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COMDEX and Linux Handhelds
code_slayer sent us a cool review of linux handhelds at COMDEX. You can see
Qt Embedded (which has been released under the GPL)
as well as MicroWindows, and a bunch of prototype boards. I'm still waiting for the 802.11 wireless linux handheld capable of displaying remote X applications, but it looks like we're getting closer.
Oh man, I've waited years to finally be an authority on a Slashdot article... wait a sec, let me bask in the glory..... Ok, I'm over it.
Here are some URLS for those who want to know more about Microwindows and the stuff running specifically on the Ipaq:
www.microwindows.org (Microwindows source and home page)
embedded.censoft.com (Century software home page)
Do you have Linux and a DotPal? Click here now!
Isn't it the software and hardware features that matter rather than the OS? Palm OS has the most applications. Except for l33t-ness, why would anyone switch from a Palm handheld to a Linux one?
I realize these questions are annoying, but there had better be a good answer if you ever expect Linux to win in the market.
The people working on Linux for handhelds (at least the people at handhelds.org anyway) are NOT interested in reproducing your Linux desktop that is running on your AMD 1.4Ghz PC with the 64MB AGP video card. They are interested in making the Linux kernel work on handheld computers so that lots of other really smart people can come up with a really nice UI schema that will run on top of it. Read the list archives a bit to realize that these people *really get it.*
Lots of people are going to be talking about "the huge Linux distro" installed on their handheld computer, thinking about their home PC. Again, that's not the way it works. The Linux distro build by the handhelds.org people has the kernel, X11, some nice utilities, and fits into about 8MB. (Yes, that's the TCP/IP stack, fbdev X11, glibc, and most of the other usual suspects.) The point is to make a working operating *environment*, not a fancy e-based desktop. They know that that's not appropriate for the handheld form factor.
Like the article says, the point is *not* Linux-centric technofetishism. The point is to literally "open up" the capabilities of the devices to make them more accessible to the people who use them. I own a Palm IIIxe and I love it. I also am having a very hard time wrapping my head around the Palm API and trying to find decent tools to program it under Linux. If I have Linux running on my iPAQ, using Qt either under X11 or with Qt/Embedded, then I don't need to learn a new paradigm and can start programming my iPAQ right away. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll understand how to program for this sort of UI, but that at least will be my fault if I screw it up. The fact that now I *can* easily screw it up on my own is the important part.
I think what everyone's assuming is that the people who are involved in these projects are under the same mistaken assumption that Microsoft has been for so many years with WinCE that the whole point is to reproduce the desktop on a really tiny computer. BUT THEY'RE NOT! Everyone involved really understands that that's a BAD IDEA.
The reason, IMHO, that this stereotype keeps propagating is that right now, just getting Linux to boot on any of the handheld devices commonly available in the market is such an accomplishment that nobody's really been able to put a whole lot of effort into coming up with a good UI for the things now that we can actually use them. Qt/Embedded is a GREAT BIG step in that direction, and hopefully will make people start realizing that this is actually REALLY COOL STUFF and not just done for the sake of doing it.
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My mom's going to kick you in the face!
IMO, the cascading "Start menu" originated in Windows 95 had problems even at 640x480 resultion, when it would fill the entire screen and start popping submenus out everywhere. The solution now used on Windows CE 3 is similar to the Apple Menu found on Mac OS (up to v. 9) where applications and macros are placed on a single-level menu with cascading used only when necessary. This works much better, because there is usually only one level of cascading at most. This complies more with sensible UI guidelines.
For more information, click here.
802.11 wireless and X? Grab your favorite Palm computer... locate the existing wireless solution for your hardware. Download VNC if you have a Windows Ce. If you don't have CE, than go get PalmVNC and wirelessly compute! Geez, what kind of geek ARE you if you couldn't figure that out?!
The Compaq iPaq Pocket PC, which can run Linux and X, can be hooked up to an expansion sleeve with a CardBus slot. You can then stick in any old 802.11 card. I've seen it working, and it rocks.
[I do work for Compaq, but I'm a hacker, not a marketroid.]
CVS is teh suck. Use Vesta instead.
When I can run gcc, actually link against *real* libs, and enter text at a rate faster than 1 word per minute.
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
I love my Palm. I also think that USR, 3COM, and now Palm have done *very* little to advance it from the Pilot1000.
