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Handhelds Software Hardware Linux

Review of YOPY YP-3700 Linux PDA 92

Posted by Hemos from the but-is-it-useful dept.
Andrew Baxter writes "Ian Giblin is a senior contributing editor to bargainPDA.com for all things Linux. In his latest review Ian brings an in depth look at the YOPY YP-3700 from G.Mate, Ian informs us that "this device is geeky, and I mean Battlestar Galactica geeky" and that it is "undoubtedly the most linuxy handheld device I've seen. It out-linuxes the Sharp Zaurus range." Read on for many pictures, device specs and in depth information on this Linux PDA device now available in the U.S. and also South Korea."
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Review of YOPY YP-3700 Linux PDA More

Review of YOPY YP-3700 Linux PDA

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  • alive? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Durinia ( 72612 ) * on Monday October 20, 2003 @10:15AM (#7260101)
    I thought the PDA was dead?!?

    Jeez, make up your mind!

  • PDA buyer's guide link (Score:4, Informative)

    by Sir Haxalot ( 693401 ) on Monday October 20, 2003 @10:16AM (#7260107)
    here [pdabuyersguide.com] ;)
    • Is there anybody here who's having difficulty using google or dealtime?
      I mean, this is RIGHT UP THERE too... [about.com]
      About.com YOPY 3700 review

      If you are having trouble and are still relying on Sir Haxalot for clickage, for a mere $10.00 plus ($250 S/H) I will send you a beautifully embossed 7 CD portofolio to will instruct you, STEP BY STEP, on how to use Google and the Internet in general. Satisifaction guaranteed!

  • I hope they are not running their web site on this little thing, because their sites is already slashdotted... Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "[Death|Demise] of the PDAs"... =)
    • There is a simple trick that I use to avoid the slashdot effect. First step, use Mozilla. Second step, if you see that a site is slashdotted, try opening up in six or eight tabs at the same time. Odds are that one of them will go through. If one doesn't get through, try adding six or eight more tabs. Then go through and refresh them all. Eventually one of your requests will go through. at that point, close all the other tabs.

      But thats only the first part. Now repeat the above procedure with each of

  • Server already kaput? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Stigmata669 ( 517894 ) on Monday October 20, 2003 @10:22AM (#7260141)
    google cache [216.239.57.104] (AC for non karma whorage)

  • also available in Europe (Score:3, Informative)

    by mirko ( 198274 ) on Monday October 20, 2003 @10:22AM (#7260148) Journal
    Linux PDA device now available in the U.S. and also South Korea

    and also in Europe on http://www.yopy.at [www.yopy.at]...

  • This thing is DOA for real geeks.... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "The 3700 has a 2300 mAh Lithium Polymer battery that is not user-replaceable."

    So it's got iPod syndrome. Seeya.

  • Ouch. (Score:1, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 )

    No joy here, it appears "bargainpda.com" uses "bargainisp.com"..
  • does it run Windows CE???
    • No, but I bet it plays OGG !
      Imagine a Beowulf cluster of out-linuxing PDA linuxy Devices. RMS will go Crazy. It's GNU-ish/Linuxy you idiots ! The kernel is useless, it's....ARGH!

  • Catered review? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cK-Gunslinger ( 443452 ) on Monday October 20, 2003 @10:37AM (#7260253) Journal
    and that it is "undoubtedly the most linuxy handheld device I've seen. It out-linuxes the Sharp Zaurus

    Any review that uses the phrases "linuxy" and "out-linuxes" is definitely ./ material!
    • In fact, they should have taken it a step further:

      "The linuxosity of the linux-enabled YOPY YP-3700 LDA (Linux Digital Assistant) shines with linux-like GNU. Linus himself would marvel at the linuxy linuxitude. Its linuxy linux is the most linux of the linuxical linuxes..."

      OMG - Linux no longer sounds like a real word to me! Nooo!
    • Yeah, for a second I thought the review was by Alyson Hannigan. "It's really Linuxy... or is that too geekyandI'mshuttingupnow..."

  • Too Expensive... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 )
    In a world with $199 PocketPC's and sub $100 PalmOS devices, a $449-$499 device without builtin wireless doesn't cut it.

    Its a competitive PDA market out there right now, and Dell is the one that is cleaning up. They have the right idea.
    • Your first comment is dead-on. I would have agreed with the second one up until a couple months ago, when I first saw an iPAQ 1945. Small (like Palm-sized small), light, beautiful, built-in Bluetooth. I hate to say it here, but Pocket PC 2003 rocks pretty hard, and it has great integration with Windows. I got it on a killer deal from OfficeMax a couple weeks ago and haven't looked back.
    • No doubt. Linux should be bringing these prices DOWN not UP! What are these bozo's thinking? UGH!
      JAV

  • I'd rather buy the tried and true Sharp Zaurus, which BTW have a more complete line in features and prices.

  • Distribution in Europe... (Score:3, Informative)

    by joestar ( 225875 ) on Monday October 20, 2003 @11:06AM (#7260446) Homepage
    I had the opportunity to play with the Yopy, and it's really a great machine. It's very exciting to have its own web & sql server in the pocket actually, and the hand-writing recognition is very good. By the way, the distributor in Europe for Yopy is "TuxMedia":

    http://www.tuxmedia.com/ [tuxmedia.com]
    • Besides it is distributed in Europe, what are europeans supposed to do with a device that hasn't a proper keyboard ?

