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Handhelds Software Hardware Linux

New Zaurus Linux PDA Available In the U.S. 195

Posted by simoniker from the sneaking-out dept.
pdawerks writes "The Sharp Zaurus SL-6000L handheld, which runs Linux in the Trolltech's Qtopia environment, has finally made it to the U.S. at a pricepoint of $699, according to a PDALive.com article. It has a 4-inch 480 x 640 CG Silicon reflective screen that is much larger than the one in the 5x00 models, and the screen supports rotation on the fly (portrait and landscape modes). Sharp has also incorporated a sliding thumb keyboard into this model."
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New Zaurus Linux PDA Available In the U.S. More

New Zaurus Linux PDA Available In the U.S.

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  • SWEET! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ErichTheWebGuy ( 745925 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:43AM (#8733658) Homepage
    It's a tad on the pricey side, but I'm gonna buy one just to show up some dude at my company who got a tablet with XP Tablet Edition and thinks it's the cat's meow...
    Although he sometimes salivates over my Mandrake desktop....

    I wonder if it would be any cheaper if they went with GTK instead of Qtopia? Ah, wtf, it should be cool anyway! Count me in!

    • Re:SWEET! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by boisepunk ( 764513 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:44AM (#8733667)
      It seems lots of companies are jumping on the Linxu PDA wagon these days (Powerplay V, Softfield VR3, Zaurus, etc). This is great for those of use that use Linux, but the the main problem I see with all of these devices is that they only Sync with Windows out of the box.

      Empower Tech, Softfield, Sharp, and now Royal should all be providing software to Sync with Linux (as well as Windows for the Other 95% of the population).

      Why is this this so important? Well what has annoyed me the most about linux PDAs is that all the dev tools are in Linux, then you have to transfer your apps over to a Windows Partition to use there Windows transfer software load it (or use Wine).

      No Linux PDA will be successful until it Syncs (and Syncs well) with Linux. Heck, some Palm PDAs are easily to sync to with Linux then the current Linux PDA offerings.

      The market already has successful PDA platforms that Sync with Windows (Palm, Pocket PC, Psion). Why not finally make one that Syncs with Linux out of the box?

      Somehow I doubt Royal will step up to the plate in this regard.

      • Re:SWEET! (Score:3, Insightful)

        by $ASANY ( 705279 )
        "Sync" is just a windows-oriented term for not supporting rsync, ssh, sftp and a host of other unix/linux utilities that perform the function of these hamstrung "sync" utilities. I have a 5600 and the windows desktop "sync" blows.

        Now that I have my zaurus up with ssh and ftp, I can drop in all sorts of linux utilities and literally pull the whole thing (as opposed to "most" of it with the windows backup utility) down to my SuSE box, change what I want and either ftp or rsync back. Or at least that's what

        • Re:SWEET! (Score:4, Insightful)

          by CountBrass ( 590228 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @04:26AM (#8734763)

          No! "Synch'" is a term for not having to piss around with cli tools but instead I can just plug in my pda and it just synchs. That's how it should work.

          The presence of hacking tools is just a bonus: not a substitute for synch'-ing.

      • I've been waiting forever to get the 5500 to sync with Mozilla mail. Ever since they moved from XML to the database format, no one has done anything about extracting the data. I've taken a couple pokes at it, but I lack the skills needed.

      • rsync (Score:3, Informative)

        by SHEENmaster ( 581283 )
        rsync -ave ssh ~/mypdastuff root@zaurus:/mnt/card/

        Is one line to sync from Linux, or Solaris in my case, to the pda really that difficult? The entire point of a Linux pda is that it's just a small computer; what works for a Linux server works for a Linux pda.

        • And how is that supposed to synch' my browser favourites, address book, calendar, email etc etc - and in both directions ?

          • Re:rsync (Score:3, Informative)

            by MS_is_the_best ( 126922 )
            Use CVS (or similar) on your homedir. With automount you can automate the behaviour.