:) :) :)
- There were 8mb hacks YEARS ago. Yet Palm still continues to make products out of various RAM-limited configurations, and using more than 8mb on a palm requires a MAJOR HACK (tm)
- The screen res is limited, and can't be easily changed so that existing apps can use expanded screen real estate. So, palm is going to have big trouble moving to a new screen size, and that will break compatibility with all of the current palms.
- 8-bit color isn't enough color
- why has it taken so long for a Color palm V? I contend it's because Palm has to space out their new products to create the perception of a product roadmap since they're now so limited by the capabilities of their current platform.
- Palm has a great form factor, but as far as CPU and storage goes, it's far too feeble. Do you think voice recognition is going to work on a 20mhz cpu and fit in a few mb of ram?
OTOH, If I imagine a linux-based PDA, I can imagine that I will never have to worry about my vendor stopping support for old hardware, and I can easily migrate to the next generation platform without losing my apps or my data
and best of all, imagine having gcc on your PDA, and recompiling your own apps!
That's never gonna happen on a Palm or Wince.
I'm still waiting for the 802.11 wireless linux handheld capable of displaying remote X applications, but it looks like we're getting closer.
It seems to me that VNC has been ported to the palm. Don't remember where I saw this, but you could certainly "use X apps" on your palm if this is true...
Heh, I think the handhelds.org people must have had something to do with the placement of the "Windows Powered" logo on the iPaq. It conviently hides under any expansion pack, or the basic style sleeve that came with the iPaq so once Linux is running, people can't easially find the Windows logo.
Now to just get a tiny Tux sticker for the front of mine and I'll be set.
David E. Weekly
David E. Weekly
Code / Think / Teach / Learn
h4x0r for
According to this UpsideToday story, one of the most popular things at this year's Comdex is not Embedded Linux Handhelds, it's a headband with little red blinking demon horns from BSDi. And we all know how popular the booth babes from BSDi were at various Linux conventions ...
As the story says:
Attendees ranging from twentysomething men to white-haired couples were lined up to collect the headbands from the software and services company, which uses a dough-eyed red demon character as its mascot.
Jordan Hubbard, vice president of BSDi, said the company went through 4,000 headbands and tails in just one day.
"They love the horns," he said, and the company loves the brand awareness they create.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
Face it, it's only because MSFT charges too much for their OS for handhelds. When any tech device marketing person can tell you that you must get the price below $500 for a tech device within 18 months, and below $300 within 30 months, it just stands to reason that an OS that costs as much as MSFT charges will eventually lose in the Darwinian struggle of the marketplace, without monopolistic and linking actions.
It's not that Linux is better, it's that it does the same thing for a cheaper price.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
"1337" upside down on a calculator is obviously "LEE!", a reference to Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man. Obviously the poster thinks that the device has a lot of power, although it expresses that power in slow motion.
Bill who?
Windows CE is a lightwieght OS that happens to have all the features you'd need in an OS, from a TCP/IP suite to a decent file system to a decent UI. It's also relatively robust. In 2 megs, Microsoft have achieved what they failed to do in 200 with more "mainstream" operating systems.
It is a desktop operating system running in the wrong environment, but that makes the marketing bad not the OS. It's probably the only example of a Microsoft OS I actually have any respect for. *sigh* If only it were open source too...
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You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
What about the infrared interface. I know Linux supports ir interfaces. The question is, do these toys talk to other PDA OSes to exchange addresses etc.? Do they talk to cell phone ir interfaces for internet connectivity well? Any compatibility issues, or is the Linux and application ir support already advanced and stable enough?
I'm curious what your reasoning here is? I would think they (start menus) are a better idea on a palm computer since they are designed to save space. I haven't extensively used a palm computer with a start menu (WinCE) but it seems like a fine idea to me.
From the same site, this piece suggests that ex-GRiD-exec-turned-Gartner-analyst Ken Dulaney thinks Handspring may be considering a switch from palm OS to Linux.
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Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
Windows does have huge advantages over any other. Think of a company that uses Windows on every system from mainframe (Windows 2000 Datacenter Server) to handheld (Windows CE). They will have a consistent technology for everybody to learn and master, instead of 15 different systems each with a different use. So having Windows on handhelds is justified, because it's a unifying force.
