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So where am I supposed to download it from? Their download page only lists 3.1-rc3.1 and 3.2, not 3.3.5.

umm,
what about this?

or this?

I ordered this and was wondering the same thing, so I did some googling.

Here's a couple web sites I found:

Zaurus Software Index

Open Zaurus

killefiz and openzaurus, OZ seems to be a nice "distribution", but I may be trying out debian on it soon.

Qtopia is fine on my Sharp Zaurus SL5000D, but OpenZaurus (with Opie) is really better (and Free) in my opinion. It's more polished, more mature and better documented.
I don't really need the few software Qtopia has over OZ (Opera, Handcom Office Suite, ..) since there are free alternative (Konqueror, etc).

Good to see Free forks can compete and sometimes overtake the original commercial software.

If you have a Zaurus, you really have to try OpenZaurus !

OpenZaurus is a much better distribution than the default Sharp one.

If you can't stand the small screen and keyboard, just attach a dumb terminal and away you go.

I don't have enough storage on it to recompile the kernel locally, but I am using GCC on it to do a bit of work on a project of mine during class. The keyboard is nothing to ogle over, but it's a hell of a lot better than a virtual one.

If you want an organizer, pick an old palm up on eBay for a few dollars. If you want a handheld computer, check a zaurus out.

True. Some of us run ARM.

I'm using OpenZaurus as my PDA distribution. This distro uses Opie, but it comes with python, sip, PyQt and PyOpie. So you can develop your GUI stuff in Python.

Huh? That keyboard is like 5 times the size of the already very useful keyboard on the Zaurus or the wildly popular blackberry devices. I liked their little pointer device, but the new one's arrow keys look just as functional. Between that and tab complete and the very nice looking and very much big enough to be useful screen, this should be easier to use than the already easy to use Zaurus. It certianly kicks WinCE ass.

I guess it's nice that it runs QT which means development for it should be a breeze, but seeing as how the source kit for this is still under lock and key (it's not the same source as the palm-sized Zaurus), it's not yet Free.

Open Zaurus works on this. The Debian style feed is about as free as it gets.

My zaurus, running OpenZaurus, came with a terminal and the ssh command.

If I was stuck with a phone as a terminal, I'd probably write a curses script like this one to give me functionality without typing on such a painfully slow keyboard.

OpenEmbedded is the consolidation process of the different Linux PDA & Embedded solutions.
Linux PDA projects like OpenZaurus, and the Open Palmtop Integrated Environment (OPIE) will lead to more flexible and widely supported Linux platforms. Just have a peek at the long list of Linux supported platforms: HP iPaqs, Dell Axim's, Sharp Zaurus, Samsung's Yopy, Siemens SIMpad's, etc...

It packs more RAM and more battery life than the Z-5500, but the Z still has equivalent features - MMC/SD slot (that does NOT honor the DRM of SD cards, btw), a CF slot, plus IR. The Zaurus is under very active development at OpenZaurus.

Huh? If by "hacks" you mean "an easy way to back up to CF" and "wireless connectivity when you plug in a wirless lan card" than I agree.

Requiring the user to buy a separate CF card and then manually backup his data is truely a hack. (Where "hack"=workaround for shortsighted design) The device includes onboard flash memory- you shouldn't have to take extra, costly steps just to protect your appointments from a RAM wipeout.

The (traditional) Palm stores everything in RAM, but it hardly ever crashes or expends the battery, so this doesn't bother most users. The SL-5500 will eat it's battery in 2 hours, and can freeze up fairly easily with the default software packages. In fact, the single simplest reason to switch to the OpenZaurus ROM is that PIM data is automatically stored on Flash memory, so application failures don't erase your schedule.

Also, wireless connectivity was incomplete when the SL-5500 was launched. Besides an irritating error in the network control panel (it ignored user-supplied DNS addresses), there was a major vendor of CF 802.11b cards that was totally unsupported. Downloadable drivers were available, but at least a year passed without them making it into the ROM image.

