[Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Garnet VM has been working well on my n800, I just wish it had a "virtual" SD card option. Alot of Palm apps require an SD card to funtion correctly.

It would also be great if Resco Exporer that I have running on Garnet could browse the Nokia's card files that way I could uzip and zip any files on my device Resco does it so well including encryption...

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Yes, it would be nice, but it doesn't work. GVM has lots of shortcomings.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Yeah... I requested this on the Access feedback site - they don't respond to bugs or suggestions though, so I'm not even sure they're reading any of the feedback that I've submitted.:(

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

I suggested this on Access site as well

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Anyone dared to try Softick's ram drive yet?

If it worked it would maybe be easier (read: possible) to get data _out_ of the system by copying it there with e.g. FileZ and figuring out something from there.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Unless I did it wrong, I have tried both Softtick Ram Drive and Palm RamDisk both crashed Garnet VM:(

Please Palm fix!

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

i have a question, i am using n800, and installed GVM, and i was installing alot of palm os programs into it and working really well, but now i am having problems with not enough memory when i hotsync programs into it. How do I get GVM to use the memory from my SD card? I don't know how to change the location of the memory, well basically i don't know what to do.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Hopefully that's a feature in their next release. Right now there's no way I know of to access the SD card while in Garnet VM.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Yes, looks like it is currently most wanted feature
http://tabletblog.com/2008/06/few-wo...any-about.html
"The results of our Garnet VM survey indicated that accessing the host file system/memory card is the second top most wanted feature after support for Full Screen. Now that the GVM beta 2 provides full screen rendering, this has become the most wanted feature."

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Thanks for that link. It's nice to know there will be another update later this year. It'll be interesting to see what new features are in the next release.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

I figgur it's too late to change the GVM architecture; however, it seems to me that a good way to handle GVM storage would be to use a vfat file system image. That way, it'd be easy to manually install things by mounting the image and copying files to/from it. I run into a prob where GVM doesn't want to install files of formats it doesn't recognize, even when those files are needed by programs (I've had to setup Hotsync just to install these files). SD cards on the Palm are supported by vfat anyway.

On the other hand, I get the feeling that file system size in the GVM is limited by performance issues. I have one GVM image that has about 60MB stored on it, and it takes 60-120 seconds, and sometimes longer, just to start it. It seems that the more you install on the GVM image, the slower it starts. It makes me wonder if the GVM loads the entire image into some sort of dynamic memory before launching (bad).

In order just to install a minimum set of Palm apps., I've had to create 3 separate GVM stores (each launched by its own shortcut). This is a major kludge for several reasons, the greatest of which is that I cannot launch two GVM's at the same time. It makes it extremely inconvenient to use GVM for my PIM because stopping one GVM and starting another takes too long to simply enter an appointment.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

The gvm launcher scans the whole gvm.store file whenever you start it, so yes, it's slow. But it's much faster to start a Palm application directly (there's another thread about that). And starting a Palm app is to start the actual emulator, and when in the emulator switching from one app to another is almost as fast as on a real Palm.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

I pretty much have to launch my Palm apps from shortcuts because I am currently using three separate GVM stores (we had traded notes about this some months back). Still, a nearly fully loaded store takes 60-90 seconds to launch or shut down.

I should have mentioned that shutdown times are just as slow. This is what made me think that the GVM is writing to a cache and then writing back on exit. It would also seem to explain why on many occasions I have lost all the apps/data on a store when my N810 has crashed while the GVM was shutting down.

Here's one of the shortcuts I'm using:

Is there something in the command that causes a slow launch? I'd be grateful for any tips on optimizing the launch. Or am I experiencing slow launches because the app I'm launching (My Bible) had pdbs that total close to 60MB?

App switching in the emulator is about as fast as it is natively on the Palm. My prob is that with a fully loaded store, I cannot install additional apps, and I cannot quickly switch from one store to another because the launch and shutdown times are very slow. I should add that my other stores are much smaller, and they launch reasonably fast.

By the way, I find it easiest to manage the stores, that is attach the gvmlauncher to one, by using a symlink. I've named my stores gvm.store.0, etc., and I can easily switch the store attached to the launcher by doing something like:
This makes it easy to do things such as installing apps.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

My guess is what you're suggesting - 60MB would take a while to load, even directly from the SD card. In this case it's going through the virtual image handling, which probably slows it down considerably (and is something that Access could possibly improve), and it also loads from the compressed filesystem of the internal flash. That's usually also slower than an SD card. Certainly much slower than a Class 6 SDHC card.

Have you tried to move the whole .gvm directory to a fast SD card? You could make a symlink from /media/mmc1/.gvm /home/user/.gvm, for example.

(Someone else mentioned a problem with symlinking the gvm store to a card, but I believe I tried the above with success, back with the first beta)

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Thanks TA-t3. I tried putting the store on the internal card; however, that didn't seem to speed it up much. My external is relatively high speed. I also trimmed out about 12MB of applications from the store, and that seemed to speed things up quite a bit (about 30 second launch times). Mebbe there are diminishing returns as the store gets close to 64MB. For now, I think that my new setup will work quite nicely.

