This page is an effort toward porting the Linux operating system on the Palm Tungsten E device. The project aims at:
- Getting the Linux kernel (the heart of the OS) to boot on the device. This implies creating a bootloader, as well as patching the kernel. This goal has been successfully achieved, but we're still improving it.
- Providing a distribution, probably based off OpenEmbedded. In effect, this distribution is aimed at PDAs, and provides a big lot of packages for the ARM platform. That's what we're focusing on now.
- Giving you all the instructions to build your own kernel and distribution.
Status of the port
- July the 29th, 2oo6 : The project evolves. There are now more peripherals supported by our kernel than unsupported ones! We were able to run console and X programs, we can run Familiar with its desktop environments and we can interact with the programs in a couple of ways. We have a fourth developer since around January. See forums for some unofficial releases.
- September the 13th, 2oo5 : Time for a summary ! In effect, our bootloader, Garux, got reused in a lot of different Linux ports. That's why we are splitting the website : here will remain the Linux-related informations, while garux.sourceforge.net will be dedicated to Garux. You are encouraged to ask non-TungstenE specific questions on the forums out there.
- September the 8th, 2oo5 : We made our first file release today ! Yeepee, you can now run Linux on your Tungsten E :-D However, here are a few warnings : first, this is a teasing version : don't expect anything from it apart from displaying a few booting messages and then pitifully crashing. Second, we provided sources to fit the GPL, but our patch should be merged later on, what will be a lot easier to use. To download this teaser, just follow the File Release link in the menu :-)
- August the 21st, 2oo5 : We got the LCD panel to work under Linux 2.6. Laurent recently fixed a palette-related bug, which made the penguin to appear in weird colors. I've been working on MMC support, and it works great ! I've just mounted my first root filesystem from an ext2-formatted MMC, and init was ran like a charm. The project is progressively leaving alpha stage, and we're working on releasing files to the public. As we saw it on the forum, many of you would like to get the sources : if you want to contribute, please drop us an email. If you "only" want to run Linux on your beloved Palm, be a bit more patient, it's not far away :-)
- July the 1st, 2oo5 : Laurent Gonzalez just joined the developer team. He provided us with an incredible help, and he actually was the first to get the LCD to work under Linux, using a 2.4 kernel with MontaVista patches. We're now merging his changes in the mainline 2.6 kernel.
- February the 11th, 2oo5 : We hosted the project on SourceForge. The bootloader, called Garux is functional. Just read this page for full details.
- December the 9th, 2oo4 : Vinayak R. Borkar found out the virtual adress of the LCD controller. This helped debugging alot, since this was working up to the MMU-disabling step.
- October, 2oo4 : I (Romain Goyet) started the project. The device was opened which provided valuable informations you can check here.
