iPAQ OS Upgrade ?

[ozymandias]

I seem to remember seeing that Compaq had realeased a FlashROM upgrade of the iPAQ OS recently and then suddenly pulled it.<br><br>Anyone got any updates on this, know what the problem was or know where I can get a copy ?<br><br>Cheers.

[pedroboe]

They should be announcing a new rom update tool within the next few weeks. Go to the iPAQ forum at Brighthand.com and do a search

[Dan East]

Apparently a small portion of those attempting the upgrade ended up with an unusable iPaq.  Compaq removed the update until they could figure out what occured in those cases.<br><br>DAn East

[Anibal]

Do you think that it is a good idea install Linux in the ipaq?

[Dan East]

This doesn't really pertain to the ROM update, but...<br>My take on it would be that running Linux on a Pocket PC would be similar to using JS Landscape to rotate your screen. None of the apps are really designed for that size screen, so you run into little quirky things here and there. Some programs, such as calculators, etc, are unusable because part of the window is off the screen. Most Linux X Windows apps were probably not written with a maximum window width of 240 in mind, so they may not fit entirely on the screen.<br><br>Now, if Linux could be installed on a CF card, and you could choose which you wanted to boot when you soft reset, then that would be very cool.<br><br>Dan East

[Chris Edwards]

Well Dan... You have a new project . Make the Pocket PC dual bootable.<br><br>I'm kidding Dan. But if anyone else would want to do this that would be awesome..... maybe a bit difficult though.

[Dr. Phat]

Actually chris and dan, that is what they recommend at pocketlinux.com.  they said use CF as the root file, and if you take out the card, you run PPC, with the card it's linux.

[Dan East]

I browsed through the pocketlinux site, and I couldn't find anything about the Linux-On-A-CF-Card-Leave-PocketPC-OS-Alone. What I saw is that Linux totally replaces the Pocket PC OS, and that "Windows restoration is apparently possible (although untested here at Transvirtual)".<br><br>After looking at the screenshots, available utils, etc, I get the distinct impression that PocketLinux is to Linux what Pocket PC is to Windows 2000 (in other words, it is a tiny, tiny shadow of its big brother). Even the application screenshots they show reveal very, very rudimentary and stripped down programs, functionality-wise. It doesn't even appear to be running X Windows.<br>When I first heard of Linux on the iPaq, I envisioned, well, Linux on an iPaq. I could see myself pulling up an xwindow shell, and firing up gcc to build various applications right on my iPaq. It looks like it is nothing of the sort.<br><br>Dan East

[Dr. Phat]

no, it doesn't, but its not microsoft! its so wonderfulo...lets bask in its warm glory!

[Chris Edwards]

Debian makes a full blown ARM distro. Not meant for the iPAQ, but it still works.<br><br>Handhelds.org also has a linux distro meant for the ipaq.<br><br>I think to restore the Pocket PC OS all you need to do is run the ROM upgrade now. It should clear the ROM and update it with Pocket PC. (not tested, just common-sense).

[Dr. Phat]

Close enough!