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Dual Booting the iPaq?

Posted by Cliff on from the and-you-thought-only-PCs-needed-it dept.

dualBootless asks: "I just got an iPaq 3670 on eBay, and I plan to try out the Sierra Wireless Aircard 555 PC-card with it (I am fortunate enough to live in an area supported by Verizon's 144kbit G3 service). Unfortunately, there is not yet Linux support for the 555, so I'll be stuck with WinCE. I would like to play around with Linux too, but re-flashing the rom every few days seems out of the question. Has anyone been able to dual-boot WinCE/Linux on these hand-helds? I'd be willing to put Linux on a compactflash if necessary, and swap the PC-card expansion pack for the compactflash one whenever I want to use Linux."

9 comments

  1. I don't think it's possible... by gartogg · · Score: 0

    because too much of the OS is wired into the ipaq, not stored in the flashram.

    That is why Microsoft calls it "Windows Embedded."

    --
    I'm a concientious .sig objector.
    1. Re:I don't think it's possible... by willfe · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not true. The OS lives in the 16MB (or 32MB on newer models) of flash ROM. The iPaq itself is a barebones Strongarm 206MHz CPU with 64MB of RAM, a touch screen and a few buttons for input, an LCD and speaker and LED for output, a serial and USB port, and a bus for expansion devices.

      It'll run whatever you can shove on it and get to run on the Strongarm.

      --
      Read my stuff.
  2. Maybe by mfos.org · · Score: 1

    I can't think of any reason why not. But you would need a special bootloader and a lot of memory.

    1. Re:Maybe by mfos.org · · Score: 1

      I assume you've found handhelds.org and the iPaq mailing list?

  3. Bootldr - version 2.18.07 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This bootldr has some preleminary support to load the kernel/initrd off the first/second partition of either flash (the rom) compactflash cards (in the slot) or miniIDE like the IBM/toshiba drives.

    Check the messages on familiar with support for the bootldr.. a message was sent last week concerning exactly that ...
    (to get quick installs directly from flash, etc..)

    Have fun dual booting
    (it is not there yet, but they are definitly working really hard to make it easy to use - ie: yopu can use it now, but you need a serial console to start it right...)

  4. It is _possible_ by ankit · · Score: 2

    Well, it is possible... There are two ways of going about it :

    1) The Compaq handhelds.org team is working on getting the CF/PC sleeve supported in the bootloader. In fact, if you see the changelog of the bootloaders, you will see that they have already started putting in code for this purpose. Once this gets done, you should be able to load linux on the CF card, and leave wince on the internal flash. I dont know though how much longer this would take.

    2) The second option is to use Redboot, and use the technique described here. However, these instructions are rather old, and would require some ammount of effort to get them to work.

    --
    Don't Panic
  5. Linux on iPaq... getting started looks tricky. by Nonesuch · · Score: 2
    I'm no stranger to bootstrapping OSes on odd hardware (primarily NetBSD), and I have some experience with Linux, but it does seem that getting Linux working on an iPaq is particularly difficulty/tricky/risky/ill-documented.

    For me to even be willing to try out Linux on any platform (after my many bad experiences with Linux over the past several years) is a stretch. Being able to 'dual boot' would go a long way toward making me (and probably many others) more comfortable with this experiment, reducing the perceived risk of turning the handheld into a very expensive brick.

    --

    I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
  6. Try at handhelds.org by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.handhelds.org/z/wiki/Set%20up%20familia r%20to%20dual-boot