website describing how to build your own kernel with your own startup-logo:

http://empeg.boege.net

Very cool.

Have you thought about providing this as a service? I would pay US$25 for a custom kernel with my info in it! (Once I get an empeg that is.)

Stan

Bobo is the man, too. He was up until 3:00 this morning making sure it worked with beta 9b for us. Then, exactly 30 seconds after I mailed him back saying "it worked!", Mike posted beta 9c. Talk about timing.

Here's the one I drew up for mine (phone number changed to protect my sanity):



I spent a lot of time rebooting the unit just so I could see the logo. I'll tell ya, though, I had no idea how cramped 128x32 was until I tried making that screen. I am so amazed at how well the Empeg folks got all those menus onto that tiny little screen. It's a work of art, I tell you.

I'm wondering whether the Empeg folks are upset about us doing this. Is that like defacing a trademark? I sure hope not. Because I love what I've got in there.


-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Nice logo :)
I'm just going to pop my name in the corner of mine.. I like the penguin!

I think it will be possible to write a program to upload the images into the kernel without having to update the whole kernel. Won't know until I try.. I'm going to have a look as soon as I'm home from work.


I wouldn't worry about 9c, the kernel hasn't changed so it will still work. Even if they do change the kernel it will still work unless they change the logo display stuff :)

Hi Stan,

send me your logo and I´ll compile a kernel for you.
If there are not to much requests - it´s no problem :-)
Í´m trying how to change the logo whithout recompiling the kernel - it would be much easier then...

bobo

Both you and Bobo have mentioned trying to edit the Kernel without recompiling it. That would be so cool because you could do it all in a Win32 program without Linux. Bobo already has the pieces in place: The Win32 kernel uploader, and the GIF-to-logo converter.

Imagine a little program that prompts you for the location of the .GIF and does all the work for you in one operation?


-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

it would be really cool,
but it´s very hard to change the logo in the binary-kernel-image :-(

bobo

Bobo,

Lets talk in May. I'm waiting on a MkII empeg!

Stan

Surely if you had a decent library linker, you should be able to dump a list
of linked modules in the kernel image, then use the extract capability to remove a module? You could then re-link the image with a new .o module.

Alternatively, the lib linker should be able to re-link by replacing the current module.

Modifying the kernel image directly would be very difficult since the entire kernel is compressed. One way to get round this would be for someone to produce a custom kernel which read the startup logo from an area of flash outside the kernel and then write a program (based on download.c) which allowed the logo to be downloaded to this area of the flash independently.

Hmm, I wonder if you could hang some cleverness off interrupts to do animation among a number of frames until the first thing gets pushed onto the queue by the player...

--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

Hmm, I wonder if you could hang some cleverness off interrupts to do animation among a number of frames until the first thing gets pushed onto the queue by the player...

Oh no! Not dancing penguins!





-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Like Hamsterdance, annoying tune and all

Geoff
---- -------
Reg No. 554, s/n 00064 - It's mine I tell you.... all mine :)

With a cute startup default phrase like "Empeg really whips the penguins ass"

oh well.. thats a bit unoriginal.

Next release has a file we can update too change the logging screen?
Animated Startup screens? Horray!




Empeg Kicks Ass
S/N 00203
http://www.iretro.com

Next release has a file we can update too change the logging screen? Animated Startup screens? Horray!

And how exactly did Mike give you the impression that he would implement this in the next release? I certainly didn't read that into his statement.

No, I clearly understood it as a solid promise that he'd implement it the release after the next release.



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

that's funny!

I'm excited at the prospect that that will be added.
Super-Customization is in.. its one of the features i look forward to
in most software releases..

and something that i have been looking forward to in the EMPEG

thats what the whole MP3 thing is about to me. My choice of music , when I want it on demand , and how i want it


Empeg Kicks Ass
S/N 00203
http://www.iretro.com

A quick warning, The download program used to transfer your new kernel to the empeg does _NOT_ work in windows NT. It will work just long enough to erase your flash. I was able to reboot into 98 and run the download program and my empeg works just fine now. Can anyone else confirm this? I tried it three times (in a panic!).

oh yeah.. forgot to mention, this is really really cool. Now if my empeg does get stollen some guy is going to have my name and number flash on it every time he tries to show it off!

haven´t tested it with win NT,
but there are no problems in WIN2000 and it´s based on NT technology...