And of course, using the default wireless connectivity gave anybody within 15 meters complete root access to your PDA... closing that big design flaw required much hackage. (Sharp released a ROM upgrade to fix the problem, then de-recommended that ROM because it broke most of their PC sync software)

• Q. I want to distribute binaries, but distributing complete source is inconvenient. Is it ok if I give users the diffs from the "standard" version along with the binaries?
  
  A. This is a well-meaning request, but this method of providing the source doesn't really do the job.
  A user that wants the source a year from now may be unable to get the proper version from another site at that time. The standard distribution site may have a newer version, but the same diffs probably won't work with that version.
  So you need to provide complete sources, not just diffs, with the binaries.

• Q. I want to distribute binaries, but distributing complete source is inconvenient. Is it ok if I give users the diffs from the "standard" version along with the binaries?
  
  A. This is a well-meaning request, but this method of providing the source doesn't really do the job.
  A user that wants the source a year from now may be unable to get the proper version from another site at that time. The standard distribution site may have a newer version, but the same diffs probably won't work with that version.
  So you need to provide complete sources, not just diffs, with the binaries.

OpenZaurus, a completely open source

Open source, eh? Do you happen to know what license it's under, then?

Their website doesn't mention anything about that.

Since it's apparently based on Linux, I'd expect it to be under the GPL (at least in part). But that obviously isn't the case. Look at the Openzaurus download page. There are links to 20 different binary packages, but no links to source code. According to the GPL, you must put source links in the same place as binary ones.

Downloading an unpacking those binaries won't reveal any licensing information, nor "an offer good for three years to supply source to any third party".

Searching around on the Openzaurus site for source code, I find an intriguing FAQ entry which claims that Openzaurus code is GPL, and another which explains a way to get the source. Or rather... a way to get some source code. Actually... patches against other, 3rd party distributions. Which if you had those distributions, you might be able to assemble into the Openzaurus source code... The code to some version of Openzaurus, not necessarily the same code that built the binaries you have.

All of that is completely against the GPL.

You can't give out patches- it must be the whole source.
The source code and binaries you provide must correspond exactly (same revision).

OpenZaurus, a completely open source

Open source, eh? Do you happen to know what license it's under, then?

Their website doesn't mention anything about that.

Since it's apparently based on Linux, I'd expect it to be under the GPL (at least in part). But that obviously isn't the case. Look at the Openzaurus download page. There are links to 20 different binary packages, but no links to source code. According to the GPL, you must put source links in the same place as binary ones.

Downloading an unpacking those binaries won't reveal any licensing information, nor "an offer good for three years to supply source to any third party".

Searching around on the Openzaurus site for source code, I find an intriguing FAQ entry which claims that Openzaurus code is GPL, and another which explains a way to get the source. Or rather... a way to get some source code. Actually... patches against other, 3rd party distributions. Which if you had those distributions, you might be able to assemble into the Openzaurus source code... The code to some version of Openzaurus, not necessarily the same code that built the binaries you have.

All of that is completely against the GPL.

You can't give out patches- it must be the whole source.
The source code and binaries you provide must correspond exactly (same revision).

OpenZaurus, a completely open source

Open source, eh? Do you happen to know what license it's under, then?

Their website doesn't mention anything about that.

Since it's apparently based on Linux, I'd expect it to be under the GPL (at least in part). But that obviously isn't the case. Look at the Openzaurus download page. There are links to 20 different binary packages, but no links to source code. According to the GPL, you must put source links in the same place as binary ones.

Downloading an unpacking those binaries won't reveal any licensing information, nor "an offer good for three years to supply source to any third party".

Searching around on the Openzaurus site for source code, I find an intriguing FAQ entry which claims that Openzaurus code is GPL, and another which explains a way to get the source. Or rather... a way to get some source code. Actually... patches against other, 3rd party distributions. Which if you had those distributions, you might be able to assemble into the Openzaurus source code... The code to some version of Openzaurus, not necessarily the same code that built the binaries you have.

All of that is completely against the GPL.

You can't give out patches- it must be the whole source.
The source code and binaries you provide must correspond exactly (same revision).

OpenZaurus, a completely open source

Open source, eh? Do you happen to know what license it's under, then?

Their website doesn't mention anything about that.

