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Why don't you educat yourself?

http://www.imore.com/will-apple-ever-bring-back-black-macbook/

When Apple first introduced the MacBook, you could get it in white or black. The black version, of course, cost an extra $200 for the coolness factor. Considering that my MacBook lasted for eight years, it was a worthwhile investment.

When my Black MacBook stopped working, I took it into the Apple Store. Most the Apple employees heard about the Black MacBook (discontinued in 2008) but never saw one in person. They took turns looking at it. Surprisingly, despite being a six-year-old laptop at the time, the Apple Store replaced the keyboard top and battery with identical replacement parts.

Did you stick an Apple logo on a Thinkpad? :-D

You must work at Google. :P

That is great service support indeed. And I can see why you wouldn't let go of this model.

P.S. I wasn't aware of black macbooks (but I have never owned a mac) - and saw an opportunity to sneak in some stinkpad love.

On a side note, check out the new XPS 13. Those near zero bezels look mighty nice.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-1...

Like the Sharp Aquos phone that is near bezel-less.

http://www.sharpusa.com/ForHom...

(Sorry for the OT - got carried away a bit)

The TV menus, decoding, and such are, I believe, Linux driven. The firmware can be upgraded via a USB key.

http://mktg.sharpusa.com/newsletters/files/gpl.htm

My new Sharp LCD has a *nix kernel:
http://mktg.sharpusa.com/newsletters/files/gpl.htm

Phillips showed one off back in 2004. A very quick search turns up several good examples with varying features and capability.

That won't stop the Apple fanbois from drooling and going "OMG STEVE'S SUCH A GENIUS!" and acting like Apple invented it, though.

I think he's looking for one of these.

http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1773,00.html

But I used to work for a solar photovoltaic system installer, and I was very well-versed with the prices for the common residential customer, at least in California, and I have somewhat kept up to date with what's going on in the industry.

Back in 2003, a 2.5 kw AC system cost about $10k to $12k to install, depending on various conditions, such the type of roof. Prices usually scale proportionally as you increase the size of the system. Nowadays, I hear the figure is about $16k to $18k.

Why the increase of the prices?

One of the biggest factors is that, at least in California, the CEC rebate (for customers of most power utility companies) was $4.50 per watt back around ~2002, going down by twenty to fifty cents every six months. It used to cover more than half the cost of any installation up to 30 kW.

These days it's $2.60 per watt. While solar panel prices have gone down a bit, it no longer covers more than half the cost.

Other factors resulting in higher prices: the value of the dollar has gone down in the last couple years, and since many major photovoltaic panel manufacturers (ie: sharp, kyocera) and inverter manufacturers(Sunny Boy) are foreign, that results in higher prices here. Also, due to worldwide demand of silicon in the last couple years, there has actually been a shortage of panels for the company I used to work with. (though I don't expect the shortage to last forever)

Beyond that, the labor part of the installation usually significantly adds to the bill -- my guess, probably around $5k for a typical residential installation of 2.5kW, depending on the contractor.

That's not to discourage people from getting a solar photovoltaic system installed. Technology and mass production will always result in a downward force on prices. Even if solar photovoltaic systems increase in price, it's really the cost per watt from the local energy utility company in comparison to the cost of solar installations that customers consider. And energy utility prices in California are some of the highest in the country, and mostly continue to increase.

The Symbian OS is primarly for smartphones, and unfortunately they usually make for lousy PDAs. But if you're still interested check out the Nokia E61 or Sony Ericsson M600i. Same could be said about RIM's Blackberry OS.

There's also an plethora of quirky, mostly-discontinued embedded linux PDAs, including the geek-famous Zaurus.

If you thought having only two major players for PDA OS's was unfortunate, Palm has started replacing the Palm OS with Windows Mobile on some of their own hardware.

Sharp also sells the PN-655U, another 65" 1080p LCD.

I purchased the Westinghouse LVM-37w1 a few months back from Best Buy for the then-low price of $1850 (I also got 18-months same-as-cash and $120 in gift certificates).

Most slashdotters would probably be surprised to find out that connecting their PC using the RBG or DVI inputs of most HDTVs isn't all it's cracked up to be. I probably spent a year or so researching my next television and something I learned (by visiting AV Science forums) was that using the analog input on most TVs limits you to to a 4:3 resolution of 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 1024. Using DVI was hit and miss: Depending on the make and model of the television, you'd either get a blank screen or be limited to 4:3 resolutions.

There didn't seem to be a television that was completely PC-friendly. Samsung DLPs seemed to be the closest to plug-and-play as you could get. You had to change some settings on the TV and mess around with your display drivers, but you could make full use of every pixel on the screen. The same couldn't be said with most other HDTVs on the market.

