Nokia N770 build system.

In work I recently had to build a ‘build system’ for some work we are doing in the enable project. Using the information from here and here, I was able to build a MIPv6 kernel for the N700. The biggest hurdle was figuring out the build system, so, to make it easier for anyone else.

Using a clean install of Ubuntu 6.06 Desktop edition, the following steps were taken

1) The line:

deb http://scratchbox.org/debian/ stable main

was added to the file:

/etc/apt/sources.list

2) Next the following lines of code were run from a shell prompt:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install scratchbox-core scratchbox-libs \ scratchbox-devkit-debian scratchbox-devkit-doctools \ scratchbox-devkit-perl scratchbox-devkit-cputransp \ scratchbox-toolchain-cs2005q3.2-glibc-arm \ scratchbox-toolchain-cs2005q3.2-glibc-i386 \ scratchbox-toolchain-hostgcc

$ sudo /scratchbox/sbin/sbox_adduser $USER

3) After this, I logged out and logged back in.

4) Following this, the file from here was downloaded to
/scratchbox/users/$USER/home/$USER/

5) To create a target, the following was done:

$sb-menu

6) This will bring up a text interface where you will be guided through creating a target. The target was named SDK2.2_ARMEL (in keeping with the existing documentation). The ARM compiler and not the i386 was selected as compiler. The devkits that were selected were:

cputransp
debian-etch

For CPU Transparency (cputransp) the option that was selected from the list was

qemu-arm-0.8.2-sb2

When asked to select rootstrap the file from step (4) above was selected.
When asked which files to install to target, all EXCEPT gdb were selected.

7) The following was used to log-in

$/scratchbox/login

To test that everything was working I built a kernel with

mkdir ~/kernel-build
apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.16
apt-get source su-18-kernel

cd su-18-kernel-2.6.16 $ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -us -sa -d

If that was succesful, your now ready to begin! This worked for me, YMMV!

Its the weekend

The weekend arrived after a rather long week in the office. Saturday afternoon was spent catching up on various chores, that were oustanding. Saturday evening I managed to get time on the Shortwave bands. I’m ‘aerially’ challenged in my location in several ways (my garden is quite small, I’m inducing current into the house alarm somewhere, and most importantly herself doesn’t like the look of the wire aerials or the noise of the alarm going off), so I’m kind of snookered.

However, I have an MFJ ISOLoop antenna in the attic, and yesterday evening I started listening on 20meters. The band was still hopping as the IARU HF World Championships were on. Well it was a blast, worked 15 countries in about 3 hours, and i could run full (100 watts) power all over the 20m band without setting off the alarm!

I also used the opportunity to try out YFKlog, which does exactly what it claims to (thanks Brendan for the tip).

Today after the rain started I took a look around the shack for a likely ‘rainy day’ project and I found a Kenwood D700 kit that I’ve had sitting here for ages. I’m not exactly sure how long it took me to complete, but it was working before I went to make dinner! So all in all, a productive weekend.

5.25 Volts

Thats what the 4 x AA pack is reading at 22:25 IST. Obviously the pack wasn’t fully discharged, but still, thats not bad for zero cost charging (lets not get into the argument about the cost of manufacturing the solar cell). It will be interesting to see how long it takes to recharge a set of depleted cells.

Battery Charger.

Have you ever gone to the drawer looking for 4 batteries for something or other, only to find a) you don’ t have 4 of any similar type, b) you have no idea if they are charged or not. I have, and it’s always annoying.

I came across this kit last week and ordered one from Neil. I’ve just stuck it together and put it on the kitchen window, it should get some sun before I get up in the morning. The Voltage is currently reading 4.96 on the battery pack. It’ll be interested to see what they read at breakfast time.

It should be possible to leave them in the window all the time, and then I will always know where I have a ‘fresh set’. We’ll see!