Since it's apparently based on Linux, I'd expect it to be under the GPL (at least in part). But that obviously isn't the case. Look at the Openzaurus download page. There are links to 20 different binary packages, but no links to source code. According to the GPL, you must put source links in the same place as binary ones.

Downloading an unpacking those binaries won't reveal any licensing information, nor "an offer good for three years to supply source to any third party".

Searching around on the Openzaurus site for source code, I find an intriguing FAQ entry which claims that Openzaurus code is GPL, and another which explains a way to get the source. Or rather... a way to get some source code. Actually... patches against other, 3rd party distributions. Which if you had those distributions, you might be able to assemble into the Openzaurus source code... The code to some version of Openzaurus, not necessarily the same code that built the binaries you have.

All of that is completely against the GPL.

You can't give out patches- it must be the whole source.
The source code and binaries you provide must correspond exactly (same revision).

It's not really a PDA, it's a pocketable Linux computer.

First, the PDA side of things. People criticise it for having weak PDA features which, compared to Palms, and that's somewhat true; my previous Psion PDAs had a few extra features around the edges that I miss, but by and large the PIM features are fine for my moderately advanced use.

But there's so much more! SCUMMVM in the palm of your hand with mp3-encoded talkie versions of Fate of Atlantis or Day of the Tentacle is pretty nifty.Add a Wifi card, install Wellenwreiter or Kismet, and go low-profile warwalking. I have a Pocketop IR folding keyboard for long documentation on the go; the screen rotation software Just Works, unlike a lot of PocketPCs.

Unlike Palm owners, I can handle DOC and XLS files native on the device; this is particularly key because the Zaurus is a computer in its own right and not a PDA. The Hancom office apps shipped with it are usable enough for quick on-the-go editing and creation. I could do with one of these now for instant printing of invoices when I'm out at a client's site.

The big compelling piece of software is OpenZaurus, a completely open source and regularly updated distro to replace the Sharp ROM. It's a bit like trading Debian stable for unstable; kinda hacky at times, kinda buggy at others, but it's so exciting to get a massive batch of upgrades every few weeks full of improvements. It's never been buggy enough to lose my PDA data, and in any event with multisync, unison and rsync my data is backed up six ways to Sunday.

Other people like apps like opie-reader for ebooks, portable Ogg players (there are a few), portable DivX playback, email (this is noticeable ropy under OpenZaurus, but getting better), and many more... For more ideas, see this thread on zaurus.com.

Downsides? I find the QWERTY keyboard wearing after a few minutes, hence I have the Pocketop, and I've managed to scratch the screen under the handwriting recognition area so I can't really use it any more (I think that was my fault, to be fair). The battery life sucks too, but then it does on all these colour mobile devices. Apparently, the SL5600 is better.

So basically, if you want a PDA, get a Palm. If you want a pocketable Linux computer in a PDA form factor with respectable PIM features and a mountain of open source apps, get a Zaurus.

The 5600 is native Linux -- it uses an embedix distro w/ Qtopia for the front end. There's also an Open Source distribution, which frankly, I prefer.

I just bought a Zaurus 5500 on eBay and are waiting for it to be shipped up to me, but I have been scouting around on the net about it.

The first task for me will to be to get a CF memory card and install Open Zaurus and Opie on my Zaurus and get rid of QTopia, which is good but the Opie/OpenZaurus combo turns the Zaurus into something that I think fits my needs.

I realize that I am not a normal user, so the QTopia environment and standard applications need to be improved so they can compete with everything else.

Use OpenZaurus and while crashes still appear (I assume 3.2 will eventually, though I haven't had a full crash since it first came out), crashes will not lose all your data, since it's written to flash.

Also, my Linux box hasn't crashed this year, and I can't recall any crashes last ye-- no, wait, there was one slew, but it was an icky driver which I got rid of. I'd say a pretty good track record for a system built almost entirely from CVS.

Can't remember any crashes this year or last on any other Linux boxes I manage that I can think of (8 boxes off the top of my head).

I guess you sort of missed OpenZaurus, which addresses all of the concerns you list here? Ah, well, that's okay, you're an AC. :-)

Having the source is nice,

That might be nice, but OpenZaurus doesn't even give you the source. Notice their download page has binary images, but no source (which is against GPL). Elsewhere, there are instructions to get the "buildroot", which is not source code (according to the definitions in the GNU GPL). Instead, it is patches which could possibly be applied to 3rd party packages to create the source code.

