Slashdot Mirror
Sharp Officially Producing Linux PDA
Jar writes "CNET is reporting
that Sharp will be out with a Linux based PDA by October. They seem to be bracketing the PDAs into similar categories as those available from Palm/Visor - a no-multimedia PDA, one with mulitmedia capabilities and one with wireless connectivity. The wireless connectivity version is said to have phone features too." On the downside,
Maxtor has ditched BSD for W2k in its network hard drive box.
my ex-boyfriend interned for the Sharp last summer in Tokyo (yes, he's Japanese *g*), and they have been doing some very impressive stuff that will probably be rolled back soon into the handhelds.org project. The wireless model is what's really amazing. My ex-boyfriend got a prototype unit as a souvenir, and he has been able to stream his mp3s and videos from his webserver whereever he goes, simply using his GSM card. This unit is sure to leech off marketshare from Palm and PocketPC when it comes out.
---
I wonder how many applications these embedded Linux devices will be compatible with? I guess, since there is such a volume of open source software available on the platform, people can easily port existing applications over. However, it would probably be difficult to find commercial applications produced specifically for embedded Linux (at least, while it is still in the process of gaining market share), than it will be to find PALM applications.
At this stage in the game, I really don't see the benefit that Linux offers over PALM OS. PALM OS is remarkably stable and efficient; in addition, there are enormous amounts of software (much of it free) produced specifically for the platform. These Linux handhelds will have the same problem gaining widespread acceptance that Windows CE devices did. There is less application support, and many people are already satisfied with their PALMs.
Lenny
ByteMyCode.com: A Web 2.0 code sharing community.
Customization. If I have no interest in using multimedia software, why should I have software which fills that niche taking up space on my PDA? If I don't plan to exchange data with IR, why should I have IR support taking up space? If I want to use the unit in a way that the hardware can support but which is absent from the initial install, I can add it myself.
You're right that not everything has to be Linux. It doesn't even have to be a BSD. What I demand is freedom -- in part for ideological reasons but mostly because free (open source) software lets me fit the machine to myself and not the other way 'round.
Also, let's not conflate the OS and the apps that run on it the way some large software companies do. I look at something like the PalmOS and I think about how difficult it was to program sophisticated software for. The OS is perfect for note-taking, expense accounts, address books, etc. I wouldn't want to run a MySQL client on it, though. The machines are getting more powerful by the day -- my iPaq has more horsepower than the PC I bought maybe 7 years ago (486/50, 8MB RAM...c'mon!) and while it's true that the primary use of a handheld today is to be an address book, why should that still be the case tomorrow? These little dudes are _computers_, man! Push 'em!
Learn to spell: nickel, missile, lose, solely, amendment, speech, kernel, probably, ridiculous, deity, hierarchy, versus
As users, we should be pleased that MS is moving to meet the market needs. If you are an evangelist for OSS, this should light a fire under your ass. Time to live up to the promise of "open is better" and get those features added.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
The dubious wisdom of going to MS's ActiveDirectory aside ...
Playing holier-then-thou is childish. The point is that MS's product ties into MS network but BSD & Linux don't. In the market Maxtor is selling to that's a key feature.
Thus Maxtor did a reasonable thing & will presumably make more profit then they would have staying with BSD or Linux.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
The choice of Linux won't be a disadvantage because "there are more than 100,000 active programmers for the Linux, which is more than double the number of those for Microsoft," said Uno.
You will soon see the benefits Linux offers. Microsoft is dead, long live free software!
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
He did mention it in a passing way. You (I am presuming because you are posting anonymously) got in his face about it. I think you were offended that he mentioned it at all.
War is necrophilia.
They're a big company & I don't think you can go judging them by one product line. Sure they put Win on this product but they've other product lines. In a world where many businesses have server bays full of Wintel boxes and legions of MS trained staff it seems reaonable to sell a pruduct tuned to that mentality. Plus Maxtor appartently got the tech from MS for next to nothing.
Right now it's still a bit of a black art getting BSD & Linux boxes to be peers with NDS & Active Directory. That this is a problem for some businesses isn't a suprise, particularly for what are essentially plug-in/set-up/forget appliances.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Well, I'm hardly the FreeBSD expert but a) I know it supports >2gb files, and b) I'm pretty sure daemons are either available or easily portable from linux to speak the Appletalk (assuming you use that flaming piece of crap network protocol for your macs instead of tcp/ip, I had to support macs in a heterogenous netowrk in two jobs and trust me, tcp/ip is the way to go) and Novell network filesystem protocols. WRT to the backup software stuff, please, there must be a $MAX_INT backup solutions providers that use or interface with UNIX (if it's good enough for NASA it's good enough for your salescritters).
