Zipit Z2 Tutorial - Flashing and installing from Stock Z2 to audio, fluxbox, mouse emulator and more

[huntergdavis]

Perhaps...  That model sunon is expecting 5V and the Z2 battery is 3.7, but it really depends on the construction of the blower if it will run on the lower voltage.

[Intanius]

@huntergdavis

I have 3 of these (2 that i successfully flashed another that i bricked i only paid $10 a piece so i don't really care plus i got a spare battery) any ways the two that work the microsd cards seem to over heat i was wondering if a sunon B0503AFB2-8(available on ebay) would be able to run off the zipit battery.

[C4ptainNuggetS]

@huntergdavis The PhysDisk GUI don't work on my 4GB card. I tried with the 2GB image, it writes and stop before the end. I don't know what to do now..

[huntergdavis]

@C4ptainNuggetS You can use DD for windows, or load up a linux live CD and use that too.

[huntergdavis]

@sonofwang you did not brick it, you just need to put the userland image on a microSD.

@theappleguy581 you need to make sure your wireless module is loading on startup as well as make sure if the mouse emulator is running you've pressed the smiley face

[sonofwang]

Hey Hunter, I like your Blog and videos. It's cool that you are so responsive to questions. I was hoping you could answer one for me. I performed the first couple steps in a tutorial. Autoflash with kernel.bin. but when I turn the zipit on without a sd card in, the penguin shows but not the zipit logo. I'm afraid I bricked it. Do you know?

[huntergdavis]

Probably, yes

[Intanius]

will 16gb cards work

[poohspumpkin]

lol.. wow. computer geekiness is kind of a turn on. :p come fix my electronics any day!

[justinbiebersucks10]

does it come with a sd card

[tjc0der]

There is now a patched vendor firmware that patches out server checks and subscription checks if you don't mind violating EULA. I can't post details here. All the client protocols still work.

[Solarpolitiks]

What are the chances of bricking the unit? Is it relatively easy on a first try?

[huntergdavis]

@Solarpolitiks it's a very easy process. I'm

pretty sure 99% of the time people are fine.

Just make sure you have the right kernel

file and follow one of the guides exactly.

Good lucK!

[Solarpolitiks]

Thanks for the help. The flash went fine and I am installing apps now.

[huntergdavis]

@Solarpolitiks glad to hear it!

[Solarpolitiks]

I am thinking of picking one up soon but I have one concern. So far all of the videos I have seen use a one or two gb memory card used. Does this deice support SDHC? I have an eight GB memory card that I am not using and I would prefer using it on the Zipit Z2.

[huntergdavis]

Yep, 8gb reported to work just fine :)

[PaToWlMc]

Ijuyst get the linux logo, but nothing happens, what should i do?

[huntergdavis]

@PaToWlMc Sounds like you need to re-write your userland to the card. Sounds like the flash went well though. Check the other comments and the threads on my site for more info, this is a pretty common issue.

[PaToWlMc]

i'm about to hack my zipit, so i'd like to know if there's any compiling programa for zipit, yo know like Z2-c++ or something, cause i'd like to generate my own programas.

Thanks!

[huntergdavis]

Hey,

It's running linux, so you can compile with gcc on the device itself, or cross compile with the bitbake environment from the sourceforge page. Good luck!

[cupwnd]

omg this is lame!!!!

by a fucking android or iphone and then hack it ..... funny this guy is all excited n00b

[dogglefoxboy]

This is only $40 bucks. Noone wants to brick something expensive as an android or iphone.

[arrowblossom]

Would this work with a zipit 2.0?

[huntergdavis]

Yep, this is a zipit 2 in the video.

[jheanellt]

what size microSD card do we need?

[huntergdavis]

@jheanellt 1gb or above

[jheanellt]

Thanks!

[zonemad96]

nvm i got it to work idk what the hell wasn't working the first time because i used chmod and it still didn't work anyway i put a few games on it its pretty sweet

[huntergdavis]

Sounds like you need to extract the bin files as root. There's been some more tutorials and a lot more help on my site, you can probably troll around there for a while and get yourself up to speed with linux pretty quickly, good luck!

[zonemad96]

every time i try to drag the 2 bin files it says i dont have the correct permissions and i heard theirs some way to use chmod or something like that on the zipit but like when it comes to linux ... or really anything like that im a noob so uhh yeah how do i drag the bin files on the sd card

[zonemad96]

nvm i figured out how to use chmod sorry

[zonemad96]

ugh i still cant get it to work when i put the bin files on their its like they keep deleting their selfs or something cause i put it in crucnhbang and ubuntu and both did the same thing gah idk what im doing wrong

[zonemad96]

do you have to pay per month to get wifi ?

