Will Puppy run on a CX-01 "Android Cloud Stick"?

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starhawk
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Will Puppy run on a CX-01 "Android Cloud Stick"?

#1 Post by starhawk »

In the next week or so I will have a CX-01 "Android Cloud Stick". I would vastly prefer that it not run Android! (I will at some point be buying an HDMI->VGA adapter off eBay, as I don't fancy being restricted to a rather large and inconveniently-placed television for my display.)

I would love it if Puppy could run on that little doohickey. I can say that it's got a Telechips TCC8925 SoC with a Mali-400 graphics processor inside. More info here --> http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/14/ ... cortex-a5/

There is an open-source "Lima" driver for the Mali-400, but I don't believe it has been made to work on that particular SoC yet. The files are at http://www.limadriver.org.

The primary problems I would face here, are that my Internet connection is pathetically slow (Verizon 3g that runs at about the speed of a Motorola DYNAtac from the 80s :shock: ) and that I am by nature horrible at programming.

My experience so far is almost exclusively in an archaic form of the BASIC language. (Remember the QBASIC that shipped with Windows 3.1? Yeah, it's that one.) I tried to take C++ in college (twice!) but was doomed because I got a prof who taught by comparing the language at hand to Java -- which I never learned, nor had interest in learning. I barely passed the course each time.

I can do it if someone baby-steps me through it, and if the Internet problem can be avoided. If there is a version of Woof2 that I can get, that does not need to download packages (perhaps it can be downloaded *with* the packages) or if Igu's roar-ng could be made to work... then perhaps this is possible.

I'm willing to try. Will you folks help me?

starhawk
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#2 Post by starhawk »

Disappointed at the lack of replies here.

Image

Flash, click here and here. He had his reasons, and they were pretty good.

cthisbear
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#3 Post by cthisbear »

starhawk :

Not happy you posting my pic again....Chris.

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arcanis
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#4 Post by arcanis »

Over ninety people have viewed this, so I think that means we don't know.
I've done some research and there seems to be a lack of information on this device.

I don't mean that there's a shortage of web-presence; just a shortage of meaningful data that would help us in dealing with your query.
The information is probably there, it just doesn't appear on a regular search, and we have not been deeply motivated to dig more deeply.

This doesn't mean we don't care about your situation; it means that the phone keeps ringing, salesman keep trying to sell us siding and the rival cable company is at the door telling us they have saved our neighbor 'real money.'

I for one would like to know how this little sucker works: is it paired with the Google TV, so that the actual OS is on the TV? Does it have a processor within, so that the OS is in the stick? I would bet that it isn't, so Android is actually on another device, and the question is really "Will Puppy run on a Google TV?"
What processor does a Google TV use? ARM? Do you want to replace Android with Puppy or run Puppy over the top of it like the Ubuntu for Android project?

So: "I am sorry that I have not been able to answer all of your questions, and that, in fact, the discussion of you questions has led to further questions which we didn't even know were questions until we discussed the first question. But I think the important thing here is that, while we are as confused as ever, we are having deeper conversations at a higher level about more important things."

I used to conclude my Bible study meeting with that one. :D

starhawk
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#5 Post by starhawk »

@cthisbear: ...? I thought that was Bill Watterson's image!

The device is a complete Android "PC" in the space of a USB stick. It has HDMI out, USB (for power and peripherals) and SoC (System-on-Chip, aka "CPU and then some") plus Flash ROM inside. It works with ANY television with compatible input (I will be using a PC monitor and a $15 or so HDMI->VGA adapter from eBay). No processing occurs on the TV itself, and a "Google TV" (whatever that is) is most certainly not required!

More info can be found at the other end of a link in the first post. I'll repeat it here out of convenience, along with the surrounding paragraph...
I would love it if Puppy could run on that little doohickey. I can say that it's got a Telechips TCC8925 SoC with a Mali-400 graphics processor inside. More info here --> http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/14/ ... cortex-a5/
The concerning bit for me is that Mali-400 GPU (which is integrated into the SoC). There's an opensource driver for it (goooooooooooooooogle "Lima Driver" if you can't find the link in my OP), but not for the TCC8925 chip yet -- so it may or may not work at all here. I wrote the developers but never heard back.

starhawk
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#6 Post by starhawk »

Got the stick system this morning. Over the next week or two, I'll be looking at getting an HDMI->VGA adapter and probably an HDMI gender-changer (female to female) as well.

I can post pix, if anyone wants me to.

starhawk
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#7 Post by starhawk »

Oh, what the heck. Link to the picture album (courtesy of ImageShack) --> http://imageshack.us/g/43/1002844r.jpg/

Cool stuff!

EDIT: To be clear, the photos in the link above have been slightly retouched. If you want the original photos as the camera took them... click here for the ZIP file.

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jamalexa
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CX-01 with Puppy

#8 Post by jamalexa »

Here is a little more info on your stick - http://liliputing.com/2012/06/cx-01-53- ... stick.html

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jamalexa
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CX-01 Demo

#9 Post by jamalexa »

For those that are interested there is a demo of the device on youtube but it is in Italian. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUfxhCBy1lM

starhawk
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#10 Post by starhawk »

So because it has no /internal/ SD card slot, you can't boot anything else?

Patently false, it's just harder to do that. I suppose I'll be finding out what ROM chip they used, and how to write to it, then finding a programmer for it ;) That's how you do /that/.

starhawk
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#11 Post by starhawk »

...er, turns out that the micro-USB port on the side does a lot more than provide power :oops: that's where the firmware updates go in.

BTW, newb question here: are Android GPU drivers compatible with Linux, generally speaking? (I'm guessing "no" but I thought I'd ask.)

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