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Handhelds Hardware

Zaurus Software Reviews 103

Posted by CmdrTaco from the what-do-you-use-it-for-anyway dept.
Steve Emms writes "The Zaurus SL-5500 PDA represents a new frontier. Here Linux is not an afterthought shoehorned onto a windows product - the Zaurus is a PDA that comes configured with Linux out of the box. And it's a good fit, Linux works well on relatively low spec machines like PDAs. But it's the software that makes the machine. So LinuxLinks has started a series of reviews of commercial Linux software for the Zaurus." Little thin right now, but a nice start for anyone interested in the PDA.
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Zaurus Software Reviews More

Zaurus Software Reviews

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  • tkcPlayer 1.5.0-18 Price: $9.95 - the first Ogg player for the Zaurus. (09/15/02)

    Reef War Price: $9.95 - Battleships (09/15/02)

    IslandReversi Price: $9.95 - the classic board game for the beach! (09/15/02)

    No wonder linux is a clear choice for pda's :o

  • a Little expensive (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Squarewav ( 241189 )
    10$ each for a ogg player a battleship clone and reversi, if the things based on linux wouldnt it be rather easy to port many freeware games to it? I would think at least ogg123 and some simple frontend for it
    • ogg123 requires a cpu with floating point, which the Strongarm cpu doesn't have. Previously, the only available integer based vorbis decoder library was commercial only, but it's free now (see previous slashdot story on this). So, maybe it can be incorporated into ogg123 now.
    • Tons of completely free programs are available for the Zaurus already, and the pool of free software is expanding rapidly! Take a look at this page [killefiz.de], to get a taste of what you can install.

  • Links (Score:3, Informative)

    by Taylor_Durden ( 605279 ) <SlashdotTylerDurden@hotmail.com> on Sunday September 15, 2002 @10:49AM (#4260870) Homepage

    Nice summary by O'Reilly [oreillynet.com]
    Sharp USA site [sharp-usa.com]
    Zaurus user's site [myzaurus.com]
    Sharp Developer site [sharpsec.com]
    ZDNet UK review [zdnet.co.uk]
    cNet review [cnet.com]
    Linuxdevices.com review [linuxdevices.com]
    ZDnet review [zdnet.com]
    TechTV review [techtv.com]
    ThinkGeek review [thinkgeek.com]
    PC Magazine review [pcmag.com]
    IT Reviews review [itreviews.co.uk]
    Cnet shopper latest prices [cnet.com]
    Buy @ Amazon [amazon.com]

  • A PDA running linux ? great !

    Now when you look at the screenshots, it *really* looks like they are trying to make it look like Windows XP.

    http://www.linuxlinks.com/portal/content/png/tkc Pl ayer-MediaLibrary.png

    That's a pity that the Kompany cannot even develop its own look and feel. People tired of windows ME & co, who will buy this, will be quite disappointed to get linux with a windowsish style, won't they ?
    • How's that any different than KDE or Gnome, the too biggest Windows clones around?

    • Re:Windows look and feel ? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by zulux ( 112259 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @11:25AM (#4260981) Homepage Journal
      Honda use to only make motorcycles. They decided to make cars one day, and low and behold - Honda made a car just like Ford! It had four wheels, engine up front with a stearing wheel in the same place. Hell, even the controlls were roughly in the same place.

      The point being, asiide from me being a sarcastic twit, is that people are getting use to XP and it's 'tarded telletubies interface. They, as all smart developers, are giving people (the consumers) what they want.

      And, to me, it looks like the "XP Team" copied Gnome - Gnome had rounded-large-colorfull icons well before XP did.

      • I'd be a little concerned that the icon graphics look almost exactly the same as WinXP icons in our current sue-sue-sue climate!

        • I don't think Microsoft would want to open -that- can of worms. I bet, somewhere, on some Amiga or Atari, someone made "collrfully-puffy" icons - and can prove it. Someone out there had to have made XP-like icons long before XP came about.

      • -snip stupid crap-

        The point being, asiide from me being a sarcastic twit, is that people are getting use to XP and it's 'tarded telletubies interface. They, as all smart developers, are giving people (the consumers) what they want.

        And, to me, it looks like the "XP Team" copied Gnome - Gnome had rounded-large-colorfull icons well before XP did.

        And if they did? Personally, I don't really care what the interface LOOKS like as long as I can see what I need to see to get done what I want to get done, then who cares? I'm not one of those drones that spends hours tweaking their desktop... so what difference does it make to me?

