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Linux on the U101

Dynamism U101 page

Sony U101 page (in Japanese)

--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu

The Samsung Nexio S160 is very close to this form factor running a MS OS. So it's certainly doable, just not seen as marketable in the US yet.

They support Compact Flash Type1 Cards which means you can swap in a Modem, GPS,Barcode scanner or anything else available.

Cos you just know your Boss is going to NEED a Barcode scanner, well, just as soon as he thinks of it...


PS. I just used google to find the example CF Cards so I recommend looking about for the best buy.

• Specs:
  • Sony Clie PEG-UX50
  • 802.11b
  • Bluetooth
  • Sony-developed Handheld Engine CPU (8 - 125MHz on demand)
  • 3.2", 16-bit, 480x320 resolution (locked to landscape mode?)
  • 4.1 x 3.4 x .7" (103 x 86.5 x 17.9mm) and 6.2oz (175g)
• Wireless connectivity: Comfortable wireless LAN network connection, or Bluetooth with automatic switching (corresponding equipment required)
• Battery life: 14 days of "normal use" (apparently 30min/day, backlight off) with a LiIon polymer battery. An extended battery is available for 35 hours of continuous use
• Built-in camera: The camera can rotate 300 degrees and take low-resolution stills (.3 Mpixel) or video (160x112) (w/ audio). It has a digital 3X zoom, white balance, "effects function" (It can possibly be used as a remote webcam via Bluetooth?)
• Web browser: Can be set to a one-button push (woo! note to Sony: check if Amazon already has the patent)
• Screen: Wide-screen, bright, video-supported, 480x320, 65,536 colors
• Storage:Memory stick, 22MB built-in, 16MB "of the substance" (?)
• Build: Lightweight, magnesium case and chassis with security loop
• Web browsing:
  • Supports: "Forward," "Back," bookmarks, JavaScript (not all), JPEGs, GIFs (animated, too), PNGs and SSL
  • Doesn't support: Flash, Java (?)
• Video: Can display video up to 30fps, converting AVIs on your computer to MPEG1 or QuickTime. (Can store 130 min of video on a 128MB memory stick, or 460min--wow, nearly 8 hours!--on a 1GB memory stick)
• Audio: Support audio playback for MP3 or ATRAC3 formats for appx. 16 hours (?) with the standard battery
• Software: I won't get into the software because unless you get yours now from Dynamism it's almost certain to change in the US version.
  

Okay, okay, this is all well and good. I think the thing is cool as anything I've seen in the PDA market, but we all have to keep something very important in mind: the price. I hope I'm not the only one who has realized this thing will undoubtedly be as expensive, if not MORE expensive than the $800 NZ-90, which may be worth its weight but is still too expensive for the average income-bringer. I wish that Sony could, instead of constantly coming out with expensive, fully-equipped PDAs, come out with a few solid, varied budget machines. THe SJ-22(or whatever it is) is a good PDA, and cheap, but Sony should be able to provide more in that price range. Still, I am very excited about the prospects of wardriving with a laptop-style PalmPilot! I should also point out to the unknowing that this model shares a close form factor(not size) with two Japanese Sony Micro-notebooks, which are available from Dynamism, the U3 and the U101.

I think that the Zaurus C760 still beats this new Clie, although the Zaurus doesn't have built in camera or WiFi it is really a mini laptop rather than a PDA and it probably costs the same or less than the Clie.

Ooh. I feel my previously-unwavering desire for a Zaurus 760 beginning to wane...

I think we can argue and say whatever we want, but the fact stays that a lot of people outside the US can't buy good from US online stores.

It has been said to get local resellers and it has been said to find alternatives for the goods. Sadly sometimes the US online stores are the only viable option (getting ThinkGeek's products may be harder if you try to hunt them down in a local online store in your country, and thinkgeek may not ship to your country or the specific product may not be exportable by the store. Apple has resellers in countries outside the US, so you can't buy in their webstore if you're outside the US, but your local webstore may be weeks or months behind the US store and may only sell localized products, not US or International versiones, etc.)

