loc4me

As most of you know www.hackndev.com has posted instructions on how to manually install the LD ROM here. Whether you want to do this b/c your Microdrive failed or you are swapping out the MicroDrive for CF card, the instructions are the same. Hackvdev instructions are a bit vauge for the novice user and are even more so if you are not familar with Linux. For those of you who would rather stay with in the familiar Windows environment, here is a guide for extracting the ROM from LD update 2.0 and reinstalling it. As usual, I accept no resposibility for damage to your computer, your palm or your marriage for spending to much time "messing" with your palm.

Step 1: Tools needed

1. LD Update 2.0, here
2. Unzipping utility. WinRar, Winzip, 7-zip, or anyother will probably work. I used WinRar.
3. Install Shield cab extractor, here or here. The file is I6COMP02.zip.
4. Python 2.5, here
5. HacknDev python scripts, here. You need unpdb.py and makecafe.py.
6. DD for windows, here.
7. Simple file Joiner, here

Step 2: Install software

1. Install i6comp.exe, DD for windows and Python and any of the other software that you dont already have an equivalent tool for. Follow recomended instructions. You must add the instalation of i6comp, python and DD to your path.
2. To add locations to your path just right click on My Computer, go to properties, then the Advanced tab. Click on the button at the bottom that says Environment Variables. Select PATH variable and add the directories that contain i6comp.exe, DD.exe, and python.exe.

Step 3: Extract

1. Unzip "LifeDrive_Update_2_0_EFIGS_win.zip". In it you will find an exe file called "LifeDrive 2.0 Updater.exe". Use your unzipping file utility of choice to extract the files from "LifeDrive 2.0 Updater.exe". Using WinRar, all you have to do is right click on "LifeDrive 2.0 Updater.exe" and select extract from the shell extension menu. You will have to figure out how to do it using other programs. It should extract all files to a folder called "Disk1"
2. Now we have to extract LD ROM files from the file "Data1.cab". These are cab files created by InstallShield so the "normal" method of extracting Microsoft cabs will not work.
3. Open a command window and navigate to the directory containing "Data1.cab". Type "i6comp x data1.cab". This should extract all the files from the cab file. You can specify a folder to extract it all to if you like. Just type "i6comp" to get the useage commands.
4. Now you will see around 58 or so files extracted from the cab file. We are interested in the "brahma-palmos.zip.?.pdb where ? is letters a-j. This is a several part zip file that contains the ROM.
5. Now open up python. Navigate to the directory containing these zip files. Run the script unpdb.py for each file. ie. "unpdb brahma-palmos.zip.a.pdb a.zip".
6. Once you have done that for each file you need to join them all together in a single zip file. Use any file joiner of your choice. Google "Simple file joiner 2.0"

Step 4: Customize

1. Now unzip your zip file you just greated and you will see all the files that are contained in the LD ROM.
2. You are now free to customize the zip file untill you are satisfied. I do not know what is safe to remove and what is not. I have no idea what will make the LD ustable. Hopefully soon mrp123 will post a list of what is safe to remove and what is not b/c he has had some trial and error with removing items and is more familiar with that.

Step 4: Write ROM back to CF/MD

1. Now you have to write your customized ROM back to your MD or CF card. Opening up the case of your LD WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY so proceed at your own risk. In order to write the ROM back to the disk you will need to use DD for windows.
2. Since you have modified the contents of the zip file you need inform PalmOS you have b/c it expects a certain size. For this HacknDev has another python script makecafe.py. See the website for useage. You will need to modify the script and b/c the size of the zip file is hard coded in it. Thanks to mrp123 again for pointing this out. You can read his post here.
3. Now you just need to follow the rest of the directions on the HacknDev site. I will quote them below if that is okay?
   
   Quote:

   To make a valid ROM partition, we need to stick an 'acecafe0' header on the front of the zip that tells the PalmOS bootloader where on the disk (in sectors) and how long (in bytes) the zip is. I wrote makecafe.py to do just that: $ svn cat https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot...ols/makecafe.py > makecafe.py $ python makecafe.py -c brahma-palmos.zip > rom-partition $ md5sum rom-partition 639952c7a50e8d12d1d9351f3cbe9aa6 rom-partition Since PalmOS expects some strange C/H/S values that confused every partition manager I tried we need to manually partition the disk. The command below will write the stock partition table to the file table.sct. $ echo 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQEABlgPCD8AAACACwIAAFgQCAAoH Au/CwIAgLAAAAAoHQsLz13xP7wCAIBLdwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAVao=' | python -c 'import base64,sys;sys.stdout.write("\0"*432+base64.b64decode(sys.stdin.read()))' > table.sct The next step WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY. Remove the two rubber non-slip things from the screw holes near the top of the back of the LifeDrive. Unscrew the screws with a torx or appropriately sized flathead screwdriver. Insert something strong and flat into the slits on the sides of the handheld. Only insert it part of the way or you'll damage the plastic. Carefully prise the metal back off. Unscrew the two screws at the bottom holding the plastic frame in place. Disconnect the speaker plug (in the square hole next to the speaker) and remove the plastic frame. Disconecct the battery plug. Void you warranty by breaking the 'void if removed' sticker and remove the microdrive. Plug the microdrive into your PC. If you're using an IDE->CF adapter, turn your PC off first and when you turn it back on, issue this command to turn off DMA: hdparm -d0 /dev/hdX If you're using a USB CF reader /dev/XdX will be something like /dev/sda. With a IDE->CF adapter it will be something like /dev/hdc. Write the partition table to disk: $ dd if=table.sct of=/dev/XdX conv=notrunc 1+0 records in 1+0 records out And now the actual ROM partition: $ dd if=rom-partition of=/dev/XdX seek=134079 bs=512 conv=notrunc 40001+1 records in 40001+1 records out Put the microdrive back in your LifeDrive, reconnect the battery and with any luck, watch it boot PalmOS. The other two partitions will be automatically formatted by PalmOS, so you don't need to worry about them.