      If I can't bring fench texts with me and be able to use any iso-8859-1/15 typed it is like using a disabled device. You know these non-us-ascii characters like e, e, i, i, .... Most of the documents and emails I exchange absolutely need proper spelling including the wierd characters.

      (Even slashdot can't handle this because it's engine is english onwly centric and it eated e from my user name
  • The screenshots remind me of kde2. Is it running qt embedded?
    • Here's one thing that's interesting about the Yopy. You can run both X and Qtopia on it simulateously. See the posting by ocheong at http://sdgsystems.com/forum in the Yopy Software section. ocheong has done a port of Qtopia 1.7 that you select in the X menu. Qtopia "takes over" the screen until you tap the Qt logo in the task bar to switch back to X. Both X and many Zaurus applications are available. Nice!
  • http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTool s/item-details.asp?EdpNo=525236&Sku=S213-1076% 20P

    For 179 USD, you can't go wrong.
  • I think this PDA makes a lot more sense for Linux users than the Zaurus.

    I have the Zaurus. I thought I could live with QPE, but I can't. The built-in apps on the Zaurus are far worse than on the Palm and still somewhat worse than the PocketPC apps, so the Zaurus doesn't make a good PDA; its main use is for nerd-type apps: ssh, network analysis, etc. But for that, its use of QPE is a major problem: very few of the standard GUI apps can be ported over. Furthermore, when you plug the Zaurus into a network
    • You really should try the tkc or Opie/OpenZaurus apps. They are a lot better than the default Sharp apps, though Sharp ROM 3.1x is better than the previous offerings.

      You can install Opie PIM apps without installing all of Opie. Just like you can install the tkc aps without installing the tkcROM.

      One can install X11 on the Zaurus, but why? And I wouldn't want a set of apps like from the VR3. The gui from the screens shots for the Yopy looks like FVWM, ugh! One can minimiz and run multiple apps on QPE
      • You really should try the tkc or Opie/OpenZaurus apps. They are a lot better than the default Sharp apps, though Sharp ROM 3.1x is better than the previous offerings.

        I have. I think a Palm is still way better.

        One can install X11 on the Zaurus, but why?

        Installing X11 on the Zaurus is a major headache, if not for any other reason then because the Zaurus regularly loses all data and installed programs.

        If you mean "why would I want to use X11 on the Zaurus", I think I gave the answer: there are two pos
    • I got flamed for saying this the other day, but you're right, the apps on the Zaurus simply blow.

      Even the improved versions with the latest ROM (tkc, Sharp) aren't that great, altho the latest Sharp rom fixes a lot of the data sync problems. If you can get it to sync, that is.

      I'm going to disagree with the last point. If you want small and linuxy, you can pick up a used thinkpad X20 for around 300 or so on ebay (last I checked at least). It's way more functional for less money. If you want a PDA, get

  • Yopy took forever to finally reach the market, even just in Europe and Canada. By the time it did, the SA-1100 was no longer produced ...

    Anyone here know about a PXA-255 based Yopy?

  • OK chaps and chapesses... here was a perfect opportunity to make a break from the tyranny of the QWERTY layout... it has been demonstrated time and time again that the qwerty layout was only devised to slow down typists so that manual tripewriters wouldn't jam their keys so often... so why on earth is having a qwerty key layout seen as an advantage??? especially in a format this small... You can't touch type with those keys... and if you can then you must have miniature hands... typing with that thing WILL
    • Not true. The Qwerty keyboard was designed to keep commonly typed letters from being adjacent to one another. Quite a bit of thought went into the layout.

      Qwerty and Dvorak each have their advantages. I used both, and went back to QWERTY because it handles load balancing between the hands better. Dvorak puts too much typing of words all on one hand.
    • While you may be unable to touch type on a keyboard this small I still prefer qwerty on a real keyboard (letters more evenly distributed between the hands, at least for English words) and I am used to the layout. I can hunt-and-peck for letters on a too-small qwerty keyboard far, far faster than I can on a too-small abcdef keyboard.
    • if you bothered to do some research..
      it's not exactly fact or proven(qwerty just slows you down myth, just google for it. also it obviously only holds up in english anyways).

      though, i get by pretty well by on my phone with 10 buttons for typing. but the advantage of qwerty is that it's 'full'(helps with shell apps and casual writing) and you somewhat know where the buttons are, from day 1 you start using it.

      alphabetical layouts suck and you still would need special keyboards if you wanted to cater the the
  • ...is their site really /.'ed, or is it simply hosted on a Yopy?
  • ...that the screenshots look like a bastardized version of Mac System 7 and Windows 95?

    Look at the sound "control panel" and the multimedia menu icon. Straight out of System 7. The "Start" menu and other various icons definitely have a Microsoft look to them.
  • Yopy.com is running a survey on which operating system people use. Check out the results! This is the nerd handheld. Gotta get me one.

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