I can only think that the decision process was influenced by M$ somehow (we'll take away support for you if you don't cooperate, we'l cut you a deal if you cooperate, we'll make a donation to the Maxtor Employee's Benevolents Fund it you cooperate, etc.), because I really don't think there is any technical validity to their decision...
--
News for geeks in Austin: www.geekaustin.org
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
I just wanted to point out that handheld doesn't necessarily imply that the device has no keyboard and CERTAINLY doesn't imply that it follows the palm form factor. There's no denying that palm hit it right on the nose with what you need in a handheld computer - I've had one since the Pro was introduced (Mmmm, backlight), and I'm still using my Pro today - and actively programming.
The current versions of the PalmOS API are limited though in terms of the multimedia features they can handle, but this will be changing in versions 4 and 5 of the OS to reflect improvements in the hardware side of the equation (e.g. 200Mhz chips that can run on AAA's..)
What they're aiming for, I hope, and I bet, is a handheld along the size of the HP Jornadas that are the traditional clamshell design. The first company that makes an ultra-subnote running linux, as light as possible with a nice screen - they're going to get my money, because I want something that can run for a day, edit and compile C++ code - prefreably GCC, but that's secondary. I'd like a real machine to store email on, and I'd like there to be the option of NO HD to break. Maybe run a browser. I don't need much else, but I need bigger size. I'd like it in the 1-1.5lb range.
That's the market that I think they're going after; Palm and WinCE are both way to limited (although for completely different reasons) to ever really succeed here. I used to have a Hewlett Packard 100LX that did this role nicely.. I want something smaller than my vaio, damnit, that doesn't suck up a battery in 45 minutes!
Someone, please port linux to the Jornada.. or I'll wait for one of these.. arrgh.
If any marketdroids are reading this .. PLEASE make a device with the following, and I and likely hordes of other geeks will run to you:
Please?
..don't panic
Actually, running an HTTP daemon would be amazingly useful on a PDA. With wireless networks getting better by the minute, a static IP and a webserver would be an amazing way to transfer files between PDA's without having to be within infa-red range. The more robustly these babies are built now, the better off we will be in the future.
Let alone the diffuculties they could get with syncronizing their M$ Outlook Email and Agenda stuff ?
It wouldn't be any more difficult than with Palm OS and they seem to be doing pretty well, so what's your point?
This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
GNU/Linux is mostly CLI based? That's not really true. Nowadays, if you grab a copy of KDE 2.1 and/or get a really well packaged/user-friendly distribution such as Mandrake, you won't EVER have to see a command line! (Unless you want to, which is the cool thing, you can still fine-tune stuff by the CLI).
Have you seend rpmdrake, mandrake updater, and DrakConf? I think they do a serious job of kicking the ass of or at least holding their own against comparable features in windows.
I goofed. the correct link for the forum is here.
As for PalmOS, I don't know what the pros and cons are. I'm just pointing out that Linux is not as insane a choice as you paint it.
Lot's of people are prejudiced about homosexuals. It was still a very tiny percentage of people who read the post and decided to be offended by the remark.
War is necrophilia.
OS of last resort. It's not good for marketing, maybe, but it's netBSD's single biggest selling point.
/Brian
Perhaps he meant that as flamebait.
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
"And like that
Exactly, it's a wonderful OS for people who have real work to do instead of jacking off to pr0n videos the size of a postage stamp.
I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.
Three models
Sharp is developing three models for the worldwide market. They are a basic model that can share data between PCs and PDAs, a multimedia model to enable users to enjoy moving images and music, and a wireless communication device.
This is a self-referential sig
Does anyone know if the OS is visible/usable on this device? If the device is wrapped in its own UI and applications, it really doesn't matter a bit what is underlying it.. but if its something that we can develop for, thats another story.
Oh please, I support that kiddie OS all day long. It's a huge pain in the ass laden with bugs and misfeatures. Go astroturf somewhere else.
I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.
Lost the text of my rejected post, but the gist was that Sharp is endorsing Java and will have a Virtual Machine and SDK for spring release to jumpstart development.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
So, I imagine they will be modifying the kernel in places. I don't see any mention of plans to publish. (Not that the lack of mention here implies they won't) But I was glad to see TiVo's code published, and it would be good to see mention of plans for that from them.