And I'd just to **stress** for others reading this thread that it's very important to backup your store(s). I have my own method, but there's a how-to somewhere here. My experience with GVM stores is that the frequency of catastrophic failure is related to the size of the store.

I haven't trusted the Active Sync restore on a Palm since experiencing 100% data loss when trying to restore via Active Sync back in the first days of the Palm III. From what I can see, Active Sync hasn't improved that much since then.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Thanks for reporting. I don't have that many applications installed myself, so I don't get to test the limitations on the performance much. Let's hope there will be a 3rd beta of GVM, with some improvements. Ah, how I wish that application could be open source.. I can see how it could be improved. Unfortunately this cannot happen in this case.

EDIT: BTW, I think you meant 'HotSync', not 'Active Sync'.. the latter is Microsoft's very poor hotsync lookalike, for PPC/Windows Mobile..

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

I'd pay for it, if they would commit to developing and supporting it... with the way they're updating it these days it doesn't look like it would be worth buying, though.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Well, I believe the current version expires November 30 2008 so maybe we can expect an updated version within the next 10 days?

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Looks like another one is out, but it's not very impressive... They probably just did a rebuild to beat the expiration date.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Yikes! Still no SD support?!

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

That's a hoot. As I was typing that, I was trying to remember which was which. I've used both, and yes, HotSync is miles better.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Just got an notice to download new version from Access. Tried the install and libraries are missing so no update this time. I wrote to support and the webmaster wrote back and told me to update my maemo os. That has been flashed for months already. I will stay with the old beta of Garnet VM for now.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

I don't want to cross post my response because there is an active Garnet VM beta 3 discussion. So, here's my answer.

Re: Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

I am missing this too from the Garnet VM. Assuming the VM behaves like a normal OS5 device (allowing arm hacks, slot libraries...) a PalmOS slot/filesystem driver could be written that accessed a Maemo-exported filesystem (or even a single folder) using the loopback network connection, which seems available to the VM. Not so fast as a native VM exit, but quite good I think.

Advantages over RAMDrive: NIT's SD Card can be mounted/exported to PalmOS. Easy(ier) file sharing between Maemo & POS.
Advantages over hypothetical "GVM Beta 4" with SDCard Support: Right now I don't believe GVM will get another upgrade anytime soon...
Disadvantages: documentation for OS5 slot/filesystem driver probably missing/outdated.

(BTW, first post -- just bought a used N810, already enjoying it -- I used to be a Palm fanboy, but my T|X broke, and I dislike Palm,Inc. newer devices).

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Good news everyone! I managed to mount a card on Garnet VM!

"Card emulation" (a.k.a. HostFS) support is in GarnetVM. However, and don't ask me why, GVM folks do not distribute "gras-client" ARM binary, a "GVM remote control" which is needed to actually mount a filesystem and set up the card emulation.

No need to worry! I used gras-client (and a few socat tunnels) on my x86 computer to do the job:

Wonder of wonders, the setting actually survives closing and relaunching GVM!


A few hints:
You can get GVM for x86 from the ACCESS website.
On the x86 side:
$ socat tcp-listen:34130 tcp-connect:tablet:12000
On the tablet side:
$ socat tcp-listen:12000 tcp-connect:localhost:34130
$ /usr/bin/gvm/gvm -G
(launch GVM with gras server enabled)

Now, to trick PC's gras-client into believing he is talking to a local gvm, just launch gvm on the PC too. It won't be able to open the 34130 port again, and gras-client will talk to the tablet's GVM instance instead.

So launch gras-client, and do "mountvol /media/mmc1"
(be careful; after every gras-client command the socat tunnel will need to be restarted)

Sorry for the possibly too short explanation, It's late and I'm tired.
Obligatory useless screenshot:

http://javispedro.com/maemo/captures/gvmcard.png

There's now an easier way for doing this!! Keep reading, it's just a few posts down.

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Thanks a lot. Will try. I was trying to make HostFS working from PalmOS side of gvm but got nowhere. As default, HostControl API is implemented but the only interesting method supported is HostTraceOutput, The HostF* API which is used by HostFS filesystem library to implement virtual card did not work for me (EDIT: see below). I tried also various hostfs.prc libraries for both simulator and emulator but with no success.

Did not know about gras-client and GRAS server feature. Many thanks.

EDIT: If you want, check output of HostFSTest.prc inside HostFSTest.zip with card enabled. See the code in testHostFS() in src/AppMain.c. Basically all I got is Hello World from HostTraceOutput, nothing more. It did a bit more in Garnet 5.x Simulator.

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Could you upload some blank .gvm/gvm.store with card enabled? Or maybe it is stored somewhere in settings in .gvm/ ?

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Turns out that it's just a file kept in .gvm/cards. For example, after following javispedro's instructions, I have the following in .gvm/cards/0:

Additional cards can be added by creating .gvm/cards/1, .gvm/cards/2, etc. with the appropriate contents. Changing RW to RO does exactly what you expect -- prevents gvm from modifying the contents of that directory.