        -Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

        -Republicans cause cancer.

        -1 Flamebait, -1 Troll, -1 Not a angry Microsoft hating bastard....

      • They decided to make cars one day, and low and behold - Honda made a car just like Ford! It had four wheels, engine up front with a stearing wheel in the same place. Hell, even the controlls were roughly in the same place.

        Well, kinda. The first Honda production car was the 1963 Honda S500. It had four wheels and a front/rear engine/drive config, true. But that's about as close to Ford-like as it came, with the drive train being a motorcycle chain. And of course, the steering wheel and controls on the right-hand side. (You've forgotten that the Japanese drive on the English side of the road.)

        Refs:

        Honda Corporate timeline [hondacorporate.com]

        Classic Honda History [hondabeat.com]

        Comments on Honda S2000N [demon.nl]

  • It's good to see that, right off the block, there are apps for a Linux-based handheld.

    Granted, most of them are games, and a bit on the bad side, but Linux is starting to make mainstream strides beyond the server market...which is always good to see.

    Personally, though, I'd be more interested to see a review of the software included with the Zarius.
    • Okay, here you go.

      The Calander application is thin, but adequate.

      The synch software pretty much sucks and is the only piece of software that needs a complete overhaul.

      The text editor is a functional text editor.

      The address book, email, todo list, voice recorder, image viewer, and media player apps - ditto.

      Asteroids is a pretty good asteroids clone.

      I don't know how to play Go, so I can't comment on that.

      Mindbreaker is like the Logic game on some Nokia phones.

      Mine hunt is a good Minesweeper clone.

      Patience is a reasonably good solitaire game, with one caveat. You can't double-click on the cards to send them home.

      Snake is a much better version of the Nokia phone game.

      Tetrix is a passable Tetris clone.

      Word game is very fun once you figure out the UI eccentricities.

      There are a couple of unnecessary Java demos that I can't understand why were included.

      The appearance app doesn't allow for enough control over the appearance, but more than other handhelds that I've used.

      Hancom Office is a totally usable, MS Office compatible office suite (though I admit to using the text editor more than Hancom Word).

      Opera is - well, Opera. If you hit a site that tries to open more than one window, you're given the option of which one you want to open which is kind of nice. I think I'm going to try to track down a flash plug-in for it, though.

      All that said it might sound like I don't like the Zaurus that much. Not so. I love it. The power of it being Linux based is all of the software available for it NOT included (oh, and I LOVE the keyboard). I immediately downloaded the terminal app so that I could get to a bash shell without having to reboot it. It's a nice terminal - has shortcuts to commonly used commands - very cool. I also installed a VNC client/server, ZIC for IRC, Sketches of Q - which is a nice little drawing app, FTP spftware (opie ftp), and even a nice version of PacMan.

      The machine is snappy and has a great screen. Text input via the keyboard is much faster and more accurate than any handwriting recognition. On the other hand, the handwriting recognition on the Zaurus is outstanding. No grafiti to learn, just write normally in the appropriate section of the screen and it works. In addition, it has a predictive text input system, so as you're writing on the screen, it gives you several suggestions as to what word you're attempting to type. If it makes a hit, just clikc on the word and move on. Very nice.

      I've also added a WAP (in my home office) and a Wireless CF card. Both are Linksys and the installation was basically non-existant. True plug and play (except for security on the WAP). I can surf the net, hang out on slashnet or #everything, ftp, vnc, whatever from the Zaurus. My next foray may be into a wireless modem. Still deciding whether it's worth it.

      The cradle it USB and synching is easy (once you've got it set up), but lacking in options. You can synch to the proprietary app (Qtopia desktop) or Outlook. I use Eudora, and would like an option to synch my contacts to there, and the other stuff (calander, etc...) to elsewhere, but alas nothing yet exists to allow for this. Of course, that the system is Open Source, this probably is not far off.

      Copying individual files to and from the Zaurus is also easy as the device works sort of like an external USB harddrive. No, it doesn't get a drive letter, but through QTopia Desktop, you upload and download files as if it were a drive. Simple and reasonably quick.

      There are some areas that need work, but overall the Zaurus is a hell of a little handheld that is already very powerful because of its Linux roots and has a significant amount of potential.

