Slashdot Mirror
Real-time PC access on your PDA
Brooks P. writes "As seen in this story on The Register, Sproqit Technologies creates software that allows you to access your desktop apps in real time over the Internet. No more synchronization. This is accomplished with a Desktop Agent that runs on your (Windows for now) PC, and a 200k Companion running on the PDA. The Desktop Agent uses plug-ins to connect to the apps running on the PC, and the SDK used to develop plug-ins is free. Oh, and the whole thing uses 128-bit SSL for security and works over any connection method: 802.11, modem, cell phone, etc."
Just wondering how many applications will utilize this. Might be nice to have access to those custom VB apps that aren't widely distributed.
:D
Aw, who am I kidding. It'll just get used to run Kazzaa searches from anywhere.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
So basically, a PDA that functions as a wireless thin client?
And this is different from Citrix or Terminal Services or a remote X session or good ole SSH how?
"Times may change, but standards must remain the same." - George Carlin.
PocketPc devices already have termserv built in. and no i havent rtfa.
VNC, anyone?
Taco is all like "oh crap! they found out that the last story was bogus! quick post another and distract them!"
seriously though, this sounds alot like vnc and the many other various remote desktop programs. In fact, i'm using vnc right now to post this...
-foxxz
1. RIM/Blackberry already does this (in a practical way...nothing fancy)
2. How many people have internet access on thier PDA's. Lets work on this first as I would love to have an easy (small) device thats efficient for PDA/Mobile web use that isn't a million$$
-Rob
Woohoo.
:)
Actually, got thinking about how cool a remote control Kazzaa client might be...
Think of something you want to download away from home (Linux Distro?)
Begin the download from your Palm-type device.
Have the file waiting for you when you return, presuming of course you have a broadband connection at home.
You'd be that much more of a geek, but then, what are you doing here if you *didn't* want that?
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
Back Orifice 2k (FAQ here.)
sulli
RTFJ.
Because in Colorado, there's LOTS of places without digital cellphone access.
I'm actually pretty impressed at how mature Synchronization has gotten (Frankly Covey excluded. shudder.)
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
...and it's called Remote Desktop Connection too I'm sure.
I do this everyday with my Zaurus and VNC... this is old school....
...when it was called VNC.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
Sure sounds like a non-portable version of VNC over SSH.
What is so amazing? I even have a VNC client for my Palm (but any kind of encryption would probably overwhelm its CPU)
This is totally and completely unnecessary for PDAs running Pocket PC connecting to Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Server 2003 systems. Microsoft has a version of their Terminal Services Client for Pocket PC, and here is some Microsoft-funded cheerleading about how easy it is and how well it works.
There's no need for any proprietary desktop server application to serve the data to you like the one mentioned in this Slashdot story. In fact, the Remote Desktop Protocol is superior in many ways to applications like VNC and this new geegaw because, as far as I know, it doesn't send everything as bitmaps -- it sends GDI commands and the like, so area fills and most window drawing is actually done at the client, saving incredible amounts of bandwidth in the process. It's actually decently usable over dialup, even though it obviously smokes over broadband. RDP 5.2 is the latest, complete with clipboard, audio, and drive letter redirection. (Yes, copy and paste files between machines and they're all sent encrypted over the same port connection.)
I'm typing this message on my home desktop PC even though I'm at my girlfriend's house at the moment (with a 1Mbit DSL connection), some 5km from home (with a 3Mbit DSL connection), and everything is pretty snappy. It's not quite as quick as sitting at the console, but it isn't much different. I'm quite impressed by just how well it's integrated into the host OS and how well it works.
Even better yet, you can connect to any PC using the RDP 5.2 client in the form of an ActiveX control from any web browser. I have such a beast on my own website, and it's come in really handy from time to time, such as when I'm trying to connect from my home PC from older Win95/98 machines that don't have the client software installed. Check it out here.
Okay, so what about PalmOS, you say? As far as I know, no RDP client exists for PalmOS. But this is Slashdot, people. Write one!
Okay, I'm done raving now. Thanks for listening.
There are Java, Linux, and Citrix/Terminal Server clients available for many hand held devices already (even the Nokia Communicator phone has Citrix available for it).
The tail end of the article mentions 18-24 month timeline for "bundled" products and a lot about the desire to license the tech. Sounds like a VC hunt to me.
Still, I hope they get it to work. The world needs competitors to Citrix/Term Server (could Citrix BE any more expensive???)
[RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
As referenced above, there's VNC clients (and servers) for a wide variety of platforms. Here's one for the Palm OS.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
Seems to me that if you have a device with a large enough display that you can effectively use complex applications that it will be big enough that it ought to have plenty of disk, CPU, and memory (like a laptop). Otherwise, it's just a phone or a pager kind of deal and who the hell wants to poke little buttons and look at a postage stamp-sized display when they're authoring a document? The entire industry built around handlheld computers has left me bewildered.
Heh, "pirated" music heaven. :)
;)
It's not like I think all internet apps are used to steal software, it's just that no one pays for anything online.
Seriously...this whole concept would be pretty cool.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
isn't vnc going to come out with a client for the pocketpc or palm and then this won't be necessary anyway? Why remotely access your data when you can remotely access your desktop?
Why do I h8 apple?
WinVNC. Terminal Services/Remote Desktop. Timbuktu Pro. X11 for Win32.
;) I know what you mean, but this application plugin concept is pretty nifty, especially not having to install any software on the PDA in order to use the application with their embedded plugin.
j/k.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
My PocketPC came with a terminal services client. Exactly what does this do that I can't do out of the box?
-- People who hate Windows use Linux. People who love UNIX use BSD.
Or for the rest of us who like to do it the free way (and use other OSes than Windows), we can all use the Windows CE VNC client or the EPOC VNC client. Both have been available for quite some time. If you want the encryption, use ssh.
-- Free speech is only free if your time is worth nothing.
Zaurus. :-)
Does everything you want, cheaply (well, somewhat cheaply). It's wild running WinConnectZ (rdesktop) on it
I don't think we've had nearly enough time to digest and discuss the far more significant time traveller story yet. I mean, how can we be bothered with such trivialities as PDA based app sharing after THAT?
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
The Sharp Zaurus has been capable of running VNC for awhile. Info is out there... I don't know if other PDAs can run it as well, but I'd much rather have a Zaurus than any Windows CE device.
id rather have an app that ran on my plam while its in the cradle with popular apps and other info so i can reach over tap IE, or my e-mail client on my palm screen and have it launch it on my system. or have it display the photoshop tools and tap to select them.
From what I could tell from reading the article, it's not exactly the same as typical remote access. This basically allows for applications to be developed with a remote access interfaces, using plugins. But you can't use any apps on your PCs unless they are developed with the plugins.
Personally all I would need is SSH and remote X, though...
#!/
only run on XP, or Win2kSever. I have win2k WorkStation and can't find a way to install Terminal Server. This guys stuff doesn't require me to change my OS. Neither does VNC.
because I have been enjoined by this Holy Office to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the Sun is the centre
There are already several remote access solutions for PDA users. Best of all they're freeware and cross platform.
Using the VNC graphical protocol (servers for Linux, Solaris, Windows, Mac, Dec Alpha):
Text remote access using SSH (which may be all you need if you want access to the command line and to, for example, send/read email with something like PINE):
You should know this before buying an expensive commercial solution that may not be what you really want. The only advantage the article's commercial solution is that I think VNC doesn't include encryption by default (although I bet it wouldn't be difficult to add).
And this is different from VNC how? I can already see screens of my WinXP and Mac OS X machines using VNC for Pocket PC.
What's more, Microsoft also offers Terminal Server Clients for Pocket PC 2002. If you get the Hand Held PC 2000 version, and copy the CAB file a Pocket PC 2000 and install it, guess what, it installs. But there are bugs, and license fees to worry about.
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
um... why not just use VNC? Then I can actually use the app in real time with just about any OS.
"And this is different from Citrix or Terminal Services or a remote X session or good ole SSH how? "
You get an interface designed to use with your PDA, instead of trying to cram a 1280 by 1024 image on a 240 by 320 screen. RTFA.
"Derp de derp."
I could have done this years ago by using VNC on the PC and then using a web browser on my PDA.
:)
Of course... it would kinda suck having to run my PC at 160x160 resolution so I can read the icon labels, though.
something NEW on windows that has been around for ever on linux
/home/user/information home:/home/usr/information
rsync azv -e ssh
seems easy to me? anyone else?
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
So you open an encrypted tunnel from your desktop to their site and then connect to their site to use that tunnel? These articles seem to say that "it's encrypted so it's secure". Uh-oh.
Organizations which require security usually control not only access from the internet to the internal network, but also control access from internal network to the internet, for instance by limiting the access to certain protocols only, say http(s) through a proxy, smtp through internal email server only etc. This is because they want to prevent for instance reverse SSH tunnels and limit the ways viruses&worms can find their way in.