Until I'd come across this thread.

Anyway, when I went to check the Westy out it was next to a 37" Sharp AQUOS which is considered by many to be "the best" in it's category. But you know what? After I spent 40 minutes twiddling around with the settings on both televisions I came to the conclusion that while the Sharp had the better picture quality, it wasn't $2000 better. (The 37" Sharp was being sold at $4000 at the time.) There were other factors as well. The native resolution of the Sharp was 1366 x 768 (whereas the Westinghouse runs at 1920 x 1080) and from what I've read at the AVSForums, all the Sharp LCDs are unable to be used as PC monitors without purchasing a Gefen HDCP compliant DVI switch which "fixes" the EDID data coming from the display.

As a television, the "Westy" doesn't have the best picture quality I've seen. (It's black-levels could be better.) But it's not bad, either. As a PC monitor, it's untouchable. It's useful to have so much screen real-estate for coding. And for gaming? Well, Half-Life 2 at 1920 x 1080 is incredible.

Note: The westy doesn't have a tuner (HD or otherwise), hence why it's labeled as a "Video Monitor".

I have a Sharp Wizard OZ-730 (http://www.epinions.com/Sharp_OZ_730PC_Electronic _Organizer__PDAs___Handhelds_OZ730PC) and it has a nice size QWERTY keyboard on it. Sadly, it is now outdated, and can not even dream of doing most of the things that this artical speaks of. When the Wizard line went to the stylus pen, I swore it off. Looking again at Sharp's site, I found this product (http://www.sharpusa.com/products/TypeLanding/0,10 56,74,00.html) that looks more like my beloved OZ-730, upgraded to more modern specifications (although it runs damn windows). Its called a Mobilion, and the website makes it seem as if the product is discontinued.

Does anyone have one of these Mobilions, or ever seen/used one? If not, does anyone know of a good replacement for the Wizard OZ-700 series that has some of the features that newer PDAs have? I would like for one that would be able to keep a schedule, take notes or memos, keep birthdays and anniversaries, store telephone and adress information, keep user files (like databasing to keep an index of things like my CD collection), and light web features (e-mail and light web-browsing would be nice, but not a nessesity). If anyone has any information/suggestions, I would really appreciate a reply.

For the technically minded: the Linux/QTopia-based Zaurus: The keyboard rocks, you can develop applications for it, and thousands of developers have already done so, so there are a lot of useful, free apps out there.

Even better, if you already own an iPaq, install Familiar and enjoy the stability and openness of Linux just like on the Zaurus.

This technology looks like it could be used in palmtop devices.
The Sharp Zaurus series of handhelds had one device with a 4 GB drive in it.
The palmOne LifeDrive may also have uses for this technology.

But, above all, it would be best in the laptops, both for smaller size and for extended battery life.

The SDG Systems product page.

The manuals (pdf).

Sharp has several models of 45" LCDs that are 1080p. The technology is available, but really expensive. See here: http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,10 58,1426,00.html

I use a 32" LCD TV as my main monitor (and a almost broken CRT as my second monitor). It's got a great picture. Playing games and DVDs is flawless and a total blast. Only thing hurting is my wallet.

Forget palm, get a Zaurus and have it your way.

No silly application-file ownership, no proprieratory OSes (can run an opensource linux, including OpenZaurus, Gentoo, and probably others. I particularly like the Gentoo build, as I can use distcc with my home machine to do the actual builds for my zaurus all over WLAN. Then sit back and reap the rewards of hundreds of precompiled packages and thousands more that you can build yourself using the ARM toolchain.

I don't know about you, but these things when compared to a tunsten just seem a whole lot sexier to me.

Yes. I have.

Never mind that the grandparent was talking about CRT vs LCD technology for televisions, not workstation monitors. Why are we bringing up these ultra-high resolutions when HDTV is 1920x1080 and 1280x720? We should be talking about 1920x1080 LCDs like Sharp's LC-45GX6U AQUOS or direct-view HDTV CRTs like Sony's KD-36XS955.

Then we can argue about dark scene detail, sharpness, color range/accuracy, fast-motion scenes, etc.

This "quest" for a Linux mapping solution reminded me of my own; I've recently been thinking about (rather procrastinating) over buying a Garmin IQUE 3600. In my reading and comp'ing of pdas with GPS/Mapping software, I looked at the Linux-OS-based Sharp Zaurus which gets a lot of (well earned) attention here.

I was looking for more than the Zaurus was offering, but here's what I found and bookmarked. I'm sure others here using the Zaurus will be able to fill in the blanks and share other gps mapping OSS projects out there, if they exist, which I wasn't able to find, other than three below. Zaurus Users Group might have some info as well. Bill Kendrick is also a good resource about these.

