Review of the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 172
Gothmolly writes "After reading the story and comments on Slashdot,
I went out and bought one from the Home Shopping Network. It's been a very fun and interesting jump into both the modern PDA (I owned the original Palm until this year) embedded Linux worlds. I've written a review about my experiences over the last few days with it. A lot of this information I found online, a lot is personal experience. HSN is now out of them, but they must still be available cheaply somewhere."
Bah. (Score:5, Funny)
So long, suckers!
Good stuff! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good stuff! (Score:2)
Buying a 5500 (Score:3, Informative)
I'm impatiently waiting for mine to arrive on Monday, according to UPS...
Re:Buying a 5500 (Score:1)
1-800-284-3900
The product number is 694341, or they can look it up by keyword dont forget to get your 15% off if you're a new customer-coupons at deal news [dealcoupon.com]
Dear God (Score:1, Informative)
I learned this the hard way when I got my sexy new Palm V three years ago, don't repeat my mistake.
Re:Dear God (Score:5, Funny)
Whatever you do, don't buy from HSN. They have no return policy, nor do they have a warranty.
I know, I know. I tell myself the same thing every night before going to bed. Yet the very next day I always find myself frantically dailing those numbers when the happy-faced person on the TV warns me that they only have a limited supply left and they're going fast!
Re:Dear God (Score:2)
Re:Dear God (Score:1)
Not that I care, because I used her account to buy mine...
Re:Dear God (Score:5, Informative)
Please research before you post 3 year old "facts"
A new version of Open Zaurus is out! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A new version of Open Zaurus is out! (Score:3, Informative)
Just look at the new icons [handhelds.org] compared to the old ones [handhelds.org].
Check out the slick coloring- a cool translucent look for soothing, grey-on-grey symbols with gently blurred edges. They'll be especially good in bright conditions, when the LCD screens of a PDA will reflect back all the ambient light and remove all contrast.
OpenZaurus 3.2 is out (Score:2, Insightful)
Played for one day with factory ROM, experienced lots of freezes with WIFI cards.
Then I flashed OpenZaurus 3.1rc3.1, and now 3.2.
All the hangs are gone, most programs are much better, internal flash is writable. I added 256MB SD-MMC card and moved part of the system to
In case he's hosting it on the Zarus (Score:4, Informative)
Review of the Sharp Zaurus 5500
Ed Schernau, ed at schernau.com
No, there are no screenshots. I don't have a digital camera. It's all 1 giant page. I don't know if this works with OSX, and I don't care at the moment. It supposedly works with Linux, but I haven't tried it. This review is NOT exhaustive. All copyrights are owned by their owners, blah blah blah, I'm not trying to piss people off.
As seen here on Slashdot, the Sharp Zaurus 5500 recently went on sale at HSN due to the newer, Zaurus 5600 being released. Being a cheap geek, I purchased the 5500 model. First, I'd like to say that I was impressed with HSN - very good pricing, and a 15% off coupon for first time orders. Their website is easy to navigate and quick, and provided accurate package tracking. I paid 178USD for it, delivered.
Here's what you get in the package:
The Zaurus 5500
battery (950 mAh)
Getting started manual
User manual
CD of software and drivers
AC adapter
USB Sync cradle/charger - the cradle has a DC jack that you plug the AC adapter into - it does NOT use the USB port for charging power.
Impressions
The Zaurus looks very slick, a polished metal looking PDA. There's a translucent plastic flip-up lid over the touchscreen. The whole thing is about 1.5x the length of a deck of playing cards, and about as wide and thick. The stylus slides into a slot, there is an IR and SD port on 1 side of the unit, and a headphone jack and CF slot on the top of the unit. The bottom of the unit has the DC power jack and 'Sharp IO port', which is where it mates with its cradle.
Hardware/OS
The Z 5500 runs on the Intel StrongArm processor, running a version of Lineo - embedded Linux. It has a 2.4.6 kernel. Because of this, any Linux software compiled for ARM (like the whole Debian arm tree) will run. You get 64MB of memory, 1/2 of which is locked away by the Z, so you have 32MB to run in. This has not proved to be a problem, yet. It runs Qtopia, an embedded GUI system on a 320x240 color screen. Almost any linux-y thing you can think of, you can do. It has a shell, you can even make swapfiles to increase running memory (at the expense of storage of course). There are init scripts. Repeat after me: It's a miniaturized Linux box. Everything runs as root. It uses ext2fs for main storage, and minix and cramfs for its own purposes. You can type 'mount' to see what's what.
