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Full X11-Based Distro For PDAs

Posted by timothy on from the mostly-work-safe dept.

omin0us writes "over at http://cacko.zaurususergroup.com, we are working on a Full X11 based Linux distro for the Sharp Zaurus SL-c7x0/860 series of PDAs. The screen has a usable full VGA resolution of 640x480 and the distro uses Openbox/ROX Desktop as its Native WM. But others such as Fluxbox, Afterstep, and XFCE have been compiled for it and run nicely. You will also find a WIDE variety of compiled apps in the Feed on the Cacko website such as a native GCC Compiler, XMMS, Mplayer, prboom, Gimp, Gkrellm, Abiword and numerous others. Many different screenshots of it in action may be found here. This is truly bringing desktop linux to the PDA. Also, another project that has branched from Cacko Linux is Gentoo for Zaurus. This project, at the moment is based on the Cacko X11 environment, but will eventually become a full Gentoo environment. "It can emerge packages, sync, or create Gentoo packages using the -B switch in emerge." This should be an interesting project to watch."

12 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. I am the founder of Cacko by mirko · · Score: 3, Informative

    Make a whois :)
    Glad but surprised to be Slashdotted :)

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  2. Re:Portable Compiler While You're on the Plane. by mirko · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, there's a complete development environment to be run on the Zaurus itself, and it was before we (cacko.biz) actually created our environment.

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  3. Opie should be mentioned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I know it's a different project, but people who find cacko interesting might find opie interesting as well.

    http://opie.handhelds.org/

  4. Link to ROX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Would have been nice to include a link to the ROX Desktop...

  5. Mirror! by FiberOpPraise · · Score: 2, Informative

    Enjoy! http://colo.fibersnet.net/x11/cacko.zaurususergrou p.com/screenshots.php?menuid=2

  6. Re:Integrated WiFi by robson · · Score: 4, Informative

    The recently released specs for the new 6000 series will include an option for built-in wifi, both Bluetooth and 802.11.

  7. Opie != PocketPC by ofels · · Score: 2, Informative

    We are in no way trying to imitate PocketPC.
    In fact we concentrate on usability and ease of use which Microsoft does not.

    The only thing similar is that we also use a colorful and comprehensive display and similar applications (today, addressbook, calendar, etc.) but besides this the whole concept is different.

    Oliver
    team Opie

  8. I went with a Handera 330 instead by Dr.+Manhattan · · Score: 2, Informative
    I got some cash for xmas, and tried to decide what to get to replace my Palm IIIxe. I know someone with a Zaurus SL-5000 (the original developer model, 32MB RAM) and was seriously tempted to find a real Zaurus off eBay. There were just a couple of problems.

    The first is the battery life. I could go weeks on two AAA batteries in the IIIxe, while all these multi-hundred MHz machines have battery lives measured in hours. On an international flight, or when vacationing on the side of a mountain in rural Italy, that makes a difference.

    The second is simple efficiency. On the Palm, apps execute in place; there's no need to copy from "storage" to "executable RAM" or anything like that. This frees up a remarkable amount of memory in practice. Linux's support for XIP is still highly experimental, though it seems some progress is being made.

    The other part of efficiency is the apps. The Palm apps are really well-designed, and really work for a small-screen, stylus device. A lot of Linux apps don't translate so well to a dinky screen and pen-based operation, and even the specific PIM apps have some rough spots (though I admit I haven't seen the very latest environments).

    I finally decided I didn't really need to run a webserver off my PDA (however much I wanted to, yeah I'm a geek), or Quake. I got a Handera 330 off eBay (not easy, some guy had bought the last 11 of them; wtf?). CF and SD slots, 240x320 screen (but grayscale, so battery life doesn't suffer), built-in voice recorder, etc.

    --
    PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
  9. Title is misleading by Erwos · · Score: 2, Informative

    The title, and even the body of the submitted news are somewhat misleading, in that they imply this is the first time X has been put on a PDA. At handhelds.org, GPE has been running on X for a good long time, and IIRC, even Opie has an X port.

    To be fair, though, this is the first time I've ever seen full-out KDE running on a PDA, so this is something new. Definitely, it's an interesting accomplishment that the author should be proud of.

    -Erwos

    --
    Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
  10. Who on earth came up with the name? by adrianbaugh · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't they realise that cack is a euphemism for "shit" or "godawful"? While naming libcaca was quite appropriate in a self-deprecating ironic way, cacko is not a good name for a distribution you want to be taken seriously.

    --
    "'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
    - JRR Tolkien.
  11. Re:zaurus-debian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    http://zaurus.spy.org/screenshots/scottyelich/

    Yes, it works... that's qtopia on the left, and zdebian on the right ... both accessed via vnc from a freebsd (at that time, 5.1) box. One of the screenshots at the right also shows vnc inside of the zdebian accessing the qtopia (outside) of the zdebian.

    Yes, I used apt-get... it was nice.

    I believe cacko x11 is going to be better -- especially with gentoo and/or compat with familiar (ipkg find).

    c700/c760/5600 ... love'm.

  12. Re:What packaging system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    this is omin0us who submitted the article, i don't have a login yet, but i'll answer the question. We just use "ipkg install". This is pretty standard for most of the linux based PDA's. There is an ipkg.conf file which directs it to a URL of the feed, and it will download the package, and all dependencies for that packaged. Its actually very very similar to debians package management. Even down to how the ipks are structured. As for Gentoo for Zaurus, i don't know exactly, as they are a different project just roughly based off of ours. But we all post at the same dev boards.