Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 PDA Review

An anonymous reader sent us a link to a review of the Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 PDA. This Linux based handheld with a built in qwerty keyboard with decent connectivity. As with most PDAs, there are a lot of tradeoffs that have to be made yet. Read the review to see what they are.

Comments

Most notable tradeoff

[Anonymous Coward]

This PDA with a full screen, keyboard and linux support is the size of a regular computer.

Cool

[ddew]

Finally a pda even I can stand using, been using my palm now and connectivity with linux is at the best of times bad. Hopefully a linux distro which is easy to install will show up for it :)

Re:Cool

[Jad LaFields]

You bring up a good point about the linux install... the article blurb made it seem that the PDA comes w/ Linux pre-installed, but the first page of the article seems to say it comes w/ a Windows CD. I can't seem to see the second page of the article, it appears to be /.'ed. Anyone else know how it turned out?

Re:Cool

[dbowden]

The 5600 is native Linux -- it uses an embedix distro w/ Qtopia for the front end. There's also an Open Source distribution, which frankly, I prefer.

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't get to the site either, but it's probably the Windows desktop software to connect the PDA to PC. I'm sure they support Windows with this thing.

-James.

Re:Cool

[McSnickered]

The OS is Linux. The Windows CD is for connecting it to a PC.

Re:Cool

[Glyndwr]

The PDA has Linux on it, but comes with a CD of Windows sync and link software to get files on and off, syncronise the Zaurus with Outlook, and whatnot.

Re:Cool

[pheph]

There is a very decent, free, Linux Desktop Sync software for the Zaurus called Qtopia by TrollTech

Re:Cool

[Locutus]

The new 5600 and the new ROM for the older 5500 nolonger can sync with a Linux PC. Sharp has changed the internal data structures for the PIM apps( ON THE ZAURUS ) from standard XML to their own database format.

The QtopiaDesktop for Linux will not sync with the new Zaurii. But people are working on this. Not Sharp though.

LoB

Re:Cool

[Jad LaFields]

Oh, alright, thanks. Didn't see that in the review, probably on the page that got slashdotted. Or if I had a Zaurus I would know, I guess. =)

Re:Cool

[N4m0r]

The 5600 is a great PDA, I really like mine. As far as syncing with Linux though, forget it. The CD comes with software to sync with Outlook, that's it. Apparently the Qtopia-Desktop software for Linux allows you to backup data, no syncing though. I say apparently because I cannot get it to run on my Redhat 9 system. From what people are saying in the Sharp forums, not too many people have had success with it. Also, with the 5600 and the latest ROM update to the 5500 the PIM data format is different so if you were syncing your PIM data in Linux you won't be able to any more. The people who were working on syncing software have had to start over. It appears Sharp is leaving Linux desktop support for the Zaurus up to the community, and they are not being all that cooperative. The Kompany apparently has syncing on their list of features to add to their tkc PIM apps for the Zaurus. Of course they are only worried about making sure it syncs with their product Aethera. Its really too bad, I'm sure if Sharp would just cooperate enough to create some sort of libraries or tools for getting the Zaurus data to and from the desktop people would be writing sync software for every PIM desktop app under the sun.

Re:Cool

[dbowden]

Yeah - I've had to tell a number of people not to buy one for that very reason.

Everyone's impressed when I pull out my 5500 and tell them it's running Linux, (especially since I got a pocketop keyboard), but then I have to tell them that the synchronization bites, and that they're better off with a Palm if they want to keep track of addresses/meetings.

I'm really hoping someone will come up with a better synchronization option soon.

Re:Cool

[Martok7]

There already is some different versions out there. The OpenZaurus ROM is Awesome and I believe there is a Debian ROM too.

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact The Kompany is working on their Aethera desktop software to do syncing with their own Zaurus apps, with a plug-in architecture so theoretically it could sync with Sharp or other 3rd party apps too, if somebody writes the plug-ins.

TheKompany also announced on their mailing list that they are planning to release a ROM of their own, but are being secretive about its features.

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

"Not Sharp though"... Thats funny

Re:Cool

[gearheadsmp]

Sharp does provide support for Linux syncing, it's just that you have to do some Kernel patching/or/rebuilding

Re:Cool

[N4m0r]

Actually, that just tells you how to network your Zaurus using the USB cradle. The article is also not exactly correct. I was able to get mine talking to my laptop without doing any kernel patching on a stock Redhat kernel. After following the instructions in the link you provided you will be able to connect to any services you have running on the Zaurus from the PC it is connected to via USB, that's it.

Re:Cool

[irix]

I am working on Zaurus syncing as part of the multisync project for Gnome (see here).

It works well with Opie/OpenZaurus and the 2.x ROMS, but the changes int he new 3.x ROMs are a serious pain, especially since there isn't much good documentation in English. I suspect it will be a while before Multisync (Gnome), KithenSync or the Kompany (KDE) get anything working.

Re:Cool

[ghotiboy]

OpenZaurus doesn't work on the 5600 (yet). They are porting it now, but OZ was developed for the 5000/5500, which have SA1100 chips. The 5600 has an XScale processor.

Same tired post.....

[mao che minh]

I understand the convienence factor of PDAs, but a $499.99 price tag for the type of power and specs that you get with this Zaurus (and similiarly priced PDAs) is still too much. To truly get full functionality out of these PDAs (or at least do everything most people would want to do with them) you still need to purchase extra accessories and expanded memory/storage (considering that even the most expensive PDAs only have 64MB RAM native). In the end $499.99 quickly builds up to about $599.99.

I know that this comparing apples to oranges, but for $600 you can get a righteous laptop off Ebay or locally from a used reseller. This laptop is a full fledged computer with vast amounts more memory, storage, and room for improvement/expansion.

Considering that most people buy a new PDA every two to three years, why not just double your money now and buy a 15.4" Widescreen TFT LCD WXGA (1280 x 800 max. resolution) laptop that comes with an Athlon XP 2200+ CPU, 40GB of storage, 512MB DDR PC2100 RAM, CRDW/DVD drive, all the ports except IEEE 1394, and one of the best mobile graphics chipsets around, the ATI RADEON IGP 320M, for $1,250? It takes Mandrake 9.1 without any problems, and only demands slight tweaking from Red Hat 8.

I would rather have that laptop for four years then burn through two PDAs over the same period of time.

Re:Same tired post.....

[alue]

In the end $499.99 quickly builds up to about $599.99.

Actually to get full functionality of a PDA you have to spend a lot more than $600.

PDA$500
128M Memory Card$55
Wireless Card$140
Extra Battery$50
Battery Charger$45
Carrying Case$75
TOTAL: $865

And that doesn't include the opportunity cost spent on the hours it takes to get the thing to sync with Linux!

Re:Same tired post.....

[DoctorPepper]

Perhaps, but it's awful difficult to stick that laptop in your back pocket, which is where my trusty Handspring Visor resides every work day. And has been since I bought it in August of 2000.

Re:Same tired post.....

[Anonvmous Coward]

"I would rather have that laptop for four years then burn through two PDAs over the same period of time."

That would be awfully hard on your pocket.

Re:Same tired post.....

[cve]

If you don't pay full-boat retail and buy an older model (5500) it should only cost you a couple hundred dollars.

I personally hate dragging around a desktop replacement laptop.

Re:Same tired post.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do women carry a purse that costs $200 and they change every month instead of just buying a suitcase for $600 that will last several years. Maybe it is because they don't want to carry a suitcase.

You are paying for the convenience of having a SMALL device. Could you imagine walking down the street trying to schedule a meeting with somebody on a laptop?

Re:Same tired post.....

[questionlp]

Or if you aren't into eMachine computers, Gateway has something similar (M500 w/ 15.2" widescreen) with a P4, 512MB of RAM, 40GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW and integrated 802.11b/Modem/Ethernet, dunno about FireWire for a little bit more.

Of course, a laptop isn't quite as portable as a PDA nor does it have an instant boot up that a Zaurus or any other PDA has. The C700 (IIRC) clamshell Zaurus is a nice cross between a tiny laptop, a clamshell Jornada/Psion, and the regular Zaurus. Too bad it's even more expensive than the 5600 :(

Re:Same tired post.....

[Alpha27]

I agree with most of what you say about the PDA. I currently own and use the 5500, and it's a nice device, but yes I had to get more storage and a wireless access card, which drove up the price to past the $400 tag for the unit when I purchased it.

There are limitations to the small handheld, such as
- software that has to be written for it (smaller selection when compared to a full O/S).
- Can't run as many apps.
- limited storage and ram.
- some apps run slow.
- harder to get things to work, such as some types of wireless connections.
- needing special software to sync up at times.

But there are some benefits to having a small device.

1) easier to carry around.
2) easier for someone who commutes by packed trains alot (myself for example). So it's much more convinient to take out than the typical laptop, when you're standing.

I would like to switch to just using a small portable laptop, like the fujitsu p-2000, but I want the option of like a handheld extensino to it.

Re:Same tired post.....

[grimner]

There is some truth to that but as you said it's "comparing apples and oranges". You can't carry a laptop around with you like a PDA. While it is true, what most people use PDA's/handhelds for could be accomplished with a $100 Palm or (cringe) an pad and pencil, PDA's/handhelds are just becoming powerfull enough to run seriously useful apps. I recently wrote a flower recognition/classification app for the Zaurus which extracts data from an image captured from the Zaurus and runs it through a db all on the Zaurus. An enhanced app like this could be useful for many people from hobbyist to law enforcement (for face recognition). Can't run these on a traditional PDA and carrying around a laptop "in the field" would be impossible. Just an example where handheld computing may be heading, not just for address books. Your point about the price is well taken, they need to come down but keep in mind, realistically this is very early stage technology. These are not PDA's they are handheld computers. I think there is a major difference.

Re:Same tired post.....

[GoofyBoy]

You don't "burn" though a PDA like it has an expire date or you get only X uses. You can be still using the same PDA 6 years from now.

People buy PDA for the size factor.

Its like buying a grandfather clock vs a wrist watch. There are some things the other can't do becuase of the size.

Re:Same tired post.....

[Anonymous Coward]

yawn.

Try $17 for the Wireless Card.
http://www.bensbargains.net/ktalk/105004171 8,39040 ,.shtml

Re:Same tired post.....

[Anonymous Coward]

An enhanced app like this could be useful for many people from hobbyist to law enforcement (for face recognition).

Or a perv.

Re:Same tired post.....