  • Where information on almost Zaurus software can be found, including many nice screenshots and discriptions. There are quite a few library ports (but not many fronteneds) As a Zaurus owner, I haven't been disappointed, infact, it's been very handy to have a little Linux computer around.
  • I personally perfer mplayer (mostly because I ported it) it plays stuff based on ffmpeg's codec.

    Opie player 2 is better in many ways though, because it supports OGG, MP3, MPEG4 (divx), MPEG1, MPEG2, RV10 (early real video codec) (ffpeg's codec) and has a pretty graphical front end.

    Some of The Kompany's stuff looks interesting, but their multimedia stuff is just a rip off. (tkcVideo uses ffmpeg as the backend (which is also used by opie player 2 and mplayer, all it provides is a $10 pretty GUI, which opie player 2 does as well now)

    • Corerction:
      Opieplayer2 uses xine as a backend.
    • XMMS has been ported as well, and it does ogg, with a nice little GUI.

      Though I suppose it should be called QMMS now because it isn't in X anymore

    • Re:Opie Player and mplayer - FUD (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Please stop continuing to spread your lies, I've talked to you about this in the #zaurus channel before. tkcVideo does in fact use ffmpeg, but it is just one of the things that go into it, we have a lot of assembler floating point optimization routines and other code around and in addition to ffmpeg because ffmpeg wasn't available as an lgpl library when we started. ffmpeg is a great piece of work, but it is more icing on the cake and that is why mplayer isn't the same, nor the opie players. Since you don't have a copy of tkcVideo, all your statements about it would tend to be false.

      Shawn Gordon
      President
      theKompany.com

  • I got one (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It is nice but check your firmware rev out of the box. Mine came with v2.12 and when I tried to load The Kompany's address book program, the PDA encountered a load error and would no longer allow file transfers after that. I reset it, threatened it and even offered it flowers but no go. Calls to Sharp Tech Support revealed that I needed level 2 help as the suggestion script they were reading was of no use. I was told the level 2 guy would call me back so I waited. Every day for 3 days I called and reviewed my problem. I never did hear from the level 2 guy. I eventually got through to someone at Sharp who had a clue and they revealed that there is a firmware problem with 2.12 and The Kompany Address book. A simple flash upgrade to v2.38 solved all of my issues and I was off and running. Sharp could do a better job with their frontline helpdesk.

    My 5500 replaces a Palm 3. Synchronizing that data was seamless. Being able to pop a CF wireless or networking card saves me the hassle of having to pack a laptop for troubleshooting network problems.

    Software for the 5500 is constantly being added. One of my favorite sites is

    http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/

    • I got one too. I had a problem installing it (the network drivers and sync software). Eventually, I reinstalled my Windows system and even then it took a few attempts before the drivers would install. Before I did all of that, though, I emailed Sharp's tech support. Over a month later (and well after I had it up and running - and loving it) I got an email back from tech support that basically pointed me to the install instructions on the Sharp web site. Unacceptable. Sharp REALLY needs some help in the support department. I also moved from a Palm III (The original III) and if it had had as many issues with the install I'd have taken it back. Being that I'm much more knowledgeable now and up for a challenge on occasion AND REALLY wanted the Zaurus to work, I stuck with it. Point being, if they don't fix some of the basic install/synch problems, many Joe Averages are just going to return it and get a Clie' or an iPaq.
  • Speaking as a [new] Zaurus owner, the one thing I'd give my right foot for is a Think Outside folding keyboard, or equivalent. Just something I can plug the Zaurus into and use for touch-typing.

    The Zaurus keyboard is better than nothing, but it's not good enough -- and handwriting input isn't what I want. 90% of what I do with a laptop when I'm on the move is concerned with text, and the Zaurus with a folding external keyboard and a spare battery would actually replace a laptop for most purposes. So where are the hardware add-ons?

  • Lots of Software (Score:4, Informative)

    by HomerG ( 15114 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @11:11AM (#4260942)
    There are over 550 programs for the Zaurus at the Zaurus Software Index [killefiz.de]. Also the Zaurus is more than just a PDA, it's a complete computer in a very small case.

