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Subject Author Date
Recent Linux PDA? Peter Flynn 09-15-2007
---> Re: Recent Linux PDA? hns@computer.or...09-16-2007
---> Re: Recent Linux PDA? Michael Meissne...09-17-2007
Posted by Peter Flynn on September 15, 2007, 4:50 pm
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 I've been using a Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D and then a SL-5500 for years,
currently running OpenZaurus 3.5.3 (kernel 2.4.18) and Opie 1.2.1. It's
been excellent, providing pretty much all I have needed so far
(calendar/contacts, browser, mailer, IR, wifi/bluetooth/RJ45 card,
terminal, editor, Java, and LaTeX).

But it won't last forever, and I'm now interested in something similar
but faster and with more storage and memory. Unfortunately, the market
seems to be stagnant for Linux on PDAs, and all the web pages I can find
mention either Sharp's more recent (and physically much larger) systems
(still without wifi/bluetooth) running their own Linux kludge, or
non-native Linux hacked onto old WinCE/Palm/etc PDAs, or a MilSpec
ruggedized device for $1500+

Is there *any* RECENT (2007) affordable and (preferably) native Linux
PDA along similar lines to the SL5500 that isn't corporately crippled? I
don't mind replacing a non-Linux OS with a port of Linux, provided that
the port is stable and has similar support to how OZ/Opie worked (for a
time).

I'm not in Japan :-)

///Peter


Posted by Chris Cox on September 16, 2007, 12:16 am
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 Peter Flynn wrote:
> I've been using a Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D and then a SL-5500 for years,
> currently running OpenZaurus 3.5.3 (kernel 2.4.18) and Opie 1.2.1. It's
> been excellent, providing pretty much all I have needed so far
> (calendar/contacts, browser, mailer, IR, wifi/bluetooth/RJ45 card,
> terminal, editor, Java, and LaTeX).
>
> But it won't last forever, and I'm now interested in something similar
> but faster and with more storage and memory. Unfortunately, the market
> seems to be stagnant for Linux on PDAs, and all the web pages I can find
> mention either Sharp's more recent (and physically much larger) systems
> (still without wifi/bluetooth) running their own Linux kludge, or
> non-native Linux hacked onto old WinCE/Palm/etc PDAs, or a MilSpec
> ruggedized device for $1500+
>
> Is there *any* RECENT (2007) affordable and (preferably) native Linux
> PDA along similar lines to the SL5500 that isn't corporately crippled? I
> don't mind replacing a non-Linux OS with a port of Linux, provided that
> the port is stable and has similar support to how OZ/Opie worked (for a
> time).
>
> I'm not in Japan :-)
>

Nokia? The N800.

Posted by Paul Rubin on September 16, 2007, 12:41 am
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> Nokia? The N800.

That is a cute device but not really a PDA. It's more like a tiny
handheld laptop. When you turn it on, the OS boots, then the window
system boots, and then you're in your starting window configuration
with no apps running, as if you had just booted a workstation. I
think of PDA as meaning you that can turn the thing off with
applications active, and when you turn it back on, you're in the same
state as before with the same stuff on the screen.

That said, if you want a tiny little Linux computer, the Nokias are
sure cool. The earlier N770 model shows up on closeout for $125 or so.

Posted by Bruce Stephens on September 16, 2007, 8:55 am
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[...]

> I think of PDA as meaning you that can turn the thing off with
> applications active, and when you turn it back on, you're in the
> same state as before with the same stuff on the screen.

What makes you think you can't do that with the N800 (or 770)?

Posted by Paul Rubin on September 16, 2007, 11:45 am
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> > I think of PDA as meaning you that can turn the thing off with
> > applications active, and when you turn it back on, you're in the
> > same state as before with the same stuff on the screen.
>
> What makes you think you can't do that with the N800 (or 770)?

Can you? I have one of the closeout 770's and I know a guy with an
800 and I haven't seen this capability in either. If the 770 could do
that, I'd expect the default configuration to be set up for it and the
starting docs to describe it. However, I haven't looked into the
situation too closely.

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