Want to start playing around with linux on palm device
 

Hello,

I have a Palm TX. I want to see if I can start playing around with seeing how I can make a linux environment to work on my palm device. could people give me advice as to what environments they have tried. I currently have ubuntu installed on my laptop so I would love to see if I can make my palm device into a linux device.

I think you'll have to use a specialty distro like this one. I've also read that OpenMoko runs on the TX.

The question for me - "is it worth the effort?"
I've tried OPIE on Dell Axim x51v and it had very bad support for hardware (especially touchscreen) and insane power consumption. I wonder if someone've tried OpenMoko or OPIE on palm-based device like TX and had better experience?

I have seen a video on youtube where someone successfully ran openmoko on the palm TX. I am just an end-user but I am going to brave things out and give this a shot.

I have decided that I am going to sacrifice my palm device and attempt both opie and openmoko, I am doing this just out of curiosity. I know that as of now some of the features such as the wifi are not functional but the developers are working on it.

I will post whatever happens.

for your information here is the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=cTdhRLBImhk

here are some instructions on how to do this: http://zefanja.blogspot.com/

As far as I've seen there's no need to sacrifice anything - you just make linux root partition and launch bootloader from native (for device) OS, then it boots kernel that'll replace old OS in RAM, but if you'd like to go back you'll just reboot device and won't launch linux loader... besides, native OS distfiles always reside in ROM flash and you can reinstall it via hard reset.

OK,

I managed to run OpenMoko on my palm TX, the OS boots up and loads without any issues whatsoever. The drawback that I saw was that it doesnt come with preloaded applications and the other thing is that it drained my Palm TX battery in minutes. Oh well. I am going to see if I can find instructions on how to run OPIE on the palm TX.

Anyone know how to run OPIE on the Palm TX?

I think 'boots and loads without any issues' is not that bad at all, if it includes kernel headers and compiler you probably can roam openmoko repositories and build your moko upon that base, provided that you have enough resolve and patience, of course ;)
I believe battery issue could be solved too if moko isn't too demanding for processor capabilities by lowering its frequency, WM5, for instance, does that for you straight out-of-the-box.

Well here is an update on my experimentation. For all of you who have a Palm TX, I want to let you guys know that OPIE runs and looks great on the PALM TX you can get the latest release of OPIE by following this link:

http://hackndev.com/

Another great thing is that it doesnt drain the battery.

I havent tried any of the applications and dont know if bluetooth is supported but I will find out by searching around, I also dont know about syncing with a computer. If anyone has answers to these issues please let me know.