Please. Just because people are trying to put Windows all over the place, doesn't mean that Linux has to play catch-up here as well. Use the right tool for the job, and create standards so that these devices can interface. Where was it written that two devices with different OS's can't communicate?
For more information, click here.
The Linux Community is too hyped on porting to new hardware, and too lax on simplification, and applications.
People use computers to do things, not just as fetish accessories. At least, most people do.
What applications will people run on a Linux handheld? Is someone working on a Linux Host and Handheld system similar to M$ Outlook and similar tools that would allow the primary users of handhelds (people trying to organize their lives) to actually organize contacts, communications, and calendar entries in a unified manner? The Qt/Embedded looked like it had at least the remote half of that pairing...
The Qt/Embedded interface photo looks nice - it even looks simple enough (something a lot of people don't feel about Linux on the desktop), though I don't yet know how complex it is to install (many still have difficulty installing Linux on their desktops - maybe they are idiots, or maybe just busy with the rest of their job... but a lot of these folks buy computers and if Linux wants to rule, the need to be taken into account...)
I love Linux, I love *nix in general, but the dearth of applications and difficulty of installation and maintenance makes it such that I can not use it in my organization, adn thus use it for work without at least as much hassle as using Windows. There is too much emphasis on "gee whiz" and not enough on real work (with the exception of real engineering work, but unfortunately business people, not engineers, control the market - even the computer market)...
I hope that these systems work as well as they look in the pictures, and maybe this will start Linux down the road of acceptance on the Business desktop if developers focus on the host-side applications as well...
o/~ we are pissed, we are pissed, we have to resist... o/~ - ec8or
I hardly think so.
You obviously haven't looked here.
Or here.
In post-9/11 America, the CIA interrogates YOU!
http://www.trolltech.com/ pro ducts/qt/embedded/qpe.html
l tech.com/qt/embedded/palmtop/ soon!
Also, floppy-disk and cassiopia demos. And source!
A mirror will be at http://www.flyingbuttmonkeys.com/mirrors/ftp.trol
-M
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Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Ah, but not much else. X + GTK or whatever is fat. Embedded QT is as big as the X server alone on the handhelds.org stuff (which I'm currently running).
l tech.com/qt/embedded/palmtop/
If you want to try the QT stuff, it's home page, with downloads is here:
http://www.trolltech.com/pro ducts/qt/embedded/qpe.html
Mirror is here:
http://www.flyingbuttmonkeys.com/mirrors/ftp.trol
________________________________________
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Now, X on something like a palm pilot or visor is just a waste of space. But X on one of these wireless webpads that everyone likes to demo but not sell...that's the best thing they can do.
The whole point of one of these webpads is that it's just an extension of the desktop. It's not like my visor, where I keep track of phone numbers, etc. It's soposed to be for when I want to read slashdot on the throne.
What better way to have it an extention of my desktop, then to run all my desktop aps nativly. This is one of the underrated uses of X. THe fact that it can display remotely. The webpad doesn't need any real power, just enough to run the display. My desktop is taking all the cpu load runing the ap.
When this comes, I'll spend money on one. I'd love to be able to do stuff like control xmms form anywhere, read salshdot on the can, and go to landolakes.com in the kitchen so I know how to make a turkey. That's what these things are soposed to be able to let me do. What better way then to do it with X? After all, that's what it's for.
And this just isn't a linux pipedream either. MacOS X having an X server, will be able to do the same thing. And also if I'm not mistaken, doesn't Corel, or one of it's partners ship a product that lets Windows display it's aps remotely to an X server?
Well you can get PalmOS emulators for linux, so if you were running a linux PDA you could have it both ways.
We will be working on documenting the plans for the plotter in the next month. Unfortunatly we are really busy with customer commitments right now. Watch the MontaVista homepage and when the stuff is ready we'll have it up.
--Mark
(One of the designers..)
Why do we care what OS is on our handhelds?
Most of the world doesn't. They also don't care what OS their desktop runs. They just want to use MS Word and see all the cool animations on web pages. In the PDA world, they want to have their schedules, todos, and contacts in a portable format. And maybe play a few games and reference a document or web page.
Isn't it the software and hardware features that matter rather than the OS? Palm OS has the most applications. Except for l33t-ness, why would anyone switch from a Palm handheld to a Linux one?