Remote access can be done safely and is a great thing, but you should implement with a central management, following organization policies. Now, if users can easily start creating reverse tunnels over SSL on port 445, what can an organization do but start tracking and blocking all sites that offer this kind of services?
I joined two users too late.
I use Inferno
:
/net/tcp /net/tcp/1/ctl /net/tcp/1/data /net/tcp/1/data /net/tcp/1/data
it uses a protocol (Styx) for remote file access.
& File access is all you need as all services are controlled by reading, writing & executing files
how does that work I hear you wonder
something like this
% cat clone
1
% echo 'connect tcp!127.0.0.0!80' >
% echo 'GET http://127.0.0.1/ HTTP/1.0' >
% echo >
% cat
Content-Type:text/plain
here's a document
%
using bind one can transparently import remote file systems to the local namespace
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Did anyone who actually commented that this was 'just like VNC, et' actually look at the website?
/b
This is not a remote desktop solution in the traditional sense. Applications have to be Sproqit enabled and the conent is repurposed for the mobile device. It is not simply a view of your desktop PC.
In saying this they are pretty wrong when it comes to a couple of things.
1. Syncronisation: I can spend an hour a day underground (The Tube) with no network coverage and I bet it does not cahche all the data I might want to look at. You need syncronisation as our networks are a) not good enough and b) super expensive for consitently grabbing data from your PC. They would have been better to integrate their data transfer technology and perform a really good background sync (no sync company does this yet).
2. The Enterprise: They will not take this on as it means every users PC has to be on to take advantage of this. They need a server based solution that runs on back office equipment that takes away the need for indivdual PC's to be always on.
A couple of the concepts are nice but for your core PIM applications this is not the way to go.
[Please type your sig here.]
Wow...considering every other comment in this entire thread answers this, all I have to say is...
Good Troll!....
This is particularly funny today...
Hey are you from the future too?
Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
if something is infinitely replicable, and you would have never purchased it in the first place, is it really stealing? okay, enuf philosophy.
"It's not like I think all internet apps are used to steal software"
you are absolutely right! There is music, videos, archives, images, documents. The list NEVER ends!
"it's just that no one pays for anything online"
ok, now to be serious. When people CAN get something for free, with very little risk, they will take that opportunity. Of course, i do purchase things online all the time. things that are actually physical (not just a string of 1s and 0s). Newegg.com owns my ass.
YOU SUCK BALLS!
Actually, if you set-up a Linux workstation/firewall running mlDonkey, you can use the web interface to search and initiate the download. Find your ISO's, MP3's, almost anything. It lets you connect to a variety of P2P protocols too.
They are absolutely correct. I've been doing exactly this for some time. I use my IPaq to connect to a terminal server. Lotta scrolling but it gets the job done when I'm riding in the golf cart.
I also use VNC on the IPaq to manage a couple of other servers, access my desktop PC and to manage a growing number of Nortel BCM PBXes.
Nothin new here folks.
Yeah that 17-year old X Windows System is such a total rip off of Windows.
And this is different from Citrix or Terminal Services or a remote X session or good ole SSH how?
... just moved that idea off to PC / PDA. Very cool for sure. Makes me want to pick up a PDA
That was my first thought too, but what it seems to do is run a screen scraping program or something like that to interface with the apps on your pc, then send the data off to the PDA to be displayed in the PDA's native GUI toolkit.
Reminds me a lot of the green screen legacy apps getting new and improved web front ends and windows GUI's
The PebblesPC part of the package basically sets up a conduit between a PDA application and PC application. Because the projects goals are more research-oriented, there aren't many commercial applications (that I know of right now). But there definitely was some noise made about SlideShowCommander. SlideShowCommander allows the user to control and communicaate with PowerPoint from the PDA, which is useful while giving a presentation. It was pretty neat. You could navigate through the slides, draw on them, etc. It was picked up by Synergy Solutions and is sold through them. Google provides the link here, but it appears to be down.
In any case, the Pebbles project is a free download. Or, you can buy the SlideShowCommander from Synergy, and give *me* some (small) amount of money. <<BIG GRINS>>
VNC or Terminal services..
Nothing new here.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Soybo does this, and it's open source (as well as multi-platform, multi-device, etc., etc.)
