I need a mentor...

[ryokimball]

I always feel like I'm annoying people, but since addressing such an issue with anything but apologies (which I do often --sorry) detracts from actual productivity, I'll assume that anyone annoyed with me is willing to ignore me.

Anyways, as most people that come to an area like this, I am wanting to learn, specifically about Linux. Recently I have been playing with the idea of a portable device, but since the laptops in my hypothetical price range... suck (I technically have NO money, but I'm guessing that I could spend around $200, with a MAX flex room of maybe up to $350), I have convienced myself that a portable, open-source "gaming" device, such as the GP2X or Pandora , is the way to go. However, considering each of these have drawbacks that I am as-of-yet incompetent or not confident enough of hacking a solution to. An example of this is with the GP2X: it has a SD-card reader for storage, but the only way I could effectively add wireless support is with an SDIO wifi card. Here are two levels of incompetence showing --first, that I don't know how to configure wireless on a system that has no networking at all (although I could probably find documentation on this), but more so I wouldn't know where or have the confidence to risk a modification to the hardware to add another SD reader.

I am spoiled in that I have played with PC parts all of my life. Hard drives can be replace and moved about, even switching processors and RAM. However, even now I'm shunned away from soldering or messing with integrated circuits and the sort (I do what I can... I'm scrapping parts to remake an old Simon ), but I still do not understand, for instance, exactly where the "operating system" takes place. For instance, back to the GP2X, if I were to piggy-back solder another SD reader to the one built in (or, more likely, with some transistors or even a PIC for handling it), how on earth would I tell Linux send an extra bit to access the SDIO or SD card?

...I hope I have shown what I am wanting to do. It's not just Linux (for that matter, I would be plenty comfortable working with any OS or compiling my own --I will definitely need to make a custom Linux in order to run any thing that I would make...). Anyhow, I am posting here in hopes that some one will be able to point me in a good direction, maybe even (God forbid...) another forum, with some serious/old-school electronics whizzes and/or some mini-Torvald's. Because I my pseudo-goal* is to make my very own portable device with pre-manufactured parts, I might be able to contact, say, a member of the Pandora's development, but I seem incapable of finding such a resource as of yet.

Anyways, my internet has been...spotty lately, so sorry if I don't pay adequate attention to this thread, but any help is more than appreciated.
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*A "pseudo-goal" is a goal I have set for myself not necessarily as a real or primary goal, but rather as an inspiration to do something else. For instance, my pseudo-goal for learning to program is to make a Sudoku-solving program; I am learning to program for many reasons, mostly for my own satisfaction and knowledge, but one thing I would like to do with such knowledge is to make this Sudoku thing, so I am learning what i need to do to make the program. After I have learned and made this program, I will have the knowledge i wished to gain, from which I can draw and rechannel to another goal later along the lines.
I guess it is my equivalent to loosing weight to fit into a pair of pants.

[sdimhoff]

I may be missing the point entirely, but if you want to set up some sort of OS as a development platform for an application you want to make, then you don't need to have a computer that is fully equiped anyway. You can buy a very cheap laptop and install a lightweight distro on it. You would be amazed at how fast older hardware can perform when the OS footprint is low. A few years ago I did exactly that. I installed Damn Small Linux onto an ancient Gateway SOLO (66.6 MHz processor) laptop and just used it to mess around with working with a linux system. (DSL and others have some wireless support built in, so as long as you look into getting a compatible device first, there shouldn't be problems) Something else you should know is that just because you want to make your own program does not mean that you have to make your own OS.

My last bit of advice is from a practical standpoint. If you are a little unsure, then I would not recommend trying to hack a linux OS into a portable (non-laptop) device. I think this would not be the best way of learning linux efficiently. Start with something that has more widespread support first.

If I'm way off base here, then just ignore.

[ryokimball]

Actually, you're not far off at all. The junky laptops aren't entirely a bad option, but the big detractments there are battery life and size. I currently have two spare Xbox 360 rechargeable batteries that I could use for such as device, and would be completely comfortable stealing one from a dead iPod or something. As for size... well, if I expect to have a full keyboard I know I don't have wide choice, but I would like something notably small, at most something that would take up a backpocket in a pair of JNCO jeans. If I assemble the thing myself, I could further customize the dimensions and such. As I see it, I would probably be using a lot of premade parts still (for instance, I could strip the memory out of a USB drive and solder that to what would be a USB port and call that my memory --in fact, that's probably what I'll do).

As for your warning, I'm not really doing this to learn Linux. I mean, I am --I would/will learn plenty in the process, but this is more for my sake and for learning electronics and so forth. That's why I was hesitant to post it here --I don't want to do it for the sake of Linux, but Linux is the most obvious choice for me.

P.S. Anyone have info/documentation on touch screens and Linux? Or at least know of a disto that supports touch screens? (I think I'm going to kill my PDA...)

[sdimhoff]

I think I know what you mean a little better now. I'm sure there are several options out there, but I've been following the EEE PC closely since it came out a couple months ago. There are several people who have done extensive hacks on the eeepc

This is an example of one:
EeePC with Every Hack Possible (GPS, Bluetooth, 802.11N, etc.) » CLUMPC

From the same site, they show some new developments which are going to be coming out:
Asus Touchscreen EeePC Coming Soon… » CLUMPC


I've used an EEEPC only through a couple of friends, but with tinkering it looks like you can turn them to your needs.

Look for other options, but this may be a good thing to look into at least for ideas and some general instructions.

[ryokimball]

That stuff (what I could get to... the wiki was being weird) was pretty useful --thanks. Honestly, I'm kinda sad at how simple it makes it look, though. I mean, almost everything is being done with a combination of adding more USB ports, then adding the extras by soldering against the USB. I mean, that's fine, and easy. Very easy. But... well, it's almost too easy, honestly. Shame on me for wanting something more complex, but I am wondering... well, let's say that there never was a USB port to which we could add the USB hub. Then what? Where would we connect the new lines for a USB controller? "USB" --universal serial bus, does make it a LOT easier for computing, but it's kinda taking the fun out of learning. Maybe I'll stick to and try to learn some eSATA protocols and such. At least it'd be something new... and faster.