  • Console Only Mode (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Aknaton ( 528294 )
    Does the Zaurus SL-5500 support a non-GUI (console) mode?
    • Yes

      When you power on the machine hit (/ ?) when it says "waiting ... " then chose a (linux console)

    • Re:Console Only Mode (Score:4, Informative)

      by ForceOfWill ( 79529 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @11:34AM (#4261003) Homepage
      Yes, it does. You have to press '/' then 'a' at bootup, when it gives the 'Wait' prompt. The options when you press '/' are:

      q (x): Qtopia
      a (e): Linux Console
      e (e): init 3 (ttyS0:-free-)
      r (e): init 4 (ttyS0:terminal)
      t (e): init 5 (ttyS0:pppd)
      • Cool got that to work, Any ideas on how to have access to the ESC or Ctrl keys. These are must have for killing a program or using vi. Thanks
  • I am currently on the lookout for a good developent on the go PDA. (Mostly for a hobby) Has anyone here had any experience using the Zarius or similar PDA for mobile work? I am mostly thinking about wiriting Java apps. Thanks guys.
  • Eon Games [eongames.com] has a number of great titles available for for the Zaurus. Including Pyrogon's [pyrogon.com] excellent puzzle game, Candy Cruncher [pyrogon.com].

  • Zaurus Rough Spots (Score:3, Informative)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:44PM (#4261325) Homepage Journal
    I've encountered a few rough spots with my Zaurus. The original ROM image had this nasty tendency to create an endless tree of "Document" directories on your CF card. That seems to have been fixed in a later ROM image you can download off Sharp's site. The image I'm currently using likes to create an assload of files in the Documents directories with names like "Up" and "Down". Strange.

    The GUI shells you can get for the machine work pretty well, as do X and the C compiler off the Open Zaurus web page. The X package seems to be made to install in RAM and doesn't like being relocated to install on a CF or SD card. The C compiler is not a package file and can be detarred anywhere, though making all the links to get it working right can be tricky.

    Oh yeah, and battery life sucks. That kinda goes without saying. I get about 2 to 3 hours of powered on use out of a battery. I keep a spare on hand, and that helps a little. Palm users will have to modify habits (And take that AC adaptor with you on business trips.)

    You can also replace the initrd with a build of your own. So if you want to completely build your environment from the ground up (or try Debian's build) that's pretty easy.

    All in all a nice little machine, though it could benefit from fuel cell technology.

  • www.handhelds.org [handhelds.org]

    opie.sf.net [sf.net]

    And that's all you need.

    Install Familiar on your iPAQ (you need a serial cable), then install opie (if it's not already installed.) Use ipkg to install zaurus packages. Then smirk and go "NYAHHHH" to all those trying to charge you money for it. :)

    Have fun!
    --pi
    • and have the Zaurus users go "NYAHHHH" right back because you have a less capable piece of hardware (excluding the H39xx) for more money.

      Rundown H38xx vs Zaurus
      Processor: Same (206MHz SA-1100 StrongArm)
      RAM: Same (64MB)
      ROM: 32MB (Ipaq) 16MB (Zaurus) (Slight advantage to Ipaq)
      Expansion: SD (Ipaq) SD and CF (Zaurus)*
      Software: Functionally equivelent
      Input: Onscreen (Ipaq) Onscreen and Keyboard (Zaurus)
      Price: 550 (w/mail in rebate, compaq, bestbuy) (Ipaq) 400 (Compusa) (Zaurus)

      For ~2/3 the price, you get a machine that is more expandable and otherwise nearly identical in feature set.

      *Yes, CF and PCMCIA slots can be obtained for Ipaqs but for an extra 30(the absolute cheapest I have seen them for)-100+ USD (Zaurus users can get a CF->PCMCIA adapter for 30-70. USD)
      In addition, if running linux the ipaq is limited to mmc cards, because of SD's licencing. This semi-applies to openzaurus, but they can load sharp's module.

  • I think the Zaurus is a great little machine: it runs like a charm and it's easy to port non-GUI software to it. The packaging system works great. The expansion slots and support for CF-based hardware is great. But I think the system is really held back by its UI.

    First, Qt is clearly is a desktop widget set that has been converted to a handheld: the shape and size of many components simply takes up way too much space, completely unnecessarily, and the overall layout of applications is also quite wasteful of screen space. The Zaurus Opera browser illustrates this: at the "tiny" settings: you still get the 3D decorations for buttons and text entry boxes, but the text for those widgets is completely gone; now, which is more important--wasting pixels on a 3D look or being able to see the actual text? There are lots of ways of indicating buttons that do not require a several pixel wide 3D border. Of course, even at larger scales, when you can read the text, those pixels take up unnecessary space. If you only have 240x320 pixels to play around with, this kind of thing needs to be highly optimized, and there are better ways of doing this. What we really need is a special-purpose handheld toolkit, not a port from a desktop. Altogether, with its 240x320 screen, Zaurus applications feel more space constrained than a Palm Pilot; it's the same problem that Windows CE and PocketPC have.