This is really a tough decision. Spend time with the gf with the possibility of some lovin or use her computer to access your computer to post on /. about
Terminal Services, Pocket PC, GDI and RDP. Something's really wrong with this picture.
If Windows is so innovative, why did they have to steal the original OS (CPM) and then merely emulate what had already been done by IBM (OS2) and Apple? They stole their disk compression algorithms from (and lost $120 Million in patent court when sued by) Stacker. SQL-2000 that so nicely distributed the W32.SQLExp.Worm virus not so long ago was developed by bastardizing the Sybase engine. Even Visual Basic was purchased outright from a third party as was FoxPro.
About the only thing Microsoft can be credited with since is bastardizing existing standards to make them proprietary -- can you say C# or J++/J#? Please. Microsoft "innovates" by acquisition and theft, which is hardly innovative at all. Thieves have existed as long as property rights.
Actually, it's a total rip-off of MacOS!
But seriously, how long has it been able to handle remote desktops? I honestly don't know.
How come we don't just write a gnutella client for Pocket PC? What I do now is just stream audio from my PC or d/l mp3s from my PC...
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
I have this on my Zaurus running VNC.
Do it. This is not VNC. Not the same idea at all. Yes, VNC is good, this is not VNC... VNC sends each pixel over one way, and the input the other, this sends much less information.
Each application has have a plugin for it. The plugin takes input from PDA, performs the operation on the PC, returns the DATA, where the PDA renders it in it's "native" view. No scrolling required. It makes it seem like a PDA application, but your PC is doing all the work.
VNC is totally different, you would have to scroll around to get to everything, since apps you see on VNC are designed for a desktop, not for a PDA... where the resolution is much lower. Not to mention, since it has to send all the data on the screen... it will be a lot slower.
The article mentions email. Maybe your email app on your PDA isn't as robust as the one on your PC... you have all your filters set up on your PC email app. Well, if there's a plug in for Outlook Express (which I know everyone here uses), you could just have it send "GET ME EMAILS IN INBOX"... it then returns all the emails, but it renders it to make it look like a PDA app.
Did anyone else besides me initially misread this to be "Stroqit"?
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
What's the new technology here? It sounds basically like how X does it (and does it exceptionally well, by the way). I'm actually surprised it took people this long to figure out how to duplicate such a mechanism.
I use vnc software through ssh to accomplish the same thing on my pda to connect to my linux box.
I've done this quite a while back, about a month after the IIIc came out. Used a VNC proggy from Palmgear over my Nokia 7110's IrDA port to phone home.
:) So maybe the article is news :)
The only problem now is that I have broadband, so I can't dial into my PC
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
1. Works both online and offline (some online time is of course required).
2. 1 GUI definition, Sproqit renders it with the device native widgets and a fashionable size (no need for 1600*1200 on PDA or cellphone)
Hi,
this is different than RDP/VNC type products. If you read the article you will see that this thing is special because it somehow groks the hosts' GUI and displays it on the PDA client in its NATIVE WIDGET SET. this means you don't have to deal with the nightmare of using a 1600x1200 display from a 320x240 device.
love,
RAEJIN
Its not as stable, secure, open, etc. This is just a commercial solution for a problem solved by the community with hardware and software developed years ago. Here
I think the app is called VNC. has been out for years. works on all platforms.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Before the Mac-ripped-it-off-from-Xerox trolls come ...
FACT: APPLE LICENSED THE XEROX TECHNOLOGY.
This is fundamentally different then seeing-and-repeating that some companies are known for, such as Microsoft.
...like my first thought was "Great, another new way to root a 'doze box". :-/
Read the article.
I have a Zaurus SL-5500. It doesn't do a lot of things that the commercial solutions have achieved- including what this article is talking about. Read it. There also isn't a decent notetaking app that anywhere near the quality or functionality of the Newton notes from the original newton released in 1993. Hell, nothing on the Z is as good as the notes app that comes with PocketPC.
The Z is cool in a lot of ways, but it is moronic to lie about such things. The Zaurus has no way to reproduce this functionality. Yes, you can do SSH and/or X11 on the Z- but you can also do it on PocketPC. And just like on the Z, you can do X and/or SSH on PocketPC and WinCE devices using Open and Free Software.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
This seems a lot cooler than Citrix, VNC, TS, or remote X11, at least when it comes to getting to the data on your desktop with your PDA. This sort of thing is neat, but only neccesary because most current software- for PDAs and desktops a like, suck. They're not designed for sharing data. I'd rather be using an interface made for a PDA than have to be constantly scrolling a huge desktop app.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
each task you mention can be accomplished more effectively and comfortably with a laptop, notebook, or tablet computer than on a PDA.
also, small form factor devices have a nasty tendency of getting lost ("oops - it must've slipped out of my pocket when i was riding the bus").
