YOPY Arrives

Victor Tramp writes "Apparently the fabled Linux based YOPY handheld has been put on the market after all! Not only do they look like cool PDA versions of a Gameboy Advance SP (they fold), they look like they give the Zaurus a real run for the money, featurewise. Though the fastest processor is 206MHz, they include CompactFlash and MMC slots on the 3700 model. Apparently you can download their Linupy distro, too. And finally, they don't seem to be vaporware!"

Comments

Uhm..

[RefriedBean]

They have been on the market for a *long* time.(Ok, well, in South Korea at least) They have gone through at least 3 or 4 versions by now already. Hardly 'fabled'..

Re:It sounds good but

[thrillseeker]

does it run Windows CE?

No, it's fully functional.

Killer App

[appleLaserWriter]

MAME

I have a first-generation Yopy

[Markus Registrada]

I fooled with my first-generation Yopy for quite a while while I was unemployed.

I haven't touched it in a year, because Gmate never released source for anything but the kernel. Worse, their web site had a place to upload things, but anything they didn't like, (like my cool USB base station mod, evidently [see the serial number?]) they just tossed, without a reply -- the upload would just vanish into the ether. (I uploaded three times just to be sure it was deliberate.)

It appears they wanted people to write applications, but not to fool with the hardware or kernel.

I hope they have got less contemptuous of hackers in days since. At this point I would be a lot more likely to order one of those Japan-only Zauruses.

Y vs. Z

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, let's see. I love my Zaurus .. the hardware is good (not sexy, but solid and functional), the software is so-so as a PDA, but great for geeks (my Zaurus is hacked and customized and streamlined out the wazoo, plus I got my wireless MP3 streaming, my tkcVideo movie-watching, got my customized SliMP3 server so I can control any MP3 stream in the house from the Z, got my sweet wireless Pocketop keyboard, got my homebrew RSS reader going on, got my WiFi card in full effect, you get the picture).

So let's compare with Yopy:

Yopy: awesome design, keyboard doesn't look as nice as the Z's which is arranged in the perfect way for thumb-typing. Hmm, you can't fold the screen around and hold the Yopy like a PDA unfortunately, and the keyboard is always exposed. I prefer the Z (plus on the Zaurus you can type pretty much any key you need if you know the right combinations, don't know about this guy).

Looks like the Yopy has speaker/mic onboard? My Z doesn't have that, but the new model does, so that's not a big issue.

Battery life: YOW the Yopy has a phat-ass battery. If there's one thing I hate about my Z it's the <1000mA-h battery. The new Z has a bigger battery but the Yopy kicks everybody's butt.

MMC slot: Well, as far as I know, the SD cards are faster (so they can sell you the copyright bullshit feature which is deactivated on the Z anyway). I don't know if this is slower than the Z's SD slot. Why don't these guys just put TWO CF slots?? That's the superior format in my opinion anyway.

CPU speed: the new Z has a 400Mhz Xscale but apparently it doesn't work right and the performance isn't good. The newer japan-only clamshell Zaurii have a full-speed 400MHz. So I guess it's a draw with the Z here, unless you get the very new clamshell Zaurus.

Colorful LEDs? Well the Z has a couple LEDs that blink and an ANNOYING buzzer. I guess I'll call it a draw here too.

Software: don't know much about the software on the Y. It looks like X Windows.. can I get good software for it? We'll see. I'll give the edge to the Z on this one becuase I know where to get good free and commercial Z software, haven't seen any Y software (yeah yeah, port the X apps, but what about when I want something that Just Works(tm)).

Price: Well the Z is available cheap from many places, I got mine from the HSN special for $168, don't think the Y can compete with that. I'll hand this one to the Z.

WiFi: Does the Y have built-in Wifi??? I don't understand when they say "wifi card". If it has it built-in that's a win for Y, I hate having to go off the air to use the CF slot (I HATE SD cards, and all my software is installed on mine so I never take it out anyway).

So based on my cursory glance: The Y *looks* a *little* cooler than the (non-clamshell) Z. The battery life is much much better. Other than that, I don't see much reason to get one.

Looking forward to the reviews/cool hacks/comments .......

Different markets.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think any kind of Linux based PDA (or PMT in Zaurus-speak) is not going to appeal to the average PDA consumer/user. These are really a lot more than PDAs. Actually, if you look just at the PIM apps, they suck. What these are really good at are connecting to/monitoring/administering networks and machines. For Unix boxes you've got standard ssh/scp/telnet/ftp/nfs/smb/etc. There's also a wonderful app called WinconnectZ for the Zaurus that's basically rdesktop on your Zaurus. My boss flipped when I showed him (in a meeting) a server desktop on my Zaurus. Around the room it went to all the managers. They were sold on that alone. Now all our administrators have one. And I got reimbursed for everything I spent. :-)
Anyway... I wsent off on a tangent, but the long and short of it is I doubt these will appeal to the average user. Admins, definitely!
If you really wanted to push these to ordinary users, I think I'd concentrate on marketing the mp3 music/mpeg movie players on them. And the fact that they have CF card slots (think IBM 1 gig microdrive - they hold a lot of data).
The fact that you could check your email in Starbucks doesn't hurt either.