    Second, Qt/QPE software takes up lots of memory to run. The QPE process alone takes up nearly 8 Mbytes of memory, with a terminal application taking an additional 3.8 Mbytes (all RSS while being used). A full, running X server (Xvnc) running on the same system takes 1.3 Mbytes, and that includes additional support for the VNC protocol, and a handheld version of rxvt can be run in a few hundred kbytes of memory. The Agenda/VR applications also took up a fraction of the amount of memory of what the equivalent Zaurus applications take up. It's a myth that Qt/Embedded is memory-efficient.

    Third, the use of Qt/Embedded cuts the Zaurus off from a lot of other Linux handheld development: there are lots of neat, small, efficient applications written for other widget sets, some of them straight to X11, some of them using FLTK and others. While you can run them using Xvnc on a Zaurus, you end up with two completely unintegrated environments--that is not acceptable for day-to-day usage.

    Sharp and Lineo should recompile the Zaurus applications to use X11; given that they are written in Qt, that should be easy, although they may have to do some performance tuning on the X11 version of Qt. Then, people could pick and choose which applications they like to run among a larger variety of software. I'd replace some of the built-in applications with FLTK-based ones, saving both memory and getting an interface I prefer. And then there would be a lot more software available for it and we wouldn't need reviews of four tiny applets at the amazing price of $10 each.

  • SL-A300? (Score:1)

    by Icy ( 7612 )
    Has anyone tried the SL-A300 [trolltech.com]? I really like its form factor much better then the 5500 (I would miss the keyboard though). I wish I knew someone in Japan who could pick one up for me :-). Anyone know the differences between the two?
    • I have not tried the A300. I do know that it runs Sharp's own proprietary OS. This OS is fairly popular over in Japan. It is no linux though...
  • ...I must say that I am stunned by the usablility of the thing. I have a basement littered with various handhelds (we use them often on customer projects and usually get one for ourselves for testing) that never get used because, well, they aren't very usefull. Storing contacts, having a calendar, etc. is great, but it's faster and easier on paper. Yes, I can get my e-mail on it, but entering text is a hassle to say the least. The fact is, I (speaking personally here) want to do much more with my handheld than just play "Daytimer" with it. The SL-5500 is just the ticket. My company is teaching "Intro to Linux" classes that target existing MS administrators. For the class we need a server sitting there for them to hit during exercises. I need an MS box (so they can setup and use SMB client connectivity), a web server, FTP server, ssh server and a telnet server (again for use during exercises). I wanted to do something at the end of the class to really wow the students (who are all new to Linux). The answer in my opinion was the 5500. I received it a few days ago, and within 30 minutes of unboxing it had SaMBa, Telnet, ssh, Boa, and FTP serving happily on it and a Linksys CF 802.11b card for connectivity. Threw a 128MB SD card in it for storing the files used during the class and stuck a SaMBa share on it. Works beautifully. Tested the various pertinent "servers" under load (10 concurrent users pulling data - as the class is limited to 10) and it worked like a champ. This is what I have always dreamed of in a handheld...something that lets me do 75%+ of what I do on my desktop (albeit in a more limited but still very useful fashion). I would recommend it to anyone in the market for a PDA. I have seen a few comments about the interface "Trying to look like XP." You obviously HAVE NOT used one. The interface is all it's own. VERY fast to get around, totally customizable. All around fabulous. Later.
    • Missed a point in writing this. The idea is to show the students the server they have been working off of at the end of the class. I simply want to punctuate the versatility of Linux to a crowd that is somewhat skeptical.
    • "Storing contacts, having a calendar, etc. is great, but it's faster and easier on paper."