            It is nice that as a nerd, you have been doing the stuff that is now 'cool' in proprietary software land for ten years, with some small shell scripts.

      • Re:SWEET! (Score:3, Interesting)

        by jav1231 ( 539129 )
        No the problem continues to be price. Oddly enough, that's the one thing Linux should have helped keep down; even in the PDA market. Unfortunately, the PDA market appears to be oblivious to this.

    • Re:SWEET! (Score:4, Funny)

      by phrasebook ( 740834 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @01:25AM (#8733909)
      I'm gonna buy one just to show up some dude at my company

      That's the spirit!

      Reminds me of this guy [utk.edu], where he writes: "I bought a PowerBook G4 in late 2002, mainly because I liked the packaging and I wasn't willing to give any money to Microsoft". What astounding logic. And then in the very next sentence he says: "I now regret that decision". What a surprise.

      I wish I could buy stuff for reasons like these...
    • Oh come on this one isn't funny...

      too many people have been needing/wanting this to happen and you make a joke of it.

      boooooo slashdot

    • Re:SWEET! (Score:2, Funny)

      by rishistar ( 662278 )
      Well I'm gonna buy one so I can drop it from approximately 1 metre!

  • April Fools? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:43AM (#8733659)
    For a minute there, I thought that Slashdot had replaced all of its pages with "500 Internal Server Error" as an April Fool's joke...

    • Re:April Fools? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      for a minute there, I thought that the parent post "Score:3, Funny" was an April Fool's joke...

  • My kinda testing! (Score:4, Funny)

    by FunWithHeadlines ( 644929 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:43AM (#8733660) Homepage
    "The SL-6000 is designed to be more rugged than common handhelds, and can withstand a drop from approximately 1 meter. "

    Can I be on that test team? Just goes to show, there's QA testing and then there's QA testing. "Debug code? Bah! I wanna drop things!"

  • Flip that... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CrypticSpawn ( 719164 ) * on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:43AM (#8733663)
    That is a price of a cheap laptop.

    • Re:Flip that... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by boisepunk ( 764513 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:50AM (#8733696)

      I own a Zaurus SL-5500: the "original" US market unit (as opposed to the original developer's unit, the SL-5000, which was basically the same thing with half the RAM). I'll say this: you can have it... when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.



      Two reasons it rocks:



      • The keyboard. The primary reason this is 10x more efficient than (most) palm devices: I can type very quickly on the build-in "hidden" keyboard. Yes, the Zaurus has something like PalmOS's Graffiti. In fact, the Z's recognizer is more sophisticated and accurate, and can learn any strokes you teach it. I still use the keyboard.
      • Linux. No, I do not use my Z as a "hacking tool" or "geek toy" primarily. I've written a test app for it or so, but that's it. (Doing so is incredibly easy, actually, but I haven't had a lot of time to spend on it.) I bought my Zaurus as a PDA, and that's what I use it for. Since I use Linux exclusively on the desktop, having it on the PDA is extremely natural, not to mention making things extremely flexible. I find syncing silly. I prefer ssh, scp, or (with the newer ROM) smbclient (which is like a braindead ftp, but it works). If I needed syncing, I would use rsync. It just fits very naturally into my work environment.


      Some people complain about the PIM apps; the quality varies. The Todo List and Address Book aren't great, but I don't use the former and the latter is sufficient. The Text Pad, however, is pretty handy, and Opera (which even renders slashdot well!) and Hancomsheet (a fully-blown spreadsheet!) are killer apps for me.



      The only reason I don't upgrade to a CL-760 is the fact I can't justify the cost: my Z works great as-is. With the work on OpenZaurus [sf.net] and Opie [handhelds.org], the PIM issues are being solved, and I have little chance of being left with a "dead" platform.

      • Re:Flip that... (Score:2, Informative)

        by mirko ( 198274 )
        I agree with the above post, except that I have one reproach that'd mak me prefer a smart phone, next time I need a new PDA: The Zaurus doesn't sync with OSX!