[FatRatBastard]

I happened to get my 5500 from the HSN deal a few months ago. At less than $200 I could justify it (and the extra $60 for the wireless card). Basically, its my ultra portable web browser/e-mail/ssh client for when I head to a coffee shop. I don't use it for PIM functions (nor did I really use my Palm III when I had it). In fact, the closest thing I have to a PDA is my iPod, which I find perfect for storing my contacts and notes.

The Z5500 is nice, but only at the sub $200 price I paid for it.

Re:Same tired post.....

[cmacb]

Exactly right!

While the up-front development for a gadget such as this are high, I doubt they are much higher than a new motherboard, maybe less. Essentially these are tiny motherboards with some I/O devices screwed onto them. From keypads, to LCD screens there is nothing all that innovative about them.

I'm not just talking about the Zaurus though, the Palm and Windows CE devices are even worse.

I can hardly wait for the comoditization of these devices. Basically someone like Sharp, or Casio (it sure won't be Palm or HP) needs to start stamping these things out by the millions and let users supply their own OS (Linux based makes the most sense). Only then will we start to see the prices come down anywhere near the manufacturing cost. (Which I bet is under $50).

Re:Same tired post.....

[akorvemaker]

128M Memory Card

128M extra memory for the functionality of a PDA??? What are you trying to run on it? That's more RAM than my old laptop (which I still use regularly). Seriously, unless you want to run Open Office on your PDA, why would you need this much memory for PDA functionality? (Besides the whole "640k is more than anyone would ever need" argument.)

Re:Same tired post.....

[vjmurphy]

"Actually to get full functionality of a PDA you have to spend a lot more than $600.

PDA$500
128M Memory Card$55
Wireless Card$140
Extra Battery$50
Battery Charger$45
Carrying Case$75
TOTAL: $865"

Running a porn server off your PDA: Priceless.

Re:Same tired post.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering that most people buy a new PDA every two to three years, why not just double your money now and buy a 15.4" Widescreen TFT LCD WXGA (1280 x 800 max. resolution) laptop that comes with an Athlon XP 2200+ CPU, 40GB of storage, 512MB DDR PC2100 RAM, CRDW/DVD drive, all the ports except IEEE 1394, and one of the best mobile graphics chipsets around, the ATI RADEON IGP 320M, for $1,250?

Because it won't fit in my pocket?

Re:Same tired post.....

[Tin Weasil]

The 128M Memory Card is a Compact Flash or SD Card used for storage, not for actually running applications. The Zaurus comes with it's own built-in RAM for running applications once they are loaded into memory.

Re:Same tired post.....

[helix_r]

A PDA is not supposed to be a "little" laptop. It is supposed to be a durable and portable device that you can whip out of your pocket, turn on, and get a phone number or other piece of info in a few seconds. You can't do that with a laptop, and you can't take a laptop where you can take a PDA because the hard drive would be wrecked after short time.

That said, I still agree that fancy PDA's are too expensive. But my Palm V still fits the bill.

Re:Same tired post.....

[Tin Weasil]

If you don't go for the newest hardware, you can get up and running with the "full functionality of a PDA" for a lot less then you quote:

Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 - $199.99 (tigerdirect.com)
256MB Memory Card - $54.99 (tigerdirect.com)
Wireless Card - $29.99 (tigerdirect.com)
Battery Extender - $6.99 (semsons.com)
Battery Charger - $16.59 (Radio Shack)
Carrying Case - $24.50 (hsn.com)
TOTAL: $333.05

You just have to be willing to look for deals. Sure, the SL-5500 is not the 'latest' model. But it suits me fine. I've owned 5 PDA's prior to my Zaurus, and the Zaurus is the first one that has allowed me to leave my laptop behind.

The "battery extender" mentioned is actually a much better solution then keeping up with an extra battery. It can be used to either run or charge the Zaurus and can be instantly replinished anywhere there's a supply of "AA" batteries.

My SL-5500 runs OpenZaurus 3.1 and syncs just fine with Linux and Windows. I'm sure that putting an OpenZaurus ROM on the SL-5600 will also produce the same results. Flashing to OpenZaurus is easy. It takes under 10 minutes and requires no user interaction to setup.

Re:Same tired post.....

[PeterChenoweth]

And Sharp recently released the 3.10 ROM for the 5500 that gives it the same updated software (PIM, Opera, Kernel, etc..) as found in the 5600, for FREE!

Re:Same tired post.....

[twalk]

Unfortunately, the color screens are $50-$100 alone...

Hopefully the new screen technology coming out, added to component consolidation, will allow $100 full-featured PDAs in a few years.

Re:Same tired post.....

[luugi]

I understand the convienence factor of PDAs, but a $499.99 price tag for the type of power and specs that you get with this Zaurus (and similiarly priced PDAs) is still too much. To truly get full functionality out of these PDAs (or at least do everything most people would want to do with them) you still need to purchase extra accessories and expanded memory/storage (considering that even the most expensive PDAs only have 64MB RAM native). In the end $499.99 quickly builds up to about $599.99.

I know that this comparing apples to oranges, but for $600 you can get a righteous laptop off Ebay or locally from a used reseller. This laptop is a full fledged computer with vast amounts more memory, storage, and room for improvement/expansion.

Considering that most people buy a new PDA every two to three years, why not just double your money now and buy a 15.4" Widescreen TFT LCD WXGA (1280 x 800 max. resolution) laptop that comes with an Athlon XP 2200+ CPU, 40GB of storage, 512MB DDR PC2100 RAM, CRDW/DVD drive, all the ports except IEEE 1394, and one of the best mobile graphics chipsets around, the ATI RADEON IGP 320M, for $1,250? It takes Mandrake 9.1 without any problems, and only demands slight tweaking from Red Hat 8.

I would rather have that laptop for four years then burn through two PDAs over the same period of time.


But you can't fit it in you jacket pocket...

Re:Same tired post.....

[seebs]

If you spend $140 on a wireless card, when they're available for $70, that's your problem. Extra battery? Battery charger? Why bother? You don't need those for anything. The device itself charges its battery, and the battery lasts a long time. Carrying case? I don't see much point, but if you want to spend the money, go ahead.

I would budget more like:
PDA: $450
128MB memory card: $55
CF reader for your desktop: $30

and you're done. You don't need to fuss around with the sync crap. Beam old stuff over from your palm, if you have one, and do everything else on your choice of media. Wireless card is cool (albeit inessential), so fine, add $80 or so.

Re:Same tired post.....

[mousse-man]

The problem is I can't have a laptop in my pocket, but at least a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500. The 5600 has a bulge because it has a much bigger battery with 1700 mAh instead of 700 mAh on the 5500.

Rumor goes you can put the 5500 battery compartment door onto the 5600, the battery would fit anyway (same contacts).

Re:Same tired post.....

[august3wiz]

Sorry, but if you buy an HP 5550 from Ebay for $400, and it comes with 128MB memory, 802.11B AND Bluetooth, then you're talking $620:
PDA $500
Extra Battery $50
Battery Charger $50
Carrying Case $20
TOTAL: $620

And that doesn't include the opportunity cost spent on the hours it takes to get the thing to sync with Linux!

Re:Same tired post.....

[Nebajoth]

Yeah, but it kicks azz to slip a fold-up keyboard into one pocket of your jeans, and one Zaurus into the other. Not even the smallest/lightest laptop is that darned portable.

But...

[Anonymous Coward]

does it run Linu^H^H^H^HWindows?

Re:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

You are more than welcome to load it on it. You can make it work, can you not?

Re:But...

[fishynet]

Yes it Can, see :)

ObSlashdotting Reference

[vjmurphy]

Looks like their web server is running off their PDA. *ba-da dum*

Re:ObSlashdotting Reference

[bhtooefr]

So their PDA runs Windows ME?

Re:ObSlashdotting Reference

[Kadagan AU]

The REALLY funny part about your post is that there is a port of Apache!!! =D

Re:ObSlashdotting Reference

[jared_hanson]

How can any moderator rate posts like these funny anymore? This is one of the lamest, long-running jokes on Slashdot.

Re:ObSlashdotting Reference

[Kadagan AU]

oh, here are more cool Zaurus server packages... web servers, MySql servers, samba servers.. you name it ;)

Re:ObSlashdotting Reference

[noitalever]

in soviet russia...

Re:ObSlashdotting Reference

[Anonymous Coward]

That was a selling point for me. Replaced my Palm with the 5600, in part because I can demo web based products with a laptop running the client and the Zaurus serving web pages.

5600 is old news. C700, 750, 760 are new

[dbowden]

The 5600 is little more than an upgrade of the 5500. That's been out for a year and a half.

Shoot -- I'm not an early adopter and I've had mine for over a year. This is not news.

On the other hand, the C700, 750, and 760's are hot, and I want one!

Nice, but...

[rekkanoryo]

This is the first PDA I've ever considered as worth the purchase price, but I still think PDAs have a long way to go. I'd prefer to see a PDA with a 640x480 screen capable of at least 65k colors, but preferably capable of the 24-bit "true color" laptop TFT displays are. I'd even settle for 480x640.

I'll still wait a while before purchasing any PDA.

Re:Nice, but...

[dbowden]

See my post above re: the C700, C750 and c760 models.

640x480 65k screen w/ clamshell keyboard. Plus all the goodies (Linux, OpenZaurus, etc.) from the 5500/5600 series.

Aw, what the heck. Here's the link again.

Re:Nice, but...

[The Other White Boy]

I'd prefer to see a PDA with a 640x480 ... I'd even settle for 480x640.

...wha?

Re:Nice, but...

[bhtooefr]

So that's a small Tablet PC that you want, right? Or the Vulcan Mini-PC, or the Tiqit eightythree?

Re:Nice, but...

[rekkanoryo]

480x640 would be a screen 480 pixels wide and 640 pixels tall (picture a VGA LCD on its side).

Re:Nice, but...

[Cpt_Kirks]

You forgot the hard drive. Dammit, ipods and nomads have a HD, why can't *ANYBODY* bring out a PDA with one?

I want a 400mhz+ XSCALE CPU, lots of RAM, a nice, big color screen and some decent storage (for a lot less than a laptop).

Games, video and pr0n on the go!

Re:Nice, but...

[rekkanoryo]

Yes, now that (the C760) is very close to what I was hoping for. Thanks for the info!

Re:Nice, but...