There are, nonetheless, options for people buying goods from online stores which act as intermediaries and buffers between the US online store and the foreign (to the US) customers.

I will try to summarize here the ones I know about, I ask of you to please share the ones you know, as I'm moving to Spain soon and the ones I use in Mexico will not work.

I have found three kinds of company that have these services:

1.-The forwarding postal address: These sites let you create a "real" postal address in a US city that you can use in your orders from any store. This will allow it to work for most checks for "locality" and even allows you to subscribe to magazines (which don't usually even send to postal boxes). They have their warehouses and charge you for the handling and the customs applying to your packages. They also let you group all your month's packages and send them over at month's end in one larger package to save on shipping. This is, to me, the best option.

I know of one site that uses this method which I use frequently and after using all the other methods I outline in this post I feel is the best approach:

Merkalink (works only for Mexico and I won't be able to use it in Spain when I move)

Skybox. I haven't used this service as I currently don't have use for it and to my knowledge is the only one that works with Europe in this category.

2.-The "proxy" store. A store will let you buy stuff which, in turn, they're buying from online stores. They give you a price quote and let you give them URLs for other products which in turn they include in their webstores, they usually have no warehouse of their own as they're just intermediaries. Encante (mexico only)

Dynamism

3.-The spyware approach: These are questionable products that sit on top of your web browser and actually hijack it in some cases, rewriting HTML on the fly and taking over your shopping experience. They're very close to spyware in their intrusiveness but, to my knowledge, they are not malicious nor is their intent to be. These actually sit in memory, on top of your web-shopping habits and when they detect you're in a store they support (say, amazon) you can see their buttons and banners in that page, which in turn pop-up their S&H + custom calculators and whatnot. Although original I don't like this approach very much (also because this approach means it only works in Windows, which I don't use)

DoUWantIt
(Irony: DoUWantIt only supports Windows, it says so in their help-desk FAQ page, in the paragraph that says they won't support macs -or Linux- right below the picture of the PowerMacintosh LC 5215 )

Now. I am sure there are others out there. I'm looking for gathering info like this (which I'm personally interested in, as I'd like to keep buying things when I move to Spain from the sites I'm buying things now). If you know of sites that do this not included here or categories I haven't thoug

When I moved from the US to Europe five years ago, it was difficult for me to adjust to the different retail philosophy here, which often makes it appear that you should consider yourself quite lucky to have the privelege of buying something. I live in the Netherlands, where this tendency is pronounced. Used to the "Customer is King" mentality in the US (where your meal is free if we don't wear a smile), I had to adjust my expectations.

After some time, I was even more shocked at the inability of most retailers in the US to even comprehend, much less ship to, any address that doesn't conclude with a two-letter state and 5-digit numeric-only zip code ("I'm sorry, sir, your city name doesn't fit in my program!")

As other posters have pointed out, the market segment "we" represent to US-based retailers simply isn't compelling enough for them to add enough flexibility in their routines to accommodate us. Not the big guys, anyway. I suppose it's the same reason it's difficult to buy a laptop without Windows pre-loaded ... or to get a refund for that matter. It doesn't make economic sense for most sellers to give you that choice.

But, on the bright side, this leaves room for smaller companies to step in and either take some market share, or at least to make a decent living supplying this sliver segment. I mean, look at Dynamism.com.

IMHO, we ought to enjoy this last stand of the little guy. When you can buy your iPod or Dell laptop online anywhere on the planet you happen to be, you will probably be paying for that convenience with a lack of choice.

It sounds like an advertisement, but isn't - I bought my Libretto through them. But I've found Dynamism to be pretty good on getting Japanese stuff through. Then they even ship to the UK.

I've had on the whole positive experiences with both Fujitsu and Sharp. (I've linked to the latest models, not the ones I've used.) They may not be titanium, but they're solid and not overly bloated.

I've had on the whole positive experiences with both Fujitsu and Sharp. (I've linked to the latest models, not the ones I've used.) They may not be titanium, but they're solid and not overly bloated.

