Linux for the Casio BE-300

Dummies :: FAQ

Q: What will it look like ? What window manager/GUI/shell will it use ?

A: It looks like opie is the most interesting option, look here if you want to see some screenshots.

Q: Do you need to reflash the ROM in order to use linux on the BE ?

A: There is no need to reflash the rom in your BE in order to run linux, it is completely non-destructive. The way we've set it up is using a CF card, which contains the bootloader and the kernel image. The bootloader is set to autorun on card insertion, so 10 seconds after you insert the CF card the BE is running Linux. When you do a reset, you get back to CE (and if you did not remove that CF card you're back to Linux another 10 seconds later). Our goal is to really make it a 'just press a button and it is done' experience. In the (not so near) future we will provide a simple tool and CF-images that can easily be put onto an empty CF card, for now there is still some (simple) manual work to do.

Q: How do I get serial output from my BE to my PC ? I have the USB version.

A: There is no USB or serial version of BE-300. It's just the cradle that goes with it that has only USB connection. But there are alternatives (like JK-580CA serial cable or JK-515CR cradle, the latter is cheaper but you have to disassemble it).

Last updated on $Date: 2003/01/07 16:06:45 $