If Linux proves itself capable of providing a more powerful/capable/efficient/usable PDA, then people might care. Until then, I'm all for linux geeks experimenting with the idea, but I'll continue to use my Newton MessagePad 2100 until something better comes along (it hasn't yet).
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso
That could be a great start for linux to enable Optical Character Recognition in it's scanning programs. If you think about it, if you can recognize handwriting, why not text?
That is a major lack in Linux, and it would IMHO be a really cool thing to offer for free by default with all linux scanning software.
"I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
I'm not a UI theorist, but from personal experience,
a 'button' based UI is more efficiently navigated
than a nested menu on pen-based, small screened hardware.
On my Visor, the 'hot zone' for a launcher is a ~.5 x ~.75 inch box,
whereas on a winCE device, it's at least two ~.25x1.5 inch boxes.
I find the 'square' targets to be easier to hit when I'm in a hurry.
I think that on a small device, particularly one that is designed
for instant access to data, the added speed of easier to hit
targets outweighs the added capacity of nested menus.
Like I said, I'm not a UI theorist, so my conclusions may be completely off-base, but
I personally find the Palm icon view to be much quicker.
(Disclaimer: I've owned both platforms.)
--K
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FYI thats how part of the Lego demo worked. Due to our lack of sleep, we didn't have time to get the drawing program onto the iPaq, so there was a laptop behind the demo displaying the app to the iPaq.
:( The PPC 860 board (drawing machine controller) and iPAQ were supposed to both be wireless.
We are currently tethered at the show w/ a compact flash ethernet card. 802.11 was just not working correctly in the booth.
--Mark
It's about who can be the first to port MAME!
Most of the apps on your desktop would be useless on your palm-top, especially those that are currently available. Sure, when you get a 640x480 palmtop it might approach usable, but you still have the problem of input.
I suppose it'd this kind of thirst which WinCE aims to quench...
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
The article by Michael Hall is incomplete. MontaVista IS demoing a wireless 802.11 ipaq, with applications running over X11 from a remote server. Just what cmdrtaco wanted. And what I wanted. Things like Mozilla "just work" over X to the ipaq and require next to no ram to use. MontaVista is wirelessly controlling a plotter via a custom drawing program via the ipaq.
/usr/local. Plenty of room for apps and data! Xterm/icewm/xclock/Xfb fit into about 16MB of ram when running.
(author's note: I'm one of the guys that did the ipaq and legoplotter demo for MontaVista for this comdex)
There are some advantages to X (and for that matter, Linux) on a handheld that are not immediately obvious to a palm or PocketPC user. The first is - unless you are connected to the net, it makes no sense to be carrying your net enabled applications around with you. With Linux (NFS or X)... just leave your net apps at home or at the office, and display them on your ipaq when you're on the net. Makes sense, no?
Mozilla M18 over X to the ipaq seems to me be much "sweeter" than PocketPC IE, less screen update problems, better formatting. Compare them side by side if you're at the show....
Two is - carrying the wireless ipaq around with a whole bunch of mp3's NFS mounted or shoutcasted is a real trip! - the ipaq or an ipaq-like device is the boom box of the future!
Three is - even with X installed, several apps, the ice window manager, GTK, rsh, ssh, etc - there's still 2MB of (compressible) flash on the usr partition of the ipaqs, and 3MB or so of user rewritable/storable on
Last - fitting Linux onto devices this size -it's just really cool. And a harbringer of things to come. Linux is much more appropo to your handheld than palmos - palmos isn't going to scale, neither is pocketpc, while with linux we can keep porting down from a unified source code development tradition into ever more capable handheld devices.
Some specs on the ipaq: 32MB RAM, 16MB flash, 206Mhz strongarm processor. 12 Bit deep display (viewed as 16 by the X server)
Principal source of kernel development and basic apps: www.handhelds.org, irc: irc.gimp.org #ipaq
You can do this already....Take a look at the work being done at www.handhelds.org. We're doing that at work now.
These Linux PDA folk should take a lesson from the Palm marketers, and supply soft-pornographic pictures of nearly naked women holding the Linux PDA in a strategic spot.
Come on, everyone remembers the naked ballerina holding her Palm, right, the Simply Palm ad?
So why couldn't they round up a few booth babes or Lara Croft wannabees to model these? Who cares how well it works, as long as a sexy babe holds it up, I'll buy.