        • Re:Flip that... (Score:2, Informative)

          by stankyho ( 172180 )

          There is a Qtopia desktop for OS X, but it doesn't sync OS X address book, iCal and stuff.

          There are 3rd party apps that kinda sync with address book and iCal.

      • Re:Flip that... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Oriumpor ( 446718 )
        I must agree... I cheated however, and purchased the developer model because I just *had* to have it as soon as it was available. Once I slotted in my 256mb SD card and 512mb flash the thing proved it's worth many times over. I used to hang out on the #zaurus channel an awful lot until I basically had the hang of it. In conjunction with the serial adapter + minicom it's a quick console into most of my gear, my Intel (aka symbol) lowpower Wifi allows me great flexibility while waiting for my cofee at the

    • Re:Flip that... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by starling ( 26204 )
      That is a price of a cheap laptop.

      And a laptop is expensive compared to a cheap desktop. Do you see a pattern here?

      Miniaturisation costs, and in this case it's worth it. The key thing about the Zaurus (I have an SL5000) is that having a keyboard makes it more like a tiny laptop than a PDA.

      Most important of all, it's great for playing nethack on the bus :p

    • That is a price of a cheap laptop.

      That's an absolutely silly comparison.

      By that logic, no one would ever buy a laptop, because they're more expensive that a desktop.

      I have an SL-5500 and it really is a great tool. It was invauable during my college days, when I could connect via 802.11b just about anywhere, and run just about anything I wanted. The ability to do mobile IM alone made it worth it (no monthly fee), but it also functioned for web-browsing, email, MP3 player, etc.

      Would you want to wa

  • must be a good PDA (Score:4, Insightful)

    by victorvodka ( 597971 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:44AM (#8733664) Homepage
    considering that none of that $699 pays for an OS

    • Re:must be a good PDA (Score:4, Funny)

      by zgornz ( 318679 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:50AM (#8733697)
      Actually the $699 is all to pay for an OS, it goes straight to SCO, Sharp must be giving these things away for free....
    • Doesn't have to be good for them to charge a lot for it. Quality doesn't always come with price, in a year from now that price of this will have gone down 50%. New technology is always expensive; the big downside to living on the bleeding-edge.

    • Re:must be a good PDA (Score:3, Informative)

      by KatTran ( 122906 )
      considering that none of that $699 pays for an OS

      Sharp does have to pay an undisclosed amount of money to TrollTech to use the Qtopia interface.

      From Qtopia Pricing page [trolltech.com]

      For prices, conditions and licensing terms on building a Qtopia device, please contact Trolltech Sales to discuss available packages.

    • Re:must be a good PDA (Score:4, Insightful)

      by XorNand ( 517466 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @01:19AM (#8733876)
      considering that none of that $699 pays for an OS
      A licensing fee may not have been paid, but I think I can safely say that silicon doesn't spontaniously sprout OSS. Someone was paid to intergrate the OS into this device. Odds are that cost was passed onto the end-user. Additionally, I'd like to clarify another point: free != good.
    • Don't kid yourself; the hardware is free...

  • Keyboard (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AnonymousCowheart ( 646429 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:44AM (#8733665)
    "Sharp has also incorporated a sliding thumb keyboard into this model."

    Didnt all the 5x00 [sharpusa.com] series have the same type of keyboard?

    • Didnt all the 5x00 series have the same type of keyboard?

      This is true---the keyboard has been one of the defining features of the Zaurus for most---however, the SL-A300 [linuxdevices.com], which is one of the newer models, did not feature a keyboard.

      Also, the keyboard on the SL-6000 appears to use the style of keys that are closer to the CL-7xx/8xx [dynamism.com] series. This is probably good, but I haven't personally used them to know.

      IMO, i would prefer something more like the CL series, with a larger screen, slimmer profile, a

      • Actually the A300 is one of the oldest Linux based Zauruses. There were the SL-5000D(SL-5500 w/32MB RAM), SL-5500, released in America and then the A300 released in Japan.