The OpenZaurus website suggests some of their software is GPL licensed (which makes sense, if it includes Linux), but they make little visible effort to obey that license.

Having the source is nice,

That might be nice, but OpenZaurus doesn't even give you the source. Notice their download page has binary images, but no source (which is against GPL). Elsewhere, there are instructions to get the "buildroot", which is not source code (according to the definitions in the GNU GPL). Instead, it is patches which could possibly be applied to 3rd party packages to create the source code.

The OpenZaurus website suggests some of their software is GPL licensed (which makes sense, if it includes Linux), but they make little visible effort to obey that license.

Having the source is nice,

That might be nice, but OpenZaurus doesn't even give you the source. Notice their download page has binary images, but no source (which is against GPL). Elsewhere, there are instructions to get the "buildroot", which is not source code (according to the definitions in the GNU GPL). Instead, it is patches which could possibly be applied to 3rd party packages to create the source code.

The OpenZaurus website suggests some of their software is GPL licensed (which makes sense, if it includes Linux), but they make little visible effort to obey that license.

According to kergoth's posting to the OZ news page, support for the 5600 is "forthcoming". That link also gives a timeline of three to four months for OZ 3.4, but one month or so for the 3.3 development series that will probably include 5600 support.

As for being an early adopter, I envy you, but the price drop on the 5500 when the 5600 came out was just too tempting!

I just wish DZ had gotten further off the ground nearly as much as I wish OZ or the Sharp rom were based upon X11.

Anyways, OpenZaurus is so far ahead of the Sharp rom that I won't even bother with this new version.

The Zaurus has had a high-performance open source replacement ROM for a long time. It is OpenZaurus. There are some good reasons to use it.

The Zaurus has had a high-performance open source replacement ROM for a long time. It is OpenZaurus. There are some good reasons to use it.

You may want to try OpenZaurus instead. It uses Opie (a gorgeous fork of Qtopia), gives you better control over how memory is used, contains a ton of improved applications, includes support for all the old applications, and runs an updated Linux kernel.

Read more about why you would want to run OpenZaurus here.

You may want to try OpenZaurus instead. It uses Opie (a gorgeous fork of Qtopia), gives you better control over how memory is used, contains a ton of improved applications, includes support for all the old applications, and runs an updated Linux kernel.

Read more about why you would want to run OpenZaurus here.

Although it wasn't on the list, Wellenreiter is really great wireless scanner. Plus, it runs on the Zaurus under OZ3, which makes it great for less conspicuous scanning since you don't have to lug a laptop around.

POSIX-compatible kernel is completely inappropriate for a Palm-style handheld.

It takes much more than a kernel to be POSIX compatible. Using Linux in no way implies all the POSIX miscellany (although that's what the other poster wanted).

However, the more important point is that new PDAs being designed today are not "Palm style" handhelds. Today's new hardware is completely different from the 1996 PalmPilots. A minimalist, single-tasking, manual allocation API that was fine for scraping along in 1 megabyte of RAM becomes a drawback moving into a future of 64+ megabytes and always-on WiFi networking. Analogies to MS-DOS and the hardware evolution from 086 to Pentium are fully applicable.

How about a 47K full scientific calculator?

Ok, is 23k acceptable? (opie-calculator) And if it had been targeted for a smaller device, with a 160x160 2 bit screen instead of something better than 1991-era VGA, the size would be even smaller. Games for a more powerful PDA like a PocketPC or Zaurus will often use around 8 times as much graphical data than a minimalist Palm version. The programmers could reduce that storage use if they wanted, but they feel customers demand the artwork.

Let me mention that the Zaurus is a bad PDA, because Sharp bought to fully into the idea that providing an interface basically compatible with desktop Unix (POSIX + Qt) would magically provide them with a suite of great PIM applications. But they ignored good old-fashioned listening to the customers and watching the competition. The fact that desktop-like programming worked on the device lead them to ship naively developed programs that, while functioning, were not intuitive, fast, or scalable. And the color screen let them draw pretty icons and shaded buttons that become unreadable in normal lighting conditions, where a monochrome Palm is still somewhat legible.

