Slashdot Mirror


Sharp Zaurus SL-C750 English Conversion

DavonZ writes "I have just released a small review/information on the Sharp Zaurus SL-C750 and the Dynamism English conversion. This is one sweet unit. You can check it out at nvmax.com."

23 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Borken dynamism link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Try this instead.

  2. Dynamism link... by AntonyL · · Score: 4, Informative

    Dynamism link should be http://www.dynamism.com/index.shtml

    (hope I got that right)

  3. But wait, that's not all... by cyt0plas · · Score: 4, Funny

    It has been announced that they have decided to follow in google's footsteps. The Pig Latin, Hacker(h4x04) and Klingon translations are coming soon.

    --
    Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
  4. Thank the developers of your favourite browser... by amorsen · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...for letting you override that abysmal colour scheme.

    --
    Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
  5. The real question is... by malocchio · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the real question isn't how much better the 750 is, but how good is the translation?

  6. Older Zaurus more innovative ... this 1 promising by adzoox · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I wish they'd have kept the innovative design of the previous Zaurus rather than gone BACK to the Mini Laptop. (The previous version just made me feel like I had the Newton of my dreams) Hiding the keyboard quickly was great if you want to "printtype" (handwriting recognition & typing for special characters quickly), plus there's a balance and weight issue in the hand since the back of the new unit will weigh more leverage wise.

    Still, the Zaurus IMHO is now superceded by the Sony Clie NZ90. When the new Clies hit the street this summer (an NZ90 slimmer version with integrated 802.11b and 400Mhz Xscale) I'm a buyer.

    About the only thing I think exciting about this model is its ability to possibly run a scaled down version of Mac On Linux or the Mac System 6 emulator that already exists. Using Photoshop and REAL Word on a PDA is pretty neat!

    --
    Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
  7. Bunny? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's with the... uh... bunny on the left of the page?

    What kind of company is this?

  8. more info by loomis · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here's another minor review and pictures via brighthand.

    Also, a user at externe has posted about his first impressions in the Zaurus forums.

    Good info in case the importer's/converter's website gets slashdotted.

    Loomis

    --
    "The television is the retina of the mind's eye" - Videodrome
  9. The Zaurus line by Daimaou · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have owned several Zaurus machines (both the English SL-5500 as well as several Japanese versions). I have also owned an iPaq and several Palm devices from both Palm and Handspring.

    The Zaurus line is by far my favorite. I have really enjoyed the functionality of the SL-5500 and the flexibility of the Japanese versions I owned. I especially like the expansion modules available for my DBII machine.

    The Zaurus machines seem a lot more sturdy to me as well. I was a bit concerned regarding the SL-5500's sliding keyboard cover before I purchased it, but it has proven to be sturdy and well made.

    I really like the looks of this new offering from Sharp and look forward to using one.

    1. Re:The Zaurus line by antiMStroll · · Score: 2, Informative

      For those interested, Tiger Direct is selling 'recertified' 5500s with a three month warranty for just under $300 CDN. I had mine long enough to just fully charge the battery before upgrading to the latest Sharp ROM (5600 equiv)from the My Zaurus site. Very sweet, and a ridiculous steal at a quarter the C750's price.

  10. official site (in Japanese) by mblase · · Score: 3, Informative

    While they obviously lack the English conversion, you can also see the SL-C750 and SL-C760 at the Japenese eZaurus.com site.

  11. Is it just me.... by technoviper · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... or is $800 too expensive for a handheld ? For that price you can get a halfway decent notebook (in English no less!)

    1. Re:Is it just me.... by SomeOtherGuy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      $800 ? They must be smokin crack. Is this what we have come to in order to use PDA's that run Linux? I can get a Dell Axim (That has to pay the Msoft tax for PPC 2002) and the same specs hardware wise (CPU, Memory, Expansion Slots, etc.) sans the keyboard for about $500 dollars cheaper. I could buy a nice thumboard for $500!! And as the message I am replying to already stated -- I could get in on a good laptop for about $900. I bet I could get a lot more out of a 40 Gig HD, Full Screen, 256 Meg $800 laptop than I could a 64 meg "pocket" device that costs the same.

      --
      (+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
    2. Re:Is it just me.... by terzyva · · Score: 4, Insightful
      You can get the original japanese version for $629 at conics.net, and convert it to English yourself. Or buy it in Japan directly at a discount shop, and pay less than $500. Still not cheap, but it's rather obvious that you'll pay a hefty premium for a direct import of a product that isn't available locally.

      It's silly to compare it to the Dell Axim, since the C750 has four times the screen resolution (640x480), twice the RAM (64MB), and twice the flash ROM (64 MB, half available for user storage). An external keyboard isn't the same thing, since that would make the Axim much larger than the C750 which already has a good keyboard built in.

      If you want a laptop instead, by all means get one, but don't complain if it won't fit in your shirt pocket...

      -Klaus

  12. Looking Sharp by jabbadabbadoo · · Score: 4, Funny
    TrollTech has done a fantastic job with the Qt embedded GUI lib. It's superfast.

    That said, I don't like these small widgets. Try typing

    c.t[j] <<= (m % 2 && i>1) ? sft[i-1] : sft[i]
    on it.

    It hurts.