SOFTWARE:
GPSGaugeLite
MFG: Serialio
http://www.serialio.com/products/GPSGaugeLite.htm

SOFTWARE:
qpeGPS
http://qpegps.sourceforge.net/

Screenshots | Tested GPS Units

SOFTWARE:
zGPS
http://www.handango.com/sharp/PlatformProductDetai l.jsp?siteId=423.............
http://tinyurl.com/6lau7

HARDWARE:
Model Name: CF Card -GPS Navigation Receiver
Manufacturer: AmbiCom
http://myzaurus.com/acc_Comm10.asp

HARDWARE:
Serial GPS Receiver
Model Name:GPS-U2-Z9
Manufacturer:Serialio.com
http://myzaurus.com/acc_Serial10.asp

If it already runs under Linux, it might not be too hard for them to port it to a Zaurus. However, with Sharp's limited distribution in the US and Europe, I doubt they'd even try. It's too bad because I be the same app could run without recompiling on OpenZaurus or even an iPAQ running Familiar.

Of course, this isn't the only handheld option. The TomTom folks also have PDA editions for more popular devices.

...causes cancer. All of those devices run XP. QED. The best palmtop is a model of Zaurus.

It probably doesn't work with TT and T2 for the same reasons that the existing Sandisk product doesn't: the power requirements of the card. It's a bit of an engineering problem because the TT and T2 SDIO sockets apparently were not designed for this kind of use, and Sandisk has been laboring to get their wifi card to work with even the Zire 71.

You can read more about the Sandisk situation here.

It's not really news that a wifi card has been released for a limited selection of Palm handhelds, since a product's already out there from Sandisk.

An interesting news story would be an interview with Palm executives on why the heck it's taken so long and why support for wifi is so limited. One can guess that they're committing the typical blunder of trying not to hurt sales of the Tungsten C, which has built in wifi. I wish the people who ran Handera would take over Palm (or PalmOne, or whatever they're calling themselves this month).

I hate the fact that I'm going to have to consider an iPaq for my next handheld because I've lost faith in Palm to deliver great products. I prefer PalmOS to the Windows Pocket thingy. Say, maybe it's time to take another look at Zaurus

You mean like a Zaurus? A friend of mine has the SL-C860 -- it's like an ickle solid state Linux laptop! :)

It sounds like you might want a Zaurus.

Anyone know of any developer resources for the Zaurus line? The official Sharp DevNet is down... and has been down for a long time. Until they get with it and support their developers I don't see how they are going to get many apps.

JOhn

bah. what do you think an sl-6000 is?

oh, i guess you mean you're excited about the x86 part... feh...

...or you could get a Zaurus now.

Looks like a low power server to me. Or a GPS unit with software you can update. I'd sit one on the dash of my van.

It'd also be great for emulation. The thing just screams MAME. Or Ultimate Amiga Emulator.

Assuming there are emulators for Linux (never looked, but I can't imagine they aren't out there) it sounds like you're in the market for a Zaurus.

There's a living review at Mobile Tech News.

And don't forget Sharp's site.

One Sharp doesn't even list it as a Zaurus product on their website.
And another thing is that's the picture of their beta product they showed at a conference only several months ago as a beta or alpha (Found old slashdot article)

Another thing is Sharp always lists the newer PDAs on their product page way before it's released for purchase of anykind. OK so it's official I ruined the April Fools joke. :p

"Sharp has also incorporated a sliding thumb keyboard into this model."

Didnt all the 5x00 series have the same type of keyboard?

Watching TechTV today and on thier news program, TechLive, they talked about a new laptop computer that was released by Sharp called the Actius RD3D. Sharp is calling the laptop the first "auto-stereo" laptop. I don't have much by way of tech specs but check out the article and sharp's web page for the details. sounds interesting but not practicle.

SL-6000 Press Release

I guess this story is true. It explains why the Palm and the Pocket PC have had no luck with sales, and the Zaurus has done so well. /sarcasm

People want something that is easy to use, has lots of add of parts (camera, CF readers, network cards), and runs the software they want.

I don't see any reason anyone should buy an OSS handheld, unless they hate MS and Palm that much, or are going to port some of their apps to the device.

I'm a bit confused. The last book I read didn't require memory cards, but to distinguish between that and the internal flash memory I used seems pedantic to say the best. The battery is proprietary, and can cost up to $100.

Solar rechargers are available, but they really don't seem worth the hassle. (Sure would be cool to see THAT under the tree, though)

I'll tell ya one thing, though. It sure is nice to have it glow in the dark.