        Then we get to the B500(Japanese market)/SL-5600(American market, essentially the same thing) and then the c-7xx series (the flip ones, with 640x480 resolution)

        Finally, we get the SL6000 which can even have networking built-in (this is a good thing, frees up the CF slot), and .... IT'S GOT A USB HOST ON IT! (Something I have been looki

  • Cool widget, but WTF would buy it? (Score:3, Informative)

    by laird ( 2705 ) <lairdp@gmail.TWAINcom minus author> on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:45AM (#8733669) Journal
    This looks like a great geek toy, but aside from that who on earth would buy this thing? It's $699, and huge. If all you need is a PDA, you can get much, much nicer machines from Sony, Palm, or even (dare I mention it) WinCE licensees.
    • With the right software, something like this could make a really nice alternative to other [richmond-systems.com] high-priced, [tdsway.com] 'ruggedized' [daptech.com] hand-helds. [symbol.com]

      Instead of any of these USD1500+ devices, I'm using an Audiovox Maestro PDA [audiovox.com] with a ruggedized case. [otterbox.com] The PDA cost USD140 on eBay and the case cost ~USD100 with shipping. The biggest cost was the crappy software. [elecdata.com]

      (tig)
    • Why...

      $50 premium over the top of the line iPaq (and only because it is brand-new), similar specs on mainboard, much better screen, flexibility of a REAL OS with a mulitude of opensource apps.

      Bad Ass PDA = $699
      Open Source Flexibility = Priceless
      • Considering the fact that I would want my PDA if I got a new one to have either OpenZaurus with Opie or Familiar with Opie, IPAQ is no further behind in the race on the REAL OS or tonnes of opensource apps area... so that leaves it down to this list of differences:

        IPAQ:
        Can be flashed back to WinCE to make it easier to sell on eBay when I decided to upgrade
        Smaller
        Easier to find accessories for

        Zaurus:
        Better screen (480x640 vs 240x320)
        hidden keyboard with REAL buttons that doesn't take away screen real estat
  • im trying to decide what the real advantage of a pda that costs 700 dollars is? portability aside where it the payoff? oqo had an intersting idea in full pc power in a sub laptop size but that has seemingly become vaporware.. what is the true advantage to this device other than it being (linux)?

    • Re:699? i can get a laptop for this (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rusty0101 ( 565565 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @01:08AM (#8733800) Homepage Journal
      Well, let's see, 400 mhz, xscale processor. Not sure off hand how that measures in bogomips, but I am reasonably sure someone will chime in with it's rating, and someone else will chime in with how useless it is as a measure of a processor.

      Touch screen. Not absolutely sure, but don't recall any laptops with that, much less at a $700 price. Tablets seem to still be running in the $1600 range, so I suppose you could pay double this for a larger screen, etc.

      Instant on, no waiting for the hard drive to power up, spin up, then transfer a memory image to memory, calculate adjustments to date and time, etc.

      Fits in your pocket, pretty much any text mode program is a re-compile away, if it was compiled to begin with. You may need to install a python library or two, but you would probably have to do that for your laptop as well.

      Acceptable battery life. The only thing that comes close laptop wise to either of my 5500s is my iBook, and even that I generally leave plugged in. Your milage may vary.

      Works well as simply a PDA. I like mine as an alternate MP3 player (256Meg of a 512Meg cf card filled with music is a reasonable amount of music.) And it still fits in your pocket.

      I happen to think IQNotes is one of the better quick jot applications for keeping track of things. Sketch, write, grab an e-mail address, whatever. Great for those shopping lists that you want to re-use, or those lists of books to consider picking up next time you are at the library. So far as I know it's only available on the Zauraus so far. (pretty sure it will be ported, or copied to other platforms in time.)

      But then I'm probably biased. I can't claim it is worth all of $699, in that I only own earlier models, and haven't played with this one.

