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$300 Linux PDA from Royal to feature Qtopia
An anonymous reader writes "According to a Linux Devices news item, Royal is preparing to release a Linux PDA before the end of this year with a price point of under $300. The device will use Trolltech's Qtopia, so it will share a common operating environment and application platform with the Sharp Zaurus Linux PDAs. Royal announced a Linux PDA in January 2002, but apparently discontinued that project and embarked on a new design. The Linux Devices story includes a photo of the earlier version."
Technology amazes me. One of my computers that I still actively use is actually slower than that PDA there that is a couple of orders of magnitude smaller than it. Wow.
I bought it because I was too cheap to buy a Palm. At $50, it looked like a good deal because it had handwriting recognition, and most applications that Palm has.
Everything on it sucked though. The battery would last a day at the most, and it wasn't rechargeable. The handwriting recognition NEVER worked right. The user interface was horrible. I finally took it back and traded it up to a Palm.
Hopefully they designed this one better, and will be a nice choice for a Linux based PDA.
Also, am I the only one who's getting the impression that Linux-based PDA's fall behind the curve in terms of time to market and features?
Checking on the model they introduced at the beginning of the year, it seems roughly equivalent to the Sharp Zaurus 5500 (which I own). Forgive me for pointing it out, but can't the 5500 be had new for about $240?
Or, are they planning on introducing something "more powerful" for $300?
I'm glad to see more entries into the handheld market that are trying to utilize linux... but, I can't say the price-point is compelling.
Besides, there's still issues with making the platform "plug-n-play" enough so you can get real use out of it without being a somewhat familiar with linux at the start. Anyone who's put OpenZaurus on their Z will be able to relate... especially when it comes to Synching with a desktop.
Unless this new entry makes it easier for "Mom" to use a PDA, I can't say it'll make much of a dent.
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.
No Microsoft CE/XP license fees... Just paying for hardware. Nice.
it's going to be coming out late this year/ early next year and only have
"206MHz Intel StrongARM processor with 16MB of Flash ROM and 32MB of system RAM"
The new Zaurus's coming out at the same time are having 400mhz Strong/Arm and a total of 96mb of ram/rom
they really need to up the specs on that if they want to compete....
Ave Molech Setting
This is Royal's what, third try at the PDA market? First there was the Da Vinci, which at $99 was priced right in 99 when the lowest-cost palm was 2 or 3 times that much, but still didn't make a very big impression. Then there was the, uh, something that made even less of a splash than the DV... Now this. Best of luck to ya, Royal, but I think it's going to be another too little, too late. If anything there's even less room in the market now for a non-MS, non-Palm pda now than in 99.
Since Flash is so cheap these days, it would have been better (IMHO) to have the home filesystem on flash and not within RAM, just like recent Zaurii. I don't know a single person who hasn't lost PDA data because of battery ...
The Raven.
The Raven
I will never buy a Royal product again. Any company I'm involved in where I have a say in the matter will never buy Royal equipment (yes, I have stopped some purchases). There are other PDA's in the world; no one needs one bad enough to buy one from Royal.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Now for the big question... Will it be compiled with gcc 2.x or gcc 3? If they use 2 they get binary compatibility. If they use 3 they get a much needed speedup, but only have source compatibility. Sharp choose the worse of the two. They broke binary compatibility and kept gcc 2. What stupidity!
-Benjamin Meyer
Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?
Linux is already portable on at least one PDA I know of: the Psion 5mx. Imagine this: if I get to connect it to the internet through my cellphone (irDa port), with Linux installed, that would make that device one heck of a portable tool!
Info on PsiLinux
If you compare Linux based PDAs with Sony offerings, Sony always delivers more bang for the buck (usually much, much more bang). Palm offerings appear to always be equivalent with comparable Linux PDAs "spec wise". Once you get into the $500-$600 range, Sharp's Zaurus murders Sony and Palm in terms of raw power (more powerful CPUs), memory (64MB expandable compared to 16MB), storage (usually two to three times as much), and ability (multimedia playback comparable to a Pentium 500MHz workstation).
While it's always nice to have more choices, I think this new PDA is somewhat unasked for. There are two Zaurus models (5500 is already cheaper than $300, and 5600 is heading that way). Most of the iPaqs can run linux on them (IPAQLinux.com), and they are way cheaper and been around awhile, so all the quirks were worked out. Will the new $300 device be more attractive than currently available models, be it not for the "it comes with linux" factor? I am not sure. Those who want Linux on their PDA are usually skilled enough to get it already :)
Hyperom.com
Not quite a -1, Redundant post. What nobody mentions is that the Zaurus ALSO has a SD/MMC port. Interestingly, the SD driver does NOT honor any kind of DRM on the SD cards. The nice thing about having 2 dissimilar expansion slots is that you can have storage (SD) AND networking (CF), rather than swapping frantically. Add this to the built in IrDA, serial port, Blackberry-style keyboard, and Ultima IV emulator, and the Zaurus spanks it soundly.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
What's the point ? HP iPaq 1930 costs around 200$ after rebates.
Qtopia is fine on my Sharp Zaurus SL5000D, but OpenZaurus (with Opie) is really better (and Free) in my opinion. It's more polished, more mature and better documented. ..) since there are free alternative (Konqueror, etc).
I don't really need the few software Qtopia has over OZ (Opera, Handcom Office Suite,
Good to see Free forks can compete and sometimes overtake the original commercial software.