[huntergdavis]

nope

[zonemad96]

awesome

[solarwindp]

COOL MAN!

[Sorcerer8605]

Kind of cool. Bravo; it works.

But what would anyone use it for, really? It's a portable Terminal device, and it can play music. Anything else useful? Anything with a GUI, perhaps? Not that I'm against the Terminal.

[sandit2002]

yes there is also texting instant mesaging and pm ing (personal message)

[AndrewFaulds]

It recently got full fluxbox GUI, NES emulation, ScummVM and a lot more.

It's pretty amazing now.

[omakeboi]

huntergdavis, do you perchance know of where I could go to get one of these? I went through the zitpit website to the Target and Bestbuy sites but they don't have them listed for sale anymore.

[huntergdavis]

Hey ya, for those in america certain targets have them, or ebay/google product search etc. For those in europe, Russel is trying to get together a batch heading out, give him an email at zipit4europe at gmail and hopefully he can help you out. Good luck!

[Legolover64]

I did the same. Where should we buy it? All the retailers in Google Product search are out :(.

[AndrewFaulds]

Ebay has it, and best of all you can order from US from non-us ebay. ;)

[huntergdavis]

Not sure, I was hoping it'd be too muffled to hear :)

[deviantf01]

sorry , a little offtopic but what's the song called? =D

[eldino]

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Dude, u're a genius! id like a little toy like this!

[huntergdavis]

Hey legoLover,

I am actually a pretty big lego fan myself :). The wifi should support wap/wpa yes, but I have not personally set it up. I use the cli to connect to wifi, but any of the gui tools should build fine. If you are using the new debian root posted by aliosa27 (one of the real geniuses behind z2 linux movement), vim, ssh, fennec, etc should all be in the debian apt repository. If you're using an old image you can grab these binaries from the userland I posted up a couple weeks ago.

[Legolover64]

Thanks for the information! I am extremely interested in this now, and I think I'll stop by Target later on this week to pick one up. Two more questions. Is there an IRC channel where conversations/help takes place, so I can get more involved in the community? Also, how long does the battery last? Does it go to "sleep" when it's closed?

Thanks so much!

[Legolover64]

huntergdavies,

Great video! Very very informative. I am on the verge of buying one of these cool little devices! However, I have a few questions for you:

Does the wifi module/firmware/whatever support 802.1x encryption? How do I get it on the network? Please say there's a GUI method... I would use this at my university.

How about software: does it have things like vim, ssh, links, a graphical browser, and other terminal applications I'm used to? Or do I have to build them myself?

Thanks!

[omakeboi]

I don't know why your comment was -1, since they are legitimate technical questions.

Upvoted.

[huntergdavis]

hey heftycat, ya you can probably run gpe or opie on top of the image posted without any issues other than the low memory. The debian rootfs is up (apt-get :) ) so things are moving forward..

[huntergdavis]

clatshaw - likelihood is 100%, see my previous video on how to run nes at 100% speed

[clatshaw]

What's the likelihood of running MAME or an NES emulator on this thing?

[Brainy1422]

Nes should be easy, Mame.... not sure.

[heftycat]

Oh and I forgot to ask... Is there any chance (or reason) as you see it of running a super lite gui over fluxbox... you know like an application hamper/basket for newbs like myself where you just click for music streamer, network library, pidgin....similar things?

[tfleenor]

... This is where the magic happens.. lol. Sweet

[btnheazy03]

i love this tech stufffffffffff HELL YEAHHH

NOW im gonna try to run linux on my microwave!!

*RUNS TO MY MICROWAVE*

[32506021]

I want this so bad! But I live in europe. Now, where can I buy this thing? Zipit owned onlineshop doesn't ship to us :(

[richardbirch2007]

Should play other formats happliy. An old laptop I have (Pentium 133, 48MB RAM!) happily plays FLACs, and even high bitrate MP4 audio as well as MP3!!

[CrazyPresea]

Can you get it to play any video formats such as mpeg2, or xvid? I would think you'd need to stick with low res, lower bitrate files though.

[FlipCpt45]

what song is that in the background? nice little device

[tom611]

That's a Mini-SD or Micro-SD in Mini-SD adapter in the video. You need an adapter to use Micro-SD (comes with some Micro-SD cards, but is becoming uncommon).

[telesniper2]

excellent job

[huntergdavis]

hey thanks oscarlu, this is a really good time to get involved with the z2 community :) Good luck!

[oscarlu]

+ favorited +subscribed! xD

[oscarlu]

OMG! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!

[runs out the door to bestbuy and grabs a zipit2]

[huntergdavis]

Thanks, standing on the shoulders of giants and all that :)

[ColdRoses27]

great work.