      -Rusty
      • Sorry, just re-read your posting. All that I have described is available in the 5600 as well, for something like a $150 to $250 discount compared to the 6000. The 5500 has all of the above except the 400 mhz xscale processor, and can be had "new in original packaging" for less than $200 if you keep your eyes open on e-bay.

        I would say that the only reason I might consider $700 for this was if it included both Bluetooth and WiFi built in, without loosing the cf and sd sockets. I might consider it worth it as

        • Re:699? i can get a laptop for this (Score:5, Informative)

          by Tet ( 2721 ) * <.ku.oc.enydartsa. .ta. .todhsals.> on Thursday April 01, 2004 @03:22AM (#8734528) Homepage Journal
          The 5500 has all of the above except the 400 mhz xscale processor, and can be had "new in original packaging" for less than $200 if you keep your eyes open on e-bay.

          True, but it doesn't have the screen. I have both an SL-5500 and a SL-C860. The 860's screen is so much better it's really not funny. It has to be seen to be believed. It's an amazingly crisp display, and at 640x480, it's able to give me an 80x24 text console, which the 5500 couldn't manage even with the smallest font size. Sharp are coming so close to making the perfect machine. The only thing lacking from the 860 is builtin bluetooth -- I have to use a separate CF card for that (I'd rather be putting extra storage in that slot). Now the 6000 has all the features, but for reasons that I don't understand, has reverted to the sliding keyboard form factor, rather than the clamshell design of the 860. If they could just put the 6000 in a clamshell case with the larger keyboard, I'd be very happy indeed...

      • Wonder how the media is. With that screen and a microdrive in the CF slot it should blow that MS Media dohicky clean away if it has a decent Video player.

        TW
        • Speaking as the first person to get mplayer running on the SL-5500, it will very likely surpass the abilities of other players, because linux and mplayer is a very efficient solution. (320x240 mpeg4-type video with mp3 audio worked well enough on a 206MHz, and I suspect that if they improved the audio output (the 5500 ONLY allowed for 44.1kHz, with resulting need to upsample often, taking valuable cpu) then it will probably play 640x480 with lower bitrates (and frankly would you even notice if it was scaled
      • > Not sure off hand how that measures in bogomips, but I am reasonably sure someone will chime in with it's rating, and someone else will chime in with how useless it is as a measure of a processor.

        Seeing as the Xscale is not super-scaler, a 400MHz part would have about 400 bogomips.
    • portability aside where it the payoff?
      "speed and handling aside, I don't see what's so great about a Porche." "Beauty and and acting aside, what's so great about Liv Tyler?" "Freedom and power aside, what's the big deal about Linux?"

      It's a PDA, Dude. I don't think any of 'em are worth a hill of beans without the portability.

      TW

  • Sorry, but looks count.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by }InFuZeD{ ( 52430 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:47AM (#8733682) Homepage
    Does anyone else notice that these Sharp PDAs are less-than-beautiful in case design?

    I'm not highly impressed with either the case design OR the OS design, but the case in particular.

    Look at the Sony Clie NX series modles, the Tungsten E, etc. Those are some nice looking handhelds. The Sony Launcher also LOOKS nice.

    Sorry, but when I see pictures of these Sharp PDAs, they just don't excite me. The only upside is the VGA screen.

    I'll definitely be looking out for VGA Palm units in the near future though, those should be great :)

  • Demand (Score:4, Interesting)

    by slimak ( 593319 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:48AM (#8733688)
    Really, what is the demand for a product like this? The price alone sets this way above what the average consumer should be willing to pay. Sure there are the "power users", the technophites and the "too wealthy to cares" who this is perfect for, but what about the rest of us? Seems like another case of a product with too high a price for the features that will be frequently used.
    • Me. I'm the demand. Linux guys, I have 3 linux machines, 1 pc to run cubase, and and i've got a fucking Pocket PC and I *HATE* it (Anyone wanna buy a dell axim x3? 2 months old...). I want it, I want it bad :)

    • Re:Demand (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bogie ( 31020 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @01:42AM (#8734019) Journal
      I dunno, what's more useful? A PDA/micro-notebook you can use to manage your entire business/life,play games, surf the web, use email, run X apps, listen to music etc for $699 or an Ipod that you listen to music on but can cost $500? Somehow everyone here seems to think its worth it for a pleasure item like an Ipod why isn't it useful for something you can do so much more with?