I hope this guide is a little bit of help to all those who would like to try to edit the LD ROM using only windows. I will update and add a little more clarity to some of the steps if needed. I really just wanted to get this out there so you all can give it a try so this is a pretty rough draft of my notes. If you get stuck just post a questions and I am sure one of the many brilliant palm users on this forum can help you out. Also, sorry about any spelling mistakes. Thanks.

-Mark

Bexuanmai

I'm add PATH to Enviroment
but I can't do "i6comp x data1.cab" command
Window Command says that

Did I have a mistake ?

The folder included i6comp is C:\temp\i6comp02\Release
I added to PATH enviroment =

__________________
Tungsten T3 + Life Drive

SoS

I hope there aren't any typos in that list of instructions...LOL

mrp123

It's not necessary to do all that. A simpler method is copy i6comp.exe in the same directory as where you extracted from the LifeDrive Update executable. It doesn't matter what the directory is. In a DOS prompt, navigate to that directory (which I assume you know how to do correctly). Type in the i6comp command and it will work. That's how I used i6comp (and other DOS executables).

__________________


LifeDrive with 4 Gig CF card & 4 Gig SD card

loc4me

Yes, That works well too. Also another way to do it is just copy the executeable into C:\Windows\System32\ It will then be available to use in any directory.

tomlouie

Mark, this is incredible, thank you for taking the time to figure this out and writing it down.

Do you mind if someone grabs this text and sticks it into a Wiki, kind of like this:

http://howto.wikia.com/wiki/Howto_r..._in_Life Drive

Tom

Bexuanmai

I did extract data1.cab
and now I'm stuck at "Navigate to the directory containing these zip files"
I checked the manual but still confuse so I need your help

__________________
Tungsten T3 + Life Drive

loc4me

If you dont know python just copy the folder with the contents you are looking to extract into the C:\Python directory. Then just give python the path when you are running the script. Just put the folder in the same directory as the executable of python.

IamAJD

Hmm.
I beg for assistance.
I was using these methods to make a custom ROM on my CF card.
Things were going well.
The LifeDrive was booting off the CF card and Expense, Addit!, QuickTour, old DocsToGo, old PTunes, and non-English languages were all gone!!
After making ONE MORE MOD, my LD refused to boot.
I recopied the previous image and it still refused to boot.
I tried several other things... and still no loading bar.
I put the original, unmodified MicroDrive back in and it *STILL* isn't working.
It just sits on the PalmOne screen with no loading bar.
What is the most likely senario for what I did wrong?
I was always very gentle, but perhaps I somehow damaged the "IDE Cable"?
Or is it more likely that I somehow fried the main board?
Does anyone know of any places to get reasonably affordable LifeDrive parts?
Anyone have a dead LD they'd be interested in selling?

mrp123

Hmm. That's too bad, that it was working fine after the mods and now not for no apparent reason. My only no-boot sitautions were before I figured out how to correctly write the ROM and never had one since.

Since I'm not looking at it, I can only go off what you describe and what I've seen elsewhere. I agree your guesses for failure are plausible. Did you remove the main board to make sure the other end of the cable is still seated properly? You can test the disk's media cable with a multimeter and test for continuity at each pin position. I did that once for another's dead LD and it wasn't easy. But you'll have to be patient and creative to test for intermmitant breaks for each pin. And don't quote me but I vaguely recall one of the pins does not have continuity perhaps by design because it had no continuity at one of the pins (don't ask me which. 13 comes to mind but its been too long a while) but the cable worked pefectly when installed in another known good LD. Who knows? I don't have a CF pinout chart handy.

It's possible the board went too. But again, there are too many unknows here.

I once looked into Palm selling spare parts for another's dead LD. Palm apparently doesn't care to get involved with that kind of business. I couldn't find any other source for LD spare parts but you may fare differently.

__________________


LifeDrive with 4 Gig CF card & 4 Gig SD card

potnoodle23

This is probably a dumb question, but do i need to remove the MD from the LD if I only want to trim down the ROM?

I would like to clear a load of the crap out of it that I don't need, but I don't have a CF to IDE adapter or a 4GB CF card as I wasn't planning on swapping out the MD. If I do need to remove the MD to get it done, then I'll get hold of the CF card and adapter and replace the MD with it!

mrp123

To use these, methods, yes. It's not too difficult so long as you're extremely careful.

__________________


LifeDrive with 4 Gig CF card & 4 Gig SD card

potnoodle23

Thanks for the quick reply MRP123!

Do you have any recommendations for a CF card (I, II, III Extreme IV). I'm not sure if the LD will support IV.

bill57785

Hi there. I am running Linux,a dn I completed all of the step just fine. I had the same checksums, etc. Anyways, I finished up, unmounted my Compact Flash card, and placed it in the life drive. Now it won't boot, and Linux won't even recognize the card being plugged in. The old MD is fried, so I am trying to use a CF card. Ask me any questions you have that might help you give me an answer. Thanks.

trallala

Hi,

a big thank you to loc4me and mrp123 for providing the information and taking the time to make such detailed description. At the moment I am busy optimizing my rom

@mrp123 (or everbody else): What is the advantage of minimizing the rom and putting everything in the ram? Just faster reset time ?
I still try to figure out if I should minimize the rom or put essential applications (like tcpmp, netfront, agendus, etc...) in the rom. But I can't figure out the pros and cons. Maybe you can clarify ?

TIA!!!