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http://www.slackwaregallery.com/albums/userpics/10 249/z-work-area-sm.JPG

That's my 3000. The two devices to the left are a 40gb hard drive and a CD-Burner, both fully functional. The mouse and keyboard do belong to the Zaurus. These things make a fantastic laptop replacement. In fact, I no longer carry a PDA, Laptop, or MP3 player (because I have a wired music remote for the Zaurus).

Although I have to admit that I'm running linux - A beta version of the stock rom that has been rebuilt along the lines of this: http://www.cacko.biz/

And I should point out that SSH, both client and server, do work just fine under linux :)

Don't know if anyone cares, but here's an example of the screen resolution.

http://mspencer.net/stuff/c700res.jpg

That's my thumb in the picture. Fifteen lines of text fit in the width of my thumb.

(For the record...I did eventually get MAME working, but it runs slow on Qtopia. I'll have to try it on that new X11 ROM and see if it runs at more than 40% speed. )

--Michael Spencer

I'd say it's horses for courses. I'll bet the ux50 makes a far better PDA (I admit I haven't seen one), but the Zaurus (I have a C760) makes a far better linux pc for your pocket.
I find the PDA apps pretty weak and syncing can be a bit random too (that'll be the entertainment of japanese drivers/pc software!). If you start to look at it as a very small notebook running linux then it makes a lot more sense. Some very clever folks have got X windows running on it which opens up a whole different world of applications you can build and run. As more of the community gets behind it and more development is done, it gets better and better. Things I personally find it useful for are as a GPS (with a CF gps card), watching films (divx) when trapped in waiting rooms/planes, mp3 player, occasional network security tool (nessus client, kismet etc.), surfing the web (not too bad on the 640x480), pop mail client, occasional games and just generally having a very portable terminal which can often save having a laptop with you. If you want a pda that just works, get the sony, but if you want a very flexible miniature talking point, get a Zaurus.

Some inside info about Cacko Linux : We are about to port our environment to others PDA such as ARM based Palm..
So, if you think Qtopia is too slow or Zaurus/iPaq are too expensive... Wait a moment :)

http://www.cacko.biz/screenshots.php?menuid=2 Enjoy :)

Happily, the story submitter gave our website mirror address, so they won't Slashdot the original website...
Neither the main company's site.

You may also visit cacko's web site to check their dedicated custom Linux distro for Sharp handheld devices.
screenshot