      Like Apple users are always telling me, if you have to question the value of something based on price you weren't part of the target market to begin with.

      • Re:Demand (Score:2, Interesting)

        by bwy ( 726112 )
        The point is, I think, that you can get a Clie that does almost everything you said (except run X-apps) for much cheaper in arguably a nicer package. As others have said, Zaurus doesn't exactly have a Cadillac shell built around it. At least with your Mac argument, the consumer gets something that is a Cadillac all the way around (again, in my opinion.)

        No, Clie isn't Linux based. Does it matter though, really? There are more quality apps, IMHO, for the Palm platform that are made especially for the h

  • Free hardware (Score:5, Funny)

    by bakes ( 87194 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:49AM (#8733691) Journal
    The hardware is actually free, the $699 is to cover the Linux license.

    Score: -1, Cheap SCO gag

  • Open Zaurus (Score:5, Informative)

    by I_Want_This_ID ( 678839 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:53AM (#8733717)
    Open Zaurus [openzaurus.org] is going to have some fun with this one.

    It's a tad on the pricey side though as an SL-5500 can be had for under $200 and the SL-5600 (which has the 400 MHz xscale proc and 64 MB of RAM) is under $400 last time I checked

    • Re:Open Zaurus (Score:3, Informative)

      by megan_of_wutai ( 649071 )

      Just a little correction.

      The 5500 has 64MB RAM (all of which can be used with OZ if you have a flash card) and 16MB internal flash . The 5600 has 32MB RAM and 64MB internal flash, the internal flash is faster than an SD or CF card but personally I think they made the wrong choice with it. The SL-6000 also uses a PXA-255 which was basically released as a bug fix for the PXA-250 (that the 5600 uses) which had several bugs (cache and pcmcia I seem to recall).

      The SL-6000 is much better of course :), with 64

    • the SL-5600 (which has the 400 MHz xscale proc and 64 MB of RAM) is under $400 last time I checked

      Amazon.com are selling them for US$289.88.

      Get one. Now!

  • I'd still take my 860 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by stuffman64 ( 208233 ) <stuffman@[ ]il.com ['gma' in gap]> on Thursday April 01, 2004 @12:59AM (#8733750)
    I recently purchased a Zaurus SL-C860 from Dynamism [dynamism.com], and it is truely a device I can't live without. Sure, it was pretty expensive at around $850, but no other pda I've ever used can touch it in terms of speed, style, and overall "coolness." Hell, I'm running an X11-based ROM on it now, and nearly all X apps can be recompiled to run on it.

    I think I like the clamshell layout better than the traditional vertical PDA layout of this and the 5X00 series. Being able to quickly convert between mini-laptop mode and PDA mode is more useful than I'd ever imagined it would be. If I were to suggest a PDA to anyone, I'd say the SL-C760 is the better bet, as it costs the same as the 6000 and is nearly identical to the 860 (the 860 has a slightly larger screen, all-silver case and better default software, which is only helpful if you are japanese!).

    Sure, the 7XX and 8XX series do not have the built-in wireless, but the coolness factor of the design, and the fact that almost nobody in the US has one, make it the better choice (IMHO).

  • nice, but i'd really like (Score:5, Insightful)

    by whovian ( 107062 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @01:04AM (#8733790)
    to see 802.11g and USB 2.0 standard jack. Or do those suck too much power?

    I'm surprised that the Sharp web site doesn't list this product yet. But this page [pdasupport.com] spells out a few more specs.
    • Most of the other non-Palm PDAs I've seen have wireless capabilities on an external add-in card, so I'm sure this is available (along with a USB port) for your consumption. The additional cost is a pain, though.

