Introduction

SynCE transfers between Linux and Microsoft Pocket PC using the same protocol that "ActiveSync" uses.

SynCE is quite new and evolving rapidly, and its use for installing Linux on the iPAQ is also new, so it is quite possible you will have difficulties given its early state and rapid evolution. The directions below were written using SynCE version 0.7. Using SynCE does spare you from having to have a Windows system to install Linux on your iPAQ.

If you have difficulties, you can always use the ActiveSync method of bootloader installation.

Bootldr Installation and Backup

1. First: install SynCE.

2. Plug in your serial cable from your system to the iPAQ, and make sure the iPAQ is plugged into its power-supply. You don't want your iPAQ to run out of power in the middle of this procedure.

3. Startup SynCE: Start the SynCE communications daemon and configure your serial port on your Linux system by executing the following commands, which start up SynCE, configure your serial port, and start up a PPP connection to the iPAQ. Some of the commands must be executed as root, and some must not be executed as root: the commands that must be exectuted as root are indicated by use of the "sudo" command below.

   dccm
sudo synce-serial-config ttyS0
sudo synce-serial-start

   If all is well, you'll get cheery connect tones from your iPAQ, and ppp0 will be alive and well on your Linux system, and the iPAQ can be pinged using the address shown by your ifconfig ppp0 information.

4. Two programs have to be copied to the iPAQ: a program "BootBlaster" that is used to rewrite the boot sector in flash with a bootloader "bootldr" able to support Linux (and PocketPC).

   For H3100, H3600, H3700 and H3800 machines, the flash rewriter is named BootBlaster_1.18.exe.
   For H3900, H5400, and H5500 machines, it is named BootBlaster3900-2.3.exe.

   For H3100, H3600, H3700 and H3800 machines, the boot loader is named .gz.
   For H3900, H5400, and H5500 machines, it is named .gz.

   Bootblaster will take either gzipped or not-gzipped bootloader images; best to use the supplied .gz format files.

   The following SynCE commands will do the copy of these files for all but the H3900:

   pcp .gz ":/My Documents/bootldr.bin.gz"
pcp BootBlaster_1.18.exe ":/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Bootblaster.exe"

   For the H3900, the commands are:

   pcp .gz ":/My Documents/bootldr.bin.gz"
pcp ":/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Bootblaster.exe"
   • Start up BootBlaster

     From Pocket PC: "Start->Programs-Bootblaster", or from Linux, by the command:

     prun "/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Bootblaster.exe"

   • Copy these files back to your Linux system by executing the following commands:
     pcp ":/My Documents/saved_bootldr.gz"
pcp ":/My Documents/wince_image.gz"

     Copying the bootldr file takes about 10 seconds over a serial line. As the Pocket PC image is pretty large, and serial lines slow, the copy of Pocket PC takes quite a while over a serial line (~20 minutes).

     As in any backup files, please save them in a safe place. We save them in .gz form, both to speed copying them to the host, but more imporantly, to allows you to check whether the files have been correctly copied due to the internal checksum. We highly recommend checking the checksum on both files before presuming your backup is safe (see the gzip man page for details).

     Shut down SynCE, "killall dccm", and continue to the install serial step.

Scripting

#!/bin/sh
dccm
sudo synce-serial-config ttyS0
sleep 1
sudo synce-serial-start
sleep 3
pcp  ":/My Documents/bootldr.bin"
sleep 1
pcp  ":/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Bootblaster.exe"
sleep 1
prun "/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Bootblaster.exe"
sleep 1
synce-serial-abort
sleep 1
killall dccm