[Lord_Slepnir]

480x640 is a special screen resolution for the dyslyxic. Everything is displayed as though it was rotated 90 degrees. Since dyslexics can tell top from bottom easier than left from right, it makes it easier for them to read lines of text that go from the top to the bottom. There is still the problem where they have problems deciding which line to go to next, but the new PDAs with this resolution will have arrows on the bottom to help them choose.

Re:Nice, but...

[rekkanoryo]

If you want a hard drive that bad, there are PDAs with PCMCIA slots. Get a PCMCIA drive cradle and attach a laptop IDE drive to it, then plug it into the PCMCIA slot.

Having a hard drive included would be basically making it a small tablet PC, and would add a bit of weight to the device. I've always been under the impression that PDAs were supposed to be lighter than other mobile computing devices.

Extra RAM would be nice, as would extra flash memory built-in. But I'll settle for 64 meg CF cards or 64 meg SD cards at least for now.

Re:Nice, but...

[dbowden]

I'm actually pretty happy with a 64mb SD card for applications and either my wireless CF card for connectivity or a 512MB CF card for data.

If you watch for deals, the prices aren't even that bad. I paid $60 for the wireless card and $108 for the 512MB CF card.

Re:Nice, but...

[FatherOfONe]

Thanks for the link. Do you have any clue when this will be out? I would love to get one IF it will offer a good cellular service option. i.e. not some big honken modem like the 5xxx series. I currently use an Ipaq 3970 with a Tmobile PCMCIA card to ssh back to our servers and it sucks. The thing looks great, and I would love to have one now.

Re:Nice, but...

[BenjyD]

You forgot the trolley to push the battery around in.

Re:Nice, but...

[Cpt_Kirks]

You are all mising my point. I owned an iPaq right after they came out, with a microdrive.

If the ipod and nomad have a *LARGE*, *INTERNAL* harddrive, why not put one *INSIDE* a pda?

How long does the battery last in an ipod? No cart needed there.

I have a GP32 now. It takes SMC cards up to 128MB. Nice, but too small. I want 20GB+.

Re:Nice, but...

[dbowden]

It's out. Unfortunately, it's out in Japan, and it's more difficult to get here in the US. Here's another site that's selling them.

Good luck getting one.

I would love to get one IF it will offer a good cellular service option

You are aware that these don't have a wireless option built in, and you'll need to get a compact flash or secure digital card to have wireless connectivity?

I don't know about cellular services, but 802.11 and bluetooth cards are both available.

Re:Nice, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice, but still there are missing something.

Comparing them to my Phototainer the Sharps have a much better display, plus touch screen, plus real keyboard, are lighter, and more compact.

The SD slot is a (unnec. for me) bonus.

However, the Sharp doesn't have 20 Gig (backing up digicam photos, carrying the entire photocollection and mp3 plus movies around!). And they doen't have USB. And no wireless, otherwise you could just carry a wireless HDD with you and connect it to the PDA if necc..

So, well, nice, but it cannot (yet?) replace my phototainer. Which is a pity, because I would like a replacement :)

Thanx for the info, though!

Re:Nice, but...

[smaug195]

The inherent issue is off course poweruse. The way the iPod gets its good battery life is by barely ever spinning up the drive. It buffers 32MB and spins down, then when it gets low on buffer it spins up again... With a PDA it is slightly tougher to do that.

Re:Nice, but...

[Cpt_Kirks]

Granted, bandwidth is an issue, but could the same be done with video? A very large buffer would be needed. MPG-1 video runs about 10MB a minute, so 256MB of buffer would give better than 25 minutes between spin ups...

Re:Nice, but...

[LS]

My theory is that Apple is moving in a sneaky fashion towards turning the iPod into a PDA, without alerting competitors. They've added address and calendar. They just need to beef up the CPU and put a color screen on the thing, and they've got a cool looking PDA with 30 gigs of disk space.

LS

Re:Nice, but...

[smaug195]

Remember you are formatting to a handheld screen, from my experience with pocketpc a 2 hour movie fits onto a 256mb SD card.

Not a KWhore

[Anonymous Coward]

The site seems to be /.'ed, so here's the first page of the article:

Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 PDA

Category
Systems / Servers / PDAs

Product name
Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

Model number
SL-5600

Manufacturer name
Sharp Electronics Corporation

Provided by
Sharp Electronics Corporation

Price
499.99

Review by
Jon

A long time ago, when I first heard about Sharp releasing the Linux based Zaurus 5500 PDA, my interest was peaked. I was just dying to see what it could do. Alas, I never had a chance to try one out for myself. Over the next few months I plan on purchasing a new PDA to take over from my Palm IIIc, and just recently, Sharp was good enough to send us one of the newly upgraded Zaurus SL-5600 units and I was able to finally give it a whirl. Let's see how things shaped up.

Inside the Zaurus SL-5600 Box

Meet the Zaurus SL-5600:

Included in the box is what you'd expect for any new PDA including cradle, power cord, instruction booklet, and of course your standard Windows software CD-ROM.

At first glance, I was surprised at the size of the PDA Unit, measuring 13.8cm x 7.4cm (5.4" x 2.9") and a thickness varying from 1.8cm to 2.3cm (0.7" to 0.9"). It also weighs in at a hefty 203g (7.1 oz). This is pretty big for a new PDA, and it's even bigger than my old Palm IIIc. With size comes issues like how to carry it (pocket, bag, briefcase, etc.), but size can also mean more features. Lets leave the size issue for later, and take a better look at the unit itself.

The Zaurus SL-5600 is a very large PDA.

Right from the start I liked the appearance of the Zaurus. The plastic silver casing is attractive to look at, but its resistance to scratching would worry me. It doesn't look like it could take much of a beating from use. The big 3.5" reflective TFT screen (320 x 240 resolution, 65,536 colors) is sharp and clear. It displays well in various lighting situations, something I can't say about my Palm IIIc. Also included is a clear protective cover for the screen - a nice feature. The colours are bright and vibrant, and contrast very well. Below the screen are indicator lights for E-mail and Battery indicator lights, a very useful addition in my opinion.

The Zaurus boasts a big 3.5" display at 320 x 240 resolution

At this point, there is a break in the casing, and my favourite feature of the Zaurus comes into light. Sliding down the bottom section of the case reveals the QWERTY keyboard. The trend for most new PDAs is to move away from the stylus based text-input to a finger-keyboard type input method, a move I totally agree on. The keyboard on the Zaurus is quite responsive, and it has a pretty good layout. One of my only gripes is a lack of an 'Esc' key, as I struggled to use a port of Vim which I installed on the unit. A stylus is still a good idea for navigating menus and selections, and a software based graffiti-like text input method is also available. A neat feature of the software-based keyboard is the option to customize it to recognize your own personal handwriting. This could allow you to write more naturally, than say, writing using Graffiti on a Palm device. I definitely found that I could input text faster using the Zaurus's keyboard using my thumbs than with a stylus.

Sliding down the bottom of the PDA reveals a QWERTY keyboard

Under the keyboard is the usual set of easy access keys, included with almost every PDA. These include Calendar, Address Book, Home, Menu, and E-mail. Keys for Cancel/OK are also included on either side of the "cursor key", a navigation button that allows you to scroll your cursor up/down, left/right in any of the applications. This is a nice addition, and I found it quite handy.

Features:

The Zaurus SL-5600 contains an Intel XScale processor at a speed of 400Mhz. I found this processor very powerful, and the Zaurus was very responsive. Applications launched quickly, and I was easily able to p

Re:Not a KWhore

[aztechClanIII]

Yeah, ok, having heavily researched all my PDA options I've finally given up on Zarus as not quite ready for me. The one *major* downside is lack of proper e-book support. This is a big deal for me, as I love to read e-books on my IPAQ. So far, I'm super happy with Pocket-PC 2003. Transcriber kicks ass, and the new Ipaq 2215 absolutely rules. Sorry Zaurus, get with it! And for the love of god, please get your damn wireless services website up and running. Can't I get a straight answer whether or not I can wirelessly use GSM/GPRS or Sprint?!!?

~

Re:Not a KWhore

[sirket]

... my interest was peaked.

What was the author trying to say here? His interest had been rising, he saw this PDA, and now his interest was falling?

Or, perhaps, did the author mean to say that this new PDA had "piqued" his interest?

-sirket

Re:Not a KWhore

[TheRaven64]

A KWhore? Is this going to be in the next release of KDE? Will the gnome project release a corresponding gWhore? At least we won't have to worry about an open standard for interoperability between the two...

Re:Not a KWhore

[katsushiro]

Lack of e-book support? I read e-books on my Zaurus all the time (I also blog, code, do network troubleshooting for clients, and do image editing on my digicam pics from it as well, but that's beside the point)! Try QTReader (a.k.a Opie-reader), a very full featured ebook reader with auto-scrolling, screen rotation support, Unicode, and more, which will read just about anything, Aportis "Doc", plain text, weasel/ztxt, gzipped text, Plucker compressed html and its own very highly compressed format.

What it *can't* read is proprietary eBook formats, but that's not the Zaurus' fault, it has the neccesary hardware to run it, but the people who make the readers for those formats haven't bothered to make Zaurus versions of their reader programs. It's the same problem as Palm not being able to read some Microsoft Reader formats, and PocketPC's not being able to read certain Palm formats. The problem is not with the Z, but with eBook publishers not releasing their books in formats that are cross-platform readable, and in not releasing readers for their formats for all platforms. But there's still a buttload of eBooks that come in non proprietary formats (and I'm not just talking abotu Project Gutenberg stuff, go check out FictionWise, where a good chunk (I'd say maybe half) of their books are available in unencrypted formats that are easily readable on a Zaurus, real books by real authors.

And on a geekier note, most of their encrypted books are available on Adobe Reader format, which is available for the Palm, and the Zaurus can run a Palm emulator, so, if you're truly hell-bent on reading those on the Zaurus, well.. I don't think I need to spell it out for the Slashdot crowd. :)

Re:Not a KWhore

[mschoolbus]

Not a KWhore

KWhore? Probably just a new application in KOffice...

Re:Not a KWhore

[Anonymous Coward]

..or KOrifice

Re:Not a KWhore

[RevAaron]

I gave up on a SL-5500 as well. Granted, unlike most Zaurus users who actually like their Zs, I was (un)fortuante enough to have used good PDAs before I got the Z- A Newton 2100, Jornada 720, and an iPAQ 3150. Even though WinCE is worse than PalmOS in a lot of PIM-ish areas, it resembles a "real OS" far more than PalmOS does. It's the little things that make it better for power users- multitasking, being able to allocate more than 64K of RAM in a chunk... :)

Disclaimer: Contrary to the tone of the rest of this post, I feel the need to clarify, less the less intelligent and more 1337 members of our communtiy get confused.