      Are you sure about that? I have a couple of thousand contacts in my addressbook and a very full and detailed calander in my datebook (I use a Palm btw) and I couldn't imagine trying to do the same with a paper Rolodex and a paper Planner. Using paper is in no way shape or form easier or faster. Text entry is smooth with this app I installed called simplyWrite for the Palm. It makes grafitti much easier to use but even without it using the PDA is much quicker for basic PIM stuff than paper is. IMHO.
  • I bought a Zaurus thinking it would be great to have a Linux PDA and it looked on paper to have pretty good specs. Now that I have one, I find that it is little more than an expensive paperwieght. First of all, their promised wireless solution took forever to become available, is too expensive, and the idiots they got to do it for them still don't really have a working usable product. I have Mac's and PCs running Linux here, and since Sharp has chosen not to support the Mac at all and the Linux software is buggy and moot considering there is really no software to sync with, like that horrid outlook clone Evolution, I don't really see the point. I would suggest to everyone that people NOT waste your money on a Zaurus. It may look kewl, but it really isnt a functional machine that is actually ready to use.
    • My experience is the opposite. I find it great! I put in a wireless LAN card and was immediately browsing the web. I was going on a weekend trip, so I bought a modem, and it worked without any hitches. The sync (to Win2K) works perfectly for me. I can play my .ogg files, read Project Gutenberg books, and browse the web while hanging with my kids in the living room. We can lookup words in the middle of dinner w/o having to leave the table. It basically does everything I needed in a PDA, and I can tweak it to my heart's content.
  • I've been coveting one of these for a long time now, and finally saved up enough to order one! I had thought about getting a used one on Ebay but decided to order a brand new one instead and help boost sales for Sharp.

    I can't wait to start porting programs to it, I already have a StrongARM based Netwinder [netwinder.net] which is running Debian Woody, got a SanDisk SDDR-009 Compact Flash Card writer, I'm totally set and ready for some serious Linux PDA hacking fun. And there is already a Debian Zaurus [debian.org] specific port in progress. There is going to be tons of software for these things before too long, as the Debian ARM [debian.org] port is quite mature and already has some 9000 packages!

  • I am _still_ waiting for my PDA and my mobile phone to be one device! Does anybody know if there are any accessories that give the Zaurus GSM capability?
  • Anyone tried installing UAE on the Zaurus?
  • My Zaurus (just bought it a couple of weeks ago) has now effectly replaced my old laptop.

    Now mind you, my laptop, in terms of processor power, wasn't much more powerful than the Zaurus. But it was much heavier. I can do everything on my Zaurus I used to do on my laptop and actually much more. It's much easier to carry around to classes or work. It's a perfect "datebook" and personal computer. I have faced a few bugs here and there, but you know, the nice thing was that I could often figure them out and fix them, while with my old palm I felt much more helpless.

    Probably the thing I love the most is how easy it is to transfer information to and from the Zaurus. With my palm, all my files had to be converted and manipulated between formats. Now it's a matter of FTP or swapping a compact flash card. Text files are still text files, PDF files are still PDF files. I'm dealing with a real computer here which is wonderful.

    Is the Zaurus perfect? No. In fact, there's plenty of people I would NOT recommend the Zaurus to. PDAs like any technology should be considered with need and use in mind and some people don't need a whole little Linux box in there pocket, a Palm works just fine. But for me, the Zaurus is one of those devices I've always been looking for.
  • I initially bought this for three reasons:

    1) It's the only portable OGG player right now :-)

    2) It's a reasonably full functional, and powerful PDA

    3) It runs linux, thus has endless potential -- far more than any proprietary PDA

    Already there is a completely opensource replacement OS [sourceforge.net] for the Zaurus.

    But... there is no "killer app" yet. A few possibilities though:

    1) Real, usable, opensource GPS software using one of the many CF GPS cards out there.

    2) Wireless portable OpenH323 [openh323.org] terminal

    For now, zaurus xmms [inf.elte.hu] and zmame [mameworld.net] are enough to keep me busy for a long time :-)
  • I've had my sl-5500 for about two months now. I prefer my Palm m505 for the PDA functions, but I like my Zaurus better overall, and here's why:
    • vnc server: I can type right into my Z from my laptop or desktop keyboard
    • ssh server: I can log into it directly
    • brigher screen
    • bigger screen, and higher resolution
    • faster cpu
    • some apps better than Palm equivalents (that I've found, anyway), e.g. Hancom Word & Spreadsheet.
    • cardflash and SD card ports
    • Java, Perl, Python, Vim (and KVim eventually)
    • trainable input mechanism
    • builtin keyboard
    • Linux
    All these things contribute to me prefering my Z over my m505. If you prefer top-of-the-line PDA functionality, like DateBk5, stick with PalmOS.

  • I've copied over all the files, but it segfaults.
    At one time I saw a link to a howto, but can't find it now of course :-)

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