Thread: Linux help needed - make fun of the N00b

Bumper reply time. I realise I replied a couple times in this thread, but there's a bunch of stuff I've learned since my sheeva arrived.

Originally Posted by kev000

I've never tried this, but it should be possible, you can create a qemu virtual machine with the arm arch on your x86 desktop. If you need to compile anything, and don't want to mess with crosscompiling (which can be fun), it's worth a try. The good thing about web stuff is that you don't have to mess with compiling. But that won't apply to mal's fusion brain driver or any other custom piece you need.

qemu vm: it works [I did it], but cross-compiling is actually easier. The Sheeva comes with cross-compiling tools on the CD in the box, or they're freely downloadable. Since I'm using cmake, obdgpslogger even comes with the necessary toolchain file to cross-compile for the Sheeva. Of course, it turns out that it's trivial to build it actually *on* the device, based on what's in the box.

sudo nano -w /var/www/htdocs/test.php

Lighttpd runs on the Sheeva too. I love apache as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just want something a little smaller. Just a thought :-)

and as long as you don't keep plugging/unplugging devices into this network causing the IP to get rearranged.

Your DHCP lease can and will expire. While implementations of DHCP servers, and practical considerations, typically will sometimes keep sending you the same one, they're under no obligation to do so at all.

I thought it would be neat to have the Sheeva named rather than put in the IP.

It's much better to set your DHCP server to statically allocate certain addresses [and names] to specific mac addresses. dd-wrt is your friend.

My whole network at home is configured by nodes using DHCP, and a dd-wrt router [two of them, actually] statically allocating names and addresses. I never had to configure the sheeva's networking, but as long as I keep plugging it in at home, it always gets the same IP, and always gets the name "chunkplug" - which my dd-wrt's DNS server understands, so from any machine in my house I can ssh to "chunkplug".

I just wanted to post to see if I could, but also mention that in this case because of the arm cpu they may not have any repos setup or if they do, they may not have all the same things you normally can get since there are less people compiling for the arm.

The Sheeva comes with Ubuntu 9.04, and is configured to hit up the regular ubuntu repos. In other words, "good times".

all kinds of discussion about modules and stuff

Unforunately, as it comes in the box, the sheeva lacks just about any kind of useful kernel modules [ftdi and bluetooth stuff, to name but two]. You may want to reflash it with a kernel supporting the features you want, which is covered in the plugcomputer wiki

I'm probably going to write a libftdi pseudoterminal application at some point, to avoid needing to recompile the kernel while still allowing you to use an OBDPro device. We'll see; if only there were more hours in a day.

Gary (-;