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Review: The New Casio Pocket PC E-200
msolnik writes: "PocketNow has done an in-depth review of the new Casio Pocket PC E-200. It has a built in compact flash and SD slot. It has a 206mhz strong arm, reflective screen and a replacable rechargeable battery. In my opionion it looks very cool and seems like it could do some damage to the IPAQ's sales. On a side note it should run linux no problem."
Has anyone gotten NetBSD up and running on it yet?
Err, and really, who needs that much speed on a PDA? It's not like you're playing Quake on it (though, actually, that could be fun... playing Quake on a handheld computer in public could have interesting affects).
I'll consider lugging one around every day when the pocket PC becomes half the thickness it currenly is and is half the weight.
Yes, size does matter.
Meanwhile I'll stick with my old but smaller Handspring.
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Give me LIBERTY, or give me a check.
These things are becoming freaks because they are too big to lug around in a pocket everyday but have more power than a decent laptop from 4 years ago. More memory and processor power are a waste in a package that will really do little more than some point-click lookups (eg address book) and play games.
How much memory and processing power does an address book need?
If it is more than an address book then give me a da*n keyboard and bigger screen. Wait, I already have one of those. I call it a laptop and it is about as small as I can stand a real computer being.
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Give me LIBERTY, or give me a check.
Could you please explain to me what the hell you were thinking in this post?
I can only assume that a) you are a troll (although I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and besides, I don't think this is the case), b) you have no idea what Linux is beyond knowing that a lot of people use it for servers and that some crackpots (like me) use it on their desktops, or c) you know what Linux is but can't figure out why anyone would use it on a PDA.
Anyway, let me get to the point. You may have heard that Linux is free/open-source software. This means the sourcecode is available for all to modify, play with, do whatever with (for the most part). Because of this, Linux lends itself well to running on a variety of devices. Anyone can take the source and port it to different architectures. Also because of this anyone can mix and match components and write some of their own to make Linux more suitable for a particular device.
For example, there is a long standing argument that having a GUI running on a server all the time is just plain silly. Most of the time no-one is going to be physically at the console. Also most of the time it is easier to remotely administer the machine (even from an office down the hall) than it is to go into the server room. Therefore having a GUI running is simply wasting resources. Linux allows you to do this. Windows does not. However, when you are running Linux as a desktop OS it rarely makes sense not to have a GUI running.
Now, when running Linux on a PDA not using a GUI would be quite cumbersome and I would agree that I couldn't understand why you would want to do this... assuming you want to use the device as a PDA. But here's where the flexibility comes in again. Why run X11 and something like GNOME/KDE or whatever that is intended for a desktop computer. That would be silly for a PDA. It would be better to have a simpler GUI that is easier to interact with. Linux allows this to happen.
Basically, the bottom line is that the term "Linux" seems to pretty much refer to any system using the Linux kernel. If you were to rephrase your question as "Could someone please explain the infatuation that everybody seems to have about running the Linux kernel on everything..." then you would realize that the Linux kernel is very well suited to the task, along with other parts of what makes up a Linux system. However, not all parts make sense as I described in the previous paragraph.
I sincerely hope that this clears this issue up for you and that you now understand why people try to make the Linux kernel run everywhere. And I sincerely hope that you weren't a troll because if you were that means I just spent the last 5-10 minutes of my life so you could get your jollies hoping someone would get pissed off.
Everyone I know that has made the jump to pocketPC (from palm, laptops, etc) have all found their own justification and all could not go back (exclusively) to the laptop they used to use. Some of the comments I have heard from people lately.
_ ca /10903_ca.PDF
An IPOD with a real screen that can play movies as well.
A laptop that fits in your shirt pocket. At least 10 times faster than my old palm IIIc.
an email terminal that goes where you go, has connectivity as good as my laptop, and is so small that I will actually bring it with me everywhere (unlike my laptop)
a game machine that shames most pocket game machines and can also play mp3s.
A portable gps, mp3 player, movie player, presentation device, and portable storage unit that fits in my pocket.
Its a great tool for astronomy. (starry night plus direct control of a telescope)
The new GSM module from compaq is going to change the way I work..
http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/10903
If you have not checked out all of the latest features/addons/upgrades for the pocketpc handhelds, you might be impressed at just how much they can do. They are not a replacement for a laptop but then you can't always take a laptop with you, nor would you want to.
Entertainment, wireless/remote access, data storage/retreival, all in a device that runs for days of normal usage on a single charge and is fast enough to run real applications.