The root of the Zaurus problem is that the manufacturer neither paid developers for continual software improvements in response to customer feedback, nor fully open-sourced their code to permit "community" upgrades. It's taken more than a year for the open-source replacement software to become adequate, and the Zaurus lost a big opportunity for marketshare in that time.

I for one wasn't, but to quote an example where I believe this hasnt applied - removal of copy protection for the purposes of compatibility (playing dvds on linux).

If the above example is wrong in some way, then would that provision allow the development of an open source driver for SD cards for the sharp zaurus SL-5500 for use in openzaurus, assuming of course that it was reverse engineered and not obtained by other means? Because this would be specifically for the purposes of compatibility, and something in which I hold great interest.

The Ambicom card you probably got from Best Buy like me did *not* work with the Sharp ROM OOtB, and as soon as I can get my hands on a 64MB CF card I'm flashing to OZ3.2.

Incidentally, I really don't feel the included PIM apps are bad, especially the Hancom apps which you can transfer from your own Sharp image to the OZ one after installation.

If you want an organizer and nothing else, go Palm. If you want an incredibly flexible, capable handheld computer with a builtin keyboard and tons of software, go OpenZaurus. :)

A failed OpenZaurus flash cannot break your Zaurus. It's impossible. So there's no need to be "brave" -- it will work. Or if it doesn't, well, you're safe. The downside is the need for a CF card to flash, and a common problem is that copying the file to the CF card on your Zaurus results in a corrupt file (since the usbdnet driver sucks so much) -- make sure to md5sum it before flashing.

A problem mentioned in the review is the horribleness of the usbdnet drivers. These work in OpenZaurus.

Not to mention, we've got a cooler website. Oh, there are other advantages too. And the feed has zillions of cool software packages.

The site did not state one single benefit of openZaurus over the original install.

They tried to give some reasons, although it's true that their website design isn't perfect. It could easily be much more informative.

However, the official Zaurus support site is even more audience-hostile. (It's a litany of website-usability errors)

You might find it a good thing to contact some of the developers at the OpenZaurus project - they have experience compiling custom Kernels for the Z, which involves setting it for the 32mb SL-5000D and 64mb SL-5500.

Fonts are fine for PDA use. They don't run X (unless you add it!), they run embedded-QT. The 5500s included Opera as a browser, although I prefer konqueror-embedded.

In fact, I prefer OpenZaurus in almost all ways. They've had jffs support for some time, and it's a simple process to mount /home on a 256M SD card. With that config, my 32M 5500D has more available RAM than a Sharp ROM configured 64M 5500.

I should finally get around to joining that. Now that I've purchased one of these (should be arriving sometime next week), I can take it with me and have a ball beaming packages back and forth with all the other members :)

Anyone have any experience with OpenZaurus? I'd jump on it as soon as I found it, but it doesn't seem to include a decent PIM suite like the Hancom one that comes with the Sharp ROM image.

If it's anything like the distro for the iPaq, I might think twice, as that's seemed to be a mite crashy every since I installed it.

Guess I did a fabulous job NOT backing up my WinCE contacts and notepad files first. :-/

Actually, there's less. With the Crow Rom or OpenZaurus, you can get different Kernels that let you use your ram as swap/application: 64/0, 48/16, etc.

More karma to burn:

OZ doesn't have an email client. OZ is just the underlying filesystem and system, not the gui or the applications. Opie is the

The phrase "OpenZaurus has an email client" is factual. Here it is (and there may be more)

http://www.openzaurus.org/official/unstable/feed/o pie-mail2_0.0.9-20030317_arm.ipk

The fact that it came from someplace else and wasn't directly written by the OpenZaurus team, doesn't mean their distribution doesn't have an email client. They probably didn't write the kernel either, but no one would claim OZ doesn't have one. If you download and compile OZ, an email client will pop out.

