4.7. Linux PDAs: Agenda, iPAQ, Yopy, Zaurus
The most known Linux PDAs in these days are the
Agenda VR3
by AgendaComputing (out-of-production),
the
iPAQ
by COMPAQ,
the
Zaurus SL-5000/5500
by SHARP,
and the Yopy
by Samsung.
All of these have an infrared port.
There are different Linux distributions for Linux PDAs
available, e.g.:
QT Embedded (pre-installed on the SHARP Zaurus),
Opie,
Familiar
and more.
Software IPK packages mentioned below you may find at
Zaurus Software Index - ZSI
or
ipkgfind.
See
TuxMobil
for further information about Linux on and with PDAs in general.
The following is based on my experience with the
SHARP
Zaurus SL-5500G, with the original SHARP romimage 2.38G and
Kernel 2.4.6-rmk1-np2-embedix#1,
but may be applied mutatis mutandis to other Linux PDAs.
The Zaurus comes with a written manual, where beaming files and PPP connections
are explained using the GUI (e.g. FileManager, Settings).
Here I will try to cover what can be done
from the command line and topics neither included in the official SHARP manual nor the
Opie User Manual
.
The infrared functions seem to be part of the StrongARM SA1110 CPU, the
IrDA driver module is named sa1110_ir (on the stock
Zaurus IrDA support seems to be built into the Kernel). From the
irda-utils only irattach is
available. IrDA support is attached via irattach /dev/ttyS2 -s 1
(note "-s 1" will be replaced by "-s" with newer versions). So it looks like
SIR is used, I don't have information about FIR support yet.
To get some of the functionality of irdadump and
detect other IrDA devices in range or debug IrDA you may use
cat /proc/net/irda/discovery and the other
files in the /proc filesystem or compile
the irda-utils for the ARM archictecture by yourself,
also pre-compiled binaries are available.
From the device files only /dev/ircomm (note
it's not /dev/ircomm0) is
created by default. The file modules.conf doesn't
seem to exist. With irrecv you may start the infrared
GUI settings. IrOBEX support is available, but the appropriate tools from
OpenOBEX
are missing, but you may beam files to a Palm PDA, cell phone or
another Linux box or a Microsoft-Windows machine from the GUI.
The IrDA startup scripts lives in /home/etc/rc.d/init.d/irda.
For infrared remote control support see below.
With irdadump from another Linux box the Zaurus
identifies as (look at the second line):
10:56:48.652982 xid:cmd b03cbbb9 > ffffffff S=6 s=5 (14)
10:56:48.652963 xid:rsp b03cbbb9 < b7960e8f S=6 s=4 localhost hint=8420 [ Computer IrOBEX ] (26)
10:56:48.742992 xid:cmd b03cbbb9 > ffffffff S=6 s=* japh hint=0400 [ Computer ] (20)
10:56:51.203002 xid:cmd b03cbbb9 > ffffffff S=6 s=0 (14)
|
4.7.1. PPP
With PPP you may get a network connection through your cell phone or
with another computer. See the
PPP-HOWTO
for details. For fowarding packages via NAT through another Linux box
see the
IPTABLES-Tutorial
.
You may start pppd with commandline options, but
for me it's more convenient to have a configuration file
/etc/ppp/peers/irda. Here is an example for
a first test:
connect /bin/true
noauth
persist
debug
kdebug 7
nodetach
115200
local
/dev/ircomm
192.168.0.2:192.168.0.3
|
If the other IrDA device is a Linux laptop
you may use the same configuration file name and the
same PPP options without the last line,
which sets the LOCAL and REMOTE IP address. Also take care
of the correct device name, e.g. /dev/ircomm0.
The following entries are for debugging purposes
and can be commented out when everything works fine:
persist
debug
kdebug 7
nodetach
|
Now start PPP with pppd call irda on both machines.
For diagnostic purposes leave the messages running in this
terminal window and switch to another window for the next steps.
You may now check the network connectivity with ifconfig
and ping.
For connections to a cell phone see the
Cellular Phone Connection chapter above.
4.7.2. Beaming Files - OpenOBEX
The advantage of OBEX is usually the integration. Send an
appointement event over OBEX, and most likely the Zaurus will
integrate that in the built-in calendar automagically, like the Palm
does. Same for business cards.
The IrOBEX protocol offers an easy way to beam files via infrared
to another PDA, a cell phone or computer. The
Linux tools are provided by
OpenOBEX
. Beaming via the GUI between two Zaurus PDAs or to a Palm PDA might
work. But currently I couldn't send or receive files from my Linux laptop.