Good luck getting one.

I would love to get one IF it will offer a good cellular service option

You are aware that these don't have a wireless option built in, and you'll need to get a compact flash or secure digital card to have wireless connectivity?

I don't know about cellular services, but 802.11 and bluetooth cards are both available.

Not media, INFORMATION. Notes, meetings, phone numbers, addresses, ideas, sketches, references, URLS, passwords (encrypted natch). For me, this information is still B&W text and graphics. I want

There isn't much difference between high-res B&W and color, at least if Palm supported ClearType (which it doesn't, unfortunately): you might as well use the color screen.

And with the processing power you need to do encryption and PDF display, video rendering comes in for free.

Sorry, but these Clies are pretty much what you want; another good choice is the Sharp SL-C760. Either way, a decent PDA with a good screen will set you back about $600-$700. If you want something cheaper, smaller, and lighter than that, you'll have to wait a bit longer until technology catches up with your desires.

Japan's economy in the toilet: This can be said of the economy there for the last 20 years. Funny, for a "languishing" toilet economy, it's the world's second largest...

Also, for a "languishing" economy, the disposable income in Japan per capita seems to phenomenal. The appetite for smaller, more, better, faster in Japan makes the US and other countries look backward. These people eat up technology like nothing, and they pay for it.

Check out, for example, dynamism.com All the laptop vendors can sell better and more expensive stuff in the Japanese market. Japanese buyers will spend a lot more on things like HAM radios, Laptops, Computers, etc. And they like them small, fast and good on batteries. The Japanese metro communications networks are also very advanced.

Another more distinct possibly is that they have grown tired of games on 2D screens. Yeah, the game may be 3D, but the flat screen thing might not do it for them anymore. Also, in the past there was good reason to own a computer and a few consoles. Now, you basically need a PS2 and a computer.

Another Japanese phenomena is things like Kobe Beef, which makes aged Angus and A-Prime look lean. The stuff is $22/lb. Japanese. Also, if you ever take a trip to Napa Valley, the Japanese buy expensive wines like water. It's a fascinating culture with many interesting aspects and bizarre flaws. But they have an obsession with having only the best beef, the best wine, the best cuisine (sushi, yakitori, oh man, so good), the best electronic crap, the best video game experience.

My guess is more of them like gaming on the computer now. I remember seeing Japanese guys on EQ over a friend's shoulder (I would never play EverCrack, too addictive), and these guys were machines. They would have max level characters weeks before anyone else.

its Japanese... Dynamism has to have it first

I understand, these two still lag a little behind the PocketPC in the technology stakes -- for example, no cursive handwriting recognition (?).

PocketPC doesn't use cursive handwriting either. In fact, both Linux PDA software and Linux PDA hardware is better than what you get for Palm or PocketPC (have a look at the Zaurus 700 Series: 640x480 screen, 8h battery life). There is also plenty of software for those devices, including drivers for just about any CF I/O card you might want. The one big mistake Sharp made was going with a proprietary window system rather than X11--that made their hardware much less attractive to many current Linux users and developers.

In terms of technology, Linux PDAs are ahead of PPC and Palm. Mainly what is missing is marketing, in particular in the US.

you mean this SL 700 series page

What's with the... uh... bunny on the left of the page?

What's with the... uh... bunny on the left of the page?

What kind of company is this?

The first post gets modded down when it provides the exact same link , and actually puts in proper tags to make it easily clickable? Mods on crack.

Try this instead.

Go to Dynamism.com and check out the Sony PCG-U101!

Jon Acheson

What do you mean by "Sharp's yet-to-ship 5600"?

Do you mean you've order one, but it hasn't arrived yet? Because it's certainly not difficult to order one of those. (They say it's in stock).

No need to go through a speciality importer such as for the more exotic Zauruses.

The ultimate Wi-FI PDA appears to be the Samsung Nexio S160, with a big, high-resolution screen for Web browsing. It's not officially sold in the USA, it runs WinCE, and it costs as much as a computer, though.