Oh, and check out the best ebook reader for the Zaurus

Really? I really want to accuse you of lying. :P

It's not proof, but check the "Display" row in this comparison from Sharp.

It shows all external components as being identical. Only the guts (CPU, ram, battery, speaker) are different. And a fatter case to hold 'em.

The SL-5500 runs as root, but the newer SL-5600 runs as a normal user.

But a program to read from XML could also be written to use constant memory,

The part which bothers me in practice, is that it can't take constant time. To reach the Nth entry of an XML file, you've got to read through everything that comes before it. (Technically, you should read the rest of the file too, but a 2x factor doesn't matter in the long run).

This has been a problem for some popular applications. For instance, /. just reported on the new Zaurus 5600 PDA, a more powerful followup to the 5500 model. The prior version used XML to store the PIM data, but the newer (faster) model won't do this, as it's simply not scalable to more than 1000 entries.

(Technically, the old Zaurus data format might not've been XML either, since no DTDs were ever published)

The reason is probably that without using an add-on Flash card, the old SL-5500 stored a lot of stuff in RAM, which was easily lost. The only reason I can imagine why they lowered the amount of SDRAM is for battery life, although that seems kind of short-sighted to me.

Java programs aren't cross-platform. Otherwise I could download a single package to run on whatever OS I have.

Java is a platform, or at least Sun calls it that. Following that reasoning leads to absurdities like claiming Super Mario Brothers or StarCraft are cross-platform, since they work in emulators. You could say I'm being pedantic, that "running on a platform on platform A" is practically equivalent to "running on platform A", but that's not so.

To the point, suggesting the use of Swing imposes serious limitations on the project- mainly that it has to be written in Java and run on a JVM. The performance penalties are appreciable. (It is possible to use Swing to display a non-Java program, but ugly and impractical).

The other GUI toolkits that got good recommendations generally have multiple language bindings for them

PersonalJava is sold on devices with 64 megabytes of RAM, or even more.

Ha. Answered my own question:

Sharp Zaurus 5600
Stay Connected
With wireless connectivity a must for any enterprise environment, the Zaurus SL-5600 comes wireless capable* with dual expansion slots and built-in drivers for numerous Compact Flash connectivity solutions including industry-leading 802.11b wireless LAN adaptors, CDPD Wireless modem, 10/100 Ethernet, and 56K V.90 modems and a plan to introduce 1xRTT and GPRS in 2003. The built-in Compact Flash (Type I and Type II) and SD / MMC slots allow users to add any Compact Flash-based connectivity solution in the Compact Flash - slot and still have room to add more memory in the SD slot without necessitating a jacket, eliminating the need to add to the size and the cost of the unit.

14MB of Photos: http://www.zauruszone.com/files/sl5600pics.zip

Pretty much:
Linux 2.4.18
64MB of Flash
32 RAM
1700 Battery
Speaker and Mic added
Will be out around end of december and early January
Probaly we have the same price as the 5500 when it came out (~$500)
The mini laptop that came out that everyone saw also was anounced today, but that is for Sharp Japan.

Benjamin Meyer

14MB of Photos: http://www.zauruszone.com/files/sl5600pics.zip

Pretty much:
Linux 2.4.18
64MB of Flash
32 RAM
1700 Battery
Speaker and Mic added
Will be out around end of december and early January
Probaly we have the same price as the 5500 when it came out (~$500)
The mini laptop that came out that everyone saw also was anounced today, but that is for Sharp Japan.

Benjamin Meyer

Well, not CPU-wise or RAM-wise, at least. Take the Sharp Zaurus: 200MHz ARM processor, 64 MB ram + 16MB ROM,TFT LCD 3.5" with 240x320 pixel, 65,536 colors. And if you have enough money, you can add to it an IBM 1GB micro-drive.
I'm dreaming to use it as a substitute for the 5-years-old laptop I currently carry around : Pentium 150 MHz, 80 MB, 1.4 GB, 10" DSCN LCD 800x600. It would be sweet to have a full-featured PC in your pocket(almost).

Yes, it's on screen, so you can see what you're writing. I like it a lot better. You can see what the manual (pdf) says about it (page 37), but I'd also recommend trying it out in a store. It's what I use primarily. The keyboard is just icing on the cake...

It was $334 when I bought it at Buy.com two months ago ($347.99 now) & I've fallen in love. Seriously, I thought they were kidding when I read the specs for the new Palms. Compare it to the Zaurus specs and decide for yourself...

Last I checked, Amiga was working on a multimedia API for small devices, with a focus on games. The Amiga environment is present on the new Sharp Zaurus. The SDK looks interesting, in spite of it being java-based. :)