I am not a fan of WinCE. I've used it because it was the only real option for me for the time being. I do not use Windows on the desktop. Or the server. I use Mac OS X and Linux. But I am not shamed to admit that I use WindowsCE. Perhaps I should be embarassed for the sorry state of PDA Linux software.

so it begins...
I've said it on here a 1000 times- I can do just about all of the things Zaurus users boast on any Windows CE PDA. On my Jornada 720 WinCE 3.0 palmtop (aka Handheld PC 2000), I've been able to:
browse the web well (IE is much better than PocketIE for PocketPC 2k and 2k2), do my email and admin via a real 80x24 SSH and telnet terminal (in a readable font, even), run apps remotely using XFree86 for CE and VNC Rdesktop/Windows Terminal Server Client, IRC and IM (AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, MSN and Jabber), play MP3s and OGGs, share files with FTP/FTPD and Samba, go wardriving on my bike, write papers in LaTeX (and compiling and viewing w/ WinDVI), serve with Apache, and lots of other stuff I can't remember now.

Especially snazzy is developing on the PDA. Thanks to the really nice keyboard and the big screen, I've written, compiled, debug and ran quite a bit of code on the WinCE Jornada 720 itself. I've done most of my PDA-coding using: Squeak Smalltalk, Dialect, and Perl (w/ Perl/Tk). However, there are a lot of other options- a number of BASIC implementations, Java (compiling supported too), Python, Ruby, Caml, Scheme, OpenLisp/ISLISP, Common Lisp (GCL), PocketC, and plenty of others.

One thing of note that AFAIK you can do on the Z but can't on a WinCE device- compile and run C. While entirely slow and unwieldy, there is a port of GCC to the Z. IIRC, the GCC StrongARM WinCE port was aborted a while back.

And yes, you can do all of that stuff on the keyboard-less and smaller-screened PocketPC too- they're both WinCE 3.0. Some of it isn't as useful with the smaller screen and real keyboard, but it's just as useful as it'd be if done on the Zaurus.

Sorry for the rant, but I'm sick of the pattern these Zaurus discussions take: "Oooh, cool Zaurus review!" -> "Dude, Zaurus sucks- get a Palm or PocketPC and get a usable PDA!" -> "STFU! I can do all these l33t things that you can't on anything else!" In most cases, that's where the discussion ends; the PalmOS or WinCE users just assume that the Zaurus user is right, regardless of the actual utility of the "l33t thing" in question. That isn't to say there aren't things you can do on the Z you can't do elsewhere, but that's the case with all platforms- there are things you can't do with Linux that you can with CP/M. :)

I hope the screen on the SL-5600 is better than that on the SL-5500, which was absolutely horrible. While the Zaurus has *no* real handwriting recognition or decent notetaking apps (no, IQNotes or DrawPad don't do the job), at least the character recognition got less sucky (read: faster, no longer taking .5 seconds+ to recognize a character!) in the new 5500 ROM and on the 5600.

All of that said, I will be getting a C760 soon. Even though I think most of the software for the Z is incredibly immature, I am getting it for the development of a new PDA platform called Dynapad. The C760 is an incredi

Re:Not a KWhore

[Minna Kirai]

I hope the screen on the SL-5600 is better than that on the SL-5500, which was absolutely horrible.

No such luck. The screen is an identical part. 100% the same. I think the keyboard and front-panel buttons are identical too.

(no, IQNotes or DrawPad don't do the job)

My long dead Agenda VR3, underpowered as it was, at least had better freehand note-taking software than the Zaurus.

at least the character recognition got less sucky

Besides speed, the Zaurus character recognition could be improved with some simple UI enhancements- things to let the user focus his gaze at one place on the screen, instead of flipping back and forth from the application up top to the HWR area at the bottom. Simply printing the recognized ASCII character in the input area would help a little. Even better would be dispensing with the input area, and allowing HWR input to happen overlayed on the current application. Microsoft PocketPCs do this, and additionally recognize linked characters. But even the Agenda could accept block-letter HWR on the entire screen surface (they removed that feature in later software upgrades, because their CPU just couldn't handle the recognition fast enough to be reliable)

Re:Not a KWhore

[Anonymous Coward]

A kilowhore? Oooo, imagine a beowulf cluster of a thousand whores! A thousand whores, all fucking in parallel, dedicated to a single task.

"We love you long ti-- you already finish?"

Re:Not a KWhore

[RevAaron]

No such luck. The screen is an identical part. 100% the same. I think the keyboard and front-panel buttons are identical too.

Really? I really want to accuse you of lying. :P

The truly ironically hideous thing is that Sharp actually makes good screens. For instance, the screen on the Dell Axim- probably the best 240x320 screens I've ever seen- is made by Sharp. But nooo, Sharp uses the worst screens for their own PDAs- at least the 5x00. I've heard the screen on the C7x0 is quite nice at least.

My long dead Agenda VR3, underpowered as it was, at least had better freehand note-taking software than the Zaurus.

I'd believe it- it's hard to not to beat the notes options on the Z. Heck, with Dynapad and Squeak, I managed to write a notes program that had the feature set of IQNotes, but without a silly one-page drawn note limitation... in about an hour. Outlining and the whole she-bang.

I'm of the mind that part of the poorness of apps on the Z is the GUI API. APIs like the PalmOS', NewtonOS or even WinCE seem to either a) be designed for a pen-based computer in mind or b) be flexible enough to properly accomodate pen computing. Qt/Embedded on the other hand doesn't seem to. While C++/Qt isn't my native tongue, I've found tasks which should be easy for a PDA SDK that were overly difficult.

For example, on #zaurus I've discussed with a couple folks about creating a full-screen character recognizer, using the built-in engine. It turned out that it is very hard to do- Qt/E is very rigid with its event loop. :(

Re:Not a KWhore

[Minna Kirai]

Really? I really want to accuse you of lying. :P

It's not proof, but check the "Display" row in this comparison from Sharp.

It shows all external components as being identical. Only the guts (CPU, ram, battery, speaker) are different. And a fatter case to hold 'em.

That didn't take long to get slash dotted.

[pecosdave]

I saw the article once, clicked on a picture link, then I couldn't even hit the back button. Dammit, should have opened in new tab.

I looked at one of these.

[Meat Blaster]

Kind of nifty, coming from a PalmOS standpoint. I like the idea of being able to leverage my knowledge of Linux when I'm jotting down a note or looking up an address.

Irregardless, the usage factor is one of the things that's been getting to me lately with these handhelds and cellphones -- I know that Dick Tracy concept of having a computer on your wrist is chic, but nobody seems to notice that these things are getting pretty cramped! But one of the things I got to see lately that I'm thinking about picking up is the TabletPC.

Really, a tablet is the logical super-portable version of a notebook -- not too expensive to lose, big enough to work with, simple enough to ink a document as quickly as you need to. So when I tried out the TabletPC, I guess I wasn't that surprised that it seemed much more natural than these handhelds. Any area much smaller than a computer monitor is unworkable these days, particularly with web applications... but I think a TabletPC with WiFi fits the bill.

Re:I looked at one of these.

[Repugnant_Shit]

To quote "The Parlor"

Old guy: Irregardless isn't even a word!
Teen: Yes it is. It means "without lack of regard"

Re:I looked at one of these.

[ColdGrits]

This is not an attempt to troll or flame or anything, but I really have to question the statement "I like the idea of being able to leverage my knowledge of Linux when I'm jotting down a note or looking up an address."

Sorry, but no matter how geeky I am feeling, when I want to jot down a note or look up an address on my PDA, I don't want to have to "leverage my knowledge" of the underlying OS, I want to jot down a note or look up an address.

Can you clarify what you mean, please? I'm genuinely lost as to how you "leverage your knowledge" of Linux when jotting doiwn a note on a PDA!

Re:I looked at one of these.

[Anonymous Coward]

but a PDA doesn't leave 3rd egree burns on you arm like a table pc does

After I read the review...

[teamhasnoi]

I see that the Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 would make a perfect server for a school server. Definitely not overkill.

However, these reviewers need to stop hosting on the devices they review.

Most Insightful post ever

[tomstdenis]

Only x posts and slashdotted! Must be running their site on product "A".

Imagine a beowolf cluster of item "B", on a "C".

Just wait till the RIAA hears about this! and/or Just wait till the MPAA sees this! and/or Just wait till the **AA hears and/or sees this!

Something SCO would do....Or Sue! Sue! call SCO

BSD is dying, only a few million users left!

Oh and MS knows security like they know open competition.

I used Mozilla once!

1. Action "D"
2. ???
3. Result "E"

MS sucks. or MSFT sucks. or Microsoft sucks. or Micro$oft sucks or Micro$loth sucks.

Linux has a far superior kitch factor.

I'm going to patent patenting. I'm going to patent the wheel, air, fire, water, item "F". Quick hide it from bezos.

I'm going to sue for violating my first post (patent|copyright).

Check my l33t signature!

Accomplishing goal L: Cost "G". Accomplishing goal M: Cost "H", for everything else there is item "I".

Something, something, something, private part [giggle like the school child you are], something, something, something.

something, other, something, Natalie Portman, something

Boochicka wowwow, something, hot grits and person "J", who may or not be Natalie Portman

Some guys widespread anus [goatse.cx]

In Soviet Russia, Item "J" does "K" to YOU!

Apple R0xx0rs!

Apple Sucks!

Kde!

Gnome!

Amigas aren't dead!

Polling:
[options a-g] ...
h. [unable to participate] you insensitive clod!
i. [cowboy neal poll option]

Re:Most Insightful post ever

[chef_raekwon]

you forgot "all your "B" are belong to "C".....

Re:Most Insightful post ever

[tekrat]

Dude, you friggin rule. That was the funniest post I have ever read on Slashdot, bar none. You have distilled the very essence of the entire site to as few words as possible. Poetry, sheer poetry.

Now I have to clean up all the coke that just came shooting out of my nose...

Re:Most Insightful post ever

[nakaduct]

> In Soviet Russia, Item "J" does "K" to YOU!

No. Item "K" does "J" to YOU! Fool.

Re:Most Insightful post ever

[GigsVT]

Now I have to clean up all the coke that just came shooting out of my nose...

