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Check out Agenda Computing's new pda, the Agenda VR3.
It has a 66Mhz MIPS chip and it runs on Linux VR.

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I've been following the mail list on http://handhelds.org for a while now, and I plan on buying an iPaq as soon as I can. It seems to me that the basic problem is not that there aren't a lack of applications (everyday it seems somebody reports that they have compiled and are running some standard Linux application on thier iPaq, like QuakeForge for instance) but rather most people are waiting for a stable base distribution for the iPaq before packages are prepared and released for the general public.
Although anybody can and does compile and run pretty much anything they want to on thier iPaq, in an effort to not reinvent the wheel the major developers on handhelds.org have settled on distribution called Familiar. Since there are constant major improvements (deep sleep and a flashdisk journalling fs, for example) everybody seems to be just waiting until Familiar gets stable, and I get the impression that as soon as that happens then all the regular users will immediately jump in with prepared application packages.
Also, the open PIM software from http://www.agendacomputing.com is becoming the quasistandard PIM package on the iPaq.

James

2) - Thus, it falls more to companies that are able to pay engineers to work on PIM applications. However, these days engineers are expensive, and the companies are unwilling to pay an engineer 40 bucks an hour, and then turn around and give the suites away. Thats has nothing to do with open source or code sharing, thats just business.

It may be the case that nobody is working on or giving away PIM suites for your chosen platform, but that doesn't mean nobody is doing it. Agenda Computing's Agenda PIM suite is available (later versions in CVS) and it's been ported to the iPaq as part of the Familiar distro. Heck, you folks support fltk on Nano-X, right? So do the port yourself!

PocketLinux is giving away their PIM functionality too.

2) - Thus, it falls more to companies that are able to pay engineers to work on PIM applications. However, these days engineers are expensive, and the companies are unwilling to pay an engineer 40 bucks an hour, and then turn around and give the suites away. Thats has nothing to do with open source or code sharing, thats just business.

It may be the case that nobody is working on or giving away PIM suites for your chosen platform, but that doesn't mean nobody is doing it. Agenda Computing's Agenda PIM suite is available (later versions in CVS) and it's been ported to the iPaq as part of the Familiar distro. Heck, you folks support fltk on Nano-X, right? So do the port yourself!

PocketLinux is giving away their PIM functionality too.

I just got an handheld from Agenda, running a 2.4 kernel, and it's pretty neat. Can even telnet into it, now it just needs a ton of developers and apps .... get working guys.

anyway, they are 70 MHz Mips processors with 8MB ram, 16 MB flash rom running a 2.4 version of the linux kernel, embedded qt (I think) or X
Pretty cool

*yawn*

(OK, so if you want to jump through some hoops, you actually can get an Agenda, but we still have nothing ready for prime time.)
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Here's the site:
Agenda VR3.

It's not shipping yet, but the Agenda looks sweet. it runs MIPS Linux (2.4-test), X11, and FLTK for GUI. The software including GUI is entirely open source and they have cross-compilers of gcc and g++.

Try taking a look at these guys.

AFAIK, PalmOS will only run on the Dragonball processors that are in all the Palm and PalmOS devices. Unless someone's created a port for it, it won't run on what you've got.

However, there's probably a Linux out there that'll work. There's a company called Agenda that's making a Linux-based pda with a look that is somewhat similar to Palm's, running on a 66MHz NEC processor. Maybe they'll be able to help you out.

You also might want to check out some of the software dl sites for pdas. I know I've seen some ROM replacements for Palms, but I haven't done much looking when it comes to WinCE devices.

Speaking of Linux on PDA's, the Agenda VR3 will be out by March hopefully. Mine will arrive by next week and any other developers can order one at the developer site.

Speaking of Linux on PDA's, the Agenda VR3 will be out by March hopefully. Mine will arrive by next week and any other developers can order one at the developer site.

Agenda Computing uses Linux 2.4.0-test, X11, and the lesser-known FLTK, or "Fast Light Toolkit" (backronym), which is a C++ OO framework. Very cool.

If a 66MHz MIPS handheld can run X, then certainly something like Tivo can. And as for a window manager, there are such things as fvwm2 and wm2, not every wm is as bloated as enlightenment or WindowMaker.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to Comdex but did anybody see if Agenda Computing was there with their Linux handheld? According to this page on their site they are there, but I haven't seen any comments on /. about it yet. Has anybody been able to check it out?

Try the Agenda!

Runs linux, fltk (16 shade greyscale), full tcp/ip stack, serial port, and should be able to load qt... in theory. I haven't gotten mine yet but the developer version is only ~$180, Flashable, and ships Real Soon Now(Tm)

I'm gonna try to get Qt on it as soon as I get it.

have fun!
-pos

The truth is more important than the facts.

So, what should Linux people be doing? Sitting back and waiting for Palm to be the source of All Good Things?

Hey, I didn't say I wanted perl on PalmOS. I make no claims for other slashdot readers, however. :-)

I really don't know what Palm developers should be doing. There are still many undiscovered killer apps nicely implementable on PalmOS. Go forth and hack!

One of the big mysteries on the horizon is the Big ARM Switch coming up---how many more apps will the new architecture will allow, or in what areas we should be working? What new kinds of capability will come with the new OS?

And I think that leads to something I was trying to say with the phrase "Linux people".

The Linux community doesn't have to wait around to see what some company is going to ship, nor is it stuck with one particular goal or vision imposed from outside.

Sure, some perl weenies are going to drool over PocketPerl. But I'm not gonna stop them from implementing it. Rebuild a minimalist OS on eCos? Sure, why not. Java PDA? On its way. X on a machine running on AAAs? And how about Smalltalk, for that Dynabook spirit?

