You could try

#touch /Root/swapfile

Hi - I have a question or two about partioning (sorry Im new with this Linux stuff I've burned a cd with Ubuntu live and want to partion my 1GB mmc.

1.)When I reboot into linux how can i access parted?
2.) When I execute /dev/sda does this just partion the 770 drive (i havent run parted yet so maybe this is self-explanitory - i just dont want to format my c drive
3.)How do i specify the size of the partions? I'd like to have 800mb fat for movies and 200mb for linux.
4.)Does the sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda2 command format just the linux partion? Is this all i need to enter?

THANKS for your help - Im just a little confused by the linux stuff.

I'm wondering why using dd works for everyone else but not me. And wondering if something went wrong when I created /Root.

---
Edited later to add:

Going through this once has reassured me that the patch to the firmware image with root access works fine.

Explaining how the mmc card is partitioned really solidified in my mind what I was doing.

Seeing that the complex steps are reduced to (A) a shell script that's easy to run and (B) a handful of commands to enter for a swapfile, I don't find this all that daunting, the way I did last week.

So, to eliminate the chance of problems from what I described here, tonight I'm going to start from scratch: reflash the 770, repartition the mmc card, run that script and make the swapfile. Having done it once, I can say with first-hand knowledge, "it's not that hard."

I'm very grateful for Wolfram's description of how to use the MMC card effectively. I was planning to work out a similar description myself, and now I don't have to.

I don't plan to use the MMC for swap, though. As far as I can tell, flash memory is only specified to be good for up to 100,000 erase-write cycles, and it seems to me that I could run through that in no time by using flash memory for swap. Isn't anyone else worried about this?

Regards,
Neil

Cantona,

I am very much in the position you describe, except for using a different LiveCD, one with Mepis instead of Ubuntu.

In my case, I worried very closely about whether the mmc card was automatically mounted (it wasn't). But seeing how the mount/unmount worked with the hard disks looked easy enough.

Partition software
In the K menu in Mepis -- the equivalent of Windows' Start menu -- I looked for utilities and found QTparted in a folder of system utilities. I'm guessing that it is parted built with QT widgets.

Resize partition 1
QTparted is graphical, and highlighting the first item (partition) in the list in the righthand pane made a menu option available that I was able to use to specify a new size for it -- instead of 995 mb, 64mb (as Wolf suggests) or 128mb (as Dr K suggests -- or does he say 995-128?) or 800mb as you want. I think this is identified as FAT16. You're not doing anything here except specifying the size you want it, and that the rest of the mmc card is unused. Was this command called Resize partition? Something like that.

Anyway now you have a smaller-than-1GB partition and the rest of the disk is identified as free space.

Create partition 2
You select the line about the free space and choose the Create operation, where you set the size of this second partition (all available space in my case and yours) and specify ext3 as the partition type.

The graphic now shows two partitions, but you have to choose Commit for the changes to be made. This means you can go back and adjust things if you didn't get them right in the two dialogs.

Shutdown
Then after all this, the 770 has to be rebooted. As Wolfram notes in his instructions, you should use the shutdown command.

In my case, the shutdown command didn't work -- I wasn't root. In Xterm, I typed "sudo gainroot' and hit enter to gain root access, and then the shutdown command as Wolfram indicated.

Make sure you have Xterm
In order to become root, I had just reflashed my 770 with a new firmware image, the one with root enabled. So before I even started, I made sure I installed Xterm.

I don't know if parted is a command line utility, but I would bet that the Ubuntu LiveCD has this kind of software with a graphical interface, even if it's not QTparted.

Maybe some other, more experienced Linux users will correct my misstatements and identify the pertinent differences that show up in Ubuntu.

Step 2 -- stop
I then made a mistake I should warn you against. Wolfram describes the second step in great detail and lists five very long commands to enter in XTerm.

Don't enter these.

The shell script
Farther down, after talking about step three in general terms (for instance, he suggests directories to move but doesn't explain how to do that for Linux innocents like me), he provides a shell script that does step 2 and 3 for you.

In my case, I chose to follow his suggestions as to the directories to swap out, but you can edit those first before running the script.

I also had difficulty getting this shell script onto the 770 mmc card so I could run it. I couldn't get Opera on the 770 to download it,. So I downloaded it using Firefox on the LiveCD and mailed it to myself at Gmail. Then I couldn't download it as an attachment.

Ultimately I re-attached the 770 to the PC and transferred the file to the mmc card in the usual fashion, and then I was able to run it in Xterm.

Roger

PS: I found a good description of how QTparted works in PC magazine: pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1902337,00.asp
This was after I used it, of course.

PPS: I looked at this post before clicking submit and realized it was so long it was hard to follow. So I inserted the bold phrases just to make it easier to read. I don't really think this way: heading, text, heading, text.

WOW! Thank you Roger - that is a huge help!

Hello all!

Sorry that I can't help you more right now, I'm very busy at work, so I don't have as much time to post as I'd like. But I see Roger is doing a great job, both learning and teaching, that's nice. I've updated the HOWTO a bit to include more information and a link back here so others can find and join the discussion.

I also noticed that "How to Partition" is a much bigger problem than anticipated, unfortunately it can't be automated like the others steps since it's done outside of the Nokia 770, depending on your actual computer setup which widely varies between different users. Anyway, that's why a forum is such a good place to talk about it and help each other.

Last not least I really appreciate all the comments, both about what works for you and where you see a need for improvement. I'll try to update the Wiki page as often as necessary. Of course, being a Wiki page, it can be updated with your latest discoveries as well. Let's all work together to make the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet even better and greater.

Happy hacking,

I have not been able to get root extended to my 512 memory card. I thought that creating the ext3 partition would be trivial, but was a bit of a nightmare. Tried parted with fc3 (installed), Ubuntu 5.X live, QTparted in fc3. Problem with parted was, that no ext3 was supported, and I tried with an extended partition, no file system in it and formatting that to an ext3, input/output error. Finally I created a 300 MB fat16 partition, left Linux and created a 200 MB ext3 partition, using Partition magic, in windows.
Now, as I at last have an ext3 partiton, I can't get the root.sh work for me. may be the ext3/windows is not suitable or maybe the memory card is faulty. I'm going to try with the 64 MB card that came with 770.

Wishes of some of us have been answered:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

a really easy to use GPL Live CD-partitioning software (latest release 29.1)


edited: used gparted/sourceforge yesterday, partitioning was done in a minute. Ran Root.sh, did not work, reflashed, restored my settings, installed Xterm, ran Root.sh again. Now it worked. Created a 24 MB swap, opened a digitv -> mediaconverter->280x160 007-avi.file from mounted slug hdd through wlan. Film went on smoothly as watched on TV.

Thank's a lot for the instructions and great effort Wolfram!

At least thanks to all your help Im making progress - lol now have a root enabled version on my 770. Current issue is with partitioning my 1GB card - qtparted wont let me reduce the exisiting partion below 7000mb ( i think i dont have it in front of me - but in any case it is nowhere near 64 or 128) Any ideas?

I spent a couple of hours with parted and qtparted. Just did not work for me,but with the Live-CD gparted it was really easy. Give it a try