So instead of crack smoking moderators, we have coke snorting posters now? :)

Re:Most Insightful post ever

[ralphclark]

Funniest post ever, that's for sure. And there have been a few good ones.

Re:Most Insightful post ever

[ralphclark]

Second funniest post ever!

Re:5600 is old news. C700, 750, 760 are new

[Anonymous Coward]

Sharp Mobile is collapsing. Don't expect it to be around in 3 months.

ROM 3.10 available for SL5500

[mirko]

SL5500 users can now benefits from the same application set as SL5600.
check here

Re:my thoughts

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a true shame that the majority of slashbots that browse at a higher threshold than this post will never enjoy the true humor of it. Browsing at -1 is the only way to enjoy slashdot. In fact, I really wish there were some way to hide all the useless drivel that gets rated +3 or higher and just cut straight to the humorous trollposts that I require.

geek.com has another review of this

[gosand]

Funny, just before seeing this posted, I had just finished reading a review of the 5600 at geek.com . Since the review posted is slashdotted, maybe you can check that one out.

I adore my SL5500

[Glyndwr]

It's not really a PDA, it's a pocketable Linux computer.

First, the PDA side of things. People criticise it for having weak PDA features which, compared to Palms, and that's somewhat true; my previous Psion PDAs had a few extra features around the edges that I miss, but by and large the PIM features are fine for my moderately advanced use.

But there's so much more! SCUMMVM in the palm of your hand with mp3-encoded talkie versions of Fate of Atlantis or Day of the Tentacle is pretty nifty.Add a Wifi card, install Wellenwreiter or Kismet, and go low-profile warwalking. I have a Pocketop IR folding keyboard for long documentation on the go; the screen rotation software Just Works, unlike a lot of PocketPCs.

Unlike Palm owners, I can handle DOC and XLS files native on the device; this is particularly key because the Zaurus is a computer in its own right and not a PDA. The Hancom office apps shipped with it are usable enough for quick on-the-go editing and creation. I could do with one of these now for instant printing of invoices when I'm out at a client's site.

The big compelling piece of software is OpenZaurus, a completely open source and regularly updated distro to replace the Sharp ROM. It's a bit like trading Debian stable for unstable; kinda hacky at times, kinda buggy at others, but it's so exciting to get a massive batch of upgrades every few weeks full of improvements. It's never been buggy enough to lose my PDA data, and in any event with multisync, unison and rsync my data is backed up six ways to Sunday.

Other people like apps like opie-reader for ebooks, portable Ogg players (there are a few), portable DivX playback, email (this is noticeable ropy under OpenZaurus, but getting better), and many more... For more ideas, see this thread on zaurus.com.

Downsides? I find the QWERTY keyboard wearing after a few minutes, hence I have the Pocketop, and I've managed to scratch the screen under the handwriting recognition area so I can't really use it any more (I think that was my fault, to be fair). The battery life sucks too, but then it does on all these colour mobile devices. Apparently, the SL5600 is better.

So basically, if you want a PDA, get a Palm. If you want a pocketable Linux computer in a PDA form factor with respectable PIM features and a mountain of open source apps, get a Zaurus.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Jad LaFields]

SCUMMVM in the palm of your hand with mp3-encoded talkie versions of Fate of Atlantis or Day of the Tentacle

Stop right there. You got me, I'm buying one.

I can't wait to see the looks on the train I'll get when I load up DotT and out booms the megalomanical voice of Purple Tentacle: "Nonsense! I feel great! Stronger! Smarter! More aggressive. I feel like I could... like I could... TAKE ON THE WORLD!!"

Damn those were good.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[dbowden]

Unfortunately, it doesn't have a built-in speaker, so you need to use headphones or an external speaker.

The OZ folks do have an experimental driver that uses the onboard piezo clicker to reproduce sounds other than beeps, but I haven't tried it yet.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Glyndwr]

It's rather rubbish, I am informed.

For full on commuter scaring, however, one of these would appear to be in order. I should buy one, really.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[SubtleNuance]

have you tried any of the MAME packages? can you run the games at a playable speed?

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Glyndwr]

No, I haven't done it myself; apparantly the Gameboy emu is full speed now, and MAME is supposed to be OK for old and simple stuff. I keep meaning to get around to playing with it but there's so little time...

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Minna Kirai]

OpenZaurus, a completely open source

Open source, eh? Do you happen to know what license it's under, then?

Their website doesn't mention anything about that.

Since it's apparently based on Linux, I'd expect it to be under the GPL (at least in part). But that obviously isn't the case. Look at the Openzaurus download page. There are links to 20 different binary packages, but no links to source code. According to the GPL, you must put source links in the same place as binary ones.

Downloading an unpacking those binaries won't reveal any licensing information, nor "an offer good for three years to supply source to any third party".

Searching around on the Openzaurus site for source code, I find an intriguing FAQ entry which claims that Openzaurus code is GPL, and another which explains a way to get the source. Or rather... a way to get some source code. Actually... patches against other, 3rd party distributions. Which if you had those distributions, you might be able to assemble into the Openzaurus source code... The code to some version of Openzaurus, not necessarily the same code that built the binaries you have.

All of that is completely against the GPL.

You can't give out patches- it must be the whole source.
The source code and binaries you provide must correspond exactly (same revision).

Re:I adore my SL5500

[_Sprocket_]

I tried the driver and promptly removed it. Now, I wasn't expecting crystal clarity but I was also hoping for something more than a novel way of playing "guess that tune". YMMV. I'm sticking with headphones.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Minna Kirai]

Even if the Zaurus could run the games quickly, they still wouldn't be "playable", as you don't have an effective input device. (For reference, here's a picture of the Zaurus's buttons)

The directional pad on the SL550 and 5600 is the worst I've ever handled on a portable device. Worse than Gameboy or PocketPC (Ipaq, etc); even worse than many cellphones.

A good D-Pad should let the player move in any of 4 cardinal directions just by shifting the force applied by his thumb. You can't do this with the Zaurus- the D-Pad is a large, hollow circle with a separate button inside it. Your thumb can only be positioned to press 3 directions at once. If you're pressing up, and want to go down, you've got to either lift your finger across the gap, or circle it all the way around the ring to the opposite side.

Speed-based games requiring quick changes of direction are simply not playable.

About the most intense game that works is Snake, and only because the player is limited to 3 possible directions at any one time.

Not to mention that unlike some other PDAs, there are no convenient buttons to use for the other game controls. Even if you did somehow manage to handle up/down/left/right with one thumb on the D-Pad, the only buttons you could use to shoot/jump are clustered right next to the D-Pad. Ideally you'd want one hand on each side of the screen, for maximum stability. Other PDAs (the PocketPC line, again) at least have some buttons on the far edge of the case (such as for scrolling documents) that you could use as the fire button.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[josecanuc]

Maybe you should look into some fatter thumbs. I am not a small person, so my big thumb fits rather well over the whole direction-pad. ;-)

Re:I adore my SL5500

[bear_phillips]

I you want the source code then email them and ask them?
Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange;
They have a contact us link, use it.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Minna Kirai]

They (the Openzaurus packagers) provided no such written offer.

The GPL only requires you to make that offer if you don't provide the whole source along with the binaries. They neither make that offer, nor provide source. But they claim that since their BitKeeper repository is public, that's equivalent to providing source. (Even though it only contains patches, which aren't sufficient, as described in the GPL FAQ I referenced above)

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Minna Kirai]

Saline injections, you mean?

Re:I adore my SL5500

[pnis]

Hi! Config code is GPL as it is supposed to be. The reasons not to provide the full source of all packages are:
1) all packages' sources is around 1 gigabyte
2) no point, as only little patches are needed to correct occasional problems with cross-compiling or performance - these patches are available, and free
(imho they are covered by the license the app is under which the patch is for - ianal)

best regards
Denes

ps: there is a regularly updated snaphsot of the BK repo on the sf site - I don't remember where exactly, search the fine web especiall the openzaurus malinglist archives

ps2: if you insist I will certainly send you the sources by mail (print or in whatever format you prefer) for the cost of postage & media but that's not too comfortable, so I would rather not if possible :)

Re:I adore my SL5500

[josecanuc]

Whatever floats your boat. My favorite method is just to be a lazy American and eat lots of food. It's a tough procedure, but it sure makes the Zaurus so enjoyable to use. ;-)

Re:I adore my SL5500

[WyrdOne]

I am still going to wait for the SLC-7xx series to hit the US. (a little birdy inside Sharp says sometime late this summer or early fall for an SLC-760 Equiv for US)

DROOOLLLL!!!

http://ezaurus.com/

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Sloppy]

I adore my SL5500

That doesn't rhyme like "I adore my 64" does.

• I grapple my Apple
• I feel sorry for my Atari
• I really hate-ee my TRS-80
• I ICBM my IBM
• I get sick, when I overflow my VIC
• I don't care for my Timex-Sinclair

and so on.

Your fundamental mistake was .. well, trying to copy Commodore's marketing. But beyond that, I mean, your fundamental technical mistake was starting with model number "SL5500" at all. The name "Zaurus" really has a lot more rhyming potential. Care to try again?

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Minna Kirai]

The reasons not to provide the full source of all packages are:

The reasons to provide full source is:
1) It is ILLEGAL not to. (If you don't include a written offer- and you don't)
2) If obeying the law isn't enough, other practical reasons are described by the FSF. For the link impaired, here is the text of their explanation:

• Q. I want to distribute binaries, but distributing complete source is inconvenient. Is it ok if I give users the diffs from the "standard" version along with the binaries?
  
  A. This is a well-meaning request, but this method of providing the source doesn't really do the job.
  A user that wants the source a year from now may be unable to get the proper version from another site at that time. The standard distribution site may have a newer version, but the same diffs probably won't work with that version.
  So you need to provide complete sources, not just diffs, with the binaries.