Additionally, The complaint "OpenZaurus's email client is unworkable" is a true statement, and a valuable piece of data for someone considering the OZ system. The Zaurus as shipped includes an email client that, while poor in many regards, at least can download from a normal POP3 server. Last I checked, the Opie mailer is IMAP only.
(Yes, some people may prefer IMAP, and it may work fine for them. But it's no good to the average user.)

More karma to burn:

OZ doesn't have an email client. OZ is just the underlying filesystem and system, not the gui or the applications. Opie is the

The phrase "OpenZaurus has an email client" is factual. Here it is (and there may be more)

http://www.openzaurus.org/official/unstable/feed/o pie-mail2_0.0.9-20030317_arm.ipk

The fact that it came from someplace else and wasn't directly written by the OpenZaurus team, doesn't mean their distribution doesn't have an email client. They probably didn't write the kernel either, but no one would claim OZ doesn't have one. If you download and compile OZ, an email client will pop out.

Additionally, The complaint "OpenZaurus's email client is unworkable" is a true statement, and a valuable piece of data for someone considering the OZ system. The Zaurus as shipped includes an email client that, while poor in many regards, at least can download from a normal POP3 server. Last I checked, the Opie mailer is IMAP only.
(Yes, some people may prefer IMAP, and it may work fine for them. But it's no good to the average user.)

Karma to burn (not like it really matters anyway)!
OZ doesn't have an email client. OZ is just the underlying filesystem and system, not the gui or the applications. Opie is the default GUI/application set that OZ uses. PicoGUI is really coming along, though, and that's another option for a GUI.

I can't dispute your claims on the Revo, however, because I've never owned one. I can say that I prefer my Zaurus over my old Visor Deluxe, however, even though most people claim PalmOS is "better". The interface surely isn't better and it's a nightmare to develop for, which is a big reason I like the Zaurus. If there's not an application out there that does what I want the way I want it I don't have to go spend hours upon hours learning new APIs just to make a small application. I can just use my knowledge of linux development and qt and directly apply that.

If you want really cheap you still might be able to get a SL5000 which is below SL5500. I love my Zaurus, running Open Zaurus which give you Konquerer and with a CF Wifi gives a really cool portable table like client. Mixed with VNC for remote admin and SSH for cli interfaces.
Also make a cool MP3 player with cheap SD cards. There is so much I could write. Just get one. It rocks

Rus

The sharp zaurus is one of the best tools ever. I have used it in many different situations where before I would have had to grab my laptop. Using Minicom I have programmed routers with the nifty serial cable. I have spent many hours playing Dopewars and Wyvern (a pretty nifty graphical mud). The sharp image comes with Opera and is readable even at the furthest zoom (-4 or something.) My options are NOT restricted by sharp, there is even OpenZaurus (or OZ as the Z junkies call it.) The walkthroughs on the pages are mostly made for Linux noobs.

It runs Kismet (with the special socket drivers I can run low power for about 2 hours.) The software library is always growing, and the developers are happy to share their techniques for cross compiling/QT developing.

The wonderful thing about the Zaurus, is people already have developed and even COMPILED programs for the arm that run just fine on the Z, (mostly Ipaq/other linux SA device developers) but that means an even BIGGER software library.

The community is so helpful, you may be asking questions in the #zaurus channel in irc.openprojects.org and the person answering your question, just might have been the one developing the program you are asking about. It is not infrequent to hear "#Zaurus:So_and_so Yeah here that version is kinda buggy, I just compiled the new one here."

I have to mention Zauruszone even though it is no where near the community it used to be, there still are useful links

Does all that, with a kickass k/b. I can't imagine using PalmOS with graffitti and all that bs.

For those that are wondering, yes the Zaurus runs real Linux. Yes, Debian has been ported. Yes, a better pda environment than sharp's is under development. Yes, having a wifi CF card and a 256mb SD card is the high life. Yes you can connect that that serial terminal or k/b up.

Think i'm gonna hold this linux-on-ipaq adventure until the SD memory cards get some kind of support.

Unfortunately, due to the wonderful DMCA, we have no way of providing support for SD cards in our new kernel. The code for the SD driver used with .6 is not available, and any attempts to reverse engineer the driver will land us in jail. As of now, our best option is to port the IPaq MMC driver to the Zaurus, which will support MMC, but not SD cards.