When trying to send a file per ircp FILE, I get this
irdadump message:
11:11:03.943005 i:cmd > ca=8a pf=1 nr=0 ns=0 LM slsap=12 dlsap=00 CONN_CMD (6)
11:11:03.972964 i:rsp < ca=8a pf=1 nr=1 ns=0 LM slsap=00 dlsap=12 CONN_RSP (6)
11:11:03.973010 i:cmd > ca=8a pf=1 nr=1 ns=1 LM slsap=12 dlsap=00 GET_VALUE_BY_CLASS: "OBEX:IrXfer" "IrDA:TinyTP:LsapSel" (37)
11:11:04.002973 i:rsp < ca=8a pf=1 nr=2 ns=1 LM slsap=00 dlsap=12 GET_VALUE_BY_CLASS: No such class (11)
11:11:04.003015 i:cmd > ca=8a pf=1 nr=2 ns=2 LM slsap=12 dlsap=00 DISC (6)
|
When trying to receive a file per ircp -r, I get this
irdadump message:
11:15:08.682979 i:cmd < ca=8a pf=1 nr=4 ns=5 LM slsap=53 dlsap=00 CONN_CMD (6)
11:15:08.683063 i:rsp > ca=8a pf=1 nr=6 ns=4 LM slsap=00 dlsap=53 CONN_RSP (6)
11:15:08.712970 i:cmd < ca=8a pf=1 nr=5 ns=6 LM slsap=53 dlsap=00 GET_VALUE_BY_CLASS: "OBEX" "IrDA:TinyTP:LsapSel" (30)
11:15:08.713035 i:rsp > ca=8a pf=1 nr=7 ns=5 LM slsap=00 dlsap=53 GET_VALUE_BY_CLASS: No such class (11)
11:15:08.732976 i:cmd < ca=8a pf=1 nr=6 ns=7 LM slsap=53 dlsap=00 DISC (6)
|
Jean Tourrilhes suggests this solution:
"The Zaurus doesn't support the "OBEX:IrXfer" service, it
probably only supports the "OBEX" service use
cat /proc/net/irda/irias to verify.
So, either you start a server on "OBEX:IrXfer" on the Zaurus,
(ircp_server - cross compiled for Zaurus),
or you use a client using "OBEX" on the
laptop (irobex_palm3)."
4.7.2.1. Tools
Beamster is a little Gtk/python utility to help with IrDA transfers
especially from and to Linux PDAs
(ftp://ftp.handhelds.org/pub/linux/dists/familiar/feeds/unstable/packages/armv4l/).
It can talk to most handhelds/laptops/printers which use the IrDA Object
Exchange protocol (OBEX), in fact any device which already works with
the openobex package will work with this.
It should be fairly intuitive to use. Make sure that IrDA is 'On',
position the two devices, wait for the status bar to show that a new
peer has been discovered, choose the transfer mode (use 'Palm3' for
PalmOS peers and 'Windows' for everything else) then press 'beam' or
'receive' as appropriate. Note that 'receive' toggles on and off.
Tested transfers to and from this IrDA devices: an old Palm3,
a Psion 5MX, a Windows 98 ThinkPad and a Linux desktop with an Actisys
L220+ dongle.
The ObexFTP implementation
flexmem
accesses the Flex.Memory directly. I piped a S45 data
explorer (windows) session through sersniff.
The log looks roughly like OBEX over cable. In fact old Open OBEX is working
with the Siemens S45 mobile phone.
It is confirmed to work well with Siemens S45/ME45 and similar mobile phones.
You may access the Flex Memory on Siemens mobile equipment via IrDA or
serial connection.
4.7.3. Printing
To print directly to an IrDA capable printer you need the device
file /dev/irlpt0. If it's not available, use
mknod /dev/irlpt0 c 161 16 to create it.
Now you may perform a first and simple test.
Try to write a small file to /dev/irlpt0 by
cat FILE >/dev/irlpt0. With the stock Kernel
from SHARP this didn't work, but with a custom kernel it worked fine.
Do not wonder about a bad format (the lines form sort of steps)
this is just a first check.
To get a pretty print format you may have to write a filter
as described in the Printing-HOWTO from
LinuxPrinting.org
.
More about printing from mobile Linux devices you may find in the
Linux-Mobile-Guide
.
4.7.4. Remote Control - LIRC
Consumer InfraRed - CIR aka remote control via infrared can be had on
a Linux PDA by installing lirc-modules-KERNEL for the appropriate
Kernel version, and
LIRC.
For more details see the
HandHelds.org-WiKi
and the
Opie-Remote
page.
Opie-Remote is a remote control emulator for the Compaq iPAQ and the SHARP
Zaurus.
4.7.6. Keyboards and Scanners
For the iPAQ there is module h3600_microkbd, which
supports the MicroInnovations IR keyboard.
There seem to be optical barcode readers available, which use sort
of a red light to read the data. But I doubt that this has anything
to do with IrDA or Consumer InfraRed - CIR.
IRK
allows you to use external infrared keyboards with the Zaurus. It
interfaces the LIRC driver to the Qtopia environment. Currently only the
Chicony KB-9820 keyboard (German version) is supported.