  • PDAs Arent Cutting it For Me (Score:3, Interesting)

    by artlu ( 265391 ) <artlu@3.14artlu.net minus pi> on Thursday April 01, 2004 @01:10AM (#8733821) Homepage Journal
    I loved my SL-5500 PDA from sharp for about 2 weeks, and then tossed it in a drawer along with my Palm IIIx and Newton. I am sure that there are many out there that love PDAs, but my cell phone has done everything I have ever needed out of a PDA. I'd rather spend the $700 and get the Sony Ericsson P800 phone with the megapixel cam, etc!

    Maybe when we have star trek like PDAs that will analyze everything about my surroundings i'd be more receptive.

  • The Zaurus is not a pda (Score:5, Insightful)

    by secondsun ( 195377 ) <secondsun@gmail.com> on Thursday April 01, 2004 @01:31AM (#8733960) Journal
    My Zaurus is not a PDA but a PDT (Person Digital Tool), and anyone who says otherwise is getting a foot in their arse.

    A PDA is a glorified address book that plays music and sells for 300$. My Zaurus (SL-5500) costs less than 200, runs a mobile X-11 server, allows for quick coding (802.11b CF card + ssh) when I am off campus and can't log into something heavy, plays movies, serves webpages, and runs Linux. The Zaurus is very hackable and has a high fun value attached to it. $699 is alot to spend for it, but in 6 months you can ebay one for about 300 which would be more inline.
    • $699 is alot to spend for it, but in 6 monthAnd that is exactly why I will continue to hold off on buying a PDA for another year or so. I've thought about getting a sub $100 zire for basic PDA functionality right now, but if I wait a little bit, the offerings will be truly amazing. Sure, it's like this with all electronics but the PDA market has yet to offer one product that would suit all of my needs. If only Apple came out with a revised Newton.

  • eBay (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    You could also pick up an older model [ebay.com] off eBay for about $50.

    That is if you don't mind less RAM.

    • Re:eBay (Score:2, Informative)

      by megan_of_wutai ( 649071 )
      The only Zaurus you're going to get for $50 is one of the ZR series. These being devices with some unspecified 16bit cpu and 2MB RAM. Personally that's a tad less RAM than I'd be happy with. Oh, and good luck running linux on one ;).

      A Zaurus of the SL series tends to go for around $170 for an SL-5500 and $300 for an SL-5600.

  • At that price, its going to have to have a hell of a lot more going for it than the fact that it runs Linux. Regardless of what I think of Linux, it takes more than just that to make me buy a particular PDA. I'll be sticking with my Zire 71.
  • Do such things exist? Such as standard things like "openssl speed rsa dsa", compiling bash, compressing a file etc.
  • $699 for a PDA? The price of a bargain laptop? APRIL FOOL'S!!!
  • from the article (forum post):


    [The Sharp Zaurus SL-6000L] is a true enterprise level device

    Well yupee, I can sure dang near swear that you can hot swap 1800 of these guys into any sort of CPU-cluster config with full on NUMA and native SMP. It is a bona-fide grade A "enterprise level" enterprise level device after all, and damn since I only run the calendar, built in MP3 player and some basic email, think of all that spare CPU time I can fork over (no pun intended) to SETI@home! And with the SCSI R

  • battery life (Score:3, Interesting)

    by phalse phace ( 454635 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @03:06AM (#8734451)
    Anyone know how long the 1500mAH Lithium-polymer battery will last on this thing? I had the SL-5500 and the battery on that thing would only last 8 hours max. Is this one any better?
  • The availability of the SHARP SL-6000 in the U.S. will hopefully lead to make it available in Europe (e.g. from Xtops.DE - Linux, laptops, PDAs [xtops.de] soon. But to sell electronic devices in Europe a certain examination (CE-Certificate) has to be provided first.

