Running Linux on an iPAQ

By Martyn Honeyford
2005-04-13


Download the Distribution
Okay, now that you've got some hardware sorted out, the next thing to decide is where to get Linux and how to install it on the device.

Assuming you aren't planning on rolling your own system (which is perfectly feasible, but extremely time consuming), the easiest way to get Linux onto your device is to get one of the specialized distributions that are available to support these devices. One of the most popular distributions (and the one I have decided to use) is provided by the Familiar Project (see Resources for a link to the Web site), hereafter referred to as simply "Familiar."

Like most desktop Linux distributions, Familiar is made up from two distinct components:

• The kernel and base system
• The GUI/desktop environment

Familiar is available for download in three distinct user flavors (a fourth, developer-only, flavor with no GUI is also available). Each of these flavors consists of the same kernel and base system but with different GUIs. The analogy in the desktop Linux world is installing a distribution such as Red Hat or Mandrake and getting a choice of desktop environments, such as KDE or GNOME. Indeed, once you start to look at the options, you can see that the similarities to different desktop environments run even deeper.

The three user flavors are:

• GPE (GPE Palmtop Environment), which is based on GTK and is most akin to GNOME in the desktop world
• OPIE (Open Palmtop Integrated Environment), which is based on Qtopia and most akin to KDE in the desktop world
• pypaq, which is based on Python and GTK

The first two, GPE and OPIE, are more commonly used than pypaq. If you have no strong reason to choose one over the other, then just choose one (they don't take long to install, so you can always restart with another flavor if you don't like your choice).

Once you have chosen the appropriate files to download (I went for GPE), it's time to install.

• OS functionality: The OS has Remote X, Raw sockets.

Tutorial Pages:
» Put a Penguin in Your Pocket
» Why Run Linux Instead of Pocket PC?
» Choose Your Hardware
» Download the Distribution
» Install Linux
» Get Connected
» Develop for it
» Reinstalling PocketPC
» Conclusion
» Resources


First published by IBM DeveloperWorks

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