Linux On The Dell Axim

An anonymous reader points to this interesting project to run the Familiar Linux distribution on the Dell Axim. "It includes a picture of the Axim running Linux and directions for loading Linux on the Dell Axim from the CF card. Looks like a good start to this project." It's limited for now (crashes after 15 minutes, must be loaded through the installed version of Windows), but everything starts out that way.

Comments

linux on everything

[jnguy]

Why is the goal now to run linux on everything, from your xbox to your "Pocket PC" I understand the xbox, but will running linux on your pocket pc really be useful? is it even worth the effort, or is it just something cool.

Re:linux on everything

[Anonymous Coward]

Definitely COOL at first, USEFUL maybe later...

Re:linux on everything

[Erwos]

As someone who's done a Linux install on his iPaq 3150, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

You get far more flexibility, device support, and free software with Linux than PocketPC. Perhaps the only niggle is that you can't really get a browser into 16mb of RAM without constant crashes, but the Axim and newer iPaqs do not suffer from this problem. A nice side effect of storing everything in flash is that running out of battery only resets your clock, not your data.

It's not for everyone, but I think it was worth my time...

-Erwos

Re:linux on everything

[dubStylee]

will running linux on your pocket pc really be useful?

I'm someone who didn't pay enough attention to that question a few months ago and is way sorry now, here's my story:

1. I purchase the Toshiba e740 with pocketPC 2002
for $600

2. Six months later pocketPC 2003 comes out and Toshiba declinces to make it available to e740 users.

I now have no possibility of any kind of upgrade for any of my software. I am stuck with what was available pre-2003 for the rest of the life of the device. Now if Toshiba leaks out enough information about their hardware to allow someone to port linux to it, I could eventually upgrade the software.

Re:linux on everything

[Strudelkugel]

Someday M$ will announce the KitchenPC blender. It will network to your fridge so that you will know when you can make a smoothie. The instant it is announced, a collection of OSS coders will begin porting Linux to it. Six months later, M$ will drop the blender effort, but will have spent its real effort on something useful to someone (ok, another service pack!)

Why is the OSS community so obsessed with re-inventing the wheel? (Or Unix for that matter...) Lets see another desktop model, for example, instead of Yet Another Windows Clone...

linux remote

[tobes]

Using the Axim as a X client on a wireless network would be kind of like having a kick ass linux remote control.

Qtopia?

[$calar]

I see that it runs Qtopia from Trolltech. Is that GPL or not? I didn't think it was, of course I could be wrong. It's great to see KDE's portable cousin on this thing.

Useful, in time.

[nurb432]

Once its stable, the applications will come..

Then you arent tied to Microsoft for your updates/licenses/applications/privacy/etc.. You can do as you please.. Its called 'freedom'..

Unless there comes a time when the hardware agreement forbids you to run anything but what is given you ( such as Xbox.. )

HP vs Dell for PocketPC Linux

[AngusH]

How is this likely to change the market for PDAs?

A little, a lot?

Is it likely that HP Ipaqs or Dell Axims will be the preferred pocket pc platform for running linux?

If you were going to buy a new device would it already run linux?

It seems that a Dell device that could run linux would mean lower prices for the performance, particularly for vertical applications.

I already have a Dell Axim so my decision is made but I am curious to see how this new development will affect people who haven't bought a pocket device and already run linux.

(And I am aware of the Sharp linux PDAs)

Linux on Dell's Power Edge 650

[zenray]

I just happened to be on Dell's web sight looking for a low end Mircosoft 2000 Power Edge to use as a print server and noted that an OS option was "Red Hat Linux 9.0"

Obligatory Zaurus quote

[Gothmolly]

The Sharp Zaurus 5500 et al support Linux, in fact, they SHIP with Linux. Install OpenZaurus and you have real Linux, yet with real apps, SSH, etc. etc. And it runs longer than 15 minutes.
I mean, this is cool, but hardly the breaking story of the decade.

Why not?

[gpmart]

I know that I will indeed sound like a rube, but isn't a pocket pc really just a toy anyway? I use my Axim to surf the web wirelessly and check my mail, but most of the time I use it just as a toy. Who really does word processing on these things? You can't take notes. Even surfing is pretty painful. On the toy side, however its a relatively useful device. Its multimedia capabilities are pretty good(its a good MP3 player and a good ebook reader(which allows me to read linux docs)) but I think people that have the geek positive gene wouldn't mind playing with something new simply for the toy potential. Ultimately, their are some upsides to these things:

• SSH(which I have yet to see for ppc.
• Coding in other languages than the M$ langs
• xterm
• testing embedded stuff

Its a small, shallow pool of users but for cheap geeks who want to play with operating systems(that might be 99% of us) this is a good way to play embedded linux on a system that we use for other things.

Web browsing.

[atheken]

IF NOTHING ELSE.. Maybe we can finally escape the "Pocket IE" crap.. how about mozilla for axim! Incidentally, anybody know what the deal with the Windows Mobile 2003 upgrade from Dell is? I got my axim a few weeks ago and I have yet to find how I can get the upgrade.