LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Alan Kennington <ak1.linuxsa@topology.org>
  To  : LinuxSA <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 15:52:31 +0930

Re: Aunt Nelly (was Re: Re: Re: bsd- easier than you think)

On Mon, Jul 28, 2003 at 03:04:51PM +0930, Michael Firkins wrote:
> * Alan Kennington <ak1.linuxsa@topology.org> [2003-07-28 13:53]:
> 
> [...]
> 
> > on again, off again all the time. The Sharp Zaurus looked very promising,
> > but it's been discontinued. The Ipaq seem...[...]
> 
> Really? That's the first I heard of that, they've just released a new model
> as far as I can tell:
> 

Michael,

Although the Star-Trek format Zaurus PDAs might be cactus, it's possible
that the so-called "clamshell" format Zaurus PDAs may come onto the scene:
http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/030516.html
These are the SL-C750 and C760.

In Australia, the SL-5500 is on sale at:
http://www.everythinglinux.com.au/srch?searchwords=Zaurus&partial=exact&afid=gzaurus

But they say:  "Not normally stocked, can order in for you."
And they have no SL-5600.
The UK Sharp says that they will not be bringing out the 5600:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/31688.html

Now I happen to have a strong preference for the "clamshell".
But it just doesn't seem to be happening, whereas you can't go anywhere
without someone trying to sell you a PalmOS PDA.

The unfortunate thing about all the Zaurus PDAs, including the C750 and C760
is that they require MS software on your desktop, which is pretty stupid
really. At least PalmOS PDAs will sync fairly well with linux.

PDA software writers are mostly concentrating on the PalmOS machines,
because that's what's got the market numbers. I'd write some stuff for
a linux PDA if I could find one that:
-	is really out there in the shops, not just as developer samples;
-	syncs to a linux desktop;
-	has a half-way decent cross-compiler set-up;
-	has good hardware specs;
-	has a reasonable approximation to linux running on it.

My links are here:
http://www.topology.org/hard/palmtop.html

I'd be interested to know if anyone thinks there's a suitable linux PDA
out there. 
One of the problems with the Ipaq is that most people will buy it with MS
on it, and they won't burn linux into the flash memory just to run
some application that I write. So native linux is important.

Cheers,
Alan Kennington.

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