Ok, the QtP screenshots are cool. Really cool.
But haven't people realized that start menus on palmtops are not a Good Thing!
Why does this UI metaphor keep popping up in places it shouldn't?!
--K
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My Willy is the only handheld I'll ever need! It won't run Linux though.
Any body know if there are plans out for the mindstorm-lego plotter?
Yes I can not spell...Wait....for a second there I almost cared.
The article mentions the people at linux handhelds have gotten wireless up (I assume on the iPAQ)
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
I'm seeing vertical applications being developed for or ported to handhelds that are too big and fat for the Palm but that run acceptably on Pocket PC. Linux could be a worthy competitor in that space.
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Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
There's more info on Microwindows & ViewML here, including the obligatory /. screens hot .
We have ported XBill ( called microBill ) to Microwindows. What more could you ask for?
Comdex is full of posers...Burn Baby, burn. Had to roll up my pant legs, but did manage to find a couple of interesting areas, specifically the Linux Handheld devices which will, hopefully, kill the Pocket PC. Also of interest and related to the above was an application company, SolidStreaming.com, which was doing a variety of demos of live wireless streaming of audio and video, ported to the PocketLinux, the Palm, the Symbian and the PPC platforms - on a bunch of different hardware devices. Very cool, real Dick Tracy kind of stuff. They have a ways to go, but I got the feeling that they know what they are doing, I saw for myself. Just my 2 cents...thought this was interesting as Gates made his keynote, saying that - once again, MS owns or will own this wireless rich media content delivery space. Think again, Bill..
I agree, but I'd suggest the best chance linux has isn't more "powerful/capable/efficient/usable", but just as "powerful/capable/efficient/usable" for < $100 (or < $200 for color, or < $300 for builtin wireless networking).
I love Linux on my desktop, PalmOS on my palmtop. But...
What if I had Linux + X + [KDE | Gnome] on my palmtop, and I could recompile my fav apps to run on it (and deal with the change in screen size somehow) that would mean I could carry my fav apps with me...share data/files from one to the other...in fact have a mini version of my desktop machine in my pocket. Wow.
Think about it: more or less every app that runs on your desktop can also run on your palmtop (screensize/input devices permitting).
That would so monsterously k3wl. Oh, and quite useful, too. :)
-- And when Justice is gone, there is always... Force. --Laurie Anderson, "Oh Superman"
Because it makes a difference to developers, who want to leverage experience we already have. Further, all OSen are not created equal...how is Palm's sound and sound capture support for instance?
Isn't it the software and hardware features that matter rather than the OS?Where do you think software features and hardware support come from?!? The OS is an integral part of the mix.
Palm OS has the most applications. Except for l33t-ness, why would anyone switch from a Palm handheld to a Linux one?Palm has the most handheld applications today. That says nothing about tomorrow. Some reasons developers might want to use Linux on a PDA:
Familiarity with the API.Access to the source code.
Real TCP/IP stack.
Many (free)compilers and other development tools.
Coming hard realtime variants of Linux, like the MontaVista fully preemptive kernel mods (max latency around a millisecond on the way!).
I hope that helped! :-)
(BTW, is there a way to moderate the "Insightful" tag back off the parent post? ;-)
I realize these questions are annoying, but there had better be a good answer if you ever expect Linux to win in the market.One last thought - I bet Linux is in a much better position to support the next PDA superCPU...it's called portability you know... :-)
I beleive that's written somewhere in the Microsoft Employee Handbook.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
Most of the limitations you mention are there for a very, very good reason: 1-2 months power on 2 AAA batteries.
I think that long-lasting, small, light battery is the last hurdle left for truely small portable computers. We can pack as much power as we want into a palm-sized case, but if it has to be rechanged every 2 hours, it is not useful.
"Hmm.... ok, I can delete this directory and all subdirs, here we go, write rm -rf *."
*scribble scribble*
Palmtop displays: rm -rf /*
"No, no, no-------!!!!"
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
It seems Samsung's Yopy was conspicuously absent from this article. Does anybody know whatever happened to this fabulous, seemingly miracle machine? see more on this sexy little device at: http://www.sem.samsung.com/eng/product/digital/pda /
If anybody know where I can get one in US English to test/buy/use let me know! I've been craving one since their initial release date in May
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?
I believe Microwindows is royalty free which is key to price conscious vendors... and stable...
