Running Linux on an iPAQ

By Martyn Honeyford
2005-04-13


Conclusion
Installing Linux on your iPAQ isn't for everyone: there are still a few wrinkles to be ironed out here and there. During the writing of this article, for instance, I found that a few times the screen lock would enable on my device, but the touchscreen would not work properly, so I would not be able to unlock it. The only way I have found to recover from this is to either log into the machine via the serial port and kill off the lock program, or hard-reboot the machine. Neither are particular attractive solutions if you are on the road and in the middle of some work.

In addition, most of the newer devices with very attractive features such as built in Wi-Fi are not currently supported, though this situation will only improve as developers come to grips with the new machines.

Finally, Linux on iPAQ could gain mass acceptance if a dual-boot procedure were made possible (particularly as the specs continue to improve, giving more room to store two OSes). This would make people much more likely to start playing with Linux on their iPAQs and use one or two applications -- even if there are certain PocketPC "killer apps" they can't live without that do not (yet) have Linux equivalents. There is no doubt (in my mind, at any rate) that Linux on the desktop would not currently be as popular if dual-booting were impossible.

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

Related Tutorials: » Secrets of the Wireless Elite: Alexei Polyakov » Linux Wireless Networking » A New Strategy of Language Pack Management for Wireless Apps » Open Source Wireless Tools Emerge » Getting Practical About Wireless Security, Part 1: Building a Wireless Sniffer with Perl » Challenges and Opportunities in Mobile Games