Keyboard
The keyboard is excellent. You hold the Zaurus in both hands and type with your thumbs. Clever use of 'Shift' and 'Function' keys give you nearly QWERTY layout. You can get about 1 letter every 3/4 of a second.
Handwriting
It also does handwriting recognition, in a certain area of the screen. You enable this by hitting a small icon on the screen, and scribble away. I've not spent much time with it, yet. It's fiddly, but not as bad as Palm's Grafiti.
Backlight
Good, but not great. The screen is lit from a flourescent light on the side, which can look weird if you hold the Z at an angle. Some parts of the screen are brighter than others.
Sync
The Z connects to its host via IP over USB. Syncing occurs completely over IP. This is slick, if you get a CF Ethernet card for it, you can (in theory) sync with your system anywhere in the world. My old Palm had a serial cable, so USB seemed like warp speed to me. Save yourself headache - set the Zaurus to NOT use DHCP, likewise your PC system. It defaults to 192.168.129.201, your PC defaults to 192.168.129.1. There's a GUI to configure all of this on the Z.
GUI
Very cool. Touch once to run an app, touch and hold to bring up properties. A combination of thumb and thumbnail will get everything done.
I hooked it up and let it charge for a while, then loaded the software onto my PC. I have Windows2000 running on an ABit BP6 motherboard, with 2 USB 1.0 ports. This m
Root? (Score:1)
Not anymore (as of the 5600) (Score:2, Informative)
Cheers,
Jeremy
Re:Root? (Score:4, Informative)
There is an app for th Z that gives you a login screen, I have not tested it, so I do not know if it provides user-id with different privledges than root.
This is functionally a single user multi-tasking device. It happens to run a multi-user capable OS, however that does not require that that feature be used.
Does this create potential problems? Sure. However the system files can not be removed by the user, though certain configuration files can. Even so, if you really care, you can reset the platform to it's original (or last flash rom) state by completely draining the battery. Make regular backups to cf memory.
-Rusty
Re:Root? - Not in OpenZaurus (Score:1)
OpenZaurus supports this out of the box.
Re:Root? (Score:1)
Re:Root? (Score:3, Insightful)
This is especially bad because the default root password is "". And changing the root password breaks the default sync software!
If you bring a Zaurus running the OEM software into a location offering 802.11b wireless, you can easily be rooted by any script kiddy who recognizes your PDA.
Zauruses are so obscure that this risk is low, today, but it's still a major design problem. Hopefully, the 5600 vers
Re: (Score:2)
Did it as well... (Score:5, Informative)
For me, for $160 (+$80 for the wireless card) it's been $$$ well spent.
Re:Did it as well... (Score:2)
Re:Did it as well... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Did it as well... (Score:1)
Ms. Grabby-hands (Score:1, Funny)
My GF *always* grabs my iBook when she's at my place...
Man, sucks to be you. My GF always grabs a certain something of mine that's way more fun when she's at my place!
I also bought an HSN special (Score:5, Interesting)
I also grabbed a Zaurus 5500 from the HSN special. Guess those paid-u-tainment slash-vertisements work.
First thing I did was to look for the terminal package. One version came on the CDs, so I installed that.
Second thing I did was to find the OpenZaurus installer (now 3.1-rc3.1), but after finding with several problematic .ipk's from the Zaurus Software Index, I went back to the stock Sharp ROM image. Can you imagine holding the C and D chicklet keys on one side, and poking a recessed reset button on the other? All with the DC power plug attached? I had to do this operation a few times in my experiments, and I can safely say they chose a combination quite apt at avoiding the accidental re-flash.
I still haven't gotten the USB networking worked out. It apparently needs the usbdnet module, which is not in the Red Hat stock kernels (latest errata nor the last beta). I prefer to stick to my distro's official kernels, rather than rebuilding a kernel just so I can ssh to a pda. Maybe eventually.
