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PSION Resurrected By Linux
razzer writes: "The PsiLinux.org team have worked magic with getting Linux to squeeze into its new home of portable computers. Thanks to the falling prices in hardware the PSION 5mx is the most powerful, cheapest and smallest way to carry your best friend Tux in your pocket. Something no geek should leave home without. But now its gone one step further, check out http://thomas.de-ruiter.cx/projects/psion which is Tader's site. You really need to see these PicoGUI ( http://www.picogui.org/ ) screenshots. The best one has got to be this one which shows the oustandingly attractive aqua theme."
My personal experience with Psion is that had a great history of leading edge technology PDA's that worked, but when I jumped on the bandwagon with a netbook (or notbook - see later), I was less than impressed with their promises of continued development : :
The netbook is an awesome machine - it still gets 'oohs' and 'aahs' from co-workers who haven't seen it. It's got a 640x480 touchscreen screen with full keyboard in a clamshell type design. I've got the 64Mb version with a 340Mb microdrive for any rubbish that I need. Here are the things that I absolutely love about it
* Instant on - i.e. within a second. Beats the hell out of booting a laptop, even from sleep mode.
* The bundled apps, although minimal, are perfectly functional. Wanna write a doc, do a spreadsheet, read / write email ? Absolutely no problem
* It stops me tinkering. It just does the job
* 6 hour battery life. speaks for itself.
The things I despise
* It's called a netbook. It's networking drivers are still 0.1, support the barest minimum of devices and frequently crash. How can you call something a netbook if it doesn't network ???!!!
* It's TCP/IP over the Irda is shockingly bad. Probably goes back to comment 1.
* Minimal, some say none, Mac support. Oh well.
* Lastly, FORGET about any further development about Epoc 6. Oh yeah I was an idiot to believe the rumours about that !!
To have a usable *nix ported to a netbook would be an absolute godsend. I could code here, code there, email, etc etc. Man I would *pay* (and I mean pay) at least 100 GBP to get my netbook running a reasonable X with just the simplest apps working.
Anyway, please keep up the great work linux -> psion porters. PLEASE !!
Two wrongs may not make a right, but three
Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, and others will be basing some of their new 3G phones off of a psion-derivative, Symbian OS. Hopefully this will result in a consistent API that stands a fighting chance against Windows CE in the cell-phone market.
Yeah, we're all gonna click on some wierd dot CX link. Yeah right...
PicoGUI's still in need of developers, authors, and artists. We need developers to write PicoGUI applications and help debug/extend/port pgserver. We need authors to write more documentation. We could even use some artists (preferably with some programming knowledge) to make some more themes. If you're interested in helping, join the pgui-devel mailing list or stop by the #picogui IRC channel on irc.openprojects.net.
-- 2 + 2 = 5, for very large values of 2
If you're wondering why Psions are so cheap nowadays, it's mostly because Psion have stopped making them. The reasons are complicated, but I suspect it comes down to a form of the British disease: we invented many things that the modern world takes for granted, but we're hopeless at making money out of them.
I agree that the OS is rock-solid. I've owned three Psions in the last 4 1/2 years, and have had exactly one crash in that time. This resulted when I let my girlfriend's eight-year-old nephew play with the machine, a testing method I recommend to anyone who thinks they write stable code ;-)
I wouldn't swap my 5mx for any variety of WinCE, nor for a Palm. Many people don't realise that Psions are true handheld computers, whereas most PDAs are more like detachable peripherals for a desktop machine. Many Psion users don't even own a desktop.
The thing that drew me to Psion in the first place (apart from patriotism) was their excellent keyboards. It saddens me that most newer PDAs have, at best, sorry excuses for keyboards. I can type a lot faster than I can write with a pen, especially on a slippery surface like an LCD. Perhaps I'm atypical, but I enter a lot of text while I'm on the move. The wordprocessor is the most-used application on my Psion, followed by Contacts. I hardly use the Agenda on it. My favourite program for it, though, has to be the ZX Spectrum emulator that actually runs faster than the original on some games. So I suppose I don't fit too well into the target market for all these new Linux-based PDAs (when one actually appears on the shelves), because I don't need to be told minute-by-minute where I'm supposed to be, nor do I want to surf the web on a 2-inch screen or listen to the same 20 MP3s while I go there.
Damn... I'm getting nostalgic for a machine that isn't even officially dead yet. Psion have said they'll support them for the next couple of years. I take my hat off to these guys for the cool hack, but I think we won't see the true utility of Linux on a 5mx until Psion's support ceases.
Just another wannabe fantasy novelist...
Every place I checked the Psion 5mx was pricey.
Sales? where? I dont call pricing it the same as the new Sharp Zaurus as on sale.
A search on ebay for used ones the average price is $160.00
If there are great sales on these items post a link to where, as 5 different E-tailers list them as really really pricey.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.