--hc
The product talked about in the article isn't about duplicating the functionality of X11 or VNC on a PDA- that can already be done using free and open source software on many PDAs already, including the Newton, PocketPC, vanilla WinCE, PalmOS, and PDA Linux.
:P
It's neat- but as a person working on a "next-generation" [1] computing environment for PDAs called Dynapad, I see it as a symptom of poor applications and application frameworks on both the PDA and the desktop.
In Dynapad, this app is completely
It is really too bad too see companies working on various PDAs- Microsoft, Palm Source, and those providing LInux PDA solutions- staying so... legacy. The PDA is the perfect opportunity to actually move forward in software, but these companies stick to the ways we do things on the desktop. The notable exception is the Newton OS, but Apple killed that.
Dynapad uses a database as it's means of data storage, rather than flat text or binary files using a wide variety of file formats- many of which are poorly documented or not documented at all. In Dynapad, if I want to get at the data on my desktop, I just specify the IP address for the database to use, or simple use the local one. Naturally, you have a different UI in the PDA mail client than in the desktop version, but the underlying data can be used in either. No magic tricks, no special pain-in-the-ass programming. I'd even say it is easier to write code using this system than to go through the motions of inventing a new file format or even using XML.
Just because something is old doesn't make it bad. However, there is a point at which it does make sense to move past the old paradigms and start to do things the better way. Dynapad is aiming to do that.
[1] Sorry, couldn't help the manager-speak.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
There are plenty of X applications designed to run on small screens. Take a look around handhelds.org. You can run those on your handheld, or you can run them on your desktop.
However, I believe the future might adopt a wholly different type of solution than this networked software- one which does away with network bandwidth or network security concerns. With the advent of small-sized, large storage, and even bootable media, people could probably carry all their data and applications (and operating environment) around with them. It's not too farfetched to be able to interface a single such device to all your PDA, cell phones, digital camera, computers. A partial, but weak implementation of this is found with knoppix+pen drive(only interfaces computers, and has other problems), but I'm sure someone will eventually put together a more universal, elegant, and useful implementation. By the way, this isn't my idea. But I do believe it's the right idea.
and's been a while around ...
You keep using this word "real-time". I don't think it means what you think it means. Did data transfers rates over the Internet reach infinity and I didn't notice?
It'll be intresting to see how this will compete against a full desktop streaming solution such as VNC or GoToMyPC PocketView - https://www.gotomypc.com/pr/pressRelease.tmpl?Sess ionInfo=3529249/3A8005C2336FF00/null&FileID=031203 &SourceTemplate=pr/pressReleases.tmpl&From =0 coming out later this year.
The advantages with a full desktop streaming solution is that less configuration is needed, and certain desktop streaming solutions such as GoToMyPC and laplink use polling servers so they can by pass most firewalls making them easier to deploy on computers behind a company firewall. It can be faster or slower depending on how much data needs to be transferred.
...that supports alternative interfaces in some consistent manner, but puh-leeze, don't pretend that this is the same as accessing _existing_ application. Everything that can fit into a simple user interface can run on a PDA already, and almost everything that is worth being accessed remotely has some piece of interface (CAD, for example) that definitely does not translate well, and user will still have to use the original interface (and then there is X, VNC, etc.)
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
VNC and X will be to unresponsive to run on a slow connection. I get frustrated running VNC on my local network. Also VNC scales down porly on small screens. I think X is a better way of doing it, but then your application needs to be specially designed for small resolutions. And the X protocoll is in my mind to lowlevel, it still sends all data as graphics which makes it different from the native gui. I have not tried the MS solution, but that is not very crossplatform.
Pico gui seems to me like a better way of doing this. Design your programs once and then run it on whatever device you like. Only needs someone to do native gui implementations of the server.
http://www.picogui.org/
So.. go buy a pocket PC. What I'm saying is I have all the functionality you're talking about in this article on my Z. I'm not some lazy moron who's unwilling to cope with a little misconvenience. I converted my music collection to ogg 2 years ago and bought the Z because it ran Linux and was the only portable ogg player. Who uses their Z to take notes anyway? I still use a pen and paper. Best tool for the job, eh?
