iLiad Two simple questions for the mighty iLiad developers

[narve]

1) Is it possible to use dropbear (or an alternative) for copying files? I.e. scp, instead of flipping memory cards / USB cables etc?

2) Why doesn't unzip work on the zip files I download (using wget) from mobileread? I always get an "Uknown compression method (1)" or something like that

[Adam B.]

SCP is almost the only way I get files to my iLiad. First, I setup the unbrickable iliad package, so the root user and networking is setup (I changed interfaces to use dhcp). Then, I used this pakage to install dropbear which includes scp: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...9&postcount=11

I've never tried to unzip something directly on my iLiad. I always download it to my computer, unzip, and then copy. I can start supplying tarballs instead...

[narve]

Ah, I remember that some symlink stuff should make dropbear work with scp. Will try it later. Did you use the ikpg package to install dropbear? I've used the standalone installation.

Edit: Right, you've used the package. Will try that myselves.

As for zip-files: I don't understand why it doesn't work. Perhaps somebody can compile bzip2 for the iLiad (I guess that handles normal zip files as well)?

[jls]

Sorry for my ignorance, the quoted post provides an *.ipk file with the instruction
> Install with "ipkg install"

My questions:

1) what is an *.ipk-file?
2) where do I get the ipkg program from?


Maybe a sticky note with a primer for newbies would be good!
--
jls

[joblack]

ipk is a package file - that means you don´t need to install the files yourself ...

[jls]

is ipkg installed on the iliad ?

[narve]

Originally Posted by jls

is ipkg installed on the iliad ?

Yes. I even used it once, but is not really trivial so you probably need some guidance from the experts.

[jls]

This is why I would appreciate a note of how to start at the very beginning and where to watch out not to 'brick' the box.

[Adam B.]

I guess the question at the *very* beginning is "Have you ever, or do you currently use/work on linux or unix?"

If the answer is no, it's probably best to do that for a while before you jump into the internals of a device that can turn into a $700 paperweight in the time it takes to type rm -rf

[Matthijs]

You can install *.ipk files like "ipkg install FILENAME.ipk", this works similarly to "apt-get install" on Ubuntu/Debian.
Zip/unzip is provided by Busybox, maybe there is a bug? We always use (GNU) tar for archives.

[jls]

Yes, I do use Debian since relase 0.9 in 1996. But on a regular computer, with Keyboard etc. Currently I am waiting for my Iliad device and I want to learn in advance how to compile things for that machine and install things there. I use dkpg or apt-get, but I never prepared .deb files (which seem to be similar to the .ikp ones) besides kernel-packages. I have never heard about ipkg before. More fundamentally, what I am missing is an overview about the Iliad, its limitations, how to compile etc. There is a nice wiki about the toolchain, but actually do miss some preliminaries about the device. Not Linux/Unix etc.

For any newcomer it would save hours of skiming trough this forum if there were a quick inroduction by an experienced person from this forum as a sticky note or in the wiki.

Some extra questions:

1) What Unix environment is available out of the box (ls, cp, tar, ssh, perl, python, gpg ....)
2) Is the Iliad bootable so one can put a different Linux on it, would it make sense to do that?

[narve]

Originally Posted by Matthijs

You can install *.ipk files like "ipkg install FILENAME.ipk", this works similarly to "apt-get install" on Ubuntu/Debian.
Zip/unzip is provided by Busybox, maybe there is a bug? We always use (GNU) tar for archives.

Don't I have to set the ikpg root or something like that on a memory card? Since otherwise I would run out of memory after approx. 2 applications?

By the way, scp doesn't work for me; I get "unknown argument -t" from dropbear (when I use pscp on my windows computer to the iLiad). But I will try the package you used instead of the standalone dropbear I currently use.

[narve]

Originally Posted by jls

For any newcomer it would save hours of skiming trough this forum if there were a quick inroduction by an experienced person from this forum as a sticky note or in the wiki.

Some extra questions:

1) What Unix environment is available out of the box (ls, cp, tar, ssh, perl, python, gpg ....)
2) Is the Iliad bootable so one can put a different Linux on it, would it make sense to do that?

I agree, but somebody have to volunteer... ?

Regarding 1): Most common Unix commands are there, but not perl/python/gpg or anything "fancy".
Regarding 2): Not in any easy way... I guess "No" is accurate enough. Perhaps the reflash utility iRex is working on can be used for that, but because of special proprietary drivers I don't think you can expect to install your favorite Linux flavor.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by narve

Don't I have to set the ikpg root or something like that on a memory card? Since otherwise I would run out of memory after approx. 2 applications?

Yes, indeed.

Originally Posted by narve

By the way, scp doesn't work for me; I get "unknown argument -t" from dropbear (when I use pscp on my windows computer to the iLiad). But I will try the package you used instead of the standalone dropbear I currently use.

I have no problems with the scp that is installed when you use the IPK I posted a while back.

[Matthijs]

BTW: ipkg is the package format this is used by OpenEmbedded (http://www.openembedded.org/) which is what we use to build the iLiad distribution/toolchain/etc.