diff --git a/applets/usage_compressed b/applets/usage_compressed
index 9da683088..551b4b4ba 100755
--- a/applets/usage_compressed
+++ b/applets/usage_compressed
@@ -12,8 +12,16 @@ sz=`"$loc/usage" | wc -c` || exit 1
 
 exec >"$target"
 
-echo 'static const char packed_usage[] ALIGN1 = '
-"$loc/usage" | bzip2 -1 | od -v -t x1 \
-| $SED -e 's/^[^ ]*//' -e 's/  *\(..\)/\\x\1/g' -e 's/^\(.*\)$/"\1"/'
-echo ';'
+echo 'static const char packed_usage[] ALIGN1 = {'
+
+# Extra effort to avoid using "od -t x1": -t is not available
+# in non-CONFIG_DESKTOPed busybox od
+
+"$loc/usage" | bzip2 -1 | od -v -x \
+| $SED -e 's/^[^ ]*//' \
+| $SED -e 's/ //g' \
+| grep -v '^$' \
+| $SED -e 's/\(..\)\(..\)/0x\2,0x\1,/g'
+
+echo '};'
 echo '#define SIZEOF_usage_messages' `expr 0 + $sz`