If you have a Zaurus, you really have to try OpenZaurus !
theefer
It seems lots of companies are jumping on the Linxu PDA wagon these days (Powerplay V, Softfield VR3, Zaurus, etc). This is great for those of use that use Linux, but the the main problem I see with all of these devices is that they only Sync with Windows out of the box.
Empower Tech, Softfield, Sharp, and now Royal should all be providing software to Sync with Linux (as well as Windows for the Other 95% of the population).
Why is this this so important? Well what has annoyed me the most about linux PDAs is that all the dev tools are in Linux, then you have to transfer your apps over to a Windows Partition to use there Windows transfer software load it (or use Wine).
No Linux PDA will be successful until it Syncs (and Syncs well) with Linux. Heck, some Palm PDAs are easily to sync to with Linux then the current Linux PDA offerings.
The market already has successful PDA platforms that Sync with Windows (Palm, Pocket PC, Psion). Why not finally make one that Syncs with Linux out of the box?
Somehow I doubt Royal will step up to the plate in this regard.
(void) signal(SIGALRM, (alarm_fired=1)); if (alarm_fired) printf("Revoke is clueless!\n");
I have a Zaurus 5500 and really love it. I use it everyday. My one big gripe is lack of battery time. If they could get a Linux PDA that does everything currenty being done with the Zaurus to last even as long a decent laptop, I'd be happy. 1 - 1 1/2 hours before needing a recharge is horrible. Granted, lighted screen and CF card usage are power eaters, but it'd be nice to be able to have the thing on for an entire cross-country flight.
With more mobile and portable devices running Linux, it raises the issue of running the same Linux applications on both the desktop and the palmtop. For example, do the various Linux Office-oid applications have counterparts on the PDA side? Are the PDA Linux distros identical/similar/compatible-in-name-only with their desktop breathern? Or are desktop distros far too bloated to run on lighter platforms?
/.ers might shed some packets on this issue.
I, for one, would look more seriously at both developing for and using Linux if many/most applications ran easily on a range of device sizes.
Perhaps some Penguinophilic
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
"Owned by" is perhaps a bit over the top. Canopy owns 4.1% and SCO Group owns 1.6%. Almost 70% is owned by current and previous employees.
l
http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/investors.htm
The ARTICLE said that they'd planned to go to market with a PDA with the specs you mentioned, but canned the idea before going there with it. The article itself didn't indicate what the specs were going to be for Royal's new attempt.
Now, having said this, they're going to be hard to believe since they backed down the first time. As to why they backed down, your guess is as good as mine- could be that the applications provided by Pixil wasn't good enough (Stock apps (and application availability in general) will make or break your PDA in the market- ask Franklin about the eBookman sometime...) or perhaps they determined that the overall design was too lacking compared to the Zaurus and the non-Linux based competition. Who knows for sure, except Royal?
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I wish these Linux PDAs would get usability right. I have a Zaurus, and it sure doesn't.
Nothing beats a Palm in this regard. What PIM / oft-accessed organization function can you not access in under 2 clicks/buttons on a Palm?
I love the capabilities of my Zaurus, but it's annoying it takes me 5-6x longer to use regular functions.
A Linux PDA for under $599? Amazing! It's about fscking time someone did Linux in-your-hand on the cheap! JAV
These are getting common .
My question is, is there really any benefit to owning a Linux PDA on the pure OS technical terms? Or is this for sheer geek factor? Take for example the PC market. Linux caters to people interested in 1. reliability, 2. cost, 3. anti-Microsofties, and 4. coders. And for a great number of people, Linux is for users who want to remain in the x86 shop and not pay what they perceive as the fortune it costs to go the Apple route. But now, in the PDA market, you have all the operating systems using the same common harware: they all pretty much run on Intel or TI chips based upon ARM designs. So when you have the Microsoft offering and its competitor Palm on the same platform, is there any practical reason to choose a Linux PDA? I'm interested to hear the reasoning, especially when it only shaves $10 off the price of the unit in terms of licensing...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
A Handspring or earlier model Palm uses several design decisions that make them go a LONG time on the batteries that they have.
A Dragonball CPU consumes something around 20mA at full operation.
An ARM based CPU, say like one of the current X-Scales, recently popular in PPC's and now Palms consumes something along the lines of 275mA at full operation. While impressive, performance-wise, over the Dragonball, it DOES eat power a lot more aggressively (some 10x moreso...). To be sure, other ARM based CPUs such as the OMAP consume less power than this, but they DO consume a lot more than the Dragonball all the same (at the expense of being lower performers than the XScale model...).
Couple that with some other power consumptive design decisions like displays that, generally speaking, need a backlight and you eat batteries like candy.
It's why the early PDA's, including the early WinCE devices could get away with running on Alkalines or NiMH AA's or AAA's and now you have integral or removable Lithium-ion batteries as a requirement. I'm sure there are some PDA designs using an ARM that can go several hours with continuous operation, but most of them are weak in that arena. You're paying for the performance in operational span.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Not to be a troll, but how exactly can Dell and HP come out with Pocket PC handhelds for $200, while every Palm and Linux handheld out there is $300+ (most typically $500-600)? I don't get it. These guys have to pay Microsoft a license fee for Pocket PC 2003, right? So how come the Linux handhelds cost so much more?
I really don't want to pump money into Microsoft, but until Palm or any Linux company can give me a decent quality color handheld for under $250, I ain't buying.