garux.prc into Palm/Launcher/

5. Throw linux.boot.cfg into the root directory of the SD. zImage is only necessary if you want CocoBoot instead of Garux. Neither should matter.

6. Download the OPIE or GPE rootfs from here.

7. gunzip and then untar it, and throw it in the root directory.

8. (optional, but highly recommended for GPE) - dd if=/dev/zero of=swap.fs bs=1m count=32 for a swap file.

9. (only if you want GPE, or a swapfile) Using your text editor of choice, edit linux.boot.cfg.

Make sure there is a # before the line representing the image you DO NOT want to boot.

ROOT_DEV=/media/mmc1/opie-image-v0.8.4-rc3-palmtx.rootfs.ext2
#ROOT_DEV=/media/mmc1/gpe-image-v0.8.4-rc3-palmtx.rootfs.ext2

If you followed step 8, ensure that the swap_dev line is commented like this:

SWAP_DEV=/media/mmc1/swap.fs
#SWAP_DEV=none

10. Put the SD card into your Palm TX. Launch the "Garux" app from the card, hit "I did a backup" and hit "Start Linux".

11. (optional) Enjoy! Play around with OPIE / GPE.

12. Open a shell, run shutdown now. When init complains there are no processes left at this runlevel, insert the tip of the stylus into the reset hole on the back, and you will be back in Palm OS in about a minute or so. It will take longer to boot into Palm OS (read below).

Note about data loss:
Because the TX is a NVFS palm - all your user data is stored in flash memory - your data should be safe from Linux. The Palm OS will be wiped out from RAM, but this will be replaced back into RAM from it's decompressed image in flash when you reboot. Linux does not touch the flash. This process should be safe, because the same thing happens when the battery in your palm goes so flat that on a non-NVFS palm you would lose your data.

Drawbacks:
No wifi, no Bluetooth, no suspend, no power managment... kinda limits the usefulness of the device. Also, it occasionally locks up. It's not a compelling replacement for PalmOS, but it really shows promise!

Anyway, thanks to hackndev and LinuxToGo.