RTFA. You do not have the functionality that I or the article is talking about on your Z. I have it to an extent on my Z, but that is only because it is software that I am writing and that no one really has their hands on so far.
So, people who want to use the best tool for the job- in a lot of cases, what this Sproqit app provides- are just lazy morons? C'mon, I'm sure all the bois think you're awful 1337, but get off it. Why do you need a portable Ogg player? Why not just settle for a P100 laptop? If you're willing to take a hit in usefulness just so you can play Oggs (when plenty of MP3 and WMA players are and were already available), it seems that you are the lazy moron who isn't willing to take some minor inconvenience.
The best tool for the job of taking notes would be a good PDA. And no, the Zaurus doesn't make a good notetaking platform nor much of a good PDA. The Newton was truly the best tool for the job of taking notes, for me, PocketPC does the job adequately. There are a number of advantages of taking notes on a PDA.
And yes, I know I'm wasting my time trying to reply to a troll... but sometimes, it's so hard to resist!
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Okay, since you're obviously so brilliant, then explain to me the difference between something like this and VNC, X11, ssh and the nature of OSS software. I have konqueror on my Z. Its not a plugin or some remotely displayed app. Its the code taken from konqueror on my desktop and streamlined for the Z. So I'm sure I'll have open office and koffice and all my other favorite desktop apps on my Z within the next few years. Plus I get scriptability and automation so I never have to sync my system, it syncs itself whenver its within range.
And oggs kick ass over anything commercial, closed source or DRM enhanced. OGM is also the best video file format. I might suggest you start converting your collections now before the day comes when nobody has a wma player around.
Cheers
I'm not the one pretending to be brilliant.
explain to me the difference between something like this and VNC, X11, ssh and the nature of OSS software.
Again, I urge you to read the article. If it still is unclear, have a look at the flash demo. This isn't a VNC clone or anything like it. What does "the nature of OSS software" have to do with it? I mean, how does it factor in to the difference between VNC or X11+ssh and this Sproqit app?
Repeat after me: "This application does not do remote display of desktop apps." This app does not duplicate the functionality of VNC or X11. This app allows you to get to the data on your desktop, with a UI tailored for the PDA. I use Konq on my Z as well, and I think that is swell.
However, that doesn't change anything as far as easily getting at the information on my desktop without having to deal with potentially poor syncing solutions or going through the trouble of doing a port to a new device. This Sproqit thing would make getting at this data a lot easier than doing a port of an app. Perhaps you don't do any programming yourself, but porting OpenOffice to the Z will prove to be a pretty damn hard task- unless you're talking about some theoretical future-Zaurus that is a lot faster, has a lot more RAM, and more storage space. [1] Or do you mean not a port of OO to the Z, but just running it using VNC or a remoted X window? Ha! A huge OpenOffice window displayed on the wee Zaurus screen is the stuff of demos, not real work.
What is this scriptability and automation you speak of? Are you just talking about the ability to write shell scripts as well as python/ruby/perl/etc, or something more? That is, like DCOP or AppleScript? I don't have real automation on my Z, but if there is a way to get it, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about it. If you're talking about the former- big deal! You can get that on just about any platform, PocketPC/WinCE included.
I don't use WMA. I don't own any sort of machine which can play a WMA file, I merely mentioned it because it was an option that was perfectly functional for playing music at the time you bought a Z for playing music. Call me crazy, but I like my audio-player to last longer than one or two hours when playing music.
Again, let me remind you that I am a Zaurus owner myself, I'm not saying it's a bad machine, and I'm not saying that it's useless.
[1] Well, you could always get up to 20 GB on a Z using a CF->PCMCIA adapter and a 20 GB PCMCIA harddrive. But then again, you could do this on any platform with a PCMCIA slot and ATA/IDE support, including Newton OS and WinCE.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
On second thought I think this is the perfect solution for you.
Of course Palms had network hotsync for a long time now. (Not supported on Linux but is supported on BSD).
Also I was conserned about the bandwith needs of VNC (Sorry my PDA dosen't have broudband connection.. still using CDCP) So I elected to use telnet.
That needs a telnet client (any PDA) and a *nix desktop (Anything not by Microsoft) and TOZ I'm logged in...
WHEEEE
Scoop up afree dynamic domain and I'm free....
Thow I think VNC is MUCH better when you have the bandwith on your PDA.
My question becomes can I get the source for the server side? I've had nothing but nightmares with any given binary and just don't want to mess with binarys anymore.
I don't actually exist.