In the case of OpenZaurus, it's even worse. The project is derived not from one single package, but from more than a dozen. They are intermediate versions, hosted on several different sites, with some files being replaced after just a few days. I have tried many times to compile the "buildroot", and never succeeded, because the source packages it depends on have already been obseleted.

best regards
Denes

If you are a maintainer of OpenZaurus, you should add an entry on the credits page so that people can contact you (or at least verify affiliation). The name "Denes" is on there, but only parenthetically.

there is a regularly updated snaphsot of the BK repo on the sf site

That the buildroot is stored in BitKeeper is a non-problem compared to the fact that it's only patches. The snapshot you're talking about is probably this file? The timestamp on that changes every day- but.I downloaded it in September2002 and March2003, and got identical files. (I haven't tried again recently). And anyway, as a snapshot of the latest code, it doesn't suffice for the GPL- it would have to be a historical snapshot from back when OZ3.2 was released.

if you insist I will certainly send you the sources by mail

What I'd like is for the OpenZaurus project to obey the GPL (and by extension, international law). That means either adding a link to the full OpenZaurus3.2 source on the download page, or a least putting an explanation there of what the license terms are, and how source can be obtained. (By "full source", I mean whatever goes into the zImage files- not all the packages in the feed. Those are downloaded separately, and can have source provided separately, as appropriate)

Re:I adore my SL5500

[seebs]

Oooh! How does one do MP3-encoded talkies on scummvm? I have a couple of CD versions of games that I'd love to have on my PDA.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[pnis]

hm. But you promise you will download the full source of all available versions if made available ? bye Denes

Re:I adore my SL5500

[SeanVa]

I think you make some good points in you email about adhering to the stipulations of the GPL. But i think your general tone would make anyone shy away. It reminds me of a child stamping his feet and demanding things! Treating people well goes a long way in life. This is the reason why companies fear the linux community. If you use linux we love you, but god forbid we find a problem with your use of it! When that happens out comes the demands and veiled legal threats.

Re:I adore my SL5500

[Glyndwr]

There are instructions on the SCUMMVM website. Basically, it's a tool you run over the monster.sou file from the original game; my Sam And Max complete talkie is 44Mb after that compression.

The Zaurus is cool but...

[twifkak]

doesn't the DMCA dis-allow it? If RIAA finds out that it might be capable of aiding in the distribution of copyrighted material (like floppies), we're screwed. Besides, Microsoft or SCO probably has a patent on it anyway, those useless losers. Anyway, the Zaurus wouldn't be cool unless it were completely free.

This message has been approved for use on Slashdot.

Whoa...

[bdesham]

This Linux based handheld with a built in qwerty keyboard with decent connectivity.

That sentence no verb!

Re:Whoa...

[Oswald]

That sentence with no predicate at all, actually.

Re:Whoa...

[Anonymous Coward]

That sentence no verb!
"built"
verb:
he built
she built...

Re:Whoa...

[ColdGrits]

Nope, wrong.

"built in" is not a verb, it is an adjective (properly written built-in, but hey, if someone is going to create a sentance with no verbs, then they are not going to worry too much about missing hyphens, are they?).

So that sentance still has no verb :)

Re:Whoa...

[Anonymous Coward]

which is not really a sentence, but merely a subordinate clause.

Re:Whoa...

[Sunnan]

That sentence no verb!

Just like this one... so what?

Re:5600 is old news. C700, 750, 760 are new

[The AtomicPunk]

Has Netcraft confirmed this? :)

How Dare You: +2, More Patriotic

[Anonymous Coward]

Challenge the trustworthiness
of the President of the United States of America

Very truly yours,
A Patriot

IBM Microdrive

[The Angry Mick]

IBM/Hitachi makes a 1 gig. micro-drive for handhelds that'll plug in to a Type II CF card, and there's even one for sale on the Zaurus site.

Re:IBM Microdrive

[Anonymous Coward]

An 1 Gig IBM Microdrive is not *decent* storage. It is just enough for your digicam, but if you then want to empty the drive to the PDA, you could just copy it once. Unless the PDA has at least 20 gig (or a 20-40 gig HDD in your other pocked connected via wireless), then it's not decent storage.

Re:Zaurus eBook support

[dbowden]

I've been using Opie Reader on the 5500, and I've been very happy with it. It doesn't read all the formats, but I haven't found anything yet that I can't read either in its original format or by using a conversion utility.

Opie Reader supports: (from the above web site)

• "Doc" format - also known as the original Aportis or AportisDoc format.
• Weasel or ztxt format.
• Plucker format.
• gzipped text.
• ppms text.
• Plain text with special handling of PML or HTML marked-up text.

It doesn't support:

• iSilo
• TealDoc (afaik)
• PalmReader/Peanut - although the early versions of these files were based on "Doc" format and Opie-Reader can manage some of the free files.
• EZReader.

The newest version even has a nifty new scroll function where it "paints" over text instead of scrolling it. It's a lot more like reading a book, in that the text doesn't actually move -- the text you've already read is gradually replaced by the next page, while you finish reading the previous page. Very nifty.

heh...

[ed.han]

i'm just curious to know what taco's reaction will be when he sees that you've been able to distill this entire site down to one post... :>

ed

Re:heh...

[tomstdenis]

My guess is

"mod -1, redundant" :-)

That's what he gets for catering to idiots. If the editors used a modicum of restraint and insight when picking stories the readers here wouldn't post nonsense for kicks.

re: heh...

[ed.han]

well, close...

hey, this is nifty: w/ my preferences set to +1, i can't even see the post to which you're responding...o irony of ironies...

ed

This sentence no verb.

[TFloore]

This Linux based handheld with a built in qwerty keyboard with decent connectivity.

I know... expecting proper grammar from a site that can't handle spelling things properly is a bit much to ask... but I had to read that two before my pet peeve would let me continue.

(How many typos and grammar mistakes did I just put in a post complaining about typos and grammar? Well, I found two, but corrected them before hitting 'submit.')

Re:This sentence no verb.

[Anonymous Coward]

This post already.

The Patriot?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why'd you stop wrestling, Del? And why did they give Kurt Angle your music? To quote Hurricane, wuzzup wit dat?

I want one, but...

[Slayback]

The lack of a real replacement for PocketQuicken is the only thing hanging me up. Until there is software that syncs directly with Quicken and/or Money (not just exporting QIF's), I think that it rules out the Zaurus as an option for many looking to make the switch. Perhaps QPOSE could be used, but until I'm certain that all functionality could be emulated (HotSync conduits), I can't afford to take the plunge. I've seen numerous posts about this on newsgroups and forums, but no one seems to have an answer.

Makes it close to 5600

[bstadil]

Not only that but using alternative 3.1 Rom images found Here you can change the default usage of memory. Buy a SD card and keep all your applications on that, leaving plenty of space for runtime useage.

That pretty much makes a 5500 = 5600 except for battery advantage. 5500 Can still be found for around $200.

Re:Makes it close to 5600

[nym_bnm]

Not only that, but because the SL-5600 uses the buggy PXA250 chip from chipzilla, the SL-5500 is siad to run a tad faster... used SL-5500 for $230, add in a battery extender which is often being sold on eBay for less than $10, and download the OpenZaurus ROM or the Sharp 3.10 rom, and you've a better unit than the SL-5600 alone.

I had the 5500 and returned it...

[no_such_user]

I bought the 5500 when HSN was clearing them out a few months ago... but I ended up returning it. While I really loved being able to hold linux in my hand, I quickly realized that it just wasn't a replacement for my Palm Vx.

The most limiting factor was battery life... which the 5600 claims to improve. Any linux geek who will play with one of these things will be playing HARD... ogg decoding, game playing, etc. These things burn up battery life, and you quickly need to make a run for the nearest AC plug.

The other thing that discouraged me was filesystem management. Installing packages wasn't smooth and required some fancy footwork to install them on CF/MMC cards. And if you drain your battery and don't recharge within 24 hours (perhaps less), you'll lose anything not in flash ROM or on a memory card. Sure it's the same with any other PDA... but my palm can go for weeks w/o a charge... and I can recharge it with a 9v battery if I'm desperate.

There are hacks to setup backups to a CF card or whatever, and hacks for wireless connectivity, and hacks for getting X apps to run, and hacks... and hacks... but you start to realize that the entire thing is about hacks... it's not clean. It made me miss my Newton. Flexibility? No... but sure was slick!

Two things would have made me keep it:
1. Better battery life (fixed in 5600?)
2. Ability to boot off the CF card and turn the device into a full-speed, fully functioning palm emulator (the ones I tried had serious limitations). A dual-boot pda!

Just my $.02 - I look forward to trying again in a couple of years :)

Re:I had the 5500 and returned it...

[Lumpy]

The most limiting factor was battery life... which the 5600 claims to improve.

funn, I did not find this to be an issue, First you disable the backlight. this makes battery life X10 and in the office the screen is viewable without the light. Second, anyone expecting it to do all day while listening to mp3's and 802.11b is plain old nuts. NO color PDA with the processing power the SL-5500 has can do that.

Anyways, I use mine all the time, more than my old PALM IIIx and much MUCH longer than the piece of crap Journada CE based abortion I have rotting in a drawer...I hope that HP has improved the Journada because in late 1999 early 2000 they were utter crap.

I find the zaurus to be the first PDA that is truely useable, yes sync under linux is a paion in the arse but just because nobody has written the software for it yet. I remember that Palm's until a couple of years ago were the exact same way.

Sorry you returned it, youre missing out on a awesome device for dirt cheap.

Re:I had the 5500 and returned it...

[vjmurphy]

"There are hacks to setup backups to a CF card or whatever, and hacks for wireless connectivity,"

Huh? If by "hacks" you mean "an easy way to back up to CF" and "wireless connectivity when you plug in a wirless lan card" than I agree. I can back up my system to CF or SD in two steps, and getting wireless to work was about a 3 minute process the first time, and a 5 second process now.

"hacks for getting X apps to run"

This is true. Try loading Windows apps on a PocketPC and see if you can do it. You are slamming a device for NOT doing something it isn't designed to do (but that CAN, with work).

Re:I had the 5500 and returned it...

[Minna Kirai]

Huh? If by "hacks" you mean "an easy way to back up to CF" and "wireless connectivity when you plug in a wirless lan card" than I agree.

Requiring the user to buy a separate CF card and then manually backup his data is truely a hack. (Where "hack"=workaround for shortsighted design) The device includes onboard flash memory- you shouldn't have to take extra, costly steps just to protect your appointments from a RAM wipeout.

The (traditional) Palm stores everything in RAM, but it hardly ever crashes or expends the battery, so this doesn't bother most users. The SL-5500 will eat it's battery in 2 hours, and can freeze up fairly easily with the default software packages. In fact, the single simplest reason to switch to the OpenZaurus ROM is that PIM data is automatically stored on Flash memory, so application failures don't erase your schedule.

Also, wireless connectivity was incomplete when the SL-5500 was launched. Besides an irritating error in the network control panel (it ignored user-supplied DNS addresses), there was a major vendor of CF 802.11b cards that was totally unsupported. Downloadable drivers were available, but at least a year passed without them making it into the ROM image.

