Apricot installation (in 2015!)

[Michaël Serisier]

Hi all, 

So it seems almost everybody's abandoned the apc now and it's getting a bit difficult to gather all the pieces to get an installation of Apricot together.

Where would I start if I wanted to run a version of Apricot with a GUI? Which release should I use?

I understand R5 worked at some stage, but I cannot find a download that works from me (I'm stuck on the APC start screen with their logo). I followed the instructions from here: https://thunderace94.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/apc-8750-install-raspbian-on-nand-flash/

I see a jessie image (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByDmt8HV_FwMeTBIQ1JZYlNiaFE/view?usp=sharing), but can I use it with with the kernel and boot routine mentioned in the article above?

Does anybody have a guide and the necessary files somewhere?

Thanks!

m.

[Michaël Serisier]

Oh, nevermind, I just found the R4 mega mirror, for some reason I missed that thread earlier!

https://mega.nz/#F!wlByxJhZ!TH7vAmNp4Qdq3xkXYoknGA

[Jörgen Karlsson]

Im doing the same, but got problem when i am about to log in.

Username is Apricot, but can figure out what the password is? Any ideas?

[Michaël Serisier]

I honestly cannot remember what it was before I changed it.

But I must have gotten it from the posts in this thread: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/apc-pico-itx-boards/mega$20mirror/apc-pico-itx-boards/qsnooRGJgLo/T7W9qyLfXGUJ

If you get an R5 image or something more recent, let me know!

I can't get wifi to work in R4, so I would be interested in finding a more recent or complete image.

[Renaud Gaspard]

Hello there,

I'm quite sad seeing nobody else stills got interest for the apc :/

Anyway, yesterday I tried to boot on apricot r4 via µSD, it worked but it's unusable because of a weird display glitch.

Same problem with r3 and with console only version

So if anyone could help me, that'd be great :)

Thanks anyway

[Jörgen Karlsson]

Hi!

I got similar display when i used VGA output, i had to use HDMI output, then it worked. I suspect itsinsomewrong update frequency or similar.I havent manage to log in to experiment anymore,havent got the password

[Renaud Gaspard]

Thanks for answering, i'll try with hdmi then.

Have you tried with root as username and apricot as password ?

[Michaël Serisier]

Hey, 

Yeah, I got those display issues when using a resolution that the LCD didn't support.

I fixed it by connecting the APC to my computer via UART and opening a console session (instructions here: http://openschemes.com/2012/08/02/getting-some-console-on-apc/).

When it boots, there is a 3 second delay during which you can interrupt the boot sequance by pressing a key.

Then, at the "WMT # "promptyou can set the desired resolution for VGA and HDMI by typing these commands:

setenv wmt.display.param 4:0:0:1280:800:60 

setenv wmt.display.param2 4:6:1:1280:800:60

(I needed the resolution to be 1280 by 800 obviously, and 60 is the screen refresh rate)

Then save these settings permanently with the command:

saveenv

And reboot the board.

I think I found these instructions in a script that writes a scriptcmd for an Android image some time ago (can't remember where though).

If you can't connect to the board via UART but you know how to compile a scriptcmd to boot the OS, you can add those commands there I think.

Let me know in what way you fix it, that would be useful information for everybody I think.

Michaël

[Michaël Serisier]

Also... wifi... anyone got it working?

So far, I think my only hope with the R4 image is to follow the instructions on this page: https://github.com/edumbill/apc-8750-linux

That's certainly something I've never done before so if anyone has tried it, it would be nice to let us know beforehand if it will work with Raspbian or not :-)

[Michaël Serisier]

An update on the progress to get wifi working:

lsusb shows my wireless card: Bus 001 Device 002: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter

But lsmod is desperately empty.

I thought there was hope, but I am completely stuck trying to compile my own kernel (to add support for the wireless card) because of this error: make: arm-none-linux-gnueabi-gcc: Command not found

I've tried to install several different toolchains, but I've not been able to find that works.

I'll take any suggestion at this stage, because I've given up finding a solution on my own.