I also think you can find more information on Red Hats site.
Tim
We will either find a way, or make one. - Hannibal
As a user, I might not care. I want good software. I like Free Software for well discussed reasons (see gnu.org), but I wont get into that now.
Now, consider being a developer. I want to write applications which need more power than a Palm offers me. Alternatives I can buy: devices with Epoc or Windows CE. Let's concentrate on Windows.
Development tools for Windows CE are, hm, not cheap, it's costly to get information about the system, the API is different to everything I know from before. This even counts for Windows for Desktop developers, to a certain degree.
I can use PersonalJava. This might work, but there might be application-specific reasons for not using Java.
Alternative: I can put Linux on my iPAQ. Whow, what opportunities does that offer: I can use plain X. I can use PocketLinux with Microwindows and Java. I can use embedded Qt.
Every of these possibilities has counterparts on Desktops. I have access to documentation. I can use tools I know from before. So it's easier to write applications.
Wait a minute. Applications. Wasn't that the user cares about?
I just bought me an iPAQ, and I'm looking forward to putting Linux on it. This Windows CE stuff is so closed, I can't even sync the build-in calendars with my Linux-system (why use a standard format, when you can use outlook). The Palm is much more open here.
To put it very easy: Linux on iPAQ = Openness of PalmOS + Power of a "Windows powered" device.
echo $FAKEMAIL | sed s/soccer/football/ | sed s/" at "/@/
Now I can fit a 1024 node Beowulf cluster in the linen closet.
You would think they could have stickered over the "Powered by Windows CE" logo for the screenshot.
From the article: "The issue, though, isn't providing a new outlet for Linux fetishism." The alternative is to mention pdas which run PalmOS (which need no one's help on slashdot) or run WinCE (which will see hell freeze over before anyone on slashdot advocates).
But you already knew the answer before you threw that barb out into slashdot, right?
-- Anne Marie
For those interested, we have TinyGL working for Microwindows (AND it even looks decent!). For anyone interested, check out the mailing list (http://embedded.century.com). It's a little too new to be part of the current distribution.
What I'd really like to see though is an installer package either for Unix based or Windows based systems which removes CE from the sexy little iPaq and replaces it with Linux and QT Embedded - when someone does this and can demo it to me I will buy the iPaq and install this combination. Must have decent sync tools to at least let me browse the file system on the iPaq from the desktop machine btw.
Matt Thompson - Actuality - Insert product here.
You want a device that does 802.11? That is old news! 802.11 is an old standard that only does 2mbps. Any new wireless device uses 802.11b, which does 11mbps at 2.4ghz. Just letting you know. Don't get 802.11.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
...the bulk of these devices are staples of Corporate America. This would also be the the same Corporate America that is enamored with everything Palm and M$ has to offer. It would be incredibly difficult for this initiative to survive, and not because it's a bad idea. Unfortunately, corporate retardation rules our world - it dictates the pace of our markets, and it is the underlying force behind the major players in our various technologies. The money for PDAs, as ever sector, is in corporate applications, and I've think we've seen enough of the Apache/IIS scandal to know where this idea is going... :(
I don't see why there's so much enthusiasm for Linux on a palmtop. It seems most of the Linux zealots like to do their work from a CLI. I don't think that will translate well to a Palm pilot. I don't feel like typing in shell commands with Graffiti.
The issue, though, isn't providing a new outlet for Linux fetishism. Rather, developers are keying in on the idea that Linux provides access to source code, an enthusiastic developer community, and a level of flexibility in crafting environments that doesn't exist with the competition from Microsoft and Palm. Qt/Embedded, for instance, can leverage a large body of developers already familiar with Qt, and a body of source code for desktop apps that can be ported to handhelds with tweaks for interfaces.
YES!!! Open source is the key to PDA's success. PDAs functions and rolls are so similar to embedded systems. There's a reason your router, firewall, switch, ssl-accelerator, whatever runs a hacked up BSD or linux kernel. PDAs need to maximize the hardware. Software must integrate in with the OS. The OS must be open source!
Someone you trust is one of us.
DirectX? Since when does that have anything to do with making a good palm-sized PDA? The PalmOS doesn't have DirectX and the last time I checked, they had a comfortable lead in the PDA market.
Linux on a handheld, now you can not do all the things you couldn't do it home on the road!