And of course, using the default wireless connectivity gave anybody within 15 meters complete root access to your PDA... closing that big design flaw required much hackage. (Sharp released a ROM upgrade to fix the problem, then de-recommended that ROM because it broke most of their PC sync software)

Developers get a Discount

[Martok7]

I own the SL-5500 (and love it) and received an email from Sharp stating that people who participate in the Sharp open source app development can receive a nice discount on both the SL-5500 and SL-5600. If I remember it was a pretty good deal too.

SL-5600 Synchronization Problem

[Erwos]

Not sure if anyone brought this up, but Sharp changed the method of storing PIM data from XML to binary for the 5600, which promptly broke all current open-source methods of doing synchronization. For the record, TrollTech didn't seem too happy about the change, either.

Thus, if you want an open-source synch tool for Linux, you may be out of luck for a while.

-Erwos

Re:SL-5600 Synchronization Problem

[Stephen Chadfield]

"for a while"? I have seen messages posted by Sharp employees stating Sharp has no plans to implement desktop synchronisation with Linux and the new ROMs.

I know I relied on a third party solution to sync my Palm with Linux (J-Pilot) but a solution for syncing the Z with Linux already existed (though there were moronic duplicate entry problems) until Sharp broke it with their upgrade.

If Sharp don't backtrack on this anti-Linux policy I am going back to Palm. I need desktop synchronisation. If I lose/break my PDA I need some access to my address book, diary and todo list while I arrange a replacement.

I do not want to be forced into using Windows on the desktop in order to run a Linux-based PDA.

Re:SL-5600 Synchronization Problem

[Minna Kirai]

1. The storage was never actually XML, just a similar looking arbitrary format. The filename ended in .xml, and XML parsers worked on it, but it wasn't fully compliant. There were no DTDs supplied, for example, and some fields were totally undocumented. However, since the data was all fat ascii, it was trivial to reverse-engineer the important parts.
   
2. From a performance perspective, switching away from XML is a big win. You can't really argue it, technically. The pseudo-XML format wasted space and was slow. If they'd just provide documentation on the binary format (and also a prediction as to how long that format will be remaining unchanged), then everything would be fine.
   
   In fact, since the system is based on Free Software, they should just release the whole source code to their PIM apps and be done with it. A programmer would jump up from the "community" to take care of their Linux synchronization needs- and probably someone else would volunteer to improve the UI on the PIM itself (which needs a lot of work in comparison to the competition from Palm)
   
   By selling a Linux PDA, but not distributing the code to most of the applications, Sharp is getting the worst of both worlds in terms of user acceptance.
   

Some more technical detail:
Why does pseudo-XML waste space?
Because more than 50% of the total file is repetitive boilerplate. The addressbook.xml looks like this:
< Contact FirstName="Bob" MiddleName="Mack" LastName="Dobbs" FileAs="Dobbs, Bob Mack" Company="CoSG" BusinessPhone="866-512-7801" >
Not only are strings like "FirstName" and "BusinessPhone" repeated for every entry, but each person's name is stored twice! And remember, on a handheld portable, file size is more precious than on desktops or laptops.

Why is pseudo-XML slow?
Because XML is a linear file format. If you have 900 entries in the contact list (not at all unrealistic), and you add a new email address to contact #356, then the entire file past that point will have to be re-written. (Unless the programmer was extra-careful and used specialized file-shifting code, which still won't help in all cases). In practice, this meant that Zaurus users with thousands of contacts had to withstand startup or shutdown times of 20+ seconds.

Mad props to you, sir. You made my day.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is hilarious... but having the CmdrTaco name makes it a Goddamn scream...

Lame Jokes and a solution...

[mykepredko]

They are:

1. Imagine a Beowolf cluster of...
2. In Soviet Russia...
3. Web server running off of reviewed hardware

How about rounding up everyone that uses one of these three jokes, tying them up with cat-5 cable, dropping them on Moscow after paying somebody to plug in the cable.

myke

Re:Lame Jokes and a solution...

[vjmurphy]

You forgot one!

"1. Imagine a Beowolf cluster of...
2. In Soviet Russia...
3. Web server running off of reviewed hardware"

4. ???
5. Profit!

I depend on my Zaurus

[allrong]

I spend about 4 hours travelling on trains everyday and my Zaurus has made a big difference to my productivity. I used to lug a laptop around with me, but it is heavy and slow to boot up (suspend not really working under Linux).

I sit in the train or lie in bed and use tckEditor to write PHP applications. It's extra hours of productivity that I would otherwise not have available to use when I need it (like right now).

When I want to test something I can run (an old version of) Apache, PHP and MySQL. I started teaching myself Python on the Zaurus.

I listen to Oggs on it.

Okay it's battery life may not be the best and perhaps some of the "productivity" apps could be improved. I hardly use them. But I don't think of the Zaurus as a tool for the paper shuffling executive. They have enough wanky gadgets already. I consider the Zaurus a very useful tool for the Linux developer. And I don't mind playing the odd game on it either!

I have a 5500

[Dwedit]

I have a 5500, and I run windows.

How on earth do I compile software for the Zaurus?

Re:I have a 5500

[mhore]

How on earth do I compile software for the Zaurus?

gcc runs on the Zaurus, though I haven't installed it because I do run Linux. It wouldn't hurt to try it, though I can't speak for its performance or anything.

hope this helps -- i believe the package name is zgcc or something.

Re:I have a 5500

[selfabuse]

with This Or, you can use the DevCluster at handhelds.org.

I love my Z but...

[katsushiro]

I love my Zaurus. I've got the 5500, and while the 5600 looks good, I dont' see any real pressing reason to upgrade quite yet (Except for battery life, but that's why I carry a spare battery for mine around). My only real problem is this, though: Email. I use Mozilla. I love Mozilla. And I use the whole suite, including the Mail client, which I have tricked out with a few plugins to handle PGP, encryption, digital signatures, stuff like that (I do a lot of communications where being able to digitally sign and encryt the messages sent is very important). I've got the junk mail filter fully trained and almost nothing gets past it. Point is, I've got it working, and it works very well for me. The only thing I'd like to do would be to sync those emails with my Zaurus, but apparently that's too much to ask. I would love to be able to read my synced emails ont he road, compose replies anywhere and have them be sent off when I get back to the cradle and sync up again. Odd thing is, I can do this with Outlook, a closed, proprietary virus vector. But I can't do that with a secure, open source Mail app like Mozilla. I really don't want to be forced to switch back to what is to me a lesser mail client (Outlook) when I'm so used to Mozilla Mail, but I'd really like to be able to use the email functionality of my Zaurus. That's my only real complaint, and I just figured i'd rant about it here. :)

Re:I love my Z but...

[shadow303]

Actually, the email doesn't even sync that well with Outlook (I hate outlook, but I need it at work for the calendar stuff). For a while, I was synchronizing my email and frequently it would screw up. I like the zaurus itself, but the syncing capabilities leave a lot to be desired.

Re:I love my Z but...

[katsushiro]

Ahh.. good to know i'm noty missing out on that much then. I'd pay good money for an email app on my Zaurus that synced well with Outlook, Eudora, Mozilla Mail/Netscape, etc. You know, multiple folders, message threading, message categories/ranks.. I wouldn't even hold out for a Free/OSS version. If theKompany or someone else made a good mail app like that with proper syncing capabilities, I'd pay. I know that Wireless conenctions are all the rage, so I'd be more likely to see an app like MultiMail for the Palm which is a full featured mail client, not a sync client, but where's the love for those of us, like me, who live in parts of the world where wireless hasn't quite caught on yet? I need a good sync solution... :P

lol

[Anonymous Coward]

CmdrTaco:I can no longer resist the pizza. I open the box and unzip my pants with my other hand. As I penetrate the gooey cheese, I moan in ecstacy. The mushrooms and Italian sausage are rough, but the sauce is deliciously soothing. I blow my load in seconds. As you leave the bathroom, I exit through the front door....
DirtyKate:wtf?
DirtyKate:You perverted piece of shiat
DirtyKate:Fuk


That's some funny shit! hit'n'run! More!!!!

Sharp and SCO linux

[Anonymous Coward]

This PDA runs a version of Linux provided by Lineo. Lineo is a Canopy company which was a spin-off of Caldera.

There is a clause in the Sharp contract with Lineo whereby Lineo will "emdemnify" Sharp if there is any IP claim against this Linux-based OS. "Emdemnify" is a lot stronger than "hold blameless." "Emdemnify" means that Lineo ensures Sharp against any claim by a third party of IP violation.

It seems to me that if SCO claims that they are owed royalties for any Linux, then the GPL is violated for all Linuxs. Therefore, any copyright holder who contributed to Linux can tell Sharp to quit using Linux, because the GPL has been violated. This means that Sharp will tell Lineo to
defend the lawsuit or to pay damages to Sharp.

Of course, this assumes Lineo is still in business...

Re:Sharp and SCO linux

[bcombee]

Lineo (after changing their name to Embedix) was purchased by Metrowerks (a Motorola company) last year. They are still actively developing and supporting the OpenPDA Linux platform.

Re:5600 is old news. C700, 750, 760 are new

[Anonymous Coward]

no. the fact that the old hands in the division are gone. another failed Linux business model.

I have to second that...

[mhore]

nothing like typing '/sbin/lsmod' on a PDA to see if it correctly recognized your CF wireless card!

This is definitely more of a mini-pc (pinky to mouth) than a PDA.

Mike.

youth suxus!

[Anonymous Coward]

That bites goat nutz for TFloore. The guy one posteth above you is mod'd +? Funny and you get mod'd redundant to slashell.

Re:youth suxus!

[Anonymous Coward]

maybe because the second post was about 15 minutes AFTER the first. Seems like a simple copy to me.

C760 for $650 -- Today only

[dbowden]

I forgot to add -- The ZaurusDevNet forums have a rumor that the C760 is available today only for $650 -- instead of $799.

Details here

SL-5500 $229, SL-5600 $424.99

[dbowden]

Here's the text from my email:

Sharp has teamed up with PC Connection to offer our developers a special discount price on the Zaurus and accessories. The SL-5600 is available for $424.99 and the SL-5500 is $229. This special price is only valid for approved developers of the Zaurus Developer Program. To access the Developer store, please login to the Zaurus DevNet at http://www.zaurus.com/dev/ and from the menu click Developer Program->Store. If you haven't enrolled into the Developer Program, you must do this prior to purchasing.

You forgot one important thing!