I noticed that if I install a new ipk file, it restarts Qtopia, which loses the icons for any other already-running tasks. (ps aux) still shows the tasks, they just have no gui anymore.
I noticed that if I click an app button to switch away from the terminal, some key cruft like ~3 or ~4 appears in the terminal. Also, if the unit gets suspended (low power, power off button, etc.), then whatever console app was running gets sent to the background and I have to (fg 1) when I return. This screws up some console programs which don't have a convenient "redraw all" key for when you return. (Example app: frotz.)
I noticed that the text editor opens to what looks like an empty note which is ready for typing, but no, it's in a no-document state and you must tap for a "New" text document before starting.
I figured out how to retrain the handwriting, but not sure how often I'll use it. The real keyboard, virtual keyboard and pickboard are quite enough for text entry, thanks. Weird that you can tap the Fn key prefix then tap the desired key for a function, but you have to HOLD a shift key while tapping a letter. Supporting tap-shift-tap-letter would probably been nicer given the form factor.
I would never have purchased this kind of device anywhere near its original price-- it's a toy to me, not a tool. But it's worth the money I put into it.
Re:I also bought an HSN special (Score:1, Informative)
Agree about the shift-letter thing
Hunt down the "tapboard" ipkg for an IBM-ATOMIK style onscreen keyboard that's organized so common letters are clustored together. Much faster once you are used to it.
Hunt down the embedded Konsole package with the wrap/ no wrap toggler, that's the best.
Also, buy a copy of tkcCard, which is
My PDA is not a toy. (usually) (Score:2)
At any rate, I consider a PDA to be an essential part of my life. I'm an inherently disorganized person, and I needed an organizer (but didn't have one of any kind) long before I bought my palm last October. For years I've been trying to make my computer run reminder programs to tell me when important events were happening, but have always lamented that I didn't have
Re:I also bought an HSN special (Score:2)
Spreading the knowledge: Problems? e-mail me.
Re:I also bought an HSN special (Score:2)
Nice tech review of the Zaurus (Score:4, Informative)
But does it run Linux? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:But does it run Linux? (Score:1)
difference of opinion... (Score:5, Interesting)
First of all, my Z runs with a wifi card in the CF slot most of the time. However I have several situations where that is of little or no use. My low-power cf card does not support Kismet, so I can not use it to scan for open nets. For the most part I do not need the additional battery drain either.
When I do not need the wifi card, I have found that having a couple of hours of music on a 128M cf memory card can help while away longer bus rides, without affecting how much application space is available on my SD card.
Also I have several CF interfaces for my computers, being able to read/write the CF to transfer stuff when I don't want to use a wifi card is also handy.
As noted in the article sd/mmc cards cost more and tend to have lower capacity than CF cards.
As a last note, there are bluetooth interfaces built to run in sd/mmc slots, which may be of interest to people using blutooth enabled network, phone, printer, or even headset devices. In that case the memory expansion opportunity would be the CF slot.
Then again, that's just my opnion. You will have to make up your own mind.
-Rusty
Re:difference of opinion... (Score:2)
OpenZaurus (Score:5, Informative)
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:3, Insightful)
Err perhaps someone could explain to me what is better about openZaurus, I mean apart from knowing that nobody made any money out of writing the code why am i meant to think this a good thing?
Does it have a better version of
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:4, Interesting)
Let me put it this way: About two weeks ago I tried out the very latest ROM. I found the ROM itself was stable, but nothing installed properly on it and I ended up going back to Sharp's ROM because there were apps I simply had to have running. Final impression: OZ is really nice and I only plan on staying on a Sharp ROM until I find that OZ can run these other 3rd party apps (which should be now since the new release is out). I was extremely disappointed to find I couldn't use OZ right away, but I've been anxiously awaiting this latest release so I can move over to OZ permanently.
If you want to know all the specifics about why OZ is better, you should check out their site [sourceforge.net]. However, the biggest reason I would suggest OZ is because it's actively being developed. Sharp has only offered bug fixes for it's ROM. OZ is steadily getting better, which means you'll see improvements and new features. So as far as I'm concerned, Sharp's ROM is a dead end while OZ is quite alive.