What is this obsession with iBook size anyway? The iBook is 4.5 pounds, has two spindles, has a battery life of about 4h, and a 12" diagonal. That's a hefty, big, power-hungry laptop. In the PC world, you can get a 2.5 pound, 1 spindle laptop with an 8h battery life that is considerably smaller, too.

... because Sharp actually did issue the news in a language more comprehensible to this audience either:
Linux "clamshell" PDAs with an Intel Xscale PXA255@400MHz, 64 megs of RAM and up to 128 megs of built-in flash are only some of the mouth-watering specs for the new SL-C760 and C750, just released in English to make geeks world-wide wish they were in Japan - the only place, again, for which Sharp has announced to market the new models. The predecessor, widely acclaimed for its excellent "Continuous Grain Silicon" VGA LCD, has been made available by third parties in the USA, Germany, and directly from Japan, but if you're looking to replace e.g. your aging Psion with the latest and greatest Linux PDA from a local vendor, you may want to get Sharp to change their mind and make it available world-wide this time.
In other news, in India the Simputer is expected to be shipping below US$200 (10000 rupies) soon.
Wouldn't both of these be rather compelling items for ThinkGeek to carry as well (just in case the current vendors get overwhelmed by Slashdotters buying up the equivalent of a monthly production - BTW, what's the discount at 30000 units) ?

Excuse me if I missed it, but no where in the translation did I see if these models were going to be available in the US. Are they going to be like the C700, only release in Japan, but re-sold through companies like Dynamism? --Jon

Check out this month's Linux Journal for a review of this. It's currently only available online to subscribers

Also, check out this site to buy one.

$700 for an english translated version at Dynamism

$550 for a japanese version at conics but it's really easy to change the locale to english!)

A review at the gadgeteer

Rumor nothing. The stripped-down version of the Pentium M, called the Mobile Celeron 600A, is used in the Sony U101 subnotebook. See here or here (use babelfish or just check out the screenshot) for some info on the CPU. And you can order one in the US from Dynamism or Japan Rush.

The phones are too big & ugly. I'll stick to my digitally-controlled analog watch, thanks. As for cute laptops, check out dynamism.com, they import the best from japan.

It is expensive. Dynamism sells it for $2300, and EarthPS has it for $2700. Also, it's not widely available. Froogle finds only two stores.

It's called the Sony U3 (as well as the new model, the U101).
Decent specs, and it's priced right around $1500.
I'd be curious to hear how well the keyboard can be operated, though - it's only about six or seven inches wide.

Wow, I've heard of being late slashdot, but dynamism has been carrying this thing for as long as I can remember.

"Sony says they had no intention of releasing this prototype computer/camera for general sale. That is, until the flood of interest at PC Expo 2000 Tokyo. It was quite a show for the GT3/K; whether a brilliant marketing tactic or just pure good decision-making by Sony, we're very pleased with the outcome."

Its still pretty cool though. Btw, here is a link to the dynamism page. Or is this supposed to be an article about an american release of the same product?

Might? They want $2500 for a slimline PC & LCD with a 1.8ghz & 80gigs.

think that speaks for itself

This looks like something this place would sell. They have all sorts of cool import notebooks and gadgets. The stuff might seem expensive, but just remember all these electronics are going to help you get laid.

Today, go to dynamism.com for under 2 pound computers.

Beyond that, stop bullshitting yourself--you are clearly completely out of touch.

It's all a trade-off between power, size, and cost. And it doesn't look like Vulcan has any better technology than anybody else.