[q2a]

Hey alue, how could you forget?;

The ability to bash/sftp your data to/from your desktop? = PRICELESS
Not having evil bill's EULA in your PDA? = PRICELESS
Being able to play KBILL on your PDA? = PRICELESS
The pure oldschool joy of NETHACK on your PDA? = PRICELESS

And besides, I bought my 5500 for $190 including tax and shipping. :)

Re:I want one, but... there IS a Quicken option..

[q2a]

Do your home work, tkcKapital now supports quicken inport/export and it works fine for me.

Re:I want one, but... there IS a Quicken option..

[Slayback]

Yes, I've done my homework, but there still is no automatic synchronization, not even with Kaptial. While it may seem insignificant, importing and exporting QIFs on a regular basis does not seem convenient. Having transactions appear in the register automatically after a sync, IS convenient. If you know of a process to automate this, please share.

great hardware, nice OS, terrible interface.

[mykle666]

i bought a SL5500 to do two projects: wireless home audio client and on-board guidance system for a large model rocket. i looked at a lot of other tiny/embedded/portable linux options before picking the zaurus; it really did seem like the cheapest way to go in the long run, for my particular set of needs at least.

i'm sure the zaurus will do fine for the second task, which will be all command-line and no UI -- in fact, whenever i get so frustrated with the QTopia and Opie user interfaces, and consider smashing my Zaurus against a large solid object like my own head, i take solace that i will soon blast the stupid thing into outer space instead.

i must object to the statement that there are good mp3/audio apps, at least by my definition of good. the bundled Media Player application sucks. the proprietary media player i downloaded from the TKC for $20 sucks harder. the demoware streaming internet-radio application i tried sucks great gobs. XMMS, while not yet working, already sports the worst UI of all.

"sucking" in this case means failure to work, and/or totally incomprehensible user interface that require simultaneous use of the keyboard, stylus and buttons, and/or caused my zaurus to lock up & requre a hard reset. all of these apps are guilty of all three. the only way i can stream my audio files over the network reliably is with a combination of wget and madplay at the command line.

(and btw, the sound is really good ... as long as you're not plugged in to wall power. the supplied power converter sends a nasty buzz into the audio hardware. so i have to build a power filter, ugh.)

it's great hardware, really. and the OS is Linux. but the user interface is wrong, wrong, wrong. It's basically TrollTech's Qt widget set drawn tiny, which means it's the desktop metaphor placed on a 2x3 inch desk. that's what's wrong with most of the apps. (the netradio app has much weirder metaphor issues: it look like a radio, but you're supposed to click on the wood panelling instead of the knobs. at any rate, it locks up on the shoutcast stream i gave it.)

i'd love to see some new initiatives in PDA user interface come from the open source world. i haven't used PICO yet, but from the screenshots it seems like more of the same desktop, with different eye candy. use any other PDA operating system (except perhaps WINCE) to see some better ideas. especially look at the iPod, which is growing into a full-fledged PDA with huge market share.

i know i shouldn't complain if i'm not willing to help. right now i'm developing a media player for me, based on the iPod menu system but with network abilities. but the same UI approach could drive a whole PDA. it'd be cleaner & simpler that what we have now.

Re:great hardware, nice OS, terrible interface.

[pnis]

> XMMS, while not yet working, already sports the worst UI of all.

Thanks for the compliment. I am glad you are happy with your Zaurus too! he:]

bye
Denes

Re:great hardware, nice OS, terrible interface.

[Glyndwr]

(and btw, the sound is really good ... as long as you're not plugged in to wall power. the supplied power converter sends a nasty buzz into the audio hardware. so i have to build a power filter, ugh.)

See also: WiFi. Streaming audio across my LAN sounds pretty ropy, presumably because of the interference from the CF WiFi card.

Because...

[sterno]

My pants are not tailored to hold a full size notebook in the pocket. Other than that, great plan!

Re:Sharp sucks

[mamba-mamba]

This seems to be a sad state of affairs. But as soon as someone asks for and receives the source code, that person is allowed (per the GPL) to redistribute it freely, and could, e.g., put it on Sourceforge.

I wasn't really going to buy one anyway, so I don't really care.

Re:5600 is old news. C700, 750, 760 are new

[Anonymous Coward]

I was considering the SL-C700 as a PDA, but then I came across this in the specs:

a touch pen (inserts into the body)

Um, no thanks. Although I'm starting to get some insight on why you think they're hot.

Sounds like he's been hangin' with the mgrs...

[Anonymous Coward]

too much.
No geek I know uses "leverage" in daily conversation. In a meeting to get money for new equipment, absolutely. But the way he uses it, no (I'm of course talking about the geeks I know, and include myself in that group).

Re:Sharp sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

To all that you said about the fact the "Zaurus sucks" add the simple fact that customers buying Zaurus are above all Linux entusiasts, while the Zaurus can't sync with Linux Apps like you can do with Palm.
For this reason alone I didn't buy a Zaurus (not to mention weight and battery life)

Re:e-book nonsense

[aztechClanIII]

I don't care about some damn obscure e-book formats. I want to pay and download an e-book from Amazon, and be able to read it. As for the palm emulation thing, I don't think I have to tell you that reading a book in an palm emulator that runs at 160x160 is like playing an EGA game in the year 2020. Not fun! Zaurus reps need to get off their ass and secure an e-book reader contract. At least make it PDF compat. ~

Umm, no. It's a shite PDA

[Moderation abuser]

I have it's predecessor and that's a shite PDA too.

Nice big colour screen and can play MP3s which is all very cool and impressive for 5 minutes, but a truly crap user interface, buggy software and excruciatingly limited feature set make it almost useless as a day to day Personal Digital Assistant.

Yeah, and I'm a unix admin and Linux advocate too.

If you're coming from a Palm/Wince, you'll think it's the best thing since sliced bread, if you're coming from a Psion, you'll be beating your head against the nearest brick wall with the badly integrated clunkyness of it.

Seriously, save your dosh, it isn't worth it. Unless you get it in a sale with a big discount.

piqued

[sacrilicious]

A long time ago, when I first heard about Sharp releasing the Linux based Zaurus 5500 PDA, my interest was peaked.

:) So his interest peaked way back then. Too bad, I think the newer Zauri may be even better.

Ak! Focus!

[Anonymous Coward]

...at least he didn't photograph it on a floral print couch...

5500

[SHEENmaster]

The 5500 is really a better choice. It's only $199, has 64mb of ram, and all of the same expandability options. All they did between the two was half the ram and double the processor's clockspeed.

A word of warning: The usb cradle SUCKS. I recommend a wifi card, or at the very least, removing the usb link from the cradle so that you can type while linked.

It comes with a battery charger and impact-resistant hard-plastic screen protector.

Oh, and be sure to use an SD card as your primary storage option. Large CF cards need to be re-indexed after un-suspending.

Re:5500

[Tin Weasil]

I agree with you concerning the cradle. I rely heavily on the zaurus keyboard... in fact I'm typing this on my zaurus. The only use I've found for the cradle is for charging the battery at night.

I am looking forward to adding a wifi card... right now I'm settling for an old pretec wired ethernet that i inherited (it belongs to my company, but since the PDA it was bought for is dead, i'll continue using it)

The zaurus is a great tool. i'm in love with iqnotes.

Re:e-book nonsense

[katsushiro]

I do agree, at least in the sense that it's a bit of a hassle, yes, but the ebook formats that Opie-reader reads are actually the most common ones. And there's a perfectly capable PDF reader for the Zaurus. I read that 'Unix Haters' book on it. However, you're right in that Sharp's Zaurus people would make a major coup if they got at least one of the 'secure' e-book reader distributors to make a reader for the Z. At the very least, they should get the Adobe Reader 6.0 one. I mean, if the damn thing can run on a glorified calculator like the Palm, it can certainly run on a Zaurus.

MORE features dangit! :-p

[finallyHasANickname]

480x640 is a special screen resolution for the dyslyxic. Everything is displayed as though it was rotated 90 degrees. Since dyslexics can tell top from bottom easier than left from right, it makes it easier for them to read lines of text that go from the top to the bottom. There is still the problem where they have problems deciding which line to go to next, but the new PDAs with this resolution will have arrows on the bottom to help them choose.

But duz it |-|A\/E |33t sP33K fonts then? (And could Natalie Portman's grits-soaked Beowolf cluster...) Also ask yourself this: If you're an aficionado with feature-ful-ness-esque-osity why stop at 90 degrees? (Silly! I mean at that granularity. Bip. BIP BIP BIP. BIP just for good measure. Shame on you for even thinking otherwise!) Why not have a place where you can enter the coefficients of
Ax^2 + Bxy + Cy^2 + Dx + Ey + F = 0 of the most readily construed conic section on the screen in order to have an automated algorithm deduce theta to rotate the rendered screen image when theta is not n pi over two radians in a condition wherein n is an element of the set of all integers? Yeah. Now we're getting the juices flowing. Lemme kiss my muse. Ok. There. That helped.

Anyway...

Yeah. For inputting the coefficients of the cartesian stuff, there could be banks of binary DIP switches and a URL to point to a n00b's overview of binary numbers with...

Naw.

Go with jumpers. Yeah. Definitely definitely jumpers...

That way when a user has n - 1 jumpers, when n jumpers are necessary, the person can pound on the glass at Radio Shack at 9:00:01 PM while looking at the sign that says, "Notice: Radio Shack, including the aisle with jumpers for pin headers, is open only from 10:00 AM until 9:00:00.000 PM, you dufus. Please go to blahblah.com where popup screens will crash your browser, spend too much on adapter kits in general and always buy version 1.0 of everything you've heard about. Thank you, and please try again."

See the logic in that? With this kind of feature and with this kind of common-bond cultural backdrop--and with spectacularly open architecture as described above--what we get is a real end-user community...

Yeah. All to make it more comfy so that you don't have to tilt your head orthogonally with the axes of the screen. Yeah. Consider this a page at the fuggen patent office, kiddies.

Dayum, I'm good. I should get a Pointy Haired job in the marketing department.

I also hereby serve notice that I own this one too: "My kids don't recognize me anymore because of the demands of the maintenance schedule of my labor-saving devices."

Wireless.

[jotaeleemeese]

Uh?

You used one of the supported cards, didn't you?

It took me the monstrous amount of 5 minutes to set it up, and that for an unsupported card.

I can't see how this would be any different in any other PDA.

Backups....

[jotaeleemeese]

.... use tar?