Cumulus installation Howto for OpenZaurus3.5.2/Opie1.1.7

written by Axel Pauli, Last update: 2005-02-15
This howto contains my personal notes made during installation of Cumulus on my Zaurus SL-5500G running under OpenZaurus with Opie and all additional steps are needed to bring up a GPS-CF card BC-307 with a serial interface to run. I hope it will help all other to configure their OS in the right way and to enjoy then on cumulus. In general if you have problems it is a good idea to visit one of the following web sites:

Disclaimer: The following information in this document can be out of date. Follow the instructions at your own risk.


Devices and Environment


Installation of OpenZaurus/Opie

To install OpenZaurus on your Z, look here for more information. All needed packages (zImage, opie image, feeds) can be down loaded from this place.

Alternatively you can also install the Hentges Rom. It comprises the whole Opie but that was too much for me.


Steps to do after installation

For more convenience you should make running the remote ssh connection from your Linux Desktop computer to the Zaurus. I make always a ssh login via an x-terminal into the Z. So is working easier as to use the little keypad and the small screen of the Z.

As next step I recommend to move the file systems /home and /opt to the SD Card to avoid file system overflows. That is not valid for the Hentges Rom! Click here to get some hints how to do that.

Furthermore a couple of packages must be installed too:

Additionally you can install an Opie language package of your choise and the Config File Editor.

Download all mandatory packages, transfer them to the Z (e.g. with scp ...) and install them. As installation place you should prefer the SD Card to avoid a file system overflow. Due to the fact, that cumulus is built with Opie 1.1.8 but the system is based on 1.1.7, you must use the option -force-depends or -nodeps to get it installed with the ipkg tool.

Note, that older cumulus packages built with gcc 2.9x will not run together with the oz-compat libraries under OZ/Opie.

Next you must do some patches in the system by hand:

Activation of the GPS CF card

With my GPS CF card BC-307 I had no problems to get it running. The used serial device is /dev/ttyS3 in the normal case. Insert GPS CF card into the Z. In the lower line should come up a message, that a new card has been inserted. Now you can check, if your card has been recognized by the OS. Enter the command cardctl ident and look at the output. For my BC-307 GPS card there is printed out the following:
Socket 0:
  product info: "CF CARD", "GENERIC", "", ""
  manfid: 0x0279, 0x950b
  function: 2 (serial)
Socket 1:
  no product info available
Now you can check, if the kernel has assigned a serial device to the CF card. Execute the command:
cat /var/run/stab
to see, what the kernel has assigned. If all is ok you should see something like that:
Socket 0: Compaq iPAQ Bluetooth Sleeve
0       bluetooth       serial_cs       0       ttyS3   4       67
Socket 1: empty
Important is the assigned device, ttyS3. We need it later on for the configuration of cumulus. Now we can do a very simple test, if the serial CF interface is working. We set the speed of the uart to 4800 bps and try to read then data from it.
stty 4800 < /dev/ttyS3
cat /dev/ttyS3
If we have luck and the GPS is sending data we can see the NMEA records:
6,1.2,73.0,M,44.6,M,0.0,0000*4F

$GPGSA,A,3,11,14,31,20,22,28,,,,,,,2.2,1.2,1.8*37

$GPRMC,152829.201,A,5228.1136,N,01334.1011,E,0.129664,135.72,060304,,*04
First record maybe corrupted but the rest looks very good. With Control C you can stop the output. Additionally, if you got no success you should visit the system log file with the following command:
logread
Check if you could detect problems related to ttyS3 or similar. If you call logread -f you will get displayed all logged new mesages in the system log immediately. That's good for online tracing.

Installing map files of cumulus

Cumulus uses three different kind of data files for the map display. You have to download it from the maproom of KFLog. After that the files must be installed on the Z. Cumulus supports three different locations, where the map tree can be installed.

The map tree contains two subdirectories airspace and airfields. The directories have to be filled in this order. Ground- and terrain-data files have to put under maps. Airport-files have to put under maps/airfields and Airspace-files have to put under maps/airfields.


Installing waypoint data for cumulus

Waypoint data for cumulus should be created by using the application KFLog. This application can manage different source formats (e.g. Filser, SeeYou). Compose a waypoint data set according to your needs and store it in the cumulus file format during save. Then you have to copy this file on the Z into the directory $HOME/Applications/cumulus. As target file name must be used cumulus.kwp. ATM cumulus supports only one waypoint data file. In cumulus is also a waypoint editor available. It supports the creation of new waypoints or the modification of automatically created waypoints to your needs.


Debugging problems

If cumulus will not right run, you can try to start it in a terminal window. For that you should go into the directory /opt/QtPalmtop/bin, where the binary is installed. Now type ./cumulusto start it. All messages emitted from cumulus will be to see in the terminal window. Another possibility is, to redirect all cumulus messages to the system logfile. Edit the Cumulus.conf file, to find under $HOME/Settings, with a normal editor or with the Opie Config editor. Search the entry UseSystemLog = 0 and change the 0 against a 1. Now you can start cumulus from the desktop icon. All messages are the find in the system log. You can read them with logread or trace them online with logread -f. Don't forget to switch off the tracing, if it is not more necessary.


Epilog

The OS should to be fit now for cumulus. Run cumulus and go into the settings dialog (SHIFT-S or Menu button). Tip on the GPS tab, and select a tty device according to your needs with the right speed (ttyS3 and 4800 baud normally for a GPS-CF card). There is also an automatic tty device detection available for CF cards. Select entry CF for usage.

Have a lot of fun with cumulus. Please report any feedbacks to the cumulus mailing list for improving this howto.

Axel