Familiar Distribution for iPAQ Handhelds 94
Russ Nelson writes "The Handhelds.org project has released Familiar 0.7.2, a Linux-based firmware replacement for HP iPAQ handhelds. New to this release is support for the h5400 and h5500, which have built-in wlan interfaces. Both GPE (gtk/X) and Opie (Qt) are at or past version 1.0, and we now have a Python-gtk distribution called 'pypaq'. Why waste that commute time playing Tetris when you could be hacking on Python code?"
Zodiac? (Score:3, Insightful)
Similar hardware, better controls, better video, sound and screen.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
You are correct that most people who purchase a PDA "do it in order to have a portable version of their main PIM database (i.e., Outlook) ". Although I now have a Dell Axim, I used to have an iPaq 3600. The only reason I bought the iPaq was because of the familiar project (I upgraded from a Palm Pilot Professional purely for the reason of running Linux on a PDA). The only frustration with it was that I couldn't sync meetings + tasks + email with Outlook, which is why I kept reinstalling PocketPC on it. And then I got bored and reinstalled Linux on it. Got frustrated and put PocketPC on it. You get the idea.
The point is that running Linux on a PDA is just good geek fun. It's neat to ssh into your PDA. It's fun to hack it in a way that's not really possible with Pocket PC. Completely pointless as it kippers the personal organiser functionality of the unit - but good geek fun nonetheless
Does it have MMC/SD support? (Score:4, Insightful)
I tried Familiar (heart beating FAST as it messed around with areas that can easily turn the iPAQ into a brick) and one of the main things that put me off was a lack of support for the MMC slot. Sure, I could bloat the size of it even further with a CF jacket, but... meh
The other thing that bugged me was Bluetooth. If you think it's behind the times in Windows, IMHO it's 5x worse in Linux. I've faffed with it for a week on a desktop machine, don't fancy the same on a handheld TYVM
Not being a troll, just submitting my perspective on things as an honest fan of Linux.