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Linux On The Dell Axim

Posted by timothy on from the michael-are-you-listening dept.

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.

3 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. linux remote by tobes · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

  2. Re:linux on everything by dubStylee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  3. Why not? by gpmart · · Score: 4, Interesting
    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.