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:2)
Err, what makes you think I didn't. The site did not state one single benefit of openZaurus over the original install.
As for the 'stability' you state, I have never had a single stability problem with my Zaurus, the 802.11b card does not work but the system is 'stable'. So more stability but apps not running is not my definition of improvement.
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:2)
They tried to give some reasons [openzaurus.org], although it's true that their website design isn't perfect. It could easily be much more informative.
However, the official Zaurus support site [zaurus.com] is even more audience-hostile. (It's a litany of website-usability errors)
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:4, Informative)
For one thing, it can have reliable TCP/IP. It may depend on the specific networking hardware (USB to Linux, or WinXP, or a CF ethernet or 802.11b card) you're trying to use, but the Sharp-supplied ROMs often simply give up on transmitting after 100kB or so (and then won't re-initialize until after a reboot).
Other kinds of hardware compatibilty and stability were also improved in OpenZaurus (although the recent release-candiates introduced several random bugs, hopefully the 3.2 release has fixed them)
The major design change with OpenZaurus is that the main filesystem is stored in Flash memory, rather than just RAM like on the original ROMs (or on a Palm). This means that if your system crashes (or loses power), files like your addressbook and network card settings are preserved.
(The normal Sharp ROMs only write to flash during the special "reflashing" process to upgrade the ROM, but OpenZaurus can modify it at any time. This could possibly create a risk of hardware failure, as flash memory has limited reusability)
a better jpg viewer that might allow me to see large pictures direct off my digital camera in full screen mode
The viewer can scale and rotate. However, it's decompression algorithm might not be efficient enough to unpack a full 1600x1200 JPG without exhausting your system RAM. (There are commerical viewers which can definately cope)
The problem I have with my zaurus is that is does not work with my wireless card.
OpenZaurus is known to work pretty well with this. Of course, the Sharp ROMs often handled it decently too (although they split the network configuration across several applets, making you go through more steps to set it up)
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:1)
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:2)
That should last years- and in a few years, CompactFlash cards will be cheap anyway, so who cares? (As long as it's not built into your PDA- but a PDA will be obselete in 4 years as well)
Note that most flash chips contain a little software for "wear leveling" to ensure that those million writes don't happen at all the same place, burning a tiny "hole" in the media while the rest is left unused.
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:1)
One thing I noticed right off is that the GUI feels much faster and smoother than the stock Sharp ROM. The 'Patience' solitaire game has a card-flipping graphical cutesie and with the OZ ROM, it's definitely smoother.
Another change is that OpenSSH is pre-installed; a nice addition. I guess the main benefit is active development of t
Re:OpenZaurus (Score:2)
For the same reason millions of people erase Windows from their machines and install Linux: the open source version works better.
Does it have a better version of mastermind? a better jpg viewer that might allow me to see large pictures direct off my digital camera in full screen mode
I believe all Zaurus distribu
Some useful links (Score:5, Informative)
Some more useful links:
Zaurus DevNet forums [zaurus.com]
The Zaurus Notebook (tips and tricks) [zaurus.com]
Zaurus Loves Linux [loveslinux.com]
Now what I really want, is a portable device to connect the usb cable from the phone described in this article [slashdot.org] to the Zaurus dataport.
Re:Some useful links (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Some useful links (Score:1)
A tool that allows the Zaurus to sync with evolution. [sourceforge.net]
Never mind the SL-5500 or SL-5600 (Score:3, Interesting)
All the features of the SL-5600 with a nice big screen and full keyboard.
I know Dynamism wants $700 for theirs, but if you can get it for less, there are guides online that have reverse engineered their localization process. I don't know what their markup is but I've seen it put at around $200 (!!)
doh (Score:2)
i m wating for the sharp (Score:2)
UK source? (Score:2)
I got one too (Score:5, Informative)
But then the HSN special came up, and DAMN I had to try it out.
It's a very cool device which is perfect for my needs but a little lacking as a general purpose PDA. However it has a LOT of potential.