Some of these are probably bad ideas. I think a perl-centric PDA environment is a really bad idea. :-) But I don't make that decision, and neither does any other single person or organization. What will eventually decide it is whether a) someone thinks it should be done and does it, and b) enough people like it to keep it alive---even if it doesn't dominate the market.

Heck, eCos and Squeak don't need Linux, and that's a sign that Linux itself may be a bad idea in some cases. So me saying "Linux people" was a mistatement. I hope you get what I meant.

If the Linux developers are having a tough time figuring out what to do , a much more useful pursuit would be developing a better way of syncing a Palm device to Linux.

Personally, I'd be a lot more interested in working on this if the Palm devices spoke some standard, open protocol for synchronization. Other people are more motivated than me, though.

Hopefully this will turn out not to be vaporware:
Agenda vr3
http://www.agendacomputing.com/

And If I had more disposible income, one of those corny Kerbango devices, now produced by RCA.
http://www.kerbango.com/

I want a real live, can hold it in my hands, Linux PDA...Hopefully it's a VR3 from Agenda Computing. It's been mentioned a couple of times on Slashdot. If you pre-register you can get a developer model for a discount($200 or less) and it's going to come with 16MB of flash.

-- Randy

Out of the box it outperforms my Palm Pilot. It runs on a 75mhz MIPs CPU with 8MB of ram and 2MB of FLASHABLE (ie. can upgrade the OS, etc) RAM. The unit uses an interesting method that allow you to completely swap in different operating systems.

I _totally_ see a big future for this little device. Below are some links

Transvirtual's Pocket Linux Site
Helio HomePage
Sourceforge Linux on the Helio page

And.. If this isn't enough for you. There is another company that has put Linux on handhelds. They were at LinuxWorld also (I never saw them), and were demoing their Agenda VR3 Linux Handheld. Their web site is at: Agenda Linux Handheld

The Agenda VR3 will not be available til around October according to their WWW site. The vtech Helio is available now. I hope they both do well, but I'd have to say the helio has an edge over the VR3 with it's sound recording features, plus the head start jump on the VR3.

Oh.. Of course TransVirtual's Linux software and Kafee software for the Helio are GPL!!!

I am putting Linux on my Helio tonight. Please post pertinent links and info. Will report back on how it went tomorrow.

Nifty Cheap Toys are ALWAYS good. $150 for a peice of paper is a great deal too.

But anyway, it actually sounds interesting, it runs the 2.4 kernel and X.

Not to mention http://developer.agendacomputing.com/ appears to have documentation/tools eventually so you can write your own cheap little apps. Which I assume you wouldnt have to pay for. And if my memory serves me right, I seem to have heard that in order to write soft for Palm, you have to buy a slightly expensive SDK. (not sure about that though).

And its got a decent amount of ram too, and for some reason this interests me more than the VTech Helio which was also, advertized on slashdot not long ago ;)

Klowner
[01S FOREVER]
if cows made chocolate milk, would we add chocolate to it to make chocolate chocolate milk? or attempt extracting it? I dunno..

CD-ROM Software: QuickSync for Linux and Windows PC

Since a number of their other claims seem to conflict with the current state of the product as well (e.g., handwriting recognition doesn't seem to be supported yet), I'd give them the benifit of the doubt. They'll almost certainly support Linux synchronization by the release date.

According to this page: http://www.agendacomputing.com/ products/details.jsp it does sync with Linux.

"Synchronization with PC With our Rsync Cradle and QuickSync software, you can easily exchange information between your Agenda and your Windows or Linux PC. You can also send & receive email and connect to internet."

The bundled QuickSync software in Agenda synchronizes Outlook from the unit. QuickSync is compatible with any PC operating system that can run Outlook including Windows 95, 98, 2000, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows Millennium. QuickSync requires 2MB of hard drive space and 16MB RAM...

I saw on their product specs that it has 16-greys, so its not quite just black & white:

240x160 pixels monochrome LCD, 16 grey scale, 2¼" x 3¼" viewable area

(They) use an unusual RISC processor for the CPU

MIPS Processor is hardly unusual. See the spec at http://www.agendacomputing.com/products/system.jsp #spec.
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Availability is October 2000.

Sean

High resolution LCD screen
Write on the entire screen
Backlit for low-light viewing

Extensive applications pre-loaded
Easy download of new applications
Open Linux O/S for unlimited new applications

Quicksync to PC with Rsync
E-mail and Net ready
Infrared transfer to other Agendas and Palm Pilot units

8MB RAM + 2MB Flash Storage on Agenda VR3
8MB RAM + 4MB Flash Storage on Agenda VR3+
8MB RAM + 8MB Flash Storage on Agenda VR3s

What it looks like
installed apps

High resolution LCD screen
Write on the entire screen
Backlit for low-light viewing

Extensive applications pre-loaded
Easy download of new applications
Open Linux O/S for unlimited new applications

Quicksync to PC with Rsync
E-mail and Net ready
Infrared transfer to other Agendas and Palm Pilot units

8MB RAM + 2MB Flash Storage on Agenda VR3
8MB RAM + 4MB Flash Storage on Agenda VR3+
8MB RAM + 8MB Flash Storage on Agenda VR3s

What it looks like
installed apps

From the developer's site:

Agenda isn't a "new OS". It is Linux. The real McCoy. And it is X. And bash. And whatever else you port.

Leverage open-source operating system and tools.
Source-available system utilities and productivity suite software.
Program in C or C++.
Use familiar tools and libraries like gcc and glibc.
Don't settle for less - the VR3 runs Linux 2.4 and XFree86.
Build user interfaces easily using the built-in FLTK library.
Access databases efficiently using built-in libdb support.

The VR3 looks moderately cool, but I'd like to take a look at the VR5.
http://www.agendacomputing.com/sup port/faq06.jsp