Sony has a line of tiny laptops that are so small, you can hold them in one hand. Check it out.

the ibm pc110 started it all back in the mid-90's. i have one actually. it's tiny, a pain in the ass to type on until you're used to it and terribly underpowered. i can imagine one of these things being more powerful, but even smaller? speaking from esperience, it'd make it useless to most every user (though i do admit, the server room maintenance idea was good). that's why i've been keeping my eye on similarly powerful machines of a usable size.

the sony vaio u-101 is the brand new update to the vaio u series. most notably to the speed and memory enhancements it adds a lay-flat design and a display that rotated to landscape with the push of a button which is nice for reading e-books or any long document.

and my favorite the jvc interlink mp-xp7230. also the latest in it's series. it's much larger than the vulcan and u-101 placing it at the smallest end of the sub-notebook category rather than a real mini-pc. i've used one of these and typing isn't even an issue. the pointing decive is a tried and true, blue, rubber nipple in the center of the keyboard with laptop-style mouse buttons along with a touch pad below the keyboard. no proprietary mega ports here. everything is seperate so there's no need for an expensive port replicator or converter dongle which we will all eventually loose.

both of these devices have been mentioned before and linux runs perfectly on both aside from some yet to be reproduced proprietary features you'll never miss anyway. and for those of you worried about jvc's first forray into this area, i can tell you it ran rock solid both on and off ac power for three months wile the friend i borrowed it from was away at basic training.

if the ink weren't still wet on my mortgage papers, i'd sure as hell have a jvc interlink mp-xp7230, fully expanded with an external cd-rw/dvd-rom.

I am so jealous of you. I am still working on a PCG-C1VN, which is somewhat bigger. I can still type on it fine.

One thing that struck me was how ugly the Vulcan minipc is. Compared with Sony's U1, U3, the upcoming U10, or Samsung's Nexio or Sharp's keyboard Zaurus, the minipc just screams "I got this with my HotWheels!"

I wouldn't want to be seen with that cheap-looking thing.

I am so jealous of you. I am still working on a PCG-C1VN, which is somewhat bigger. I can still type on it fine.

One thing that struck me was how ugly the Vulcan minipc is. Compared with Sony's U1, U3, the upcoming U10, or Samsung's Nexio or Sharp's keyboard Zaurus, the minipc just screams "I got this with my HotWheels!"

I wouldn't want to be seen with that cheap-looking thing.

I am so jealous of you. I am still working on a PCG-C1VN, which is somewhat bigger. I can still type on it fine.

One thing that struck me was how ugly the Vulcan minipc is. Compared with Sony's U1, U3, the upcoming U10, or Samsung's Nexio or Sharp's keyboard Zaurus, the minipc just screams "I got this with my HotWheels!"

I wouldn't want to be seen with that cheap-looking thing.

Sure you can. and they even do the hard work of converting it to English for you. And they have a warranty.

However, I'd like to put in a plug for Fujitsu's US models, especially the S and P2000 series. Very small (4 and 3.4 pounds, respectively), with the S series having the edge in raw horsepower. Both have builtin DVD/CD-RW drives, and the P2K gets over 12 hours on battery with it's Transmeta CPU.

I have an older S series, and it's brilliant. With RH Linux 7.1 on it, the performance is more than adequate. It's been as durable as I've needed it to be (fell off the desk once, crashed to the floor and wasn't damaged). The only real problem I've had is that the pain on the left side of the palmrest is wearing off, and it picked up some scratches on the top lid when I had it loose in my backpack. I still get comments on how sexy it is on a regular basis.

OTOH, if she's an OS X fan, that's probably the way to go. Despite some comments to the contrary, the screen on the 15" iBook is wonderful. It's viewable from all angles, which is very unusual for an LCD.

keep checking dynamism I'm sure they will have it imported here.

Also the 1.8 lb sony and a couple of other japanese vendors offer similar tiny laptops. You might get a better deal on ebay.

Dynamism.com

Sharp Moeibus M1.
*gurgle*

So, how much effort did you put into getting Linux to run? Do you think it would ultimately be possible? Otherwise what do you think of this thing. Is it worth the money?

Your definition of mobile is very different than mine I suppose. I don't want a computer much thicker than an inch. I (like yourself) don't care for onboard CD/DVD or floppy, I just want batteries and small. I have a Sony PCG-U3 that I picked up in Japan, but here is the Dynamism page on it. It's a 933, 512 mb of ram, the ATI Mobility-M, etc. and is smaller than many paperback books. I get 12 hours battery life, and I have nothing to complain about. Except perhaps the price...