The download program used to transfer your new kernel to the empeg does _NOT_ work in windows NT. It will work just long enough to erase your flash.

I haven't tried it in NT yet, but I had a similar problem under Win98 that turned out to be my fault. Since the download program only worked for Com1, I had to physically swap the empeg off of Com2 in order to use it. Since Com1 and Com3 share an interrupt, and since my modem is on Com3, it screwed up because I was online while I was trying to upgrade my kernel. Now I remember why I plugged my Empeg into Com2 in the first place. The solution, of course, was to hang up the modem before uploading the new kernel.

Is it possible that's what happened to you? Using a modem that shared an interrupt with your Com1 port?

Another possibility is that the settings for Com1 weren't correct for the Empeg. Remember that it wants NO handshaking, rather than software or hardware handshaking. (Other settings are 115200 N 8 1.)

Just throwing out ideas. For all I know, it could have been an NT problem.


-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

I just changed a line in the download program to point it at a different serial port (ttys1 in my case, but I assume you could do the same for the com port in the win32 bit.. =)

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

Anyone have a compiled win32 binary of the downloader? preferably for COM2? :) I don't have my application development suites installed, and the CDs are at work.

Thanks,

(O|||||O)

Bobo has been sending out a Win32 version (set for Com1) with each of the kernels he's compiled for other users. I wouldn't mind a Com2 version, either, or a version that changes the Com port via a command-line parameter. How about it, Bobo?

-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Okay then, could you post your binary downloader someplace so that I could grab it? It doesn't really matter if its COM1, I can switch the cables.

Thanks

(O|||||O)

No. My modem is on Com2. And I have nothing on IRQ 4 other than my COM1 port.
I just double checked my port settings and they are correct too. I'm about to recompile again. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Is it possible that's what happened to you? Using a modem that shared an interrupt with your Com1 port?

Another possibility is that the settings for Com1 weren't correct for the Empeg. Remember that it wants NO handshaking, rather than software or hardware handshaking. (Other settings are 115200 N 8 1.)

Bobo already has the downloader posted, along with a readme and a sample logo. It's right there on the page with his downloading instructions. The link is right here.


-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Tried it again.. same results.. Didn't work in NT, rebooted to 98. Dialed into the internet, started internet explorer downloading a file, started microsoft word printing a 10 page document, then started the kernel download program and it worked great!

Ahh.. I assumed that that file was something else, from the filename. :)

(O|||||O)

In the interests of personal fulfillment, self-education, and a near-suicidal desire to fiddle with kernels and possibly screw my empeg up totally, I've downloaded the bits and pieces to try to change the logo.

But it was Sunday night, and the lid was only finally screwed back onto my Linux box after lying in the middle of the floor posing risks to life and limb for anyone who entered the room (a handy burglar deterrent in an already-dark room full of computers, terminals and stuff) I was tired, had an early start this morning... (stop me when I've made enough excuses to cover for a really lame question!)

Basically, I can't get the patches applied to the kernel source!

Can someone give me a quick overview of how to apply patches? (I've somehow managed to avoid ever having to do this before - don't ask me how, I don't quite know myself!!)

(Working away from home during the week really sucks - the weekends are just too short!!)

Geoff
---- -------
Reg No. 554, s/n 00064 - It's mine I tell you.... all mine :)

Applying patches is usually easy:

% cd $sources
% patch < $patchfile

The trick is getting the current directory matched up with the filename listings inside the patch, using the -p option to strip off pathname components.

In the case of the empeg kernel source patches, there are two leading pathname components (up to and including the second slash) that should be removed (-p2).

Combining this with bzcat we get:

% cd empeg-kernel-2.2.12-rmk1-np12-empeg18
% bzcat $patchdir/empeg-kernel-patch-beta8c-beta9a.bz2 | patch -p2
% bzcat $patchdir/empeg-kernel-patch-beta9a-beta9b.bz2 | patch -p2

Cheers,
-v

Thanks, that's just what I needed...

Now I just have to wait until I get home again on Friday ... I think I'm going to have to set up dial-in access to my home network if this keeps up

(I was almost there, except for the '-p2')

Geoff
---- -------
Reg No. 554, s/n 00064 - It's mine I tell you.... all mine :)