  13. I'm just curious by Chris_Stankowitz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is there is some large untapped handheld market or do people own 2,3 and 4 handhelds? I bought one a few years ago and its not the kinda item that I think needs to be "upgraded" yet. All these gadets look really cool, but I can't justify buying a new one every year, or even every 2 years ( I can jsutify 2 years with a PC). I just always feel left in the dust and like by the time I can get a new one, I'll have missed out one something good. Or maybe just get in on something better.

  14. I've seen an English Zaurus 7500 (same as J:C750) by rjamestaylor · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've seen an English market Zaurus 7500. Funnily enough it was at a meeting promoting the Z 5600, and one of the reps was on the sidelines using the 7500...no, he wasn't a marketing-type -- a marketing-type would never have made that mistake :) So, after the presentation of the (nice) 5600 I approached the rep and made him show me the 7500.

    My advice: restrain your impulsive nature and wait a few months (at most?) for the English market version. It will be a very different -- and lower cost -- beast. Well worth the wait, if you are interested in this flipin' mini unit.

    It is cool, that's for sure.

    --
    -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  15. More information by terzyva · · Score: 2, Interesting
    While the information in DavonZ's report is accurate, keep in mind that he was paid by Dynamism to do the English conversion, so this isn't an entirely unbiased review.

    If you don't need a full English conversion, you can buy the units a lot cheaper at conics.net. Then, you can change one line in a config file to set the default locale to English (which changes most of the text, but isn't nearly as complete as the dynamism conversion), or install Debian on it (see my web page at www.w-m-p.com/pocketworkstation/).

    I'm not being paid by Dynamism or Conics (or Sharp for that matter), but have bought from and can recommend both suppliers.

    The C750 is an excellent machine, it's a Linux workstation you can put in your shirt pocket. The landscape form factor along with the 640x480 screen can display 80x30 characters in a well-legible font, with a full keyboard that's easy to type on despite the small size. With 64 MB RAM and a 512 MB SD card for storage, along with a 400 MHz XScale CPU, its performance is equivalent to desktop PCs a couple of years ago.

    The C750 finally has a PXA255 with a 200 MHz memory clock, which is the main reason for the improved speed compared to the older C700, along with the doubled RAM.

    Note that the display is flippable 180 degrees, so you can also use the system with a portrait display and no keyboard if you prefer that.

    -Klaus

  16. Re:Thank the developers of your favourite browser. by rsborg · · Score: 3, Informative
    Thank you, Microsoft, for making my favorite browser Internet Explorer.

    Uh... I think you misspelled Mozilla :-)
    Did you notice that the lizard supports more bookmarklets than IE?

    --
    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
  17. Pocket PC 2002 by pXgray · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not to be sarcastic, and at the risk of being nailed to a cross, I wonder if anyone has tried to flash one of these guys with a Pocket PC 2002 ROM. I have used many devices with Pocket PC, and the software, as well as visuals are incredible. It's very responsive with the Xscale processor, as well as on the older ARM 206 mHz processors. I am likely to get one of these Zaurus devices, and probably will enjoy the Linux operating system on it, but still I think that maybe it would be interesting to screw around with Pocket PC on it.

    pxgray

    --

    End of Post
    You are at the end of the post. To the north lies the post.
    There is a sig here.
    1. Re:Pocket PC 2002 by kaatochacha · · Score: 2, Funny

      Forgive him Lord, for he knows not what he does...

  18. More information about ordering... by pXgray · · Score: 2, Informative

    I recently have been looking at these units and am pretty positive I am going to buy one. That being said, I would much rather prefer to order from Dynamism rather than conics.net, because of their technical support and English OS. However, you can't argue with the conics price ($629, vs. $699 at Dynamism), so I emailed them and asked them to match. Here's the offers they gave:

    Package (1)
    Zaurus C750 (in Japanese) $629
    Shipping from our Tokyo office (3-5 days) $19
    (you will also have to pay import duties on the shipment)
    Â No Dynamism technical support as the unit you get will be in Japanese
    Â Japanese OS
    Â Warranty service, but you will have to pay for shipping to our Tokyo office â" BTW, if Conics goes out of business, it will be basically impossible to get your unit repaired as Sharp Japan will NOT accept shipments from outside of the US. Also, by installing an English OS invalidates the warranty (we cover that if purchased through us).

    Package (2)
    Zaurus C750 (with our English OS) $677
    Shipping $17
    Â Full Dynamism tech support for the lifetime of the unit
    Â Fed-ex rescue service (we pay all shipping while the unit is under warranty)
    Â English interface

    They said that they would have to match the offer, not only the price, but they still were very receptive to dropping it a couple bucks, which is really cool of them to do.

    pxgray

    --

    End of Post
    You are at the end of the post. To the north lies the post.
    There is a sig here.
  19. Just bought one in Tokyo by FromWithin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm in Japan. Just bought one for 60000 yen (about 300 quid, probably about 450 dollars).

    If you edit /home/zaurus/Settings/locale.conf so that it says "en" instead of "jp", the whole thing, apart from HancomWord and HancomSheet, switches over to English. Dynamism are putting a serious premium on it. I'd avoid them and order direct from Japan.

    By the way, the thing as absolutely fantastic. The screen is unbelievable!