Hint: don't bother with OpenZaurus unless you like to experiment. It breaks everything. Stick with the stock ROM if you want to use PIM functions. I had problems with Opera, Konqurer, TheKompany's apps, and pretty much anything that didn't come with OZ. Too bad, because the base components of OZ are much better than the stock ROM (for instance it actually shows how much battery you have left as %-age).
I set up wireless, set it up to do backups with rsync+SSH, and to NFS mount my MP3 directory. I have it running through my privoxy proxy, filtering out ads and cookies... Sweeeeeeeeet!
Hint: to set up your WCF12 card (if you have one of those), set up syslog to log somewhere, run syslog, and plug in your card. You'll see the necessary parameters to set up the card in the logs.
Another hint: DON'T EVER REBOOT FROM THE GUI
1) quit Qtopia
2) while it's counting down, hit '/'
3) hit 'a' at the menu to get a console login
4) log in
5) type "telinit 6"
Be sure to back up often anyway, since your stuff is stored in a ramdisk.
Anyway this is LOTS of fun for linux geeks, I haven't had this much fun since I installed OS X (UNIX COMMAND LINE.. ON A MAC??? AND NOW ON A PDA??? *spurt*). In fact I often think to myself.. whoa...what if APPLE made one of these bad boys with Mac OS X and apps that "just work"
Unfortunately it doesn't work with OS X / iSync but you can at least set up USB networking with this driver [lucid-cake.net]. Tell Apple you'd like them to support the zaurus, since many Zaurus geeks are probably also OS X geeks!
Anyway, these things are super-fun
Re:I got one too (Score:2)
There's something really weird about seeing a machine fscking a ramdisk.
Re:I got one too (Score:2)
2) while it's counting down, hit '/'
3) hit 'a' at the menu to get a console login
4) log in
5) type "telinit 6"
And it's just that easy!
OS X, Where are you? (Score:2)
Re:I got one too (Score:2)
Perhaps this was the cause of your 10% of failed reboots?
Once I head about this I've been sure to follow it and haven't had a reboot trast everything yet (knock on wood).
OpenZaurus is the killer app (Score:5, Informative)
where to get one cheap? (Score:1)
but not as bad as Palm's Grafiti (Score:2)
Re:but not as bad as Palm's Grafiti (Score:2)
Re:Graffiti, and rant (Score:2, Informative)
There is no pause on the Zaurus as it converts text.
Wrong again. It's actually extremely easy to train it to new methods. Check the PDF manual available at
I got 1 from HSN too (Score:1)
Zaurus 5600 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Zaurus 5600 (Score:2)
I want! Dammit bothersome $$ (Score:2)
Alas, for the time being I must be confined to writing an imitation Linux shell for my Ti-89... =\ O well.. hopefully I'm getting paid soon... =)
Does the Zaurus support the Ratoc USB Host CF? (Score:1)
My one complaint is that I can't hookup the SL-5500 to my cell phone, a Samsung SPH-N400. My cell phone has no way to connect to a regular serial port, but it does have a USB cable to connect to a USB host. The host computer can than use the cell phone as a modem to connect to the Internet using Sprint PCS's Vision network. The only way I have thought of to connect the phone to the PDA would be to use this CF USB Host adaptor [ratocsystems.com] to give the Zaurus a
Another "HSN special too!" And a great toy! (Score:2, Interesting)
Mostly I bought this since besides my old Palm III that I use for a remote control at home, I am PDA-less. The crowd at our M$ shop at work are all getting PocketPC's. So far I've been able to prove it's worthiness except to those with the brand-spanking-new ones. But for the price, I have the
A terrorist weapon if I've ever seen one! (Score:5, Funny)
-Portable web server
-Wireless networking capable
-SSH
-Able to connect by USB or LAN
This will be a tool at the disposal of every al Qaeda foot soldier and Iraqi intelligence officer.
Sharp must be stopped and sanctioned for this negligence.
My God... think of the children, man!
Good thing I have Homeland Security on speed dial.
Re:A terrorist weapon if I've ever seen one! (Score:1)
Re:A terrorist weapon if I've ever seen one! (Score:1)
Every day, I fight the same uphill battle against the moronic bureaucracy that you and I live under.
I know it's frustrating that:
-Billions of dollars are being spent to keep nail clippers off of airplanes.