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Nice! So all one has to do to "mount" the external SD card into GVM's slot 0 is:


Same result on the X86 GVM.

Reading the docs, it would seem to me that ACCESS wants GVM to behave exactly like a real POS device would do; no reason to fully implementing the Host manager.


Time to understand why Plucker & Power48 are crashing ARM GVM but not X86 GVM...

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Wow. Just made .gvm/cards/0 file by hand and it works :-)

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Very cool discovery! This opens up a lot of options I would think.

Any way to get Garnet to read GPS data?

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Depends on the application, of course. Opensource applications can be modified to read GPS data (avalaible on localhost:2000).

Most applications directly access the Serial or BT ports. According to GVM White Paper, both Serial Manager and Bluetooth Manager "are unavailable.". I don't know if this means they're unimplemented or if it's just missing the required vdrv -- the last one could could be developed, but there's mostly no documentation for it.

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

javispedro, you are THE MAN! I cannot believe how simple this solution is. I had hundreds of megabytes of applications and data on my Palm, so I was very cramped at 64Mb. Plus, I didn't have an automated backup solution to protect me from the semi-frequent GVM crashes I had.

Thank You!

Thank you, fanoush, as well, for all the work you've done in this area.

I thought that external storage would be resolved sometime. I didn't think the solution would be so easy.

I'll be giving this the hard testing, and I'll post back if I have any issues or comments.

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Thank you very, very much!

I just started to create my "virtual" LifeDrive (LD-VM). Without SD-card support this would have been absolutely impossible.

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Thanks javispedro for figuring out this SD-card support thing! :cool: I've got most of my Palm games now on the external SD-card running off links I created with ZLauncher. I'm also doing backups of RAM with Resco Explorer. That's way cool since if GVM wigs out I can do a fast restore and continue on. And oh my yes, the fantastic Palm game "Edge" actually now has sounds and runs smoothly off the external SD-card I've set up. Great stuff to be sure! :)

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Thanks javispedro for the SD-card support.

I have some problem in using it.

I execute the follow commands and a slot 1 then appeared on my GVM
"Code:
$ mkdir ~/.gvm/cards
$ echo -e "/media/mmc1\nRW" > ~/.gvm/cards/0

I tried to install MerckManual on "SD 1", it did write some folders to the mmc1 and created a folder called palm, but the installation program of MerckManual crashed. I tried it several time, even to uninstall GVM and re-install GVM, no success. The installation is thru hotsync, MerckManual does not give out the .prc file, the hotsync error mess "failed to write to memory card". Well, it did created a folder and wrote some 50 small folders but empty contents. My MerckManual remains the same, did not take advantage of the SD card. Any suggestions what to try? TIA,

bun

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

I just tested installing the MerckManual demo version and I got it to work. You need to have this directory structure on your SD-1 card:
PALM/Launcher
PALM/Programs

I started the MerckManual demo install and followed it through until it told me to hotsync. I did not hotsync. I used WinSCP to copy the appropriate files to my SD card. I'm using WIndows XP, and I looked in C:\Program Files\Palm\ for the directory that stores my hotsync data. This is usually your LastNameFirstInitial. So for Push Wall the subdirectory was WallP. In this directory is a subdirectory called CardInst with a subdirectory named Slot-SD,....I moved all the files from this directory to the PALM/Launcher directory. Besides the CardInst directory there is a directory called Install,.....I moved all these files to the PALM directory. I then fired up GVM and ran a file directory utility called FileMan (you can use the freeware FileZ). I then moved the files I had moved into the PALM directory on SD-1 to RAM. I then exited totally out of GVM. I ran GVM again and the MerckManual icon was on the main menu which I launched. It seemed to pull up all the MerckManual index. I wasn't able to access any entries though since they are mostly locked in the demo. It looks like there is a beacon icon up at the top that you tap on to hotsync your serial number key with the Internet (be sure you have an Internet connection going on your tablet). I don't know if this will work for you, but give it try. It may not work since it looks like the program creates some type of extensive directory structure different than the one I mentioned. Good luck!

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

FWIW since GVM now supports SD cards I thought I'd try LJP (Little John Palm), the game emulator for Palm OS that emulates:

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
Nintendo Gameboy/Gameboy Color (GB/GBC)
Sega Genesis/Megadrive
Sega Master System (SMS)
Sega Game Gear (GG)
Bandai Wonderswan/Wonderswan Color (WS)
NeoGeo Pocket/NeoGeo Pocket Color (NGP)
Atari 2600 (VCS)

I was amazed to find that it does run,....sorta. It does NES emulation no problem (iNES for the tablets displays better). However, it runs out of memory trying to load any SNES or or Sega Genesis ROMs that I tried. As far as the other systems that it can emulate I didn't have any those game ROMs so I couldn't test them right now.

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Pushwall read this http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...1&postcount=27 ;)
Time to change the N800 keys binding for GVM :)

Re: [Palm OS] Garnet VM virtual SD card
 

Interesting,........thanks! :)