1) FreeBSD has No support for large files:
....)
Are these guys serious? FreeBSD has excelent large file support.
2) FreeBSD has no support for hpfs:
while freebsd cannot mount hpfs filesystems... this is not needed for a filer or NAS. Most if not all NAS units run their own file systerm. IF they want to have appletalk sharing... this is VERY possible. I have a cient with an appletalk file server runnign freebsd and netatalk that has been up for over 350 days...
3) FreeBSd has no Netware Fs support...
I guess mount_nwfs must be a fake....
Either the guys that wrot this article where fed some real good marketing BS and they bought it, or they are idiots ( am incline to believe they are both )
reasons why maxtor ditched FreeBSD in favor of w2k is more likely due to special licensing deals than anything else...
(lack of mac os support...heh... somone should tell them about MacOSX being in souce sync with FreeBSD 3.2
(lack of large file support, it's been there for ages)
Although Redhat/Debian, etc. are the best known versions of Linux [human], it ranges from PDAs/embeded units [doormouse, bumblebee bat] to IBMs mainframe systems and beowulf clusters [elephants, whales].
A minimal Linux kernel does not necessarily need a bourne shell. Unlike with Windows/DOS, the Linux shell is an application program like any other. It can be replaced with a GUI shell with near zero effort.
So then, what's the advantage of Linux then? You're not limited to any solution, and you have the advantage of a whole base of applications which can be used to back-end your front end programs, a well-built, stable kernel that's extensible to your heart's content, a well documented programming interface, and programming tools out the ying yang.
Oh yeah -- and you can do meaningful development and testing on your desktop machine.
(anybody want to add to the list?)
--
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
Who cares? Maxtor makes crappy hard drives anyways. Every Maxtor I've ever owned blew up right before the warranty went out. At first I thought it was particular models and sizes, but after a while I realized, heck, they just make crappy hard drives.
My journal has hot
This along with their new giveaway pricing scheme of windows CE is the greatest accomplishment of linux. Linux prevents MS from charging monopoly prices and everybody benefits when that happens. I hope Linux makes more headways into the desktop and staroffice gain a little market share too. It would mean lower prices for windows and office which would greatly benefit the average person or company.
On the other hand it does undercut the "free things are crappy things" argument MS uses. Next time Ballmer or Allchin makes a comment like that somebody ought to remind them of this.
War is necrophilia.
Why is CmdrTaco assuming that the Maxtor thing is bad news? Why does he automatically assume that open-source was a better choice for the task at hand?
Zealots who claim that only open-source software is worthwhile are just as bad as the ones who claim only closed-source software has a future. Real life is always a mixture of viewpoints. Both open-source and closed-source development efforts have a future in the technology world. Rather than trying to burn bridges, let's build them up and encourage all software makers to follow open standards.
On the bright side, I'm glad to see Microsoft starting to give up on the idea of Client Access Licenses. Those CALs really MUST go, and quickly. They would be much more competitive against open source if they didn't charge for CALs. I think as Linux gains popularity, they will be forced to notice this and change accordingly, thus striking a balance.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
LinuxToday has a link to a C|Net article which says the same thing (verbatim).
The discussion in the LinuxToday forum has probably everything that'll be said here.
One item that stuck out was that MS would not be charging for client licenses. As Tim Wasson pointed out, client licenses are a good revenue source, and MS probably cut a deal with Maxtor so that MS could say "Hey, even with Linux/BSD available, major companies are still choosing our software."
Looks like MS has realized (on some level) that they can't get away with their current pricing scheme.
Maxtor was actually working for several months on a network storage appliance that ran Linux to replace their FreeBSD box (which, by the way, they orginally got from a company they acquired). Suddenly Maxtor decided to shelve the BSD -> Linux porting effort (which was very far along at that point) and switch to Win2k. Rumor has it that they got some sweet deal with MS for the Xbox, which could have prompted the jump from Linux to Win2k on the network storage products. But that part is just a rumor.
I wonder if moving to Linux in order to gain "mindshare" is becoming an accepted business strategy.
After all, those of us in the market for a PDA would probably buy it just for the "way-cool" effect and/or because we want to support the OS we already know and love.
And that could be enough to get the PDA ball rolling for Sharp, priming for bigger and bigger market shares.
Plus, once all my friends have one I'll be able to make jokes of the
"Is that a penguin in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" sort.
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)