  • Get a Nokia 92x0 instead. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Moderation abuser ( 184013 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @04:05AM (#8734692)
    You get the lot in a single package. The best PDA OS and UI in the market, hundreds of third party applications and the phone is integrated right into the system. The cost sans connection is $699. If you get a connection with it, $50. Use the other $650 for something else.

  • not all that interesting (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hak1du ( 761835 ) on Thursday April 01, 2004 @05:45AM (#8735004) Journal
    No FLTK, no Gnome, no Gtk+, no Tcl/Tk, no wxWindows, no Mono/Gtk#, no X11, no Firefox, no R, etc. The thing doesn't run any software that I use or develop for. Sorry, Sharp, until the thing ships with X11, it's no more than a PDA, and as a PDA, Palms are more usable and mature. Not to mention that I can develop commercial and free software for Palm without paying anybody.

    I'm a die-hard LInux user, but my PDA is a Palm--Palms even work better with Linux than Zaurus. My Zaurus is gathering dust--it's useful neither as a PDA nor as a Linux handheld.

    Sharp could easily fix this without changing their product much: replace Qt/embedded with Qt/X11. That won't make it a better PDA and it won't make Qt less of a resource hog (Qt/X11 is worse than Qt/embedded), but it would make the Zaurus a better Linux handheld.
    • While I agree that Sharp should include X11 capabilities by default, my reasons are different then yours. I don't think most of your hopes would pan out.

      until the thing ships with X11, it's no more than a PDA,

      At least for the prior Zaurus versions, X11 would've been worthless for the uses you describe. With a 240x320 screen, you can't even view a single Save File box from a popular desktop program.

      Editing the software to function sanely on a smaller screen is technically possible, but it requires not
      • At least for the prior Zaurus versions, X11 would've been worthless for the uses you describe. With a 240x320 screen, you can't even view a single Save File box from a popular desktop program.

        Editing the software to function sanely on a smaller screen is technically possible, but it requires not only programming skills, but also a level of artistry few have reached.

        FLTK and Gtk+ have been used for years for writing handheld applications; they have special small-screen versions and there are numerous smal
    • http://www.openzaurus.org

      • If you have to reflash the ROM, that kind of destroys the appeal of having a supported, ready-made solution from a commercial vendor. After all, why get a Zaurus? I could also reflash an iPaq.
      • While a Qt/X11-based version of Qtopia has been worked on, OpenZaurus still seems to be based on Qt/Embedded. They do distribute TinyX as an add-on, but having an X server as an add-on to Qt/Embedded nowhere near as good as having the Qtopia applications actually interoperate with X11 applications.
  • Nobody wants the vertical format PDA with thumb keyboard. Everyone wants the CL-7x0 and CL-8x0 models. I even spoke to some Sharp USA guys at a trade show, and they said *they* wanted CL-760s, and that dozens of people had walked past, seen the 6000, and asked when the 760 was coming out.

    Look at the discussion for this story, for example. Count all the people saying the Zaurus is great, then see how many are using CL-7x0 machines.

    Dynamism must be laughing all the way to the bank.
  • ...is why nobody's started putting 4GB microdrives in these Uber-PDAs instead of flash or ramsdisk for storage?

    I mean, other than the fact that the Hitachi microdrive factory is basically a division of Apple right now.

    That would totally kick ass.
  • This is the first PDA I've seen with a usb host port. I've been looking for this feature to use with a usb soundcard (the total bithead at headphone.com for instance). Does anyone know whether this would work? Do the usb audio drivers in the kernel work on non x86 platforms?
  • I'm very interested in this device (it's more of a nano-computer than a PDA). I think it's great that every online news source is carrying this story, but a near verbatim reprint of the press release isn't very useful.

    1- What is the battery life under continuous use with the WiFi active?

    2- Do the CF and SD cards protrude from the case? If so, how much?

    3- I've seen pictures of the unit with a clear flip-up cover for the display. Is that included with the unit? What "comes in the box"?

    4- Are there spe

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