-Billions more being spent on a department that color-codes our world and tells us to wrap ourselves in plastic wrap, duct tape, and other fetish gear.
-Billions on a federal education department that has only made America stupider.
I have the same urge to tee off on the soccer
I took the plunge, too. (Score:1)
I owned one for three months (Score:3, Insightful)
What's wrong with Sharp Zaurus [epinions.com] - mainly battery life, applications crashing when dealing with lartge documents, inconvenient thumb keyboard.
What's good and bad about Dell Axim [epinions.com] - mainly problems with battery reporting, problems with ActiveSync and infamous battery reporting bug.
I'm another of the HSN-Zaurus people (Score:2)
Here's a little word to the wise if you're looking for 802.11b access. Do NOT buy a Linksys WCF12 card if you're planning on using the Sharp ROM. It doesn't work out of the box and requires a LOT of trial and error to get functioning. Save yourself a headache and get one that's listed in
I wish I'd done that, would've saved me a couple hours of vi on that little tiny keyboard.
Re:The WCF12 works with a 2-line edit... (Score:2)
In two hours in the #zaurus IRC, 7 people came in with WCF12's, five of them required one of three different solutions to get working, and two of them we never quite got working period.
I know it seems like WCF11 should be inferior, since 12's a bigger number and all, but in reality
Word Game (Score:1)
Re:Word Game (Score:1)
Re:Word Game (Score:2)
That's a bonus; OSPD sucks big time. The game was designed for a normal concise dictionary of normal word usage. The OSPD allows hundreds of words that are not in common usage and are not even English, making a mockery of the letter distributions and scores; it's just a marketing gimmick.
TWW
Re:Word Game (Score:2)
I seem to remember that, before the OSPD etc. appeared, the rules actually stated that players should use the Oxford Concise Dictionary, which is available in every bookshop and large newsagents in the UK for about 8 pounds in hardback. I assume there is an equivilent dictionary in the US.
TWW
Re:Word Game (Score:2)
New discovery, but old news to current PDA users. (Score:1)
Instead I must have looked like I was worried about imminent tasks and appointments!
And now to the porno sites....
They're not sold out! (Score:2, Informative)
FYI (Score:1)
1-800-284-3900
The product number is 694341, or they can look it up by keyword
dont forget to get your 15% off if you're a new customer-coupons at: deal news [dealcoupon.com]
Wah! (Score:3, Funny)
graffiti (Score:1)
Alternatives to the SL-5500 (Score:2, Informative)
That's the first I've heard of OpenPDA. Anyone know if their claim is true that the Sharp Zaurus uses their software?
Re:Alternatives to the SL-5500 (Score:1)
Routing on W2K (Score:2)
Re:Routing on W2K (Score:2)
Re:Routing on W2K (Score:2)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Ser
to "1" and reboot. Now you are a router.
Re:Routing on W2K (Score:2)
I kept the zaurus on 192.168.129.x network, and added the route. Other machines on my lan could talk to the zaurus and vice versa, however, the zaurus could not get out. Packets for the internet would correctly travel over 192.168.129.1, to 192.168.0.2 (w2k nic) to the router, but nothing would come back, even after adding static routes to my router and setting the netmask to 255.255.0.0.
So then I put the Zaurus on the same 192.168.0.x net...the USB connection was 192.168.0.10 and the Z
Re:Routing on W2K (Score:2)
had to click an obscure checkbox on the static route in my router config argh!
Re:Routing on W2K (Score:2)
Personal Expierences (Score:2)
The reasoning behind this is that I want to setup a WLAN across the village I live in so that we then might be able to get some broandband. Now instead of having to lug a laptop round and hold it I
If it only had a phone.... (Score:1)
its cool... (Score:2)
I was backing up a bunch. realized I had too many files, deleted them, was going to back up, and did a terminal based restart. BAM.. required a reset.. all data gone, no backups.
crap.. and I was having fun...
Pure genious (Score:2)
On reboot, it went through a traditional fsck routine, and rose like Lazarus.
Re:Original Palm Is Hardly non-Modern (Score:2)
Re:Original Palm Is Hardly non-Modern (Score:2)