Tarball for Familiar v0.4 bleeding edge
Andrew Christian <andyc@handhelds.org>
12 April 2001
This tarball contains the files necessary to install the driver for
the Think Outside Stowaway keyboard for the iPaq 3600.
Requirements
============
You need to have an iPAQ with the Familiar v0.4 "Bleeding edge"
distribution installed. This has been tested with the v0.4 release
from the beginning of April, 2001 using kernel image
zImage-2.4.2-rmk1-np1-20000311. It will probably work with other
images, but you may have problems getting the kernel to load the
module.
Install instructions (on a clean Familiar v0.4):
====================
1. cd /
2. tar xvf stowaway-ipaq-1.0.tar
3. depmod [not strictly necessary, but a good idea]
Reboot your iPaq. At the boot prompt:
4. set linuxargs "noinitrd root=/dev/mtdblock3 init=/linuxrc"
5. params save
Boot your iPaq.
Usage
=====
Keyboard:
To turn on the keyboard daemon (stowd), select the system menu
"Utilities : Input Methods : Stowaway". Plug in your keyboard and
type away.
Serial Console:
The system menu command "Utilities : Input Methods : getty" will open
a login prompt on the serial console, allowing you to login normally
and make changes. Running this while "stowd" is executing is likely
to have unforseen consequences.
What the installation adds/modifies:
====================================
The following files are included in the tarball. If you have made
changes to any of these files on your local system, you will need to
manually update your files.
A kernel module containing line discipline for the Stowaway
keyboard. This module has been compiled for the version of the
kernel included in the familiar v0.4 bleeding edge distribution.
If you update your kernel (or the Familiar distribution changes),
you should build with CONFIG_H3600_STOWAWAY.
2. /etc/modules.conf
Adds the line "alias tty-ldisc-15 h3600_stowaway". This allows
the kernel to autoload the h3600_stowaway module when line
discipline #15 is requested. If you build a kernel with
h3600_stowaway included into the kernel, you don't need this
line.
3. /usr/bin/stowd
The user-mode daemon that controls the keyboard.
4. /etc/X11/blackbox/blackbox-menu
Adds two commands to the "Utilities : Input Methods" menu.
5. /etc/init.d/x
Changes the screen orientation to vertical (the default in
Familiar v0.4 is horizontal---not very useful when the keyboard is
attached).
6. /etc/inittab
Removes the "getty" line...with a keyboard, automatically running
and respawning getty on the serial line would be
counterproductive.
7. /usr/X11R6/bin/rxvt
Replace the existing version of rxvt in Familiar v0.4. This is an
older version from the Compaq distributions. It seems to be
better behaved.
8. /root/.Xdefaults
Sets the default font and geometry of rxvt to something that fits
on the iPaq screen. Better fonts could be chosen here.
Notes and issues
================
The blue keys on your keyboard can be accessed by holding down the
blue "Fn" key and pressing the appropriate keyboard key (the Fn key
does not generate a keystroke).
The numeric keybad on the keyboard does not work properly with this
release.
The keyboard daemon doesn't like suspending your iPaq.
